AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Graphics Card

Product status: Official | Last Update: 2014-08-07 | Report Error
Overview
Manufacturer
AMD
Original Series
Radeon HD 7000
Release Date
June 22nd, 2012
Launch Price
$499
PCB Code
109-C38611-00
P/N Code
102-C38620-00
Model
AMD C386 SKU 020
Graphics Processing Unit
GPU Model
Tahiti XT2 (Tahiti)
Architecture
GCN 1.0
Fabrication Process
28 nm
Die Size
352 mm2
Transistors Count
4.3B
Transistors Density
12.3M TRAN/mm2
Stream Processors
2048
Compute Units
128
Shader Engines
32
TMUs
128
ROPs
32
Clocks
Base Clock
1000 MHz
Boost Clock
1050 MHz
Memory Clock
1500 MHz
Effective Memory Clock
6000 Mbps
Memory Configuration
Memory Size
3072 MB
Memory Type
GDDR5
Memory Bus Width
384-bit
Memory Bandwidth
288.0 GB/s

Physical
Interface
PCI-Express 3.0 x16
Width
11.12 cm
Length
26.49 cm
Height
2-slot
Power Connectors
1× 8-pin, 1× 6-pin
Power Design
5+1+1
TDP/TBP
250 W
Recommended PSU
500 W
Multi-GPU Support
4-way
Display Outputs
DVI-D DualLink
1 ×
miniDisplayPort
2 ×
HDMI
1 ×
API Support
DirectX
11.2
Vulkan
-
OpenGL
4.4
OpenCL
1.2

Performance
Pixel Fillrate
33.6 GPixels/s
Texture Fillrate
134.4 GTexel/s
Peak FP32
4.3 TFLOPS
FP32 Perf. per Watt
17.2 GFLOPS/W
FP32 Perf. per mm2
12.2 GFLOPS/mm2




975 MHz
MIN
975
(1)
1050
(2)
1100
(1)
1150
(1)

1150 MHz
MAX

  Model nameBoostMemoryPowerCustom SeriesPopularity
  Thumbnail
MSI HD 7970 3GB Lightning Boost Edition
R7970 LIGHTNING BE
1150 MHz 1500 MHz 2× 8-pin Lightning
 
61%
  Thumbnail
MSI HD 7970 3GB Power Edition BE
R7970 PE 3GD5 BE
1100 MHz 1500 MHz 2× 8-pin Power Edition
 
18%
  Thumbnail
MSI HD 7970 3GB Twin Frozr Boost Edition
R7970 TF 3GD5 BE
975 MHz 1375 MHz 1× 8-pin, 1× 6-pin Twin Frozr
 
14%
  Thumbnail
MSI HD 7970 3GB Twin Frozr Boost Edition OC
R7970 TF 3GD5/OC BE
1050 MHz 1375 MHz 1× 8-pin, 1× 6-pin Twin Frozr
 
100%
  Thumbnail
XFX HD 7970 3GB Double Dissipation
FX-797G-TDFC
1050 MHz 1500 MHz 1× 8-pin, 1× 6-pin Double Dissipation
 
23%
 ModelCoresBoost ClockMemory ClockMemory Config.
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7990
 
