AMD launches HD7970 GHz edition

Nvidia’s GTX 680 took the single GPU performance crown from AMD’s HD7970 earlier this year, something AMD is looking to reverse with the launch of the HD7970 GHz edition.

The card is identical to the original HD7970 in terms of features, which include AMD Eyefinity 2.0 technology, AMD app acceleration and AMD Crossfire support.

The GHz has a faster core clock speed, 1GHz as opposed to 925MHz, and a 1,500MHz memory speed rather than 1,375MHz on the standard edition.

These speed increases mean the GHz edition has higher memory bandwidth (288GB/s vs. 264GB/S), higher Single Precision compute power (4.3 TFLOPS vs. 3.79 TFLOPS), and higher Double Precision compute power (1.01 TFLOPS vs. 0.947 TFLOPS).

The GHz edition also features a new boost clock function, which increases the GPU core frequency from 1GHz to 1.05GHz if power draw and temperatures aren’t too high.

AMD is claiming the HD7970 is the fastest single GPU in the world, however these claims are based on performance testing a select few games, most at 2560×1600 with 8xAA and 16xAF enabled. We’ll wait for more independent reviews at a wider range of test settings before reporting this as the ultimate truth however.

No local pricing was available at the time of publication, though international prices will start at $499 (R4,170.64).

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Tags: active, AMD, AMD HD7970, Crossfire, Eyefinity, HD7970, nvidia