AMD Radeon HD 7970 Specs Leaked to the Web
AMD Radeon HD 7970 Specs Leaked to the Web
Posted 12/16/2011 at 10:14am
| by Paul Lilly
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A slide leaked on Orb-Hardware reveals some pretty gnarly specifications for AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 7970 card. If the slide is accurate -- and Orb-Hardware thinks it is, though admits it's a "little bit old" -- the Radeon HD 7970 will come with a core clockspeed of 925MHz and a whole bunch of onboard memory (3GB of GDDR5 to be exact).
According to the slide, the memory will pipe up to 5.5Gbps of data through a 384-bit bus. The card will have 128 texture units, 32 CU and 2048 ALU stream processors, and 3.5 TFLOPs of raw compute power. The slide only lists 32 ROPs, which is a little disappointing considering recent murmurs that had the card pegged at 48 ROPs, but it's hard to argue with the rest of the spec sheet.
The card will require 8-pin and 6-pin power connectors (one of each) and have a peak power draw of less than 300W, according to the slide.
Image Credit: obr-hardware.com
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Ghost XFX
December 18, 2011 at 10:21am
I think I'll hold on to my two 6870's. Til they can find a way to utilize 100+frps, there's no need to upgrade right now.
Rift2
December 17, 2011 at 2:23am
I'm going Nvidia Kepler or Bust =)
I couldn't even get a good frame Rate with a ATI card at Rift launch.
Don't play Rift anymore
Gezzer
December 16, 2011 at 4:36pm
These cards won't come out too soon for me Already have my three sweet 24" monitors for Eyefinity.
But for some reason my 4870 512MB just doesn't work with them.
<presses face up to glass> Open, open, open.......
kixofmyg0t
December 16, 2011 at 2:58pm
Wait what happened to the 7900 series using XDR2? Last I was tracking the 7800(mmmm good old Geforce days right there for those who remember)'s will use GDDR5 while the 7900's will use the massive upgrade to XDR2.
Im holding off on getting a new video card until AMD confirms theyll use XDR2, if that happens ill break bank to get it.
Gezzer
December 16, 2011 at 4:30pm
Heard AMD changed their mind. Decided DDR5 still had some life left. Though the fact it was a Rambus tech might of had something to do with it.
kixofmyg0t
December 16, 2011 at 5:35pm
I think AMD maybe chose GDDR5 because of price.
On equal bus widths; XDR2 detroys GDDR5. 256-bit wide XDR2 still has a wide margin of more throughput than even 384-bit wide GDDR5....but is a hair more expensive.
I guess it's overkill really. XDR2 isn't needed yet.
CHR15x94
December 18, 2011 at 11:07am
AMD's also invested tons of money into GDDR5. Not to mention, there's still differential GDDR5, which from what I understand would provide effectively double the bandwidth of the GDDR5 currently used.
Does anyone even make XDR2? I know Rambus designs it but have any companies even shown interest in producing XDR2 chips?
Either way, as long as the cards are fast and work well I'm happy. My 6950 doesn't work properly (thank you XFX, love your lack of advanced RMA and wonderful quality control) so hopefully I can get a 7950 to replace it. Just hope it performs well and doesn't cost me an arm and a leg...
Gezzer
December 16, 2011 at 5:52pm
You might be right. Considering that AMD farms out the actual production of the cards to their partners they might of had some pressure applied to reduce component cost by the said partners.
Well hopefully this means AMD has a bit better margins on the cards. I mean I don't want to get hosed, but AMD's be running with tight margins for so long I hate to see the company go under because it's just not profitable enough. Then it'd be a Intel and Nivida win with us being the losers in the long run.
kixofmyg0t
December 16, 2011 at 9:04pm
From what I read AMD designed Tahiti to be able to use GDDR5 or XDR2 so they can actually upgrade it down the line if they need to.
512-bit XDR2=stupid amounts of bandwidth. That would be awesome.
blackdog
December 16, 2011 at 12:11pm
Radeons had a 512 bit bus some years back but didn't work out so well, hope they get 384 right
kixofmyg0t
December 16, 2011 at 5:41pm
Ur right they did......of GDDR3. AMD(then ATI) experimented with various types and bus widths back in the day to find an edge.
praetor_alpha
December 16, 2011 at 1:56pm
The Radeon 2900 has a 512 bit bus. The Geforce 280 and 285 has 512 bit buses also, but for some reason, Nvidia decided to scale back bus width for newer Fermi chips; maybe for Kepler too, but no one knows.
Holly Golightly
December 16, 2011 at 12:01pm
The design is alright I suppose. I prefer the design of the 6,000 series to be honest with you. It is more angular and has these bad-ass stripes attached to the sides. Still, the key is performance. In order for me to buy, it must come with the backplate. I do not like the fact that graphic cards are upside down for ATX motherboards. So a back plate will give it the illusion that it is upside up. Looks great on windowed rigs.
noobstix
December 16, 2011 at 10:31am
Heh, after being stuck on a 256-bit bus for all these years, they're finally going to increase the bus width to something Nvidia has used for years already (AMD probably reached the limit on what they could do with a 256-bit bus). Not only that, it still only requires an 8-pin + 6-pin instead of 2 x 8-pin.
kixofmyg0t
December 16, 2011 at 5:46pm
AMD wasn't "stuck" on 256-bit. They have used 512-bit before. Heck AMD(then ATI) was the FIRST to use GDDR5. They went back to GDDR3 because at the time it gave no advantage and jacked up the price of their cards.
AMD chose to stay with 256-bit simply because they didn't NEED anything wider to compete with nVidia.
Now AMD has a new process, a new architecture and a wider bus which should help cement their lead over Kelper.
Khoiboi
December 16, 2011 at 10:23am
I just bought the 6970 earlier this year and already something else trumpts it, =/ forget it, i'm getting a mac
vig1lant3
December 16, 2011 at 7:05pm
Sure, why not get a Mac? If you can't upgrade the gear, you'll never need to worry about getting the latest and greatest components. Yeah...good idea...
Gezzer
December 16, 2011 at 4:33pm
Good idea. Limited hardware choices for an extra premium is where it's at.
At least you won't have buyer's remorse. Well that is if you drink the iKoolaid.
scoop6274
December 16, 2011 at 12:51pm
Screw mac, you might as well buy a Commodor 64! No worries about having to upgrade the video card on that!
Baer
December 16, 2011 at 12:04pm
So that will be sure you keep older hardware until you buy a new mac instead of having the choice to upgrade with whatever and whenever you want.
Veedek
December 16, 2011 at 11:01am
Doesn't a 6970 play anything that you throw at it? Do you buy graphics cards for bragging or for gaming?
KenLV
December 19, 2011 at 6:32pm
Does for me with a stock 2700K...
BF3 maxed setting (ultra all) @ 1920 X 1080 on a 27" and smooth as butta'
Same for MW3 (extra all maxed all else)
As far as Rage, well, the problems with Rage are IMO with Rage.
Archtard
December 16, 2011 at 10:48am
Yeah, because no new hardware will ever trump a Mac. Wait my year old PC ($1,800) trumps a new $3k Mac.
Gutzx
December 16, 2011 at 10:45am
Lol because Macs don't use outdated hardware
For only and arm and a leg you can now have your very own TOP OF THE LINE ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB GDDR5!!!
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_pro
Welcome to the elite inner circle Khoiboi
vig1lant3
December 16, 2011 at 7:11pm
Heh! Let's not forget about the 2 year old Xeon CPU's. Cutting edge architecture in 2009!! Definitely worth $4000 today, right? Hahaha...I wonder what it feels like to get raped by a tech giant and not even realize it?
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