AMD Radeon HD6950/6970(Cayman) Reviews

[STEvil]

interesting end to the vrzone review: "When our Radeon HD 6970 was overclocked to 950MHz core and 1450MHz memory, we threw Furmark at it again. Interestingly enough, our power meter recorded an increase of just 2W. That's not quite possible, isn't it? Your thoughts?"

also note the power draw differences of the 580's in some reviews. In HardOCP's they have the GTX580 drawing just shy of 100w more than the 6970 while in vrzone the difference is only about 10w or something.

[onethreehill]

Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 CrossFire Review
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/813-...ossfire-x.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1488/1/

[Solus Corvus]

This is why it is better to moderate your expectations. All the bitterness is more about broken dreams than anything.

A 6970 is competitive with a 570. That is in line with the recent strategy of their top single GPU competing with Nvidia's second tier.

High resolution and/or high AA performance looks promising. As does CF scaling. I'm looking forward to Antilles performance at 2560x1600.

[Etihtsarom]

Wow. Just, wow. Now we're back to the waiting board. The only upside to this is 5970 has been going down pretty fast AND there's not any game out there taxing enough.

[onethreehill]

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/20126
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha..._hd6950/5.html
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2010/amd_rad...0_cayman_test/
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=22610
http://www.techspot.com/review/348-amd-radeon-6970/
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...yman,2818.html
http://hitechlegion.com/reviews/vide...hd-6950-review
http://hitechlegion.com/reviews/vide...eo-card-review
http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...hd6950_review/
http://tbreak.com/tech/2010/12/amd-hd-6970-review/
http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/...launch_review/
http://www.vortez.co.uk/articles_pag...gb_review.html
http://www.pureoverclock.com/article1164.html
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,80...fikkarte/Test/
http://www.overclockers.com/amd-hd69...s-card-review/
http://www.hartware.net/review_1209.html
http://lanoc.org/review/hardware/vid...ietnam-edition
http://www.ninjalane.com/reviews/video/sapphire-6950
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/g...d6950_review/1
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/373...ard/index.html
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/373...ard/index.html
http://www.eteknix.com/graphics/his-...rd-review-471/
http://www.modders-inc.com/modules.p...Story&reid=340

[Metroid]

6970 is barely faster than the 570 and yet costs a little more which deducts from the power consumption which makes price and power of both cards even. The 570 overclocks better and that is the difference factor. It looks like AMD backfired on this one, and here I was waiting in hopes the 570 would have the price reduced in a week or 2. No waiting anymore, here I go 570 from 460

[Jodiuh]

I... I am... dis... disappointed...

They needed to be $50 less. Would have been nice to see better overclocking results too.

barely faster than a 470 and notably more expensive
same speed as a 570 and costs more...
by what definition is that a "win"?

Then factor in the 30% overclock from a 470.

It eats up more power, but goes for $100 less, and performs the same.

[Dainas]

barely faster than a 470 and notably more expensive
same speed as a 570 and costs more...
by what definition is that a "win"?

You're yelling to the wind Saaya. All the blow hards here who were spewing that the 580 was going to be stomped into the ground and are now calling the 6870 the king of kings will feel vindicated from any amount of success the card has, no matter how predicable and pathetically typical..


Its no failure, but by that measure alone its a success to those vested in it.

[fl0w3n]

I think I am still going to go 6970 once the factory OC editions come out (hoping that means the yields are strong) and maybe price drops a tad?

I am betting on drivers greatly improving once the AMD team learns how to efficiently work with VLIW4. Seeing as how the AMD team hasn't always been the best with drivers, I don't expect the release ones to be any where near full fruition. I see the potential here.

[fl0w3n]

You're yelling to the wind Saaya. All the blow hards here who were spewing that the 580 was going to be stomped into the ground and are now calling the 6870 the king of kings will feel vindicated from any amount of success the card has, no matter how predicable and pathetically typical..


Its no failure, but by that measure alone its a success to those vested in it.

Not sure how any one ever thought the 6970 would be a 580 destroyer

This is coming from some one who highly anticipated the 69xx series...and will likely get one.

