Future 7970 owners?

[blackened23]

I'd be a bit cautious about overclocking. I got my old HD 5870 XFX which was slightly overclocked by the manufacturer. The thing was unstable when playing L4D. I had to underclock it to the standard 5870 settings for the games not to crash.

I've not been a big fan of XFX I've always liked sapphire for reference boards

 

[hclarkjr]

when is the 7950 supposed to released?

 

[(sic)Klown12]

when is the 7950 supposed to released?

I figure it would be on Jan 9th along with the retail availability on the 7970.

My question is if AMD will allow unlocking on the 7950 or decides to go back to the old laser cutting of disabled units. I personally think that AMD will not stop unlocking, but since AIB partners will have custom boards out from the onset that it'll be hit and miss between brands.

 

[MrK6]

I'm getting one, and doing a review. Now I'm just seeing if the MCW-80 will fit it without problems.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I'm getting one, and doing a review. Now I'm just seeing if the MCW-80 will fit it without problems.

Saw the thread you started. I will be excited to read that, your other little review was very informative.

I might be joining the ranks.. we'll see. My family was exceptionally generous with me this year, so I'm more on the fence than not at the moment.

Typically, top of the line usually allows you to skip a generation and still have perfectly playable games. Your 6970's aren't going to get slower on the 9th of Jan.

This is what is holding me back.

If SHA256 is 70-100% faster on these cards, I that will weigh heavily in my decision to upgrade.

 

[Tempered81]

This guy already has 4 cards in 4-way Crossfire-X

http://www.xfastest.com/cms/tid-69701/

 

[hclarkjr]

that is sick, wish i could afford to do that!!

 

[Jhatfie]

I have about $200 in newegg gift cards saved up and $150 hanging out in my paypal account. Throw in whatever I can sell my unlocked 6950 for and I should be able to nab one of the 7970's. However if the 7950 performs real close I may consider pocketing that extra $100 and put start saving for card numero dos.

 

[Spikesoldier]

heres another vote for waiting for 7950

 

[Silverforce11]

Already set aside funds to get it. Had to convince my wife that spending that much just for gaming is justified.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

heres another vote for waiting for 7950

Curious about this, I highly doubt it will unlock (especially since there is no reference design for it). If it does unlock, has voltage control and is compatible with full coverage blocks, I'm in for two. Hmm that is a lot of conditions.. :hmm:

 

[hdfxst]

http://accessories.eracks.com/product/21197-00-40g/
http://automatedwebhosting.net/product_info.php?products_id=134950 i wonder if newegg will have them this week

 

[dagamer34]

Curious about this, I highly doubt it will unlock (especially since there is no reference design for it). If it does unlock, has voltage control and is compatible with full coverage blocks, I'm in for two. Hmm that is a lot of conditions.. :hmm:

The only reason the 6950 unlocked to a 6970 is because they were the same chip with a different BIOS. However, with a new manufacturing node (28nm) and the higher profit margin from the 7970, if AMD is binning something as a 7950, I strongly doubt it will be able to run at a 7970 speeds or more. Shader unlocking is only a real option when the manufacturing process is very mature, and these 7970 cards are going to be some of the first 28nm chips TSMC rolls out of their factories.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Curious about this, I highly doubt it will unlock (especially since there is no reference design for it). If it does unlock, has voltage control and is compatible with full coverage blocks, I'm in for two. Hmm that is a lot of conditions.. :hmm:

i would only be in for one initially. then second down the road, much like how i managed with my current setup of 4890 CF.

 

[hclarkjr]

specs leaked by techpowerup for 7950

Last Thursday, AMD launched the Radeon HD 7970 graphics card based on its new 28 nm "Tahiti" silicon, but it remained tight-lipped about the specifications of the more important SKU that will be based on it, the Radeon HD 7950. The HD 7970 will carry a launch price of US $550, making the HD 7950 an SKU to watch out for. According to details released by XTReview, the "Tahiti Pro" or HD 7950 will be carved out this way:

• 1792 stream processors, 28 GCN compute units
• 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs (derived)
• 384-bit GDDR5 memory interface
• 3 GB memory, memory clock around 5.00 GHz

The core clock speed, the exact memory clock speed, and more importantly, the target price-point, remain unknown. The Radeon HD 7950 is expected to be launched on the 9th of January.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Ready to upgrade this GTX 260.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Ready to upgrade this GTX 260.

that was a great card when nehalem was new

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

that was a great card when nehalem was new

Yeah, this rig still rocks even three years later. I'm really glad I waited for nehalem.

