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** ATI RADEON 7950 OVERCLOCKING & HEAVEN RESULTS!! **

OcUK Staff
Joined
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OcUK HQ
Hi there

First things first, this is all the benchmarks you are getting, so be grateful for this. I've done this to simply see how they clock and how the Heaven scores compete to the NVIDIA GTX 580 3GB and ATI 7970 3GB.

First of all the card tested is a stock version from one of the AIB's, the cooler is rather cut down and not that powerful, as the same AIB also has OC editions which come with a much better cooler. However even still with this stock average performing cooler the card managed the following:-

1. Using ATI OverDrive it maxed out - NDAMHz Core & NDAMHz memory.
2. Using Asus 7970 BIOS it managed - NDAMHz Core & NDAMHz memory.

Flashing the card was the same as flashing a 7970, very easy, unfortunately it DID NOT unlock any additional shaders, the card had the stock 1792 shaders still, though these cards do have a FULL 32 ROPS.

First of all here is the results of this card:-


ATI RADEON 7950 Stock (NDAMHz Core / NDAMHz Memory)

7950stock.jpg



ATI RADEON 7950 Maxed on Overdrive (NDAMHz Core / NDAMHz Memory)

7950oc.jpg



ATI RADEON 7950 Maxed OC on Asus OC BIOS (NDAMHz Core / NDAMHz Memory)


1680x1050 Resolution with 4x as per OcUK Benchmark
79501680.jpg


1920x1080 Resolution with 4x as per OcUK Benchmark
79501920.jpg


2560x1600 Resolution with 4x as per OcUK Benchmark
79502560.jpg




Heaven 2.5 @ 1920x1080 & 2560x1600 with 4x and 4x enabled for testing on NVIDIA GTX 580 3GB OC @ 902MHz Core & 4355MHz RAM

heaven580oc1920.jpg


heaven580oc2560.jpg





ATI 7970 Results at Max OC using Asus BIOS - 1225MHz Core & 7800MHz RAM:-

1680j.jpg

1920e.jpg

2560k.jpg








Conclusion

A very impressive card indeed, with a price point in the region £350 Inc. VAT that matches GTX 580 1.5GB pricing and this card matches one for performance but has two bonuses. More memory which makes it more future proof and better for high-res gaming, but even more importantly just like the 7970 these cards are hugely overclockable.

Clocking the 7950 at NDAMHz core and NDAMHz memory which they all do with ease (with the Asus BIOS), you have a stock 7970 performing card for considerably less money. Unfortunately it does seem like its not possible to unlock the shaders and as we've seen the 7970 is a true overclocking demond.

So in essence the maximum stable overclock I achieved was NDAMHz Core and NDAMHz memory using the Asus BIOS. Using that same BIOS on a 7970 were talking around 1225-1255MHz Core and 7500-7800Mhz memory. Though remember the 7970 has the full 2048 shaders which gives a decent performance boost.

All in all the 7950 is approx 30% cheaper than the 7970 but when flashed and overclocked its only about 10-15% slower. The 7970 is faster and definetely has a better cooler without doubt, plus a more quieter cooler too, that really helps to keep the case temperatures down, wheras 7950 coolers just heat your case up. So it still stands if you want the best buy the 7970.

Overall the 7950 is great value for money, against an overclocked GTX 580 3GB the 7950 when overclocked is faster in benchmarks and its overclocked game performance should be at least on par with an overclocked GTX 580 3GB gaming performance, so as the card cost less than a 580 3GB, the 7950 is good value.

We have stock now and for launch on January 31st we shall approx 500 cards. :D
 
OcUK Staff
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UPDATE:

Just discovered it maybe possible all 2048 shaders have unlocked, just GPU-Z is reporting wrong.

Card is running a 7970 BIOS fine though, am going to do more testing. :)
 
Associate
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857
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UK
Very impressive, I was deciding on a 6950 but I may wait for this as its only £90 more. I have yet to read into the performance difference from the 6950 to the 7950. Is it worth the £90?
 
