I imagine you could find the gt 640 gddr5 secondhand from people upgrading from OEM cards - I believe it's a option in the xps 8500.
That being said, yeah, nvidia needs to get the 640, 650 and 660's out. I ended up buying a 7750 as an upgrade for a hd 2000 box because that was basically my only real option. Would have liked the option for a 640 or better yet a 650 if it was there and able to run off slot power.
Yeah, Nvidia is competing in the low to mid range primarily with old designs. They're getting slow at doing a top to bottom launch. But at least they finally got more 680s on the market and launched the 670, it helped drive prices down on the higher end of the market.
I'm still eyeing a 7850 though, it's a more attractive option than the 570 at roughly the same price.
AMD is using primarily old designs in the low-end too. The Radeon 7350, 7450, 7470, 7570, 7670 all have roots in the Radeon 5000 series, a-la VLIW5 on 40nm and not VLIW-4 or Graphics Core Next.
I think the reason nVidia and AMD did this is because the low-end is generally high-volume, so 28nm may not have been able to keep up with demands, another reason could be cost... 40nm is very mature and yields would be very high.
I wonder whether they actually have more 680s out there or whether they're just not flying off the shelves like they used to due to in-house competition from the 670.
I've always found nVidia's repurposed old card low end kind of icky because you'd get kids stuffing thrice rebadged 8800GTs into their crummy unventilated mall PCs and wondering why it was making that burning smell.
Hrmm, at $400, the 7970 looks incredibly tempting. I'm an nVidia guy though, always have been, but with the GTX 670 retailing for slightly over $400, it seems the 7970 is a no-brainer. Thoughts?
Tough one to call, I guess it matters on what games you play. I play games like BF3, Skyrim and Starcraft at 1920x1200. I really don't care about Crysis or Metro and I play the Dirt series on my PS3, so for me the higher power consumption of the 7970 pushes me over the edge to go with the 670. But then either of these cards would be a huge step up whenever I get around to replacing my damn hot HD4870. :)
I have almost talked myself into purchasing the 670, but I am waiting a bit longer to see what Nvidia comes out with at the $300 price point. $400 for a video card gives me heartburn.
As always do check your desired apps, but IMO it's close to a no brainer, with the caveat below. Even at the same price as the 680, the 7970 was better for some applications, particularly if you like to overclock (where it has a lot of headroom both for core clock and memory). Both have their strong points, both in terms of games and more general applications. But vs the 670? Even without any OC it'll get close or exceed it pretty much across the board for stuff that is actually GPU limited. Nvidia does have stuff like PhysX, but then again gets completely slaughtered on compute.
The caveat of course is that Nvidia may choose to respond with a round of price cuts of its own. AMD has had a while longer to get its process ramped up since it got to production much earlier, but Nvidia has a smaller part. Might be worth waiting a week or two if you can and see what, if anything, happens, then make the call after that.
Gtx480 was awesome at computer, and gtx580 went down alot on computer. Most people did not care, because after all you buy a gaming video card to game not compute. Nvidia supposedly software limits their cards to compute to sell more Telsa. Cannot blame them, amd does not sell one like that so it can afford to let their cards do more. Only feature I like from amd is their eyefinity up to 6 monitors, but least nvidia has 3+1 now.
Man 670 all day. The only situation where I'd consider the 7970 is triple-screening because that's where it can actually leverage its RAM advantage, but in that case you'd be looking at at least a pair of cards either way.
The 7870 was already a bad buy and not worth the price premium over the 7850. Why did you get a 7870 when you could have gotten a 7950 for the same price??
When I was shopping the prices were about as follows:
HD7850: 270-290$, 280$ for the MSI Twin Frozer III version HD7870: 300-350$, 330$ for the MSI Twin Frozer III version (what I got) HD7950: 390-430$, 420$ for the MSI Twin Frozer III version
So I think my 310$ HD7870 is a decent deal considering my options and my budget. Compared to the HD7850 it's 15% more for 10-25% more performance. Compared to the HD7950 it's 80% the price for 80-95% the performance.
I would buy one now however because of NVidia's stupid marketing I can't seem to figure out If I am buying a Fermi or a True Kepler card. I don't want Fermi as it is a space heater. Looking for a mid range 28nm card for no more than $250, preferably around $200. I hear the GTX 660 & 650 is what I am looking for and should be released soon.