4096
 
1000 MHz
 
6 Gbps
 
12 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
 
2048
 
1050 MHz
 
6 Gbps
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7970
 
2048
-
 
5.5 Gbps
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7950 Boost
 
1792
 
925 MHz
 
5 Gbps
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7950
 
1792
-
 
5 Gbps
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7870 XT
 
1536
 
975 MHz
 
6 Gbps
 
2 GB GD5 256b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition
 
1280
-
 
4.8 Gbps
 
2 GB GD5 256b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7850
 
1024
-
 
4.8 Gbps
 
2 GB GD5 256b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7790
 
896
-
 
6 Gbps
 
1 GB GD5 128b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition
 
640
-
 
4.5 Gbps
 
1 GB GD5 128b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7750
 
512
-
 
4.5 Gbps
 
1 GB GD5 128b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7570
 
480
-
 
1.6 Gbps
 
2 GB GD3 128b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7730
 
384
-
 
4.5 Gbps
 
1 GB GD5 128b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7470
 
160
-
 
3.6 Gbps
 
1 GB GD5 64b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7450
 
160
-
 
1.1 Gbps
 
1 GB D3 64b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7350
 
80
-
 
800 Mbps
 
512 MB D3 64b
 ModelCoresBoost ClockMemory ClockMemory Config.
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7990
 
4096
 
1000 MHz
 
6 GB/s
 
12 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 8990
 
4096
 
1000 MHz
 
6 GB/s
 
12 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon Sky 900
 
3584
-
 
5 GB/s
 
12 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
 
2048
 
1050 MHz
 
6 GB/s
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 8970
 
2048
 
1050 MHz
 
6 GB/s
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7970
 
2048
-
 
5.5 GB/s
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon R9 280X
 
2048
 
1000 MHz
 
6 GB/s
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon Sky 700
 
1792
-
 
5 GB/s
 
6 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7950 Boost
 
1792
 
925 MHz
 
5 GB/s
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 8950
 
1792
 
925 MHz
 
5 GB/s
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon R9 280
 
1792
 
933 MHz
 
6 GB/s
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7950
 
1792
-
 
5 GB/s
 
3 GB GD5 384b
Thumbnail
AMD Radeon HD 7870 XT
 
1536
 
975 MHz
 
6 GB/s
 
2 GB GD5 256b

Overview

  • Ready for Microsoft Windows® 8 and DirectX® 11.1 gaming! Learn more.
  • Engineered for incredible DirectX® 11 gaming, the AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition enables staggering performance in the most demanding games, like DiRT® Showdown™, Sniper Elite V2 and Nexuiz.
  • Think of it as turbo for the GPU. Get automatic overclocking on the fly for better performance in your favorite games with AMD PowerTune technology, now with Boost.2
  • Accelerate the applications you use every day. Get faster performance in Adobe® Creative Suite® 6, Corel WinZip® and GIMP with AMD App Acceleration on the AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition.3
  • The next generation of AMD Eyefinity technology is here, featuring all-new support for stereo 3D, universal bezel compensation and brand new display configurations for up to six monitors. Face it: the best just got better.4
  • Ready for the world’s highest-resolution displays: Featuring full support for HDMI® (with 4K) and DisplayPort 1.2 HBR2, the AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition is ready for displays up to 4096×2160.

System Requirements

  • PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
  • 500W (or greater) power supply with one 150W 8-pin and one 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connector recommended8
  • 850W power supply (or greater) with two 150W 8-pin and two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors recommended for AMD CrossFire™ technology.
    • NOTE: Minimum recommended system power supply wattage is based on the specific graphics card and the typical power requirements of other system components. Your system may require more or less power. OEM and other pre-assembled PCs may have different power requirements.
  • Certified power supplies are recommended.  Refer to https://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products
  • Minimum 4GB of system memory
  • 8GB (or more) of system memory recommended for AMD CrossFire™ technology
  • Installation software requires CD-ROM drive, a keyboard, a mouse, and a display
  • DVD playback requires DVD drive and a DVD
  • Blu-ray™ playback requires Blu-ray drive and a Blu-ray disc
  • For an AMD CrossFire™ system, a second AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition GPU, an AMD CrossFire™ Ready motherboard and one AMD CrossFire™ Bridge Interconnect cable is required
  • Use of 3 or more displays with AMD Eyefinity technology requires a DisplayPort-capable panel or an AMD Eyefinity-validated dongle. See https://www.amd.com/EyefinityDongles for a list of validated DisplayPort dongles.
  • 64-bit operating system highly recommended
  • Not for professional or commercial use. Please see AMD FirePro™ products for these applications.

