Curacao XT 8970 pictured... courtesy of 4chan.

PorkPieCat · 8 Jun 2013 at 19:47

http://wccftech.com/rumor-amd-radeon-hd-8970-pictured-features-curacao-xt-core-2304-sps/

The source allegedly reveals specs too. Also claims $100 cheaper than gtx 780 (which is still painfully expensive, though almost sensible if it vies with Titan). Of course coming from the hive of idiocy that is 4chan, the "leak" could just be a lie. What do people think? Could it match Titan if specs are correct?

illuz · 8 Jun 2013 at 19:54

Overclocked it might hit Titan, but who knows. We can only speculate for now. Either way this is probably AMDs response to 780/Titan.

Mr. May · 8 Jun 2013 at 19:57

Would 15% extra performance over a regular 7970 get it near titan or 780 ?

arc@css · 8 Jun 2013 at 20:05

More likely a little behind / further than the 780, which is around 22% faster than the 7970ghz.

PorkPieCat · 8 Jun 2013 at 20:25

Do 2304 SPs and 48 ROPs get you roughly 15%? Seems like it could be a bit more powerful.

Also just realised $550 is what the 7970 launched at. But the difference is the 7970 released well ahead of GTX 680, and dropped steeply in price when the competition arrived. So $550 is supposed to be competitive... Titan and 780 are clearly somewhere just outside of "enthusiast-gamer" territory, and into "enthusiast/professional" territory. I suppose these 3 cards aren't so much either company's real-world gaming flagships so much as luxury items?

Tonester0011 · 8 Jun 2013 at 20:42

Suppose it meets the better cooling they said

LtMatt · 8 Jun 2013 at 20:48

This has to be the announcement coming next week. Anyone know what day it is?

The specs will put it alongside a gtx 780. Add voltage control and a titan would easily be within reach one would think. Price sounds good as well.

*IF TRUE*

opethdisciple · 8 Jun 2013 at 21:03

With cards as powerful as the Titan, I hope it's not a sing of things to come that you will need a card of this relative performance once the new consoles are out.

Obviously cards such as this will come down in price but still it means everyone with a 7970 or 680 and under will need an upgrade!

se_vietboi · 8 Jun 2013 at 21:04

IF its the same speed as a 780 give or take a little bit but priced $100 cheaper and IF it'll take several more months to be released, many people wouldn't really mind paying that extra $100 to get a 780 now is what I think.

PorkPieCat · 8 Jun 2013 at 21:22

se_vietboi said:
IF its the same speed as a 780 give or take a little bit but priced $100 cheaper and IF it'll take several more months to be released, many people wouldn't really mind paying that extra $100 to get a 780 now is what I think.

Good point, hadn't thought about the actual release date. 780 might even get price slashes by then.

Boomstick777 · 8 Jun 2013 at 21:33

se_vietboi said:
IF its the same speed as a 780 give or take a little bit but priced $100 cheaper and IF it'll take several more months to be released, many people wouldn't really mind paying that extra $100 to get a 780 now is what I think.

Agreed, if the HD 8970 doesn't beat the 780 by at least a few % in raw performance and has the same 3GB vram of 384 bus I would say the 780 is worth the extra as it's available right now..

Looking forward to Maxwell / HD 9000 for a proper upgrade. Roll on Nvidia Geforce 880 GTX..

humbug · 8 Jun 2013 at 21:38

The picture looks real, 8 + 6 Pin PCB and the 7990 cooler.

It has 15% more SP's and 50% more ROP's, from those figures alone it would be about +10%

Seems unlikely, unless there is also some performance improvements from the Stream Processors themselves. say 10%.

$100 cheaper would put it in at £480'ish

Kaapstad · 8 Jun 2013 at 22:17

If AMD were to come up with anything to rival/beat the GTX 780/Titan, the first thing in the specs to look for would be two 8 pin power connectores.

AMD cards are more power hungry than their Keplar counterparts.

Boomstick777 · 8 Jun 2013 at 22:20

humbug said:
$100 cheaper would put it in at £480'ish

Nvidia has set a crazy high precedent, even at $100 less than the 780 it's still a big price hike from previous gens from both camps. Prices will likely settle much lower after a few months.. If you need a card right now the 780 might be worth a lil hike as it looks like it could be within % of the 8970 and it's available now..

Once those price drops

.. 780 is a really nice card, 8970 specs looks really nice as well.. Makes you wander how powerful the 22nm cards are gonna be :eek:

Boomstick777 · 8 Jun 2013 at 22:24

Kaapstad said:
If AMD were to come up with anything to rival/beat the GTX 780/Titan, the first thing in the specs to look for would be two 8 pin power connectores.

AMD cards are more power hungry than their Keplar counterparts.

Was thinking this.. My 7950's kick out a fair bit of heat when under full load, unless their is some wizardry going on with the 8970 I imagine it will be a very hot card. Even with dual fans as reference.. 28nm will be at it's limit.. 22nm is going to bring some monster cards...

flopper · 8 Jun 2013 at 22:29

likely arranged as the 7790.
so should yeild a healthy boost.

Duff-Man · 8 Jun 2013 at 23:04

if those specs are correct, it seems that it would be a few percentage points behind the GTX780, stock for stock. It would be a 12.5% bump over the 7970GE, whereas the GTX780 was around 40-45% bump over the GTX680. The card has a 50% increase in the number of ROPs, so it will be interesting to see how this mixes up the performance scaling. Also, AMD may have tweaked the low-level architecture slightly - we'll have to wait and see.

The real test will be how well it clocks. The GTX780s seem to be clocking well, so the 8970 will need to do the clock well in order to gain further ground.

imginy · 8 Jun 2013 at 23:04

cool I hope it's out soon

It should be great for mining coins so I will have an excuse to buy one on release.

humbug · 8 Jun 2013 at 23:06

Kaapstad said:
If AMD were to come up with anything to rival/beat the GTX 780/Titan, the first thing in the specs to look for would be two 8 pin power connectores.

AMD cards are more power hungry than their Keplar counterparts.

flopper said:
likely arranged as the 7790.
so should yeild a healthy boost.

Quoted these together as they relate.

The 7790 is Interesting, with 40% more Stream Processors and running the same GPU clocks + higher memory clocks than the 7770 it uses about the same amount of power.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-7790-bonaire-performance,review-32655-10.html

7770 = 142w
7790 = 138w

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6837/...eat-sapphire-the-first-desktop-sea-islands/16

7770 = 242w
7790 = 249w

Clearly there is some power optimisation on the 7790.

GoogalyMoogaly · 8 Jun 2013 at 23:36

If it is real I'm hoping they launch with some 3rd part cooler designs as that cooler looks horrid.
I like reference cards having the blower type coolers. 3rd parties will come up with WindForce type coolers, but they're unlikely to come up with blower type coolers (unless HIS do another IceQ cooler like on the 7950.

I'm tempted to go with AMD this gen, I just hope they have decent connectivity for displays. A single Dual-Link DVI isn't enough, especially considering you can only use the first card's outputs in Crossfire setups.