If that were true then there obviously would not be a problem. Unfortunately that is not the case. Since TSMC is having trouble producing wafers on the 28nm node thus unable to keep up with NVidia's supply demand NVidia's marketing team thought it would be a good idea to continue selling 45nm Fermi based GPUs re-branded as 600 series. So not all cards that start with a 6 are based upon the new Kepler architecture.
As the article notes, some of these MSRPs have already been in effect. I picked up a Gigabyte "Windforce" Radeon HD 7950 from Amazon yesterday for $340. It's a good thing, too, because if my budget had been $400, I would have been purchasing a GTX 670 instead (I don't have any brand loyalty when it comes to video cards). In any case, it's nice to see the MSRPs on the 7-series Radeons more accurately reflecting their performance.
Still not there yet though, price/performance with this price drop is now on par (Maybe slightly more expensive?) with the 6000 series before they went out, this is most obvious when comparing the 5770 against the 7770, the 7770 is 2 generations newer but still doesn't even offer twice the performance of the 5770.
I bought both my Radeon 6950 2gb cards for $250 each which unlocked into 6970's. So I'll hang onto them for another generation I think, considering they do sit nicely in the middle of the 7850 and 7870 performance wise. May even pick up a cheap 6970 for Tri-Fire if I need a little bit of a boost, I saw one not long ago for $150 on sale here in Australia.
Same here, I bought two 6950 2GB cards just over a year ago for $220 & $230 after MIR, I'd love a little more performance in demanding games at Eyefinity res (5760x1200) but prices are still too high to make any kind of upgrade for ~$500 worthwhile.
Yeah I just went looking at the latest benches to see what driver updates have done and the 6950 is beating the 7850 half the time, the GTX560Ti is doing the same, the GTX570 is beating all those three.
So what we have is amd making another card round that's almost the same as last time - that's why it was so, so, so important for the reviewer here to praise AMD for wiping out and getting rid of 6950 and 6970 stock before the 7850 and 7870 launch. It's like amd had to price prop itself - as it's older 69xx were old news and languishing, so spit out two equivalents, dry up the fairly new old stuff, and sell the same thing for lots more $$ to start with, as the drooling fanboys wouldn't be able to resist and wail they have a new victory.
So, this many months later, the amd absolutists still have to claim everyone in should buy the 7850 for instance, because it "overclocks". It's so sad.
nVidia didn't waste everyone's time, money, and the world's resources, spitting out a couple internal clone parts just for some pie in the sky profit fantasy- just look to the still very available GTX570 (already declared dead and unavailable many months ago by the amd rave reviewers) - not to mention the now unmentioned GTX460.
It's amazing to me what I see online, so it was nice StevoLinconite to see someone with a lick of sense who buys amd.
"In any case, it's nice to see the MSRPs on the 7-series Radeons more accurately reflecting their stock performance. "
corrected that statement. Everybody knows the HD 7950 OC cards are good overclockers and do 1 - 1.05 Ghz at stock voltage and 1.15 Ghz with voltage tweaking. Frankly you are not missing anything in performance and have got yourself a great deal. HD 7950 at 1.15 Ghz is going to win more games against a GTX 670 1.25 Ghz . HD 7950 at 1.15 Ghz will give you better performance than HD 7970 Ghz edition. whats not to like about that especially when you have got the card for USD 150+ cheaper than the soon to arrive Radeon HD 7970 Ghz. enjoy your card and good luck overclocking your card.
Let's not forget what real people with real cards are saying:
" And while we're on records, my Sapphire 7950 OC 950MHz didn't do 1100MHz on stock voltage. Stock voltage was 1.033v for my card and it took 1.093v for mine to be fully stable in games and benches at 1100MHz, beyond 1140MHz took was mostly impossible without adding too much voltage and creating too much heat. The Sapphire cooler really starts to struggle with these cards at 1100MHz+ and 1.1v+.
Unless you plan to watercool a 7950 and really ramp up the voltage, the 670 will perform better and do it quieter and cooler. "
Once again, reality is not the fantasy layout amd cheerleaders claim it is.
"However prices will be bear keeping an eye on since it’s unlikely that partners will stick to the $499 MSRP if they’re using the 7970GE for their premium cards."
There appears to be an extraneous "be" in the above statement, wordsmithing aside I must admit I am a little curious about the GE Edition.
