Radeon 7970 $368.13 at Microcenter - Page 2

wow and to think I just bought a gtx 680 4gb, hmmm what to do what to do

edit: nevermind instore only and I doubt they have a franchise in Afghanistan

After tax and gas, how is this saving any money over a newegg regular price?

I own this card and 3GB is all that and a bag of chips. Finally I can play Gulf of Oman without random stutter. Yes, 2GB is not enough to fly jets in gulf and a few others at 2560x1440. Sad but true.

Just checked, 402$ after tax, might as well get the 670ftw....forgot about taxes

at 402 this is about the price I had expected the 7970 to be all along. Wish we had a microcenter near me.

Sapphire HD 7950 with 950 Mhz speeds out of the box , a HD 7970 PCB and a good custom cooler for USD 350 is better than the ref HD 7970 at 925 Mhz. this card can easily overclock to 1150 - 1200 Mhz with voltage tweaking while keeping temps around 70c - 75c under load.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102991

if you really want a HD 7970 get a good custom HD 7970 Ghz for USD 450. 8 phase power. very good vapor-x cooler. overclocking to 1250 - 1300 Mhz should be easy.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/media/media_index.aspx?psn=0004&articleID=4654&lid=1

everybody knows a HD 7970 is 3 - 5% faster than HD 7950 at same clocks.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/01/xfx_radeon_hd_7950_black_edition_video_card_review/8

So best price perf HD 7950 OC. And maximum perf at the lowest price HD 7970 Ghz.
Edited by raghu78 - 8/4/12 at 11:31pm

This is completely wrong on so many levels.

1) 7970 is 15% faster than a 7950 when both cards are overclocked and a real resolution is used (2560 and beyond).

2) 7970 reference cards can be flashed to 7970 ghz edition with a simple double click to make them run at 1050/1500. Non reference cards cannot.

3) Ghz edition cards use 60W MORE energy than a 925mhz version thus they are EVEN LOUDER because the bios ups the voltage slightly

4) Custom, non reference coolers are usually terrible because they dump the heat into your case which is simply bad for business. Especially if you crossfire, this is a bad idea

No its not.

1) Average Sapphire oc for example easily oc's to the same clocks as the 7970 overclocked. thats roughly a 5% difference in performance.
2) Yes, you are just stating facts.
3) there are no reference ghz editions for all i know so thats not a problem.
4) They are still better than reference coolers.
Edited by perkeleprkl - 8/5/12 at 1:48am

1. At the same clocks a HD 7970 is definitely not 15% faster than HD 7950 even at 1600p.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5476/amd-radeon-7950-review/18
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680/18

Crysis Warhead 2560 x 1600 Enthusiast 4x AA

HD 7950 (1050) - 37.2
HD 7970 Ghz (1050) - 39

Metro 2033 2560 x 1600 Very High AAA

HD 7950 (1050) - 40
HD 7970 Ghz (1050) - 41.5

The other games like Batman AC, Dirt 3 have better scores with the newer 12.7 beta drivers on the HD 7970 Ghz review. So a direct comparison of scores in those games is not possible.

2. Most ref HD 7970 cards overclock to 1125 Mhz at stock voltage of 1.175v . With the HD 7970 (1 Ghz) cards its even more easy. the HD 7970 Ghz is nothing but a HD 7970 with higher voltage (1.218) for guaranteed stability at 1050 Mhz speeds.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5314/xfxs-radeon-hd-7970-black-edition-double-dissipation-the-first-semicustom-7970/6
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680/17

Test benches are identical for both the reviews so power draw figures are directly comparable

Power draw

HD 7970 (925 Mhz) - 391
XFX HD 7970 (1000 Mhz) - 398
XFX HD 7970 (1125 Mhz) - 424
HD 7970 Ghz (1050 Mhz) - 429
HD 7970 Ghz (1200 Mhz) - 485

3. The HD 7970 Ghz cards have a better probability of hitting 1200 Mhz at stock voltage with their increased voltage from 1.175 on the ref HD 7970 to 1.218 on the HD 7970 Ghz.

4. As far as Crossfire is concerned the most important thing is good case cooling and air flow. Also there needs to be enough gap between the 2 cards (atleast 4 slots). The ref blower style cooler might be better because it vents hot air outside the cabinet. But the ref HD 7970 fans get loud when overclocking which isn't the case with custom cooler designs.
Edited by raghu78 - 8/5/12 at 3:00am