OcUK Staff
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Very impressive, I was deciding on a 6950 but I may wait for this as its only £90 more. I have yet to read into the performance difference from the 6950 to the 7950. Is it worth the £90?

Its more than £90 more! We sell 6950's at like £210, I said these will be around £350, thats £140 from my maths. :p
 
Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2009
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1,657
UPDATE:

Just discovered it maybe possible all 2048 shaders have unlocked, just GPU-Z is reporting wrong.

Card is running a 7970 BIOS fine though, am going to do more testing. :)

Nice work Gibbo- good luck with it and keep us posted.

The results look really good for the 7950 and being the same price as the 580 1.5gb it should be a no brainer.

Is this another little gem from AMD?
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Sep 2009
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London
Stock 7970 performace from an overclocked 7950 at that price point is stunning, if they can be unlocked to 7970 then they're simply amazing and will sell like hot cakes on a cold winter day!
 
OcUK Staff
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Quickest way to test Gibbo
Run a 7970 bench at 950MHZ on the core, then run the flashed 7950 at 950MHZ on the same settings.
Compare both results.
Would certainly be interesting.

Well I've just re-ran Heaven at 810Mhz Core & 5000Mhz Memory with the 7970 BIOS and score was 1381, so no difference unless your counting the 2 points.

From that I'd say were still on 1792 shader, but maybe Heaven is no use for that?

I shall bench at 7970 speeds, take result, then put a real 7970 in and bench to confirm for sure, but won't be until tomorrow now.
 
Soldato
Joined
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West Sussex
[WU-TANG]GZA;21102051 said:
Is it time to DSR the 7970? :D

Nah because I'm not one who likes to faff around to make a diamond out of a piece of glass tbh.

I've never overclocked my CPU. I don't buy things based on what you can turn them into, I buy things based on their performance out of the box.

You wouldn't like me really, I'm pretty much anti overclocking :D
 
Associate
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Nah because I'm not one who likes to faff around to make a diamond out of a piece of glass tbh.

I've never overclocked my CPU. I don't buy things based on what you can turn them into, I buy things based on their performance out of the box.

You wouldn't like me really, I'm pretty much anti overclocking :D

In a way I would kinda agree but the 7970 especially seems to be designed to be underclocked so crank that baby up!!
 
Soldato
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[WU-TANG]GZA;21102095 said:
In a way I would kinda agree but the 7970 especially seems to be designed to be underclocked so crank that baby up!!

Yeah I did :) got 1ghz on shakey drivers. It's AB that makes it unstable, but I must have a fan profile.. I worry otherwise lol.

I dunno man.. I was just born in an era where you got nothing for nothing and didn't expect to.

Plus I don't like taking risks based on "What if". So basically I would never buy a card based on what I may be able to do with it, because if it didn't work out then you have bought something you didn't really want.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,188
With the GK104 being linked with a $299 price, you can imagine where pricing for these will be in a month or two(sorry Gibbo). AMD are fully taking advantage of no competition we can do what we like pricing.

So its 33% faster than a 580gtx overclocked by 15%(if I'm remembering the 580gtx stock clock right?) making it basically 45% faster than a stock 580gtx..... and with what I assume will be some nice "unlocked" bioses for higher overclocking(judging from 7970 results) with another potential 10% overclock just on air to add on top of that make these awesome cards.

If they unlock shader wise as well you've got an epic card. But pricing will likely be in the range of $350 within a month, maybe 2. Depends, you need a card priced around/below previous gen to cause the price drops everyone has been waiting for and AMD cleverly(irritatingly also) are seemingly holding back the 7950 and probably the 7870 as long as they can to get as high a price on these as possible :(

Once prices adjust these cards will be awesome.

YOu have to laugh at people who can't work out the true potential of these cards, the not even top end card is 45% faster than a stock 580gtx..... but the 7970 isn't really any faster than a 580gtx according to some
 
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