AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition

GCN 1.0 (Tahiti XT)
Architecture
High-end
Product Tier
2048
Shader Cores
32
ROPs
128
TMUs
No RT
Ray Tracing
3 GB
Memory
GDDR5
Memory Type
288 GB/s
Bandwidth
250 W
TDP
GPU Snapshot
Release date:Jun 22, 2012Price at Launch:$499
Type:DesktopArchitecture:GCN 1.0 (Tahiti XT)
Generation:Radeon HD 7000 seriesProduct Tier:High-end
VRAM Capacity:3 GBTotal Board Power:250 W
Core Configuration
Shader Cores:2048TMUs:128
ROPs:32L2 Cache:768 KB
Memory
VRAM Capacity:3 GBMemory Type:GDDR5
Memory Speed:6 GbpsMemory Bus:384-bit
Bandwidth:288 GB/s
Graphics Processing
Base Clock:1 GHzBoost Clock:1.05 GHz
FP32 Throughput:4.30 TFLOPsRay Tracing:No
Process Size:28nmProcess Name:TSMC 28nm
Die Size:352 mm²
Power & Connectivity
Total Board Power:250 WPower Connectors:1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Bus Interface:PCIe 3.0 x16HDMI Support:HDMI 1.4a
DisplayPort Support:DP 1.2DSC:No
Max Displays:6
Media & Software Support
DirectX Support:12Shader Model:6.5
Vulkan Version:1.2OpenGL Version:4.6

Reviews and Ratings

87

Average Score

Based on 17 reviews

Reviewers Liked

  • Excellent performance
  • Now includes dynamic overclocking feature
  • Fastest gaming performance in a single GPU card
  • 3GB of 6GHz GDDR5 and a 384bit memory bus
  • Quiet in idle
  • Native full size HDMI & DisplayPort output
  • Dual BIOS
  • Support for ZeroCore power
  • Support for PCIExpress 3.0 and DirectX 11.1

Reviewers Didn't Like

  • Only intermittently superior to other top AMD, Nvidia cards
  • Power-hungry
  • Loud
  • Superstiff competition from NVIDIA's GTX 670 OC
  • Expensive
  • Extremely noisy in 3D
  • PowerTune and ZeroCore may complicate advanced overclocking

Since we reviewed the Radeon HD 7970 late last year a lot has changed. The arrival of the GeForce GTX 680 and GTX 670, and the resulting AMD price cuts were the most relevant moves on this segment until today’s release. When we tested the GeForce GTX...

By TechSpot on
83

AMD was popping champagne six months ago after the launch of the HD7970, only be shot down a couple of short months later after the launch of the NVIDIA's GTX680. It's a sad tale really, as AMD has typically (in the last few years at least) come to...

By PC Authority on
80

AMD have had great success with their latest 7 series of discrete graphics cards. The HD7970 led the performance charts for some time until Nvidia released their flagship single GPU, the GTX680. AMD are attempting to answer the challenge with the...

By Kitguru.net on
100

This improved version of the Radeon HD 7970 is able to rival and even surpass Nvidia on gaming performances. However, you may need to look for a branded version with a different cooling system to cut down on noise when...

By DigitalVersus on
80

AMD's tweaks to its original design help supercharge the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, but if you can live with slightly less speed, there are more compelling options to be found....

By PC Mag on
90

Competition is great for consumers. AMD will be shipping the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition in the next couple of weeks, at roughly £400 -- cheaper than the original and in the same price ballpark as the GTX 680. On a purely performance basis, the new...

By PC Advisor on
80

Review: AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Editionby Tarinder Sandhu on 22 June 2012, 05:00 4.0 Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD) Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabilr Add to My Vault: Hitting NVIDIA where it Hertz?There's always something oh-so nice about being the best at a...

By HEXUS.net on
100

More than the sum of its parts, and the best enthusiast graphics card there is...

By Expert Reviews on
84

We’re in two minds regarding the HD 7970 3GB GHz Edition. Clearly the higher clock speeds and performance improvements of Catalyst 12.7b has made AMD’s high-end far more competitive; it’s certainly no longer a case of which Nvidia to buy any more and...

By Bit-tech.net on
90

AMD's Radeon HD 7970 reached its six-month birthday on June 22nd 2012, and to celebrate AMD has released a card that's just, well, better: the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. Since it released the original Radeon HD 7970, in December last, the top...

By TechRadar on
90

When starting this review we took the decision to look purely at gaming performance in enthusiast conditions. The reason? Well this is an enthusiast product and the reality is that the reference design card will not be sold in any significant quantity,...

By HardwareHeaven on
85

AMD has achieved its goal: the HD 7970 GHz Edition is the fastest single-GPU graphics card in the world. Thanks to the 125 MHz higher GPU clock, than that of the regular HD 7970, the card beats NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 by about 2% averaged over all...

By techPowerUp! on