AMD Rolls Out new HD 7950 BIOS, Expects Existing Customers to Look the Other Way

To read the whole article CLICK HERE.

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AMD today pushed out a BIOS update for its Radeon HD 7950 line of cards, but only for reviewers….for the time being.

The company says the updates this refreshed BIOS has will in many ways mirror the style of update delivered to the 7970: apparent performance updates, new features, and an increased clock speed to 850MHz base/925MHz with “Boost” (compared an original base speed of 800MHz).

While AMD’s public affairs corps want this to be seen as being inline with industry standards, the optics of this read as a bait and switch as, reportedly, these clock speeds aren’t even available on all products (let alone the ones already in the channel) and AMD itself doesn’t guarantee that it will work. AMD is cautioning users to do the update only if the card has a dual bios switch.

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We all know why this is being done and personally I am hoping it will allow AMD to regain some momentum. However, after the HD 7970 "GHz Edition" launch and subsequent failure, I'm not keeping my hopes up.... :(

AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB with PowerTune Boost Review

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphic...e-Boost-Review

http://www.pcper.com/files/imagecach.../frequency.jpg

http://www.pcper.com/files/imagecach...3-1920-bar.jpg

Tahiti PRO Boost BIOS Jul12 2012

https://s3.amazonaws.com/pcper-artic...Jul12_2012.exe

Under no circumstance can a conclusion be reached since no one knows whether or not this card will actually become available in "reference" form. It's exactly what happened with the HD 7970 GHz which was never available in a non-premium form. As it stands launch day HD 7970s are still available without any way of distinguishing them from upgraded designs other than sometimes-vague mentions of clock speeds on retailers' pages.

IMO, it hearkens back to the days when NVIDIA asked reviewers to use overclocked GTX 460 cards against newer AMD designs, except this time, AMD is passing their spiel off as an "upgrade" which may or may not have any foundation in reality.

On this one, I am taking a wait and see approach after being burnt once before.

My 7950 is already at 880 out of the box so I'm good. No BIOS update for me.

I updated my HD7970's with the Ghz bios since it was free and easy to do. I have had both the HD7970 and GTX680 and personally like the HD7970's better. Never tried the HD7950's, so can't really speak to them, but at the current prices it would seem like the HD79xx series are the better buy IMHO.

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Originally Posted by Utnorris

but at the current prices it would seem like the HD79xx series are the better buy IMHO.

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That I can agree with.....for now. :D

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Originally Posted by SKYMTL

That I can agree with.....for now. :D

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A hint? Why? :confused:

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Originally Posted by labs23

A hint? Why? :confused:

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Because after Nvidia launched the 680's AMD slashed the prices of the 7 series cards. Now they are great bang for buck. I use 2 680's, but if I were buying now, I would get a couple of 7970's at the cheap price they are currently.

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While AMD’s public affairs corps want this to be seen as being inline with industry standards

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They kind of have a point, same thing as Mainboard manufacturers offering bios updates and advising against updating the bios at the same time.
But what manufacturers tell users to do with hardware isn't really relevant on XS, direct die cooling, sub zero cooling, modded bios and so on all are against manufacturer recommendations as well.


If however it stops a couple hundred average joes from doing it wrong and bricking their cards in the process followed by them going around crying "AMD is oh so suck and evil" then honestly its a good thing that they advice against it.

My HD7950 is coming with 900MHz core out of the box so this doesn't really concern me. It may steer off potential buyers of GTX 660Ti though. It all depends on the numbers in benches when GTX 660Ti goes live...

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Originally Posted by naokaji

They kind of have a point, same thing as Mainboard manufacturers offering bios updates and advising against updating the bios at the same time.
But what manufacturers tell users to do with hardware isn't really relevant on XS, direct die cooling, sub zero cooling, modded bios and so on all are against manufacturer recommendations as well.

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A successful BIOS flash won't void your mobo's warranty. Flash this BIOS to the wrong chip on a HD 7950 and even if it is successful....ding! Bye bye warranty. :(

how about playing experience in boost swing?

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Originally Posted by SKYMTL

It's exactly what happened with the HD 7970 GHz which was never available in a non-premium form. As it stands launch day HD 7970s are still available without any way of distinguishing them from upgraded designs other than sometimes-vague mentions of clock speeds on retailers' pages.

On this one, I am taking a wait and see approach after being burnt once before.

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HD 7970 Ghz cards are available at very good prices. I don't understand where this accusation of " HD 7970 GHz which was never available in a non-premium form " came from.

Newegg has four HD 7970 Ghz cards priced at USD 450 - 470 range

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=

Amazon has the Gigabyte and Sapphire HD 7970 Ghz cards for USD 480 - 500

Gigabyte HD 7970 Ghz (1100 Mhz)
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-PCI-E...dp/B008WAMV3Y/

Sapphire HD 7970 Ghz
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DV...dp/B008PQAE98/

Agreed that these cards launched later than expected in the channel. Instead of mid July they landed up in late July. These cards are labeled as HD 7970 Ghz . I think your statements are just not factual.