All right, I got my skid lid on, I am ready to be thrown under the bus for nit picking.. :-)
Last gen cards were priced incredibly well and offered a lot of bang for the buck, it's gonna take another generation of cards to completely obsolesce previous gen parts and/or give people a reason to upgrade. This isn't terribly uncommon tho, 'specially with the GPU market slowing down a bit.
Last gen amd was a bloated dollar pig price up to the very moment this 7x series launched and suddenly they were unavailable. (save the lower 6870 6850) As was just pointed out the 6950 and 6970 make a mockery of the 7850 and 7870.
That's why this time, once again, nVidia slapped amd upside their corporate stupid greedy choppers and actually gave us gamers something new in the drivers!
Hello adaptive v-sync, hello target framerate, hello active now back to former series for those who already have the current horsepower in the line-ups. ( gtx 460, 560 560ti, 560 448, 570 580 - in case your mind is blank).
nVidia delivered, it's called DRIVER INNOVATION.
Once again, after the massive green paw slapping that pinko amd face redder, I am treated for months to hardcore amd fanboys all a flutter with their stupid overlcocking talk crap - so stupid it is as they pretend to themselves and anyone else dumb enough to listen that their current hotcore housefire smoking up the power lines is a geat thing to overclock, when moments before all they had to say for themselves was "power vs performance" as they squealed like a girl for amd cards - it's amazing really, the pretend stance that nVidia cards don't overlcock well, when they do better and more stable when run in that mode.
Now how many nVidia implemented features that amd utterly and completely lacks on every card level do I have to ignore to be an amd fanboy ? It appears the count is somewhere past half a dozen, though that is probably a lowball.
At least amd ripped off their fanboys, or left them wishing they had the money to pay their fanmaster, or gouged them moments before dropping the price on their crap cards, "again" and "again" since low sales demanded they do something... in that respect I am highly pleased- though no amount of market evidence will ever do for that bizaroo world the amd fan lives in - and is all to often readily able to point out just how trapped they are in it.
I'd just like to thank nVidia for their massive driver coup with the ultimate set of new features they have provided all of us, and it's obvious effects on amd's bloated pig corpo greed factor pricing amd led with, as amd concurrently slashed it's no doubt lowal fanboy employees to the bone with no care for them whatsoever.
Yeah, glad your eyes bulged and yet, you had no argument. Problem is everything I said is true. Amd fanboys just don't do that. Sad fact for you and them, all of us, really. Also note the fanboys referred to were amd employees, as in formerly. That means amd drivers will suck ever more into the future, and that, is, unbelievably, possible, and coming to pass.
By the time NVIDIA has its full lineup, AMD will be releasing next generation of cards, that might be a small upgrade or add big changes to the design.
I know for sure that next generation games are being developed with current cards (GTX680, HD7970). A crossfire/sli with 2 or three cards should suffice, but who knows.
Nope. No achievement at all - in fact we knew long before it was slower at the same clocks. In fact I've seen no review claiming amd won with gigahertz ed... let alone most.
Says nothing about there testing methodology. Which makes all the difference in the world. I love you cherry pick information.
I could find each cards weakness and expose that in each test to prove whatever side I wanted to be faster. Honestly you have no business talking about facts as all yours are twisted to support your pov.
You say you could, but you didn't and you won't. Amd fanboys cannot tell the truth, because if they knew the truth...
You just keep telling yourself you could do it. Tell us all. Provide nothing, just say it. I love you amd fans, I really do, you make it so easy for me. I don't believe a word you say, since I have an enormous body of evidence against what you say.
I'd much prefer you didn't say it, of course, but then, free speech away, Just don't expect anyone who actually knows anything to believe you. Also expect I'll provide proof you're wrong, as I did, and very much can again, and again, and again, from multiple sources.
What is wrong with you people ? How can I possibly accept anything from you when you cannot even get reading a review correct ? I mean what the heck is wrong with you ? I thought you were a big bad expert...
I am surrounded by stupidity. Enjoy ccc crashing, especially with amd crap oc'ed
I wanted to get a gtx670 but I read a lot of people with faulty cards and returns. Read about an inherent problem with the nVidia gk104 design - not the manufacturing foundry or 28nm process. It got me leaning toward the 7950 based cards, they are 28nm, same foundry and no problems. Some gtx670's are recycled 680's, some 7950's might be recyled 7970's but no issues like gtx670. The foundry shut down for 2 weeks to make sure they weren't doing something wrong - all clear, still problem nVidia gk104's. Anyone know if it's cleared up? It will be hard to know if you have a new or old version of the gx104 if it is fixed.