Specifications

  • 1GHz Engine Clock (up to 1.05GHz with boost)
  • 3GB GDDR5 Memory
  • 1500MHz Memory Clock (6.0 Gbps GDDR5)
  • 288GB/s memory bandwidth
  • 4.3 TFLOPS Single Precision compute power
  • 1.01 TFLOPS Double Precision compute power
  • GCN Architecture
    • 32 Compute Units (2048 Stream Processors)
    • 128 Texture Units
    • 128 Z/Stencil ROP Units
    • 32 Color ROP Units
    • Dual geometry units
  • Dual Asynchronous Compute Engines (ACE)
  • PCI Express 3.0 x16 bus interface
  • DirectX® 11.1-capable graphics
    • 9th generation programmable hardware tessellation units
    • Shader Model 5.0
    • DirectCompute 11
    • Accelerated multi-threading
    • HDR texture compression
    • Order-independent transparency
  • OpenGL 4.2 support
    • Partially Resident Textures (PRT)
      • Ultra-high resolution texture streaming technology
  • Image quality enhancement technology
    • Up to 24x multi-sample and super-sample anti-aliasing modes
    • Adaptive anti-aliasing
    • Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA) 2.0
    • DirectX® 9/10/11 Super Sample Anti-Aliasing (SSAA)
      • Automatic LOD adjustment (Requires AMD Catalyst™ 12.4 or higher)
    • 16x angle independent anisotropic texture filtering
    • 128-bit floating point HDR rendering
  • AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology4
    • Up to 6 displays supported with DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport
    • Independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls, and video overlays
    • Display grouping
      • Combine multiple displays to behave like a single large display
  • AMD App Acceleration3
    • OpenCL 1.2 Support
    • Microsoft C++ AMP
    • DirectCompute 11
    • Double Precision Floating Point
    • AMD HD Media Accelerator
      • Unified Video Decoder (UVD)
        • H.264
        • VC-1
        • MPEG-2 (SD & HD)
        • MVC (Blu-ray 3D)
        • MPEG-4 Part 2 (DivX/Xvid)
        • Adobe Flash
        • DXVA 1.0 & 2.0 support
      • Video Codec Engine (VCE)
        • Multi-stream hardware H.264 encoder
        • Full-fixed mode: 1080p @ 60 FPS encoding
        • Hybrid mode: Stream Processor-assisted encoding
      • Enhanced Video Quality features
        • Advanced post-processing and scaling
          • Deblocking
          • Denoising
          • Automatic deinterlacing
          • Mosquito noise reduction
          • Edge enhancement
          • 3:2 pulldown detection
        • Advanced video color correction
          • Brighter whites processing (Blue Stretch)
          • Independent video gamma control
          • Flesh tone correction
          • Color vibrance control
          • Dynamic contrast
          • Dynamic video range control
  • AMD HD3D technology5
    • Stereoscopic 3D display/glasses support
    • Blu-ray 3D support
    • Stereoscopic 3D gaming
    • 3rd party Stereoscopic 3D middleware software support
  • AMD CrossFire™ multi-GPU technology6
    • Dual, triple or quad-GPU scaling
  • Cutting-edge integrated display support
    • DisplayPort 1.2
      • Max resolution: 4096×2160 @ 60 Hz per display
      • Multi-Stream
      • 21.6 Gbps bandwidth (HBR2)
      • High bit-rate audio
      • Quad HD/4K/UHDTV display support
      • 1080p60 Stereoscopic 3D (Frame Sequential Format)
    • HDMI® (With 4K, 3D, x.v.Color™ and Deep Color)
      • Max resolution: 4096×2160 @ 30 Hz
      • 1080p30 Stereoscopic 3D (Packed Frame Format)
      • Quad HD/4K/UHDTV video display support
    • Dual-link DVI with HDCP
      • Max resolution: 2560×1600
    • VGA
      • Max resolution: 2048×1536
  • Integrated HD audio controller
    • Output protected high bit rate 7.1 channel surround sound over HDMI with no additional cables required
    • Supports AC-3, AAC, Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio formats
  • AMD PowerPlay™ power management technology7
    • Automatic power management with low power idle states
  • AMD PowerTune technology7
    • Intelligent TDP management technology
    • Dynamic clockspeed/performance enhancement for games
  • AMD ZeroCore Power technology7
    • Ultra-low idle power when the system’s display is off
    • Efficient low power mode for desktop work
    • Secondary GPUs in an AMD CrossFire™ technology configuration power down when unneeded
  • AMD Catalyst™ graphics and HD video configuration software
    • Software support for Windows® 7, Windows Vista® and Windows® XP.
    • AMD Catalyst™ Control Center – AMD Catalyst™ software application and user interface for setup, configuration, and accessing features of AMD Radeon products.
    • Unified Graphics display driver – AMD Catalyst™ software enabling other PC programs and devices to use advanced graphics, video, and features of AMD Radeon™ products.

Footnotes

Additional hardware (e.g. Blu-ray drive, HD or 10-bit monitor, TV tuner) and/or software (e.g. multimedia applications) are required for the full enablement of some features. Not all features may be supported on all components or systems – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies.

  1. In tests by AMD as of May 22, 2012 on single-GPU graphics cards, the AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition showed higher average performance than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 in the following games/apps: Formula 1 2010, Civilization V, StarCraft II, Just Cause 2, Unigine Heaven, Left 4 Dead 2, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, DiRT 3, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Crysis Warhead, Metro 2033 (4xAA), and Hard Reset (MLAA). All applications were evaluated at 2560×1600 with 8xAA and 16xAF unless otherwise noted. System configuration: Intel® Core™ i7-3960X (3.33GHz), MSI X79A-GD65, 16GB DDR3-1600 and Windows® 7 x64. AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition evaluated with AMD Catalyst™ 8.973. NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680 evaluated with NVIDIA® ForceWare™ 301.10 WHQL. [GRDT-16]
  2. AMD PowerPlay™, AMD PowerTune and AMD ZeroCore Power are technologies offered by certain AMD Radeon™ products, which are designed to intelligently manage GPU power consumption in response to certain GPU load conditions. Boost clockspeeds via AMD PowerTune (if applicable) may vary by application, system temperature and/or user system configuration. Not all products feature all technologies – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities.
  3. AMD App Acceleration is a set of technologies designed to improve video quality and enhance application performance. Full enablement of some features requires support for OpenCL™, DirectCompute or DirectX® Video Acceleration (DXVA). Not all products have all features and full enablement of some capabilities and may require complementary products
  4. AMD Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPort™ connectors, and/or DisplayPort™ compliant active adapters to convert your monitor’s native input to your cards DisplayPort™ or Mini-DisplayPort™ connector(s), are required.  Support for six simultaneous displays may require complementary products compatible with DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport. Maximum number of configured displays may vary – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies.  SLS (“Single Large Surface”) functionality requires an identical display resolution on all configured displays.
  5. AMD HD3D is a technology designed to enable stereoscopic 3D support in games, movies and/or photos. Requires 3D stereo drivers, glasses, and display. Not all features may be supported on all components or systems – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies. A list of supported stereoscopic 3D hardware is available at https://www.amd.com/HD3D.
  6. AMD CrossFire™ technology requires an AMD CrossFire Ready motherboard, an AMD CrossFire™ Bridge Interconnect (for each additional graphics card) and may require a specialized power supply.
  7. AMD PowerPlay™, AMD PowerTune and AMD ZeroCore Power are technologies offered by certain AMD Radeon™ products, which are designed to intelligently manage GPU power consumption in response to certain GPU load conditions. Not all products feature all technologies – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities.
  8. Minimum recommended system power supply wattage is based on the specific graphics card and the typical power requirements of other system components. Your system may require more or less power. OEM and other pre-assembled PCs may have different power requirements.

