Vortez - Computer Hardware News & Reviews » News » May 2012 » AMD 7970 to get 'GHz Edition' Makeover

To compete against NVIDIA's latest lineup, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 will recieve a 'GHz Edition' moniker to symbolise new reference frequency.


AMD currently has HD 7770 and 7870 GHz Editions while the capable 7970 still ships with a reference 925MHz core frequency. Though many 3rd parties offer pre-overclocked versions, AMD now see fit to ship the Tahiti GPU with a reference core exceeding 1GHz frequency to remain competitive with the firm launch by NVIDIA.



Expecting to come in with a frequency of 1050MHz, this will allow everyone to benefit from the extra performance to be had from AMDs flagship GPU. As the 28nm process matures, yields improve and extra performance is to be had, considering that the 7970 graphics cards are known to be capable overclockers already, combined with reports that suggest latest GPU samples are able to hit frequencies of 1250MHz 'easily', AMD expect to close the performance gap between them and their arch rival significantly.

Source

Tagged as: amd, ghz edition, tahiti, radeon 7970, graphics, 28nm

darkangel Posts: 224 Joined: 2009-08-01

#25179 Posted on: 08.05.2012 10:03:30 any word on when this could come to market?

Vault-Tec Posts: 75 Joined: 2012-05-02

#25180 Posted on: 08.05.2012 10:20:53 Good news for greenhorns ! They should have done it from the very beginning tbh.

darkangel Posts: 224 Joined: 2009-08-01

#25181 Posted on: 08.05.2012 10:37:25 yeah you are right... now we just need to see what 7990 can do

w3bbo Moderator Posts: 606 Joined: 2011-04-21

#25183 Posted on: 08.05.2012 12:13:05 I'm hoping to get one of these to put the 'easily attain 1200MHz' to the test. I can't see as they have fiddled with the vrm or revised the core. My guess is its just a simple BIOS flash with revised clockspeeds and/or voltages.

Suicidal Zebra Moderator Posts: 400 Joined: 2010-11-15

#25185 Posted on: 08.05.2012 13:11:14 Most of the highly-overclocked 7000-series cards I've seen have been overvolted (in some cases quite considerably) using either a BIOS flash or ASUS's overclocking utility, which apparently works with non-ASUS branded cards. I'm not quite convinced by the idea that all 7970's will do 1.2GHz, but a significant number reaching 1.05 GHz to make a 'GHz Edition' viable seems reasonable.

Vault-Tec Moderator Posts: 75 Joined: 2012-05-02

#25186 Posted on: 08.05.2012 13:51:57 Quote: Originally Posted by w3bbo I'm hoping to get one of these to put the 'easily attain 1200MHz' to the test. I can't see as they have fiddled with the vrm or revised the core. My guess is its just a simple BIOS flash with revised clockspeeds and/or voltages. Mine brick walled at 1150mhz. No voltage or anything else got it any higher. And that had an asic of 86%. Kinda goes against the common belief that they are all good for 1200+ really. I know that Tahiti is very similar to Fermi in the aspect that they are having trouble trying to tame it. Fermi revision was basically low leakage transistors and a new cooler. Unfortunately for AMD they are already using a vapour chamber so I can't see a cooler revision helping much (it's a big old vapour chamber too !). Still not sure how they are going to tackle the dual GPU card. Especially with it running quite hot. Mine used to max in the mid 80s with the fans on 80%. It was noisy too.

PCplod Moderator Posts: 759 Joined: 2011-10-13

#25191 Posted on: 08.05.2012 19:29:12 About time, the only reason I think they released it with a low clock in the first place was 1. Because they had no competition and 2. Because it looked good in reviews for allot of overclock room.

Vault-Tec Moderator Posts: 75 Joined: 2012-05-02

#25193 Posted on: 08.05.2012 20:31:07 Well it backfired on them.

PCplod Moderator Posts: 759 Joined: 2011-10-13

#25194 Posted on: 08.05.2012 20:50:21 Indeed, is why at stock the 680 is allot faster in all the reviews so does look like it should be that much more expensive, when in reality the performance isn't that far apart once you overclock both

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Vortez - Computer Hardware News & Reviews » News » May 2012 » AMD 7970 to get 'GHz Edition' Makeover