If amd was confident that 6970 was faster than 580 they would be shouting it out from the rooftops for sure, we might still see that in a couple of days, leaked graphs like we saw for 580. I think its going to end up how previous generations have ended up on the single chip front, its going to be about 10-15% slower and its going to be 20% cheaper.

We heard a few noises about 6970 being hot and powerhungry, I think that might be whats delaying the launch, it cant justify its powerconsumption and heat atm ?