AMD Takes Graphics Crown with AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition

AMD Launches the World’s Fastest and Most Versatile Graphics Processor, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition

SUNNYVALE, Calif. —6/22/2012  Today AMD (NYSE: AMD) launched the world’s fastest graphics processing unit (GPU), the AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition. The AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition uses AMD’s innovative Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture to deliver astonishing performance and breathtaking image quality1,2, providing world-class gameplay at the highest resolutions in the most demanding games such as Battlefield 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and DiRT Showdown.

“The AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition rounds out our award-winning GCN family, providing world-class gameplay thanks to the industry’s fastest single GPU,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, GPU Division, AMD.1  “Gamers have been hungry for our AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series since our launch last December. We have been able to meet that growing demand as we expanded our AMD Radeon HD 7000 offerings and brought the industry’s most advanced graphics across a complete family of leading-edge desktop and notebook graphics cards.”

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition provides ground-breaking GPU compute functionality through advanced AMD App Acceleration technology, allowing users to enjoy lightning-fast gameplay and realistic physics effects3. AMD App Acceleration technology also optimizes common tasks like encrypted file compression and speeds up demanding digital content creation suites, while providing exceptional online video and Blu-ray video experiences3. No other graphics card comes close to the performance and features of the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition.

The AMD Radeon  HD 7970 GHz Edition comes fully equipped with 3GBs of ultra-fast GDDR5 frame buffer, AMD Eyefinity 2.0 technology, and support for PCI Express 3.0 and multi-GPU configurations with AMD CrossFire™ technology4,5,6.

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition will be available as early as next week from add-in board (AIB) partners including ASUS, Gigabyte, HIS, MSI, Sapphire, TUL and XFX starting at USD$499 SEP.

Supporting Resources

About AMD

AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its ground-breaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD’s server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD’s superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Radeon, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

  1. In tests by AMD as of May 22, 2012 on single-GPU graphics cards, the AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition showed higher average performance than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 in the following games/apps: Formula 1 2010, Civilization V, StarCraft II, Just Cause 2, Unigine Heaven, Left 4 Dead 2, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, DiRT 3, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Crysis Warhead, Metro 2033 (4xAA), and Hard Reset (MLAA). All applications were evaluated at 2560×1600 with 8xAA and 16xAF unless otherwise noted. System configuration: Intel® Core™ i7-3960X (3.33GHz), MSI X79A-GD65, 16GB DDR3-1600 and Windows® 7 x64. AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition evaluated with AMD Catalyst™ 8.973. NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680 evaluated with NVIDIA® ForceWare™ 301.10 WHQL. GRDT-16
  2. The GCN Architecture and its associated features (PCI Express® 3.0, AMD ZeroCore Power technology, DDM Audio, and 28nm production) are exclusive to the AMD Radeon™ HD 7900, HD 7800 and HD 7700 Series.
  3. AMD App Acceleration is a set of technologies designed to improve video quality and enhance application performance. Full enablement of some features requires support for OpenCL™ or DirectCompute (including AMD’s Universal Video Decoder (UVD)). Not all products have all features and full enablement of some capabilities and may require complementary products.
  4. AMD Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPort™ connectors, and/or DisplayPort™ compliant active adapters to convert your monitor’s native input to your cards DisplayPort™ or Mini-DisplayPort™ connector(s), are required.  Support for six simultaneous displays may require complementary products compatible with DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport. Maximum number of configured displays may vary – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies.  SLS (“Single Large Surface”) functionality requires an identical display resolution on all configured displays.
  5. Utilization of PCI Express 3.0 bandwidth requires a mainboