Testing methodology
GPU comparisons |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics card | GPU clock (MHz) |
Stream processors |
Shader clock (MHz) |
Memory clock (MHz) |
Memory bus (bits) |
Graphics driver | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3,072MB) | 1,000+ | 2,048 | 1,000+ | 6,000 | 384 | Catalyst 12.7 beta | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 (3,072MB) | 925 | 2,048 | 925 | 5,500 | 384 | Catalyst 12.7 beta | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (2,048MB) | 1,006+ | 1,536 | 1,006+ | 6,008 | 256 | ForceWare 304.48 | |
HEXUS high-end test bench |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K (3.30GHz, 6MB smart cache, quad-core, LGA1155) | |||||||||||
| Motherboard | Intel Desktop Board DP67BG | |||||||||||
| Memory | 8GB Corsair Vengeance (9-9-9-24 @ 1,600MHz) | |||||||||||
| Power Supply | Corsair AX750W | |||||||||||
| Monitor | Dell 30in 3007WFP | |||||||||||
| Disk drive(s) | Crucial RealSSD C300 (256GB) | |||||||||||
| Chassis | Corsair Graphite Series 600T | |||||||||||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit, SP1) | |||||||||||
HEXUS high-end benchmark suite |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aliens vs. Predator | DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality | |||||||||||
| Battlefield 3 | DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, ultra quality | |||||||||||
| Batman: Arkham City | DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 8xMSAA, extreme quality | |||||||||||
| Crysis 2 | DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, ultra quality | |||||||||||
| Just Cause 2 | DX10, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality | |||||||||||
| Total War: Shogun 2 | DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, high quality | |||||||||||
| Power Consumption | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record mains power draw both when idle and whilst playing Batman: Arkham City | |||||||||||
| Temperature | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and whilst playing Batman: AC | |||||||||||
| Noise | A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and whilst playing Batman: AC | |||||||||||
Notes
AMD and NVIDIA have both released beta drivers in recent days that improve performance in some of the games we use as graphics-card benchmarks. It would be remiss of us to include the results of this card into older performance graphs without fully appreciating the extra performance derived from the newer drivers alone. We've thus gone grounds-up and compared the GHz Edition to a regular HD 7970 and to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 on the latest Catalyst 12.7 beta and ForceWare 304.48 drivers. Readers wanting a broader picture can take a look at this review, where we have 15 high-end GPUs duking it out.
Boost me up
AMD claims that each Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition card boosts to 1,050MHz core when conditions allow. We logged the per-second GPU frequency in our six real-world games and determined that while the GPU did boost to 1,050MHz in all titles, the percentage of time that it was at this speed varied greatly from game to game. Taking a worst-case scenario into account, the GPU ran at 1,050MHz for 32 per cent of the time in Crysis 2, while it managed to keep at boost speed 88 per cent of the time in Just Cause 2. Underscoring this point, we know that it can boost in games, but we cannot say exactly how it will perform - either at 1,000MHz or 1,050MHz - in your system and with your games.