Introducing AMD’s HD 6970 and HD 6950
Price to Performance
The HD 6970 leads the Radeons convincingly in most of the benchmarks and it is a solid improvement over the HD 5870. We see the GTX 580 completely stand out as a wild card that AMD probably did not expect; leaving it off of our chart would have made a completely different impression of the new Cayman Radeons. They do succeed as high-quality successors to the HD 5870 although they are somewhat eclipsed by the GTX 580’s strong performance.
Let’s take a look at current pricing:
- GTX 580 – $499
- HD 6970 – $369
- GTX 570 – $349
- HD 6950 – $299
- HD 6870 – $239
Of course you have to consider the street pricing of the GTX 480 is at about or below $350 as it is being discontinued and approximately $250 for the HD 5870 which is also at its End of Life (EoL). The GTX 470 pricing should also be considered as it is pretty fast and it is a direct competitor of the HD 5870 and can be got for about $220 to $250; it is not yet discontinued by Nvidia as it fills a price point for them rather nicely. At this point, you also can consider the overclocked GTX 460 and even multi-GPU solutions of CrossFire or SLI to compete with higher performing single-GPU video cards. Then there is the dual-GPU HD 5970 – still arguably the fastest video card until Antilles arrives next year – which can be found at a nice discount if you can find it as they have always been in tight supply.
It is important to note that initially the HD 6970 and the HD 6950 will be equipped with 2GB of vRAM although AMD’s partners will bring out 1GB versions that will be priced accordingly. If you do not play games at or above 1920×1200, it might be a good cost-cutting measure. You should be able to buy a HD 6870 or HD 6950 immediately as they are said to be in good supply.
Did AMD succeed with HD 69×0?
It appears that AMD succeeded in doing what they set out to do. They brought great value in the higher-performing Cayman and Barts architecture to replace the HD 58×0 series which was aging after a long spell at or near the top. It also appears that they succeeded in challenging the GTX 480 with their own single-GPU flagship HD 6970; something the HD 5870 was unable to do. However, it also appears that AMD was somewhat surprised by the GTX 580 and GTX 570 which completely addressed Fermi GF100’s former flaws. AMD will now position its upcoming Antilles dual-GPU card against the GTX 580. What is going to make this especially interesting is that Nvidia may well release their own dual-GPU video card based on a GF110 variant that may be even faster although this is pure speculation now. One thing for sure – exciting times in the Graphics Wars are still ahead!
It is pretty clear from our 23 games and two synthetic tests that the HD 6950 and HD 6970 are quality replacements and upgrades over the current HD 5850 and HD 5870 video cards. The new HD 6970 – in this snapshot in time – does not have the clear distinction of being the fastest video card in its class as it trades blows with the GTX 570 although in our benches it won more than it lost. At a suggested retail price of $369, it sets the HD 6970 just above the average price of the competing GeForce cards. Of course, the Radeon drivers are brand new and we can expect to see performance improvements over the coming months.
If you are looking for a very fast single video card that can support 3 displays simultaneously, or up to 6 with a hub, then the new Cayman GPUs are a great choice and an excellent upgrade over the HD 5000 series. And if you need even more power, you can also use CrossFire-X to pair your video cards to give a substantial frame rate boost to your gaming experience in most cases. And 2GB of vRAM may be necessary for the high resolution that running multi-panel displays require.
We also expect that some of HD 69×0’s success will depend on market pricing and also what Nvidia does with their GeForce pricing as the companies respond to each other. Basically, if you want a fast single GPU that is an improvement in every way over the HD 5870, the new HD 6970 gives you your cake and allows you to eat it too with great competitive pricing.
Conclusion
This has been quite an enjoyable – if physically exhausting – four days, hands on experience for us in comparing our brand-new, under-NDA, HD 6970 and HD 6950 video cards versus our other eleven video cards and we look forward to evaluating further new products from AMD and Nvidia.
We used all “fresh” testing with the very latest drivers for all of these video cards except for our HD 6850 which we sent to BFG10K last week for his upcoming Image Quality (IQ) analysis. We wish that we had more than the 4 days that we were allowed to benchmark our two new Cayman cards so as to give you our first impressions. Fortunately, we have been gaming for months with the reference GTX 480 and with our HD 5870 along with our other test cards, so that we can provide you with a reliable comparison. However, it was certainly worth it and we feel priviliged to bring you our very first benchmarks and performance testing of AMD’s new Cayman GPUs.
We like the new HD 6970 and the HD 6950 quite a lot. They have much to offer to the serious gamer and especially to someone who wants to use Eyefinity. Soon we will cover AMD’s continued launch of their HD 6000 series Antilles dual-core GPU video card with which they expect to take on the GTX 580 directly. In the meantime, feel free to comment below, ask questions or have a detailed discussion in our ABT forum. If you have any requests on what you would like for us to focus on for further testing or for any other information, please join our ABT forum or leave a comment.
HD 6970
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- The HD 6970 is much faster than its predecessor, HD 5870 and is it often faster than the GTX 480/570; AMD has brought $500 performance into a $369 package.
- There is further room for overclocking and good scalibility.
- New architecture brings support for GPU computing and a level of performance way beyond the last generation.