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51 Comments
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blackmagnum - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Nvidia: give us the GeForce GT 640 DDR5.sheh - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
And 660.powerarmour - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
AgreedNovaguy - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
I imagine you could find the gt 640 gddr5 secondhand from people upgrading from OEM cards - I believe it's a option in the xps 8500.That being said, yeah, nvidia needs to get the 640, 650 and 660's out. I ended up buying a 7750 as an upgrade for a hd 2000 box because that was basically my only real option. Would have liked the option for a 640 or better yet a 650 if it was there and able to run off slot power.
Alexvrb - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Yeah, Nvidia is competing in the low to mid range primarily with old designs. They're getting slow at doing a top to bottom launch. But at least they finally got more 680s on the market and launched the 670, it helped drive prices down on the higher end of the market.I'm still eyeing a 7850 though, it's a more attractive option than the 570 at roughly the same price.
StevoLincolnite - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
AMD is using primarily old designs in the low-end too.The Radeon 7350, 7450, 7470, 7570, 7670 all have roots in the Radeon 5000 series, a-la VLIW5 on 40nm and not VLIW-4 or Graphics Core Next.
I think the reason nVidia and AMD did this is because the low-end is generally high-volume, so 28nm may not have been able to keep up with demands, another reason could be cost... 40nm is very mature and yields would be very high.
bennyg - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - link
Yep in limited supply you'd rather make $499 GPUs than $99-$199 GPUs.Henkuberogus - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
I wonder whether they actually have more 680s out there or whether they're just not flying off the shelves like they used to due to in-house competition from the 670.I've always found nVidia's repurposed old card low end kind of icky because you'd get kids stuffing thrice rebadged 8800GTs into their crummy unventilated mall PCs and wondering why it was making that burning smell.
mevans336 - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Hrmm, at $400, the 7970 looks incredibly tempting. I'm an nVidia guy though, always have been, but with the GTX 670 retailing for slightly over $400, it seems the 7970 is a no-brainer. Thoughts?Captmorgan09 - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Tough one to call, I guess it matters on what games you play. I play games like BF3, Skyrim and Starcraft at 1920x1200. I really don't care about Crysis or Metro and I play the Dirt series on my PS3, so for me the higher power consumption of the 7970 pushes me over the edge to go with the 670. But then either of these cards would be a huge step up whenever I get around to replacing my damn hot HD4870. :)I have almost talked myself into purchasing the 670, but I am waiting a bit longer to see what Nvidia comes out with at the $300 price point. $400 for a video card gives me heartburn.
CloudFire - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Just your lucky day, Nvidia is releasing a 660Ti in August for 300$.zanon - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
As always do check your desired apps, but IMO it's close to a no brainer, with the caveat below. Even at the same price as the 680, the 7970 was better for some applications, particularly if you like to overclock (where it has a lot of headroom both for core clock and memory). Both have their strong points, both in terms of games and more general applications. But vs the 670? Even without any OC it'll get close or exceed it pretty much across the board for stuff that is actually GPU limited. Nvidia does have stuff like PhysX, but then again gets completely slaughtered on compute.The caveat of course is that Nvidia may choose to respond with a round of price cuts of its own. AMD has had a while longer to get its process ramped up since it got to production much earlier, but Nvidia has a smaller part. Might be worth waiting a week or two if you can and see what, if anything, happens, then make the call after that.