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AMD Updates Radeon HD 7950 to Thwart GeForce GTX 660 Ti
AMD is preparing to update the specifications of its Radeon HD 7950 graphics processor to make it more competitive in the sub-$400 market segment, particularly against NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 660 Ti graphics processor. The update is much like that of the Radeon HD 7750, which got its core frequency increased from 800 to 900 MHz in a specifications update. The company released a new BIOS ROM image file which works on all AMD reference design Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards, which implements the new specifications.

The new specifications sees the GPU core frequency increased to 850 MHz (from 800 MHz), and introduces PowerTune with Boost, which sends the GPU clock speed up to 925 MHz, when applications demand it. The memory frequency stays unchanged, at 1250 MHz, and so do the physical specifications of the GPU, such as stream processor, TMU, and ROP counts. All Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards manufactured from mid-August will feature the new specifications, prices will remain unchanged. If you're familiar with manually updating the BIOS, you can check it out (at your own risk) from our VGA BIOS Database. Set your card's BIOS selector switch to "1" (if available), and update the BIOS. It works only with AMD reference-design HD 7950 cards.

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http://www.techpowerup.com/170436/AM...TX-660-Ti.html
DOWNLOAD: BIOS released by AMD which enables 850/925 boost clocks for reference design HD 7950 cards

HD7950s are hitting $330 in the States -- looks as if most folks run 1000/1400 with 'em.

Not sure the 660ti will find a price point without slaying GTX670 sales -- unless those early benchies for the 660ti were a tad 'optimistic'

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Originally Posted by raghu78

HD 7970 Ghz cards are available at very good prices. I don't understand where this accusation of " HD 7970 GHz which was never available in a non-premium form " came from.

Newegg has four HD 7970 Ghz cards priced at USD 450 - 470 range

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=

Amazon has the Gigabyte and Sapphire HD 7970 Ghz cards for USD 480 - 500

Gigabyte HD 7970 Ghz (1100 Mhz)
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-PCI-E...dp/B008WAMV3Y/

Sapphire HD 7970 Ghz
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DV...dp/B008PQAE98/

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You've just proven my point. All of those cards are "premium" edition cards with custom designs and upgraded heatsinks.

Initially AMD claimed the price difference between the "reference" and GHz Edition cards would be $50. Now, we are seeing $399 (and in some cases lower) reference-clocked versions and ONE GHz Edition card priced at $449. The rest of the GHz Edition cards are hitting the $470 to $499 marks. That's a serious disconnect.

Also note that at no time did I say that the GHz Edition wasn't well priced. I actually think it is a surprisingly good value. However, honest reviewers (see: Anandtech, us at HWC, etc.) did not like and still do not like how AMD is going about these knee-jerk reactions of theirs. It introduces needless confusion into a market that desperately needs clarity right now.

As I have said, this has NOTHING to do with the product which in all cases is well priced and performs very well. It has EVERYTHING to do with the way these cards are being marketed.

And for the record, "GHz Edition" cards only became labelled as such last week. Check the web cache of Newegg, etc. and most retailers STILL don't list them properly. ;)




But...we all know you already raghu78. You'll take one line of the above post and will try to pick it apart looking for a bias that just isn't there.

Not sure what you're are going on about.

The ATI/AMD road-to-recovery has been based upon fighting at, and winning, price-points in comparison to nVidia products. They did that at the initial Southern Islands product release, and have boosted the stock clocks while slashing prices 6 months later, clearly fighting at price-points at which they feel a performance advantage.

Whether Southern Islands cards were 'gimped' at release by AMD, I don't believe, is really up for debate. I believe they were.

Even at review and roll-out, HD7950s were clocking 1000MHz+ -- (you included). Some folks took the 800MHz stock clock of the HD7950 over 1100MHz. The headroom was always there.

Not putting words in your mouth, but you seem ticked that *OC'ed* factory cards (1GHz editions?) are some sort of marketing failure from AMD? When the headroom was always there to run beyond 1000MHz? And then link to your website?

And, you mad? :p:

Sorry. I don't believe folks are following you on this ...

I think SKYMTL's point is, the headroom has always been there so why is this being sold as a new SKU with a higher price point?

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Originally Posted by [XC] Oj101

I think SKYMTL's point is, the headroom has always been there so why is this being sold as a new SKU with a higher price point?

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Bingo. To make matters worse, as far as anyone can tell, there won't be a way to distinguish the HD 7950 Rev#1 from the HD 7950 Rev#2. So why not just call it a "HD 7955" or something? Instead, they pressed the panic button, realizing NVIDIA may be coming out with something highly competitive at a good price point and pretty much FUBAR'd their lineup.

