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Review: AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics processor

by Tarinder Sandhu on 31 January 2012, 05:00 4.0

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabbwb

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Testing methodoloy

GPU comparisons

Graphics card Approx.
pricing
GPU clock
(MHz)
Stream
processors
Shader clock
(MHz)
Memory clock
(MHz)
Memory bus
(bits)
Graphics driver
  AMD Radeon HD 6990 (4,096MB) £530 830 3,072 830 5,000 256 x 2 Catalyst 11.12
  AMD Radeon HD 7970 (3,072MB) £450 925 2,048 925 5,500 384 Catalyst 11.12 RC11
  AMD Radeon HD 7950 (3,072MB) £350 800 1,792 800 5,000 384 Catalyst 11.12 RC11
  AMD Radeon HD 6970 (2,048MB) £255 880 1,536 880 5,500 256 Catalyst 11.12
  AMD Radeon HD 6950 (2,048MB) £185 800 1,408 800 5,000 256 Catalyst 11.12
  AMD Radeon HD 6870 (1,024MB) £140 900 1,120 900 4,200 256 Catalyst 11.12
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 (3,072MB) £620 607 1,024 1,215 3,414 384 x 2 ForceWare 285.88
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (1,536MB) £350 772 512 1,544 4,008 384 ForceWare 285.88
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (1,280MB) £240 732 480 1,464 3,800 320 ForceWare 285.88
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 (1,280MB) £220 732 448 1,464 3,800 320 ForceWare 285.88
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1,024MB) £170 822 384 1,645 4,008 256 ForceWare 285.88

High-end test bench

Processor Intel Core i5-2500K (3.33GHz, 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)

High-end benchmark suite

3DMark 11 Performance and Extreme presets
Aliens vs. Predator DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality
Batman: Arkham City DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 8xAA, ultra quality
Battlefield 3 DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, ultra quality
Crysis 2 DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, ultra quality
Just Cause 2 DX10, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality
Total War: Shogun 2 DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 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 Crysis 2
Temperature To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and whilst playing Crysis 2
Noise A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and whilst playing Crysis 2
Overclocking Pushing the graphics card as far as it will go, we increase speeds and re-run the Aliens vs. Predator benchmark
HEXUS bang4buck A custom metric used to evaluate comparative performance with price factored in

Notes

As is customary with a new launch, AMD's updated the testing driver to Catalyst 11.12 RC11. We've used this on the two Radeon HD 7900-series cards in this line-up. From what we can discern when comparing results to the press driver for the launch of the HD 7970 a month ago, there are speed-ups in Aliens vs. Predator and, to a smaller extent, in Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3.

Though most will compare the two Radeons, as they're based on the same underlying architecture, the actual comparo to look out for is Radeon HD 7950 vs. GeForce GTX 580 - these two GPUs are set to compete on a price basis until NVIDIA brings its own high-end mojo with the release of 'Kepler' GPUs in a short while.

The comparison cards will let us know just how the Radeon HD 7950 stacks up against all single-card offerings costing more than £150.