AMD made the unusual decision of launching its first 28nm graphics card two days before Christmas, and though we found the card to blisteringly quick, the Radeon HD 7970 kinda got lost behind the tinsel and New Year's celebrations.
But in case you'd forgotten, today is the day that the world's fastest single-GPU graphics card arrives in stores ready for collection. If you've been saving up your Christmas money - or you've flogged 'lesser' presents in anticipation - here's a quick breakdown of Radeon HD 7970 pricing and availability at 2pm on day one:
Radeon HD 7970 |
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|---|---|---|---|
| retailer | product | availability | price |
 |
ScanFX HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £479.75* |
| MSI HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £515.75* | |
| Sapphire HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £527.75* | |
| PowerColor HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £479.75* | |
| XFX HD 7970 3GB DD Edition Thermal | Pre-order | £479.99* | |
| Gigabyte HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £515.75* | |
| XGX HD 7970 3GB Black Edition | Pre-order | £515.75* | |
| XFX HD 7970 3GB Core Edition | Pre-order | £515.75* | |
| ASUS HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £527.75* | |
| XFX HD 7970 3GB Black Edition Thermal | Pre-order | £563.75* | |
| ebuyer.com | PowerColor HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £444.97 |
| Sapphire HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £454.97 | |
| XFX HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £464.99 | |
| Gigabyte HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £479.99 | |
| ASUS HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £499.98 | |
| dabs.com | Dabs Value HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £439.99 |
| Gigabyte HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £439.99 | |
| XFX HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £439.99 | |
| ASUS HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £459.99 | |
| novatech.co.uk | MSI HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £515.99 |
| XFX HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £499.99 | |
| ASUS HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £529.99 | |
| overclockers.co.uk | Club3D HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £461.99 |
| VTX3D HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £467.99 | |
| PowerColor HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £479.99 | |
| HIS HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £485.99 | |
| Sapphire HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £491.99 | |
| XFX HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £499.99 | |
| Gigabyte HD 7970 3GB | In stock | £515.99 | |
| OcUK HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £419.99 | |
| MSI HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £515.99 | |
| XFX HD 7970 3GB Black Edition | Pre-order | £559.99 | |
| ASUS HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £559.99 | |
| OcUK H20 HD 7970 3GB | Pre-order | £639.95 | |
*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum. |
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In last year's review (sounds weird saying that about a brand-new card, doesn't it?) we suggested that consumers may want to wait until the price drops after the initial launch-day mayhem subsides.
That recommendation still stands, as day-one pricing appears to be edging higher by the minute. When we started collecting pricing information, ebuyer.com's cheapest option was the PowerColor HD 7970 at a cost of £416.67. A launch-day bargain, we thought, but the cost of the in-stock card has since been bumped up by almost seven per cent to £444.97, which is more in line with the other retailers.
Shop around and you'll find that AMD's latest-greatest is available at reasonable price points; the OCuK HD 7970 3GB card available from overclockers.co.uk £420 is the cheapest option, but stock of that particular model isn't expected until January 27.
Elsewhere, there a wide range of partner cards to choose from, with readily available, but pricing varies wildly - despite the fact that most of the above-listed cards are based on the same reference design.