Just kinda ignorant based off AMD's tactics clearly drawn with the 5 series. Not to mention AMD themselves drawing conclusions of where they want the 6970 to lay performance wise and price wise.

[ajaidev]

6970 is barely faster than the 570 and yet costs a little more which deducts from the power consumption which makes price and power of both cards even. The 570 overclocks better and that is the difference factor. It looks like AMD backfired on this one, and here I was waiting in hopes the 570 would have the price reduced in a week or 2. No waiting anymore, here I go 570 from 460

In higher resolutions than 1680x1050 the 6970 is rated above GTX 570 and in places where more AA is used.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...ting_ohne_aaaf

The fact of the matter is that 6970 has more memory "2GB to 1.2GB" and a much higher Memory Bandwidth than the GTX 570 "176 000 MB / s to 152 000 MB / s".

6850 on the other hand seems to be similar to 5870 2GB like GTX 570 is to GTX 480 in performance.

[Dainas]

Not sure how any one ever thought the 6970 would be a 580 destroyer

This is coming from some one who highly anticipated the 69xx series...and will likely get one.

Just kinda ignorant based off AMD's tactics clearly drawn with the 5 series. Not to mention AMD themselves drawing conclusions of where they want the 6970 to lay performance wise and price wise.

people got excited because of the 5 series.. Nvidia's incompetence made many people think AMD was breaking canon already established by the 3 and 4 series.

[Tha Last Meal]

this card hd 6970 disappointed !!! hd 6970 come with the same performance GTX 570 so What's New about this card
The biggest problem price of this card
hd 6970=370$
gtx 570=350$

ohhhh Jesus! amd hd 6970 epic fail

[Metroid]

...

It helps in some cases and lose on others.





My judgement is still valid

[CedricFP]

I think I am still going to go 6970 once the factory OC editions come out (hoping that means the yields are strong) and maybe price drops a tad?

I am betting on drivers greatly improving once the AMD team learns how to efficiently work with VLIW4. Seeing as how the AMD team hasn't always been the best with drivers, I don't expect the release ones to be any where near full fruition. I see the potential here.

I keep reading that prices will be raised in 2011 Q1?

[Micutzu]

1x, 2x, 3x and 4x HD 6970 Crossfire X test:

http://lab501.ro/placi-video/his-hd-...tii-multi-card | English translation

[Kuroimaho]

No wonder why the 580/570 didn't appear on AMD's slides.

Massive disappointment. Oh well blessed are the losers for they determine the winners.

[Kaboka]

any review that use the newest driver?

[Solus Corvus]

this card hd 6970 disappointed !!! hd 6970 come with the same performance GTX 570 so What's New about this card
The biggest problem price of this card
hd 6970=370$
gtx 570=350$

ohhhh Jesus! amd hd 6970 epic fail

$20 is epic? If so, I have an epic amount of cash in my wallet.

[Oliverda]

$20 is epic? If so, I have an epic amount of cash in my wallet.

It's only epic for an epic troll.

[fl0w3n]

people got excited because of the 5 series.. Nvidia's incompetence made many people think AMD was breaking canon already established by the 3 and 4 series.

I suppose, but that was a very different case (like you allude too).

However, I suppose a case can be built here too that IF AMD had been able to go with the 32nm process like they originally planned, things may have turned out differently.
But that is kind of a moot point because 32nm being canceled was pretty widely known.

I keep reading that prices will be raised in 2011 Q1?

What reasonings? Got any source for this? If so, I may have to jump on my card choice sooner...that would suck (price wise, not getting the card sooner )

[Tha Last Meal]

$20 is epic? If so, I have an epic amount of cash in my wallet.

Give me one reason to pay 20$ in addition to the 350$ ?

[sergiojr]

Give me one reason to pay 20$ ( 350$) ?

If you need only one reason than 0.7GB of RAM.

[Oliverda]

If you need only one reason than 0.7GB of RAM.

[Tha Last Meal]

If you need only one reason than 0.7GB of RAM.

Really!!
i play on resolution 1920x1200 so Again Give me one reason to pay 20$ in addition to the 350$ Do not forget that gtx 570 (350$) have the same performance hd 6970 (370$)