HD 7970 Market Segment Analysis
 GeForce
GTX 670
Radeon
HD 7970
GeForce 
GTX 680
HD 7970
GHz Ed.
MSI HD 7970 
Lightning
Gigabyte HD 
7970 SuperOC
Sapphire HD 
7970 Toxic
ASUS HD
7970 Matrix
HIS HD 7970
X Turbo
GeForce 
GTX 690
Shader Units1344204815362048204820482048204820482x 1536
ROPs3232323232323232322x 32
Graphics ProcessorGK104TahitiGK104TahitiTahitiTahitiTahitiTahitiTahiti2x GK104
Transistors3500M4310M3500M4310M4310M4310M4310M4310M4310M2x 3500M
Memory Size2048 MB3072 MB2048 MB3072 MB3072 MB3072 MB3072 MB3072 MB3072 MB2x 2048 MB
Memory Bus Width256 bit384 bit256 bit384 bit384 bit384 bit384 bit384 bit384 bit2x 256 bit
Core Clock915 MHz+925 MHz1006 MHz+1050 MHz1070 MHz1080 MHz1100 MHz1100 MHz1180 MHz915 MHz+
Memory Clock1502 MHz1375 MHz1502 MHz1500 MHz1400 MHz1375 MHz1500 MHz1650 MHz1500 MHz1502 MHz
Price$380$390$480$400$500$500$600$500$600$1000


포장










내용




You will receive:
  • Graphics card
  • Driver CD + Documentation
  • DVI adapter
  • CrossFire Bridge
  • Active single-link mini-DP to DVI adapter
  • "Weight Lifter" to support the card in the case



The Card

























A Closer Look





























Test System

Test System - VGA Rev. 24
Processor:Intel Core i7-3770K @ 4.6 GHz
(Ivy Bridge, 8192 KB Cache)
Motherboard:ASUS Maximus V Gene
Intel Z77
Memory:2x 4096 MB Corsair Vengeance PC3-12800 DDR3 
@ 1600 MHz 9-9-9-24
Harddisk:WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500 GB
Power Supply:Antec HCP-1200 1200W
Software:Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1
Drivers:NVIDIA: 306.23 WHQL
ATI: Catalyst 12.8 WHQL
ATI HD 7000: Catalyst 12.11 Beta
Display:LG Flatron W3000H 30" 2560x1600
3x Hanns.G HL225DBB 21.5" 1920x1080



  • All video card results were obtained on this exact system with exactly the same configuration.
  • All games were set to their highest quality setting unless indicated otherwise.
  • AA and AF are applied via in-game settings, not via the driver's control panel.
Each benchmark was tested at the following settings and resolution:
  • 1280 x 800, 2x Anti-aliasing. Common resolution for most smaller flatscreens today (17" - 19"). A bit of eye candy turned on in the drivers.
  • 1680 x 1050, 4x Anti-aliasing. Most common widescreen resolution on larger displays (19" - 22"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
  • 1920 x 1200, 4x Anti-aliasing. Typical widescreen resolution for large displays (22" - 26"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
  • 2560 x 1600, 4x Anti-aliasing. Highest possible resolution for commonly available displays (30"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.




Alan Wake

















Batman: Arkham City
















Battlefield 3

















Borderlands 2















Crysis















Crysis 2



















Diablo III

















Dragon Age II

















F1 2012
















Max Payne 3
















Metro 2033

















Sleeping Dogs


















Sniper Elite V2

















STALKER: Call of Pripyat













StarCraft II















Total War: Shogun 2


















The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim


















World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
















3DMark 11
















Unigine Heaven 2.0
















Power Consumption





















Fan Noise















Performance Summary



















Performance per Watt




















Performance per Dollar


















Overclocking






Maximum Overclock Comparison
Max. GPU ClockMax. Memory Clock
HIS HD 7970 X Turbo1265 MHz1735 MHz
ASUS HD 7970 Matrix1230 MHz1790 MHz
Sapphire HD 7970 Toxic1170 MHz1870 MHz
Gigabyte HD 7970 SOC1155 MHz1905 MHz
MSI HD 7970 Lightning1210 MHz1850 MHz
AMD HD 7970 GHz1185 MHz1635 MHz



Overclocked Performance






Temperatures






GPU Temperature Comparison
IdleLoad
HIS HD 7970 X Turbo34°C68°C
ASUS HD 7970 Matrix39°C70°C
Sapphire HD 7970 Toxic36°C71°C
Gigabyte HD 7970 SOC46°C85°C
MSI HD 7970 Lightning39°C76°C
AMD HD 7970 GHz40°C83°C





Clock Profiles




Core 
Clock
Memory 
Clock
GPU Voltage 
(measured)
Desktop300 MHz150 MHz0.98 V
Multi-Monitor500 MHz1500 MHz1.00 V
Blu-ray Playback501 MHz1500 MHz0.99 V
3D Load1180 MHz1500 MHz1.05 V

CCC Overdrive Limits
Core1500 MHz
Memory2000 MHz




Value and Conclusion



  • The HIS HD 7970 X Turbo retails for $600.
  • Large overclock out of the box
  • Good GPU overclocking potential
  • Four DisplayPort outputs
  • Low temperatures
  • Support for software voltage control
  • Full-size HDMI output
  • Dual-link DVI possible by button-press
  • Voltage measurement points
  • Support for PCI-Express 3.0 and DirectX 11.1
  • High price
  • High idle noise
  • Memory not overclocked
  • Noise under load could be lower
  • Labels for voltage measurement points barely visible
  • CCC Overdrive limits too low


9.0