I'm actually frustrated because AMD seems to be shooting themselves in the foot with this. Their lineup was extremely strong and remains so but now they've added a "HD 7950 Boost" to it that may or may not be available at the price they say and likely won't have anything that allows it to stand apart from the tens of thousands of non-Boost HD 7970s already in the channel. They're sowing confusion simply to get some positive press before the competition launches something.

Hopefully, AMD will brand this new card to avoid confusion, have AT LEAST four SKUs with the stated price of not a dime more than the current card (now at $319 to $349)....and I'll be singing their praises.

We've seen this all before with the broken promises on the HD 7970 GHz followed by sort-of availability followed by revised descriptions. I actually hope I'm wrong about this one but until I see all of the above mentioned things, I can't be optimistic. For the time being I'm playing it safe and not falling for the same trick again.

Good point there by Skymtl, consumer confusion is certainly a problem with the way amd is handling the situation.

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Originally Posted by SKYMTL

You've just proven my point. All of those cards are "premium" edition cards with custom designs and upgraded heatsinks.

Initially AMD claimed the price difference between the "reference" and GHz Edition cards would be $50. Now, we are seeing $399 (and in some cases lower) reference-clocked versions and ONE GHz Edition card priced at $449. The rest of the GHz Edition cards are hitting the $470 to $499 marks. That's a serious disconnect.

Also note that at no time did I say that the GHz Edition wasn't well priced. I actually think it is a surprisingly good value. However, honest reviewers (see: Anandtech, us at HWC, etc.) did not like and still do not like how AMD is going about these knee-jerk reactions of theirs. It introduces needless confusion into a market that desperately needs clarity right now.

As I have said, this has NOTHING to do with the product which in all cases is well priced and performs very well. It has EVERYTHING to do with the way these cards are being marketed.

And for the record, "GHz Edition" cards only became labelled as such last week. Check the web cache of Newegg, etc. and most retailers STILL don't list them properly. ;)

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There are different price points for HD 7970 cards based on whether its a stock speed reference design, factory overclocked custom cooler designs which use the ref HD 7970 PCB ,completely custom designs like MSI HD7970 Ligthning and the recently available HD 7970 Ghz cards. All the HD 7970 versions except MSI Lightning are available at USD 400 - 470 prices. MSI HD 7970 Lightning sells for USD 520

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=

In fact Nvidia's GTX 680 has an even wider range of prices starting at USD 500 and going upto USD 660.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=

You have nothing to say about a USD 160 difference between the cheapest and costliest GTX 680 based on card design, clocks and other features like voltage unlocking. In fact AMD does not voltage lock the HD 7970s which is a major advantage for enthusiasts who push their cards for maximum performance. Nvidia and EVGA are charging USD 660 for the voltage unlocked GTX 680 classified while every HD 7970 right from the ones selling for USD 400 are voltage unlocked. But you have all the grudge against AMD for having a much smaller range of prices, better enthusiast friendly features like voltage overclocking and overall better price perf.

Everybody knows the Nvidia GTX 680 was clocked to beat the ref HD 7970 initially. As you itself agreed the overclocking headroom on the HD 7970s was very good that hitting 1125 Mhz in AMD CCC was easy. But mind you it was not guaranteed that every card hit 1125 Mhz as you reviewers like to say. You never benched a voltage overclocked HD 7970 to a overclocked GTX 680 without unlocked voltage ( because the majority of the GTX 680s are voltage locked). You did not want to spoil the marketing win that Nvidia had gained from the stock performance. Why don't you criticise Nvidia for only allowing EVGA to come up with voltage unlocked GTX 680 classified and charging insane prices to top it. Nvidia has been an aggressive company with tremendous market power and the ability to influence tech press and the industry in general.

The number of GTX 690 SKUs three months from launch in newegg is 3. one from ASUS from two from EVGA. None of the other Nvidia partners even bothered or maybe weren't allowed I guess. Isn't this product which has just 3 SKUs three months after launch a joke. Yet you were all praise for the GTX 690.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=

I have found you only praise Nvidia after the Kepler launch and not a single word of criticism for so many goofups on their side. But you have something to say about AMD every now and then. I guess that reflects more on you than on AMD. A well informed consumer will never have any confusion picking the right card he wants based on features, quality, warranty, vendor reputation etc. And thats the way it is in general in any industry. The uninformed consumer will mostly get easily carried away by fancy marketing and tricks.

You are right, in the end, it is up to the consumers to decide. Which is why reporting things like this will be the norm from now on. Be it AMD, Intel or NVIDIA, I can promise you that.

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Originally Posted by SKYMTL

You are right, in the end, it is up to the consumers to decide. Which is why reporting things like this will be the norm from now on. Be it AMD, Intel or NVIDIA, I can promise you that.

