Benchmarks
The following results were obtained on an un-optimized Windows 7 64-bit system, with the CPU sped at 4600MHz. As with all benchmarks your
own results may vary from ours. These are only used as a guide to what kind of performance you can expect on a similarly configured system.
VGA
Clocks
3DMark03
3DMark06
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11 (P)
Unigine Heaven
Xtreme
Crysis 2: 1080p
DX11
ASUS Radeon
HD7970
925/1.375GHz
127540
34163
36606
8208
1812.419
60.09
Overclocked
1200/1.6GHz
146989
35551
42346
10083
2258.072
63.4
The Direct CU II 7970, that’s the
one we really look forward to.
Check it out in Issue 19.
Sum
Summary
especially when considering
how good the 5870 was for
extreme overclocking.
In a gaming context,
there’s nothing to fault on
the HD7970. Out the box
it performs spectacularly
managing to improve
tessellation performance
dramatically from the
previous generation cards.
With AA applied, it threatens
the GTX590 and HD6990. For
those interested purely in the
gaming credentials of the
7970, it will certainly deliver
on that front and because it
will not have any multi-GPU
issues, it is arguably a better
purchase than a 6990. We are
thoroughly impressed by this
card and only wonder what
the competition can offer in
the near future that would
make us consider not going
with the HD7970.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
As great as this card is,
there’s the annoying issue
of the shim around the GPU
core which you can either try
to peel off using a heat gun,
or sand it down. Others have
used copper plates that fit on
top of the GPU, regardless,
mounting a pot on this GPU is
going to prove to be a mission
and will most certainly void
your warranty. Hopefully
there’s an easier solution
that can be found but in the
meantime it would be wise
to exercise caution when
mounting a pot.
[ Neo Sibeko ]
The HD7970 is a little
more than what we
could have expected
from AMD. With a brand
new design and some
clever optimizations,
has resulted in the
largest GPU core we
have ever seen packing
more than 4 billion gates
in a package smaller
than what the previous
GPU could manage.
With a 384-bit bus,
impressive overclocking
headroom and very
strong performance, the
HD7970 just may be the
highlight GPU of 2012,
unless NVIDIA’s part
proves just as potent.
Would you buy it?
Certainly, there’s no
reason not to buy this
card. The prices may be
high right now, but I still
believe it’s well worth
owning especially if you’ll
be shooting for personal
records and the like.
The Score
8/10
2012 | Issue 18 The OverClocker 25