hackztor - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Gtx480 was awesome at computer, and gtx580 went down alot on computer. Most people did not care, because after all you buy a gaming video card to game not compute. Nvidia supposedly software limits their cards to compute to sell more Telsa. Cannot blame them, amd does not sell one like that so it can afford to let their cards do more. Only feature I like from amd is their eyefinity up to 6 monitors, but least nvidia has 3+1 now.Henkuberogus - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
Man 670 all day. The only situation where I'd consider the 7970 is triple-screening because that's where it can actually leverage its RAM advantage, but in that case you'd be looking at at least a pair of cards either way.frostyfiredude - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Great timing, I just picked up a 7870 2 weeks ago! If this was announced earlier I coulda grabbed a 7950 for almost the same price as my 7870...Patflute - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
hahaSlyNine - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Thats they way it always goes. Then again I got my dad a 7950 for 369$.frostyfiredude - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Pretty much, I also got Dirt Showdown free with mine where the new price doesn't seem to have it so the deal isn't so bad anymore.RaistlinZ - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
The 7870 was already a bad buy and not worth the price premium over the 7850. Why did you get a 7870 when you could have gotten a 7950 for the same price??frostyfiredude - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
When I was shopping the prices were about as follows:HD7850: 270-290$, 280$ for the MSI Twin Frozer III version
HD7870: 300-350$, 330$ for the MSI Twin Frozer III version (what I got)
HD7950: 390-430$, 420$ for the MSI Twin Frozer III version
So I think my 310$ HD7870 is a decent deal considering my options and my budget. Compared to the HD7850 it's 15% more for 10-25% more performance. Compared to the HD7950 it's 80% the price for 80-95% the performance.
phatboye - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
I would buy one now however because of NVidia's stupid marketing I can't seem to figure out If I am buying a Fermi or a True Kepler card. I don't want Fermi as it is a space heater. Looking for a mid range 28nm card for no more than $250, preferably around $200. I hear the GTX 660 & 650 is what I am looking for and should be released soon.Patflute - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Cards that start with a 5 are FermiCards that start with a 6 are Kepler
Is that so hard?
Assimilator87 - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Except for the lower end 600s, which are rebranded 4s and 5s.phatboye - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
If that were true then there obviously would not be a problem. Unfortunately that is not the case. Since TSMC is having trouble producing wafers on the 28nm node thus unable to keep up with NVidia's supply demand NVidia's marketing team thought it would be a good idea to continue selling 45nm Fermi based GPUs re-branded as 600 series. So not all cards that start with a 6 are based upon the new Kepler architecture.piroroadkill - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Sorry, NVIDIA's card naming has never been that simple.CeriseCogburn - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
660 650 640, it is that simple.I understand all the geniuses here though cannot remember anything.
tribbles - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
As the article notes, some of these MSRPs have already been in effect. I picked up a Gigabyte "Windforce" Radeon HD 7950 from Amazon yesterday for $340. It's a good thing, too, because if my budget had been $400, I would have been purchasing a GTX 670 instead (I don't have any brand loyalty when it comes to video cards). In any case, it's nice to see the MSRPs on the 7-series Radeons more accurately reflecting their performance.StevoLincolnite - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Still not there yet though, price/performance with this price drop is now on par (Maybe slightly more expensive?) with the 6000 series before they went out, this is most obvious when comparing the 5770 against the 7770, the 7770 is 2 generations newer but still doesn't even offer twice the performance of the 5770.I bought both my Radeon 6950 2gb cards for $250 each which unlocked into 6970's. So I'll hang onto them for another generation I think, considering they do sit nicely in the middle of the 7850 and 7870 performance wise.
May even pick up a cheap 6970 for Tri-Fire if I need a little bit of a boost, I saw one not long ago for $150 on sale here in Australia.
Impulses - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
Same here, I bought two 6950 2GB cards just over a year ago for $220 & $230 after MIR, I'd love a little more performance in demanding games at Eyefinity res (5760x1200) but prices are still too high to make any kind of upgrade for ~$500 worthwhile.Exodite - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
To be fair the 5770 should be compared to the 7870 and not the 7770, as the mid-range naming became x8x0 from the 6-series onward.What the 7770 doesn't compare favorable on is price, not performance.
StevoLincolnite - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
The 5770 was rebadged as the 6770 so it didn't change places, just the series number.But no, the 5770 should be compared to the 7770 or 7750 based on price.
CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
Yeah I just went looking at the latest benches to see what driver updates have done and the 6950 is beating the 7850 half the time, the GTX560Ti is doing the same, the GTX570 is beating all those three.So what we have is amd making another card round that's almost the same as last time - that's why it was so, so, so important for the reviewer here to praise AMD for wiping out and getting rid of 6950 and 6970 stock before the 7850 and 7870 launch.
It's like amd had to price prop itself - as it's older 69xx were old news and languishing, so spit out two equivalents, dry up the fairly new old stuff, and sell the same thing for lots more $$ to start with, as the drooling fanboys wouldn't be able to resist and wail they have a new victory.