 

[DooKey]

N42.

 

[supras989]

Definite pick up for me upgrading from a 5970, quantities are usually always strained in Australia though with new GPU launches, not sure if its any better in USA, I might also wait a little while to see what MSI brings to the table with a TwinFrozr cooled card, that would really tickle my fancy.

 

[Rifter]

Im buying the first single card i can get my hands on that will double my current performance. Unfortunatly a 7970 is not it, i may need to wait till next gen.

 

[lavaheadache]

Im buying the first single card i can get my hands on that will double my current performance. Unfortunatly a 7970 is not it, i may need to wait till next gen.

Even a single card of equal performance to your sli setup(cough 580 /cough) will feel like leap in performance.

 

[Rifter]

Even a single card of equal performance to your sli setup(cough 580 /cough) will feel like leap in performance.

How do you figure? most reviews i have seen placed SLI 460's equal to a 580 so with my OC i should be in the 10-15% performance advantage over a stock 580(granted i can OC the 580 to equal what i have now).

I have no issue paying for a flagship card(such as a 580 or 7970) but its going to need to offer higher performance than what i currently have. Im definatly not going to take a step back, or a useless step forward(less than 30% increase in performance)just to go to single a card.

If i have to wait it out then thats what I'll do but the upgrade itch is getting pretty bad, been stuck on current system for well over a year now and now neither SB, BD or the 7xxx series has offered enough reason to upgrade something

I had higher hopes for AMD's flagship card, with a whole new design from the ground up i was expecting a 8800GTX type of performance increase.

Guess ill put all my eggs in the kepler high end basket and hope for the best.

 

[Tempered81]

How do you figure? most reviews i have seen placed SLI 460's equal to a 580 so with my OC i should be in the 10-15% performance advantage over a stock 580(granted i can OC the 580 to equal what i have now).

I have no issue paying for a flagship card(such as a 580 or 7970) but its going to need to offer higher performance than what i currently have. Im definatly not going to take a step back, or a useless step forward(less than 30% increase in performance)just to go to single a card.

If i have to wait it out then thats what I'll do but the upgrade itch is getting pretty bad, been stuck on current system for well over a year now and now neither SB, BD or the 7xxx series has offered enough reason to upgrade something

I had higher hopes for AMD's flagship card, with a whole new design from the ground up i was expecting a 8800GTX type of performance increase.

Guess ill put all my eggs in the kepler high end basket and hope for the best.

Lavaheadache is right. A 580 feels much faster than 460 sli. But the point is that any single card feels much faster than two cards that are of equal performance in CF/SLI. Like two 5770's versus a 5870 or two 460's versus a 480.

I've had two midrange cards in sli and a lot of high-end single gpu setups. Always liked the powerful single. You might be waiting for a 7970 or single gpu kepler 680.

I'm going from a 6950 unlocked to a 7970. My sli cards were 8800gt's.

 

[Rifter]

Lavaheadache is right. A 580 feels much faster than 460 sli. But the point is that any single card feels much faster than two cards that are of equal performance in CF/SLI. Like two 5770's versus a 5870 or two 460's versus a 480.

I've had two midrange cards in sli and a lot of high-end single gpu setups. Always liked the powerful single. You might be waiting for a 7970 or single gpu kepler 680.

I'm going from a 6950 unlocked to a 7970. My sli cards were 8800gt's.

I will have to test this out. I dont see how it can "seem" faster if they both offer the same FPS. Microstutter obviously will be an issue if you are bothered by that and i could see that making the single GPU seem faster but microstutter has never been an issue for me personally.