- DX11 and greatly improved support for tessellation, 2 GB vRAM and high resolution Eyefinity brings realism to gaming
- AMD’s improved vapor chamber cooler is great for achieving and keeping your OC by keeping your GPU cool. It is a solid cooler that tames Cayman’s hotter thermals very quietly at or near HD 5870 volume levels.
- PowerTune manages the power consumption intelligently.
- CrossFire-X technology allows you to harness two or more GPUs for faster gaming at higher detail levels and resolutions.
- Enhanced AA and more control over settings
- Back-up dual BIOS switch offers safety features for enthusiasts
Cons:
- It does not clearly beat the GTX 570/480; the market will decide the pricing.
HD 6950
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- The HD 6950 is much faster than its predecessor, HD 5850 and is it faster than the GTX 460; AMD has brought great performance into a $299 package.
- There is further room for overclocking and good scalibility.
- New architecture brings support for GPU computing and a level of performance way beyond the last generation.
- DX11 and greatly improved support for tessellation, 2 GB vRAM and high resolution Eyefinity brings realism to gaming
- AMD’s improved vapor chamber cooler is great for achieving and keeping your OC by keeping your GPU cool. It is a solid cooler that tames Cayman’s hotter thermals very quietly at or near HD 5870 volume levels.
- PowerTune manages the power consumption.
- CrossFire-X technology
- Enhanced AA and more control over settings
- Back-up dual BIOS switch offers safety features for enthusiasts
Cons:
- There is no direct competitor; it replaces HD 5850 and it competes in performance with the Eol’d HD 5870 and GTX 470. The market will ultimately decide its place and pricing.
That’s it. For a little more money than a GTX 570, you get all the features that AMD video cards have to offer in a very solidly-built, cool and quiet-running HD 6970! Add to this all the benefits of a flagship single-GPU card that replaces HD 5870, we feel that AMD potentially has a winner in their HD 6970 to offer us and we are pleased to award them our ABT Editor’s Choice award as AMD has succeeded in bringing the performance of the recently $500 GTX 480 into a $369 package that is much cooler running and quieter to boot! The HD 6950 has the same value in relation to its bigger brother, and it sits in its own class – also with an ABT Editor’s Choice award.
We do not know what the future will bring, but these new Cayman cards bring great value to the Radeon family as their top two single-GPU video cards. Look for them immediately at an etailer. This editor believes that AMD brings a very full-featured DX11 GPU lineup to the market that will find good acceptance among customers and their fans alike. The new Cayman architecture is a solid improvement over Cypress and it translates to higher performance in gaming without any price premium.
We have also seen AMDs drivers improve historically and their multi-GPU CrossFire-X scaling for newer games is very impressive. We also like the direction they are heading in with their application profiles and more control over settings. We are looking forward to experimenting with the new AA, also.
If you currently game on a HD 4870 or GTX 280, you will do yourself a big favor by upgrading. The move to a HD 69×0 will give you better visuals on the DX11 pathway and you are no doubt thinking of CrossFire-X if you want to get even higher performance or want to use Eyefinity’s multi-panel display (which we are going to explore in a future article versus 3-panel Surround).
If the many exclusive features of the new Caymans appeal to you and you are gaming at 1920×1080 or above, you cannot go wrong with either a HD 6970 or HD 6950. There is so much we want to further explore, you can be sure we will continue to keep you updated as we continue to track the new video card’s performance, image quality and features.
The competition is hot as the prices on both the GTX 480 and the GTX 470 have softened and Nvidia offers their own set of features including PhysX, CUDA and 3D Vision. And AMD is also bringing out their Cayman-based highest-performing dual-GPU video cards out shortly.
Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT. Don’t forget – we are giving away a Galaxy GTX 460 SLI kit for Christmas. Join our forum and enter the contest today!
Mark Poppin
ABT Senior Editor
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Thanks for such an extensive and thorough review, great job! Really enjoyed it. Personally, I feel a little disappointed with 6970 performance, I guess I was expecting a match to GTX580, or better. I have a feeling a lot of people had similar expectations. Oh, well… can’t blame 580 for being a stronger card. But considering the super-competitive pricing point of the new AMD flagship (which also came as a big surprise) it’s safe to say that HD6970 is also a winner in it’s own weight category and will make a lot of gamers very happy.
I’m a bit disappointed, too. The GTX 570 currently has the better performance/price ratio but the 6900 series still offers great ratio…just not as good as GTX 570.
Many people will be pleased nonetheless
The settings pic on the GTA 4 page is missing.
Thank-you. There are still a few images that are still going to be uploaded.
The settings for GTA-IV are all at “high” and 100%.
Apologies for the delay; we had issues with our under-NDA images that stopped us from uploading any further images after the evaluation was published; the permissions were just fixed yesterday.
FIXED.
u should turn on the a.i catalyst to quality as its the default graphic settings for ati graphic cards.
No PC gamer should buy an expensive graphics card to run its IQ settings at less than High Quality.
We test Nvidia vs AMD *both* at High Quality settings. You can always lower the settings yourself and gain a bit more performance if you like.
Good – I should certainly say I’m impressed with your website. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs and related info. The site ended up being truly easy to access. Good job.