So, this many months later, the amd absolutists still have to claim everyone in should buy the 7850 for instance, because it "overclocks". It's so sad.
nVidia didn't waste everyone's time, money, and the world's resources, spitting out a couple internal clone parts just for some pie in the sky profit fantasy- just look to the still very available GTX570 (already declared dead and unavailable many months ago by the amd rave reviewers) - not to mention the now unmentioned GTX460.
It's amazing to me what I see online, so it was nice StevoLinconite to see someone with a lick of sense who buys amd.
raghu78 - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
"In any case, it's nice to see the MSRPs on the 7-series Radeons more accurately reflecting their stock performance. "corrected that statement. Everybody knows the HD 7950 OC cards are good overclockers and do 1 - 1.05 Ghz at stock voltage and 1.15 Ghz with voltage tweaking. Frankly you are not missing anything in performance and have got yourself a great deal. HD 7950 at 1.15 Ghz is going to win more games against a GTX 670 1.25 Ghz . HD 7950 at 1.15 Ghz will give you better performance than HD 7970 Ghz edition. whats not to like about that especially when you have got the card for USD 150+ cheaper than the soon to arrive Radeon HD 7970 Ghz. enjoy your card and good luck overclocking your card.
CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
No need to correct a factual statement, the amd corporate pig trough has been slopping it down their evil giant gourd for far too long this time.CeriseCogburn - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
Nope. 670 wins easilyhttp://www.overclock.net/t/1256502/670-vs-7950-ove...
Sorry raghu, amd is a loser, better get used to it.
CeriseCogburn - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
Let's not forget what real people with real cards are saying:" And while we're on records, my Sapphire 7950 OC 950MHz didn't do 1100MHz on stock voltage. Stock voltage was 1.033v for my card and it took 1.093v for mine to be fully stable in games and benches at 1100MHz, beyond 1140MHz took was mostly impossible without adding too much voltage and creating too much heat. The Sapphire cooler really starts to struggle with these cards at 1100MHz+ and 1.1v+.
Unless you plan to watercool a 7950 and really ramp up the voltage, the 670 will perform better and do it quieter and cooler. "
Once again, reality is not the fantasy layout amd cheerleaders claim it is.
GeneralJava - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
"However prices will be bear keeping an eye on since it’s unlikely that partners will stick to the $499 MSRP if they’re using the 7970GE for their premium cards."There appears to be an extraneous "be" in the above statement, wordsmithing aside I must admit I am a little curious about the GE Edition.
All right, I got my skid lid on, I am ready to be thrown under the bus for nit picking.. :-)
StrangerGuy - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
Compared to their own ~$150 6870 their entire 7 series was/is priced as a joke to begin with for the needs of most people.Impulses - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
Last gen cards were priced incredibly well and offered a lot of bang for the buck, it's gonna take another generation of cards to completely obsolesce previous gen parts and/or give people a reason to upgrade. This isn't terribly uncommon tho, 'specially with the GPU market slowing down a bit.CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
Last gen amd was a bloated dollar pig price up to the very moment this 7x series launched and suddenly they were unavailable. (save the lower 6870 6850)As was just pointed out the 6950 and 6970 make a mockery of the 7850 and 7870.
That's why this time, once again, nVidia slapped amd upside their corporate stupid greedy choppers and actually gave us gamers something new in the drivers!
Hello adaptive v-sync, hello target framerate, hello active now back to former series for those who already have the current horsepower in the line-ups.
( gtx 460, 560 560ti, 560 448, 570 580 - in case your mind is blank).
nVidia delivered, it's called DRIVER INNOVATION.
Once again, after the massive green paw slapping that pinko amd face redder, I am treated for months to hardcore amd fanboys all a flutter with their stupid overlcocking talk crap - so stupid it is as they pretend to themselves and anyone else dumb enough to listen that their current hotcore housefire smoking up the power lines is a geat thing to overclock, when moments before all they had to say for themselves was "power vs performance" as they squealed like a girl for amd cards - it's amazing really, the pretend stance that nVidia cards don't overlcock well, when they do better and more stable when run in that mode.
Now how many nVidia implemented features that amd utterly and completely lacks on every card level do I have to ignore to be an amd fanboy ? It appears the count is somewhere past half a dozen, though that is probably a lowball.
At least amd ripped off their fanboys, or left them wishing they had the money to pay their fanmaster, or gouged them moments before dropping the price on their crap cards, "again" and "again" since low sales demanded they do something... in that respect I am highly pleased- though no amount of market evidence will ever do for that bizaroo world the amd fan lives in - and is all to often readily able to point out just how trapped they are in it.
