AMD to launch new flagship Radeon HD 7970 desktop graphics card on December 22.

[Arkadrel]

why the hell are they testing it with a cpu 90% of gamers can't afford

Probably to limit the cases of CPU bottlenecks, so all your left with is the results of the cards.

 

[Arzachel]

One may change the behavior flags with nVinspector -- I like hybrid/mixed modes at times and still enjoy to play Supreme Commander 2 skirmish modes -- I have to change the behavior flag to do this.

That was his whole point - often you can't force settings neither through driver controls, neither through nvinspector.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Probably to limit the cases of CPU bottlenecks, so all your left with is the results of the cards.

I would think a 2500k test bench would make more sense still or at most a i7 2600k.

Doubt a 4.3ghz 2500k could bottleneck a 7970.

Anyone with crossfire 6970s who can confirm a bottleneck?

How about dual gtx580s do these cards get bottlenecked by a i5 2500k or i7 2600k?

 

[RussianSensation]

First of all since you don't own nvidia, i'll take it that you don't realize the ramifications of this. I'm not sure if you're suffering from grass is greener syndrome, but i've used both brands and here's the deal: Override settings DO NOT WORK a great majority of the time on nvidia cards.

First of all, I sold GTX470 to go to HD6950. You make it sound like I've never used an NV card.

Secondly, by design of SC2's engine, the game uses deferred FP16 HDR renderer (with multiple render targets). Since by design DirectX 9.0 API design with multiple render targets of StarCraft II engine, it does not support FSAA. Even though there were rumors that at some point antialiasing would be enabled via a patch, currently FSAA has be forced from the drivers for SC2, which causes a very large performance hit for AMD. Whether you have to force MSAA through the control panel in games that don't support FSAA is irrelevant because at the end of the day if you want that feature, you might want a card that performs faster, correct?

I am not saying we should be testing all games by forcing AA through the control panel, but for SC2, yes. SC2 and BF3 are 2 specific instances where NV works better with MSAA. To say that AMD's poor performance shouldn't matter in those 2 games is ignoring the overall picture that if you play those 2 games a lot and want traditional MSAA, NV performs faster.

I'm not sure if you're suffering from grass is greener syndrome,

I got my HD6950 for less than half the price of a GTX580, which was better value for me. But I am not going to pretend that GTX580 is barely faster than an HD6970. I'll recommend HD6950 over GTX580 all day, but I feel that GTX580's dominance over HD6970 has been largely downplayed on our forum, probably because of the $150 higher price.

 

[Arzachel]

I would think a 2500k test bench would make more sense still or at most a i7 2600k.

Doubt a 4.3ghz 2500k could bottleneck a 7970.

Anyone with crossfire 6970s who can confirm a bottleneck?

How about dual gtx580s do these cards get bottlenecked by a i5 2500k or i7 2600k?

The lack of PCI-E lines reduces the performance of SLI/Xfire setups although only slightly iirc.

 

[NoStateofMind]

I asked my question in the wrong thread. Should have posted here.

When should we expect reviews to start popping up? After midnight on east coast? Or some sort of hippy time like 9am pacific?

 

[KingstonU]

Also looking for confirmation of official NDA lift. Haven't heard a word on it yet and we are <4 hours away from the 22nd. Just another false rumor?

 

[Elfear]

From what I've read the NDA will probably lift in accordance with AMD's past NDA's (i.e. midnight EST).

 

[KingstonU]

Ok just read that it's 6:00:00 CET which = midnight for Eastern Time. So that would be just over 2 hours to go!!!

 

[Gloomy]

so excited. Building a new PC in January, gonna shoot for a good case and graphics card!

Might get a 6970 or 570 if the prices drop low enough. Or hell, if they introduce an equivalent at a similar price point I'll grab that and it'll be even better.

P:

 

[lavaheadache]

I'm gonna start refreshing new egg 10 minutes till

 

[badb0y]

I'm gonna start refreshing new egg 10 minutes till

Your not getting my HD 7970. :twisted:

 

[lavaheadache]

I really don't think they will have any anyways but its worth a shot

 

[alachua]

I'm gonna start refreshing new egg 10 minutes till

That will be a LOT of refreshing for 19 days until the actual hardware is available.

I'm pretty sure this is just a paper launch.

 

[Silverforce11]

Secondly, by design of SC2's engine, the game uses deferred FP16 HDR renderer (with multiple render targets). Whether you have to force MSAA through the control panel in games that don't support FSAA is irrelevant because at the end of the day if you want that feature, you might want a card that performs faster, correct?

I am not saying we should be testing all games by forcing AA through the control panel, but for SC2, yes. SC2 and BF3 are 2 specific instances where NV works better with MSAA. To say that AMD's poor performance shouldn't matter in those 2 games is ignoring the overall picture that if you play those 2 games a lot and want traditional MSAA, NV performs faster.

You can bench as such, but you also have to add a paragraph at least to explain it. Because BF3's engine does MSAA but it does a terrible job of removing aliasing, which is the whole point of that feature. So you can have it on, but the IQ barely improves, the reader needs to know that. SC2 has no problems with aliasing, i play it regularly at 60 fps vsynced 1080p max, and even in online matches with big battles.

Thats where you see reviewer bias, set BF3 on ultra (with FXAA high and 4xMSAA), not knowing (or not caring to explain to readers) that FXAA high already overwrites any benefit of MSAA. FXAA on with or without MSAA, no difference. FXAA off, with 4xMSAA, tiny improvement, still jaggies everywhere.

 

[lavaheadache]

That will be a LOT of refreshing for 19 days until the actual hardware is available.

I'm pretty sure this is just a paper launch.

Remember, you have zero hard evidence to base this on and neither do I. Just wishful thinking =)

 

[toyota]

Remember, you have zero hard evidence to base this on and neither do I. Just wishful thinking =)

you cant possibly still think its a hard launch. like I told you earlier no one has the cards in stock and ready for sale. every person in the know has made it clear that this is a paper launch.

 

[PrayForDeath]

For those of you trying to decide whether to get a 7970, you will have some time to decide. This is a soft launch; AMD will not make the 7970 available until January 9th (the day before the Consumer Electronics Show), nearly 3 weeks from now.

From AnandTech's review.

Looks promising. Though I'm sad they didn't test The Witcher 2 (a graphically intensive PC exclusive.)

 

[RussianSensation]

You can bench as such, but you also have to add a paragraph at least to explain it.

Every reputable website that did SC2 testing does explain it: Xbitlabs, Anandtech, etc. It was well known that you have to force AA through the control panel in this game.

 

[Idontcare]

As we have historically done with all pre-release threads and speculation threads that remain active past the review release time, locking this thread now that the conversation has migrated to the official stickied review thread.

Administrator Idontcare