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Whats your response to Nvidia allowing EVGA to milk the market with their voltage unlocked GTX 680 classified or the fact that the GTX 690 has 3 SKUs three months after launch. What about the pricing on nVIDIA GTX 680 cards. Even GTX 680 2GB cards are selling for USD 550. This for a chip which is smaller in size than HD 7970, is good only at gaming and sucks at other compute applications . Radeon HD 7970 Ghz cards which come at 1050 - 1100 Mhz selling for USD 470 and can be further pushed with voltage overclocking to 1200 Mhz and higher. If you are honest I would like to see you write an article about this intentional milking of the market by Nvidia and EVGA with their Classified cards. If you are bold enough you could question why Nvidia did not design every GTX 680 with unlocked voltage or atleast allow all partners to have voltage unlocked versions.

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Originally Posted by raghu78

Whats your response to Nvidia allowing EVGA to milk the market with their voltage unlocked GTX 680 classified or the fact that the GTX 690 has 3 SKUs three months after launch. What about the pricing on nVIDIA GTX 680 cards. Even GTX 680 2GB cards are selling for USD 550. This for a chip which is smaller in size than HD 7970, is good only at gaming and sucks at other compute applications . Radeon HD 7970 Ghz cards which come at 1050 - 1100 Mhz selling for USD 470 and can be further pushed with voltage overclocking to 1200 Mhz and higher. If you are honest I would like to see you write an article about this intentional milking of the market by Nvidia and EVGA with their Classified cards. If you are bold enough you could question why Nvidia did not design every GTX 680 with unlocked voltage or atleast allow all partners to have voltage unlocked versions.

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Loaded questions. Quick answers so this thread doesn't go too far off the rails.

Neither NVIDIA nor AMD can control what their board partners do to non-reference designs but they CAN require that a certain amount of cards are still available for their stated SRP. I see no less than 8 GTX 680 SKUs at Amazon, Newegg and NCIX selling for the stated SRP of $499.

A free market is the determining factor in GPU costs. If people buy $700 cards, board partners will continue to make them. Don't blame the companies, blame the consumers who support the outrageous prices.

You also seem to forget that with a custom BIOS and adequate software, a GTX 680 like the Lightning or the upcoming Matrix can go well above NVIDIA's voltage ceiling. Companies are just forced to innovate a bit to get to that level and I personally don't have an issue with that. :)

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Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Loaded questions. Quick answers so this thread doesn't go too far off the rails.

Neither NVIDIA nor AMD can control what their board partners do to non-reference designs but they CAN require that a certain amount of cards are still available for their stated SRP. I see no less than 8 GTX 680 SKUs at Amazon, Newegg and NCIX selling for the stated SRP of $499.

A free market is the determining factor in GPU costs. If people buy $700 cards, board partners will continue to make them. Don't blame the companies, blame the consumers who support the outrageous prices.

You also seem to forget that with a custom BIOS and adequate software, a GTX 680 like the Lightning or the upcoming Matrix can go well above NVIDIA's voltage ceiling. Companies are just forced to innovate a bit to get to that level and I personally don't have an issue with that. :)

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Let me quote you

"Initially AMD claimed the price difference between the "reference" and GHz Edition cards would be $50. Now, we are seeing $399 (and in some cases lower) reference-clocked versions and ONE GHz Edition card priced at $449. The rest of the GHz Edition cards are hitting the $470 to $499 marks. That's a serious disconnect. "

And then you say

"Neither NVIDIA nor AMD can control what their board partners do to non-reference designs but they CAN require that a certain amount of cards are still available for their stated SRP. I see no less than 8 GTX 680 SKUs at Amazon, Newegg and NCIX selling for the stated SRP of $499. A free market is the determining factor in GPU costs. "

The difference between the Gigabyte HD 7970 (1 Ghz) and Gigabyte HD 7970 Ghz (1.1 Ghz) is exactly USD 30 (USD 50 with rebate) in newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125413
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125439

I find AMD's partners pricing far more agreeable than Nvidia's partners. What is really your grudge against AMD. that their cards are priced even better than what was expected. Pricing between different retailers will vary even for the same card. The Sapphire HD 7970 Ghz Vapor-X costs USD 470 at newegg and USD 500 at amazon. You still haven't picked on Nvidia for locking the voltage on their cards. In fact you instead are appreciating Nvidia partners for their innovation in overcoming an artificial handicap and not calling Nvidia on what is obviously an easy to see money making trick.

As far as the thread topic is concerned AMD partners have very good HD 7950 OC designs using HD 7970 PCB like the Sapphire HD 7950 Mhz edition. So if a user has a little bit of common sense he can pick such a design.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102991

I suggest you review this card at HWC and see for yourself the value AMD is providing at USD 350. This card's stock performance is decent and overclocked performance with voltage tweaking is on par with overclocked GTX 670.