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- Date:
- Thursday , December 22, 2011
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
AMD Radeon HD 7970 Video Card Review
The new Radeon HD 7970 marks the launch of AMD's next generation video cards. The Radeon HD 7970 represents the fastest single-GPU video card from AMD with a new architecture. We will evaluate gameplay performance and compare it to the previous generation, as well as the competition, in single-display and Eyefinity resolutions.
Batman: Arkham City
We are using the full downloaded version of Batman: Arkham City from Steam with the latest patch update. To learn what this game has to offer in terms of graphics options and testing procedure please read our Batman: Arkham City Performance Review and our Batman: Arkham City DirectX 11 Performance Review. We will be running Batman with DX11 enabled along with MVSS and HBAO and we will use Tessellation levels that are playable. In all the tests below, all of the features are enabled, and we adjusted resolution, AA, and Tessellation as needed to find the highest playable settings.
Highest Playable Settings - Single Display
*Note* - In all of our testing from this page forward, all video cards are lined up in our tables and graphs from the most expensive video card, to the least expensive. The Galaxy MDT GTX 580 is more expensive than the Radeon HD 7970, and the HD 7970 is more expensive than the HD 6970.
To enable DX11 in Batman we selected "MVSS and HBAO" under the DX11 feature options in the graphics setting for this game. When that is enabled, we then have the ability to set the level of Tessellation. Tessellation causes quite a dramatic hit on performance in this game, and you can select a low, normal or high mode. Tessellation is used a lot in this game, it is actually used in the environment on the ground, on the walls, and on objects. The latest patch has fixed the DX11 stuttering issue previously experienced. Therefore, with this patch, playing Batman in DX11 on all these video cards was a fluid experience.
Let's start with the old, and then we will talk about the new. The previous generation Radeon HD 6970, which use to be AMD's fastest single-GPU video card was only playable at 1920x1200 in Batman with DX11 features and Tessellation enabled. We tried to play at 2560x1600 but performance was much too slow, even with Tessellation set to Low. When dropping down to 1920x1200 we were able to maintain MVSS and HBAO along with Tessellation. However, we had to drop Tessellation down to "Normal" from High. This reduction in Tessellation gave the Radeon HD 6970 the performance it needed to play the game well. At "High" performance was much too slow. With "Normal" Tessellation we could then have FXAA turned on to reduce all aliasing in the game.
With the brand new Radeon HD 7970 we experienced a tremendous boost to performance in Batman DX11 over the Radeon HD 6970. We first tried the same settings at 1920x1200 and found we could easily use "High" Tessellation, and the highest in-game settings with performance left over. So we pushed the resolution up to 2560x1600 and amazingly found the game to perform well at 2560x1600 with "High" Tessellation. Performance was right where we liked it, the game felt smooth and playable. Remember, this is a hard graphics scenerio we have chosen, and for the most part, other parts of the game perform faster, especially indoors. This is about the lowest performance you'll see in-game.
Remember, our Galaxy MDT GeForce GTX 580 is an overclocked video card, using higher clocks than you would find on a stock GTX 580. It is also more expensive than a GTX 580 and more expensive than our brand new Radeon HD 7970. In Batman it was clearly much faster than the previous generation Radeon HD 6970. We were able to run at 1920x1200 with "High" Tessellation, and 8X CSAA enabled. On top of that, we were able to use "High" PhysX. The gameplay experience of the Galaxy MDT GeForce GTX 580 was superior to that of the Radeon HD 6970 by a great deal.
However, when compared to the new Radeon HD 7970, the tables turn, and the new video card is able to outperform the Galaxy MDT GeForce GTX 580. We were able to play at a higher resolution, with the highest in-game graphics settings, "High" Tessellation and FXAA. Rest assured, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 could also match the Galaxy MDT GTX 580 for gameplay at 1920x1200 with 8X AA and "High" Tessellation, with faster framerates. Of course, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 is not capable of NVIDIA's PhysX, so those options are not available to any AMD video card.
Summing it up, the Radeon HD 7970 allowed the best gameplay experience in Batman with the fastest performance all around. In this particular game, the GTX 580 has an advantage by allowing PhysX, which makes a noticeable impact to the gameplay experience in this game. In terms of higher possible playable resolutions with Tessellation, the Radeon HD 7970 takes the lead.
Apples-to-Apples
For apples-to-apples testing we played in DX11 at 1920x1200 with FXAA and the highest in-game settings.
Compared to the Radeon HD 6970, the new Radeon HD 7970 is 61% faster at these settings. Compared to the Galaxy MDT GeForce GTX 580, the new Radeon HD 7970 is 9% faster. Nine percent doesn't sound like a lot, and its not, but when it came to pushing the resolution up to 2560x1600 the HD 7970 was able to do it with "High" Tessellation, and the GTX 580 was not in this game. As we push settings higher, performance does separate more. Our Eyefinity testing will show this later on in this evaluation when we test at higher multi-display resolutions. The percentage difference over the Radeon HD 6970 is nothing to laugh about here, 61% is quite a bit faster compared to the previous generation.