I'd just like to thank nVidia for their massive driver coup with the ultimate set of new features they have provided all of us, and it's obvious effects on amd's bloated pig corpo greed factor pricing amd led with, as amd concurrently slashed it's no doubt lowal fanboy employees to the bone with no care for them whatsoever.
SlyNine - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Wow. you end that talking about fan boys? You sound like the BIGGEST fanboy out there.CeriseCogburn - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
Yeah, glad your eyes bulged and yet, you had no argument.Problem is everything I said is true.
Amd fanboys just don't do that.
Sad fact for you and them, all of us, really.
Also note the fanboys referred to were amd employees, as in formerly.
That means amd drivers will suck ever more into the future, and that, is, unbelievably, possible, and coming to pass.
Filiprino - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
By the time NVIDIA has its full lineup, AMD will be releasing next generation of cards, that might be a small upgrade or add big changes to the design.I know for sure that next generation games are being developed with current cards (GTX680, HD7970). A crossfire/sli with 2 or three cards should suffice, but who knows.
ForeverAlone - Monday, July 16, 2012 - link
Price cuts are always welcome.But seriously, what is the point of the 7970 GHz edition? A slightly overclocked 7970 with some weird kind of turbo added to it.
Useless really.
Jamahl - Monday, July 16, 2012 - link
The point was to give AMD the fastest graphics card again? Something that they achieved going by most reviews.CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
Nope. No achievement at all - in fact we knew long before it was slower at the same clocks. In fact I've seen no review claiming amd won with gigahertz ed... let alone most.Let's have another sorely needed dose of reality.
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/37209-gefor...
There you have it, at over 1 ghz, 7970 is SLOWER than 680 at 1920 1200 and at 2560 1600 by 6% and 4% respectively.
Like I said, we all knew the answer a long time ago, and amd doesn't get a free pass for the failed effort.
How about we all embrace the facts for once ?
SlyNine - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Says nothing about there testing methodology. Which makes all the difference in the world. I love you cherry pick information.I could find each cards weakness and expose that in each test to prove whatever side I wanted to be faster. Honestly you have no business talking about facts as all yours are twisted to support your pov.
CeriseCogburn - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
You say you could, but you didn't and you won't.Amd fanboys cannot tell the truth, because if they knew the truth...
You just keep telling yourself you could do it. Tell us all. Provide nothing, just say it. I love you amd fans, I really do, you make it so easy for me. I don't believe a word you say, since I have an enormous body of evidence against what you say.
I'd much prefer you didn't say it, of course, but then, free speech away, Just don't expect anyone who actually knows anything to believe you.
Also expect I'll provide proof you're wrong, as I did, and very much can again, and again, and again, from multiple sources.
Your "wishes" do not = reality. Get used to it.
CeriseCogburn - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
Once again amd fan cannot READ: Says nothing about there testing methodology.Sure it doesn't. Page 2 of the 10 page article.
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/37209-gefor...
What is wrong with you people ? How can I possibly accept anything from you when you cannot even get reading a review correct ? I mean what the heck is wrong with you ? I thought you were a big bad expert...
I am surrounded by stupidity. Enjoy ccc crashing, especially with amd crap oc'ed
JRMartell - Monday, July 30, 2012 - link
The 7970GE trades blows with the 680 and in some tests even the regular 7970 can outpace the 680. But from the artilce:http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970...
its mostly because of the 12.7 drivers. Does AMD have the single GPU performance crown? Answer: Sometimes.
For the record, I am not a AMD or nVidia fanboy, my desktop has a 6870 and my laptop has a 560m.
videocardgame - Thursday, August 2, 2012 - link
I wanted to get a gtx670 but I read a lot of people with faulty cards and returns. Read about an inherent problem with the nVidia gk104 design - not the manufacturing foundry or 28nm process. It got me leaning toward the 7950 based cards, they are 28nm, same foundry and no problems. Some gtx670's are recycled 680's, some 7950's might be recyled 7970's but no issues like gtx670. The foundry shut down for 2 weeks to make sure they weren't doing something wrong - all clear, still problem nVidia gk104's. Anyone know if it's cleared up? It will be hard to know if you have a new or old version of the gx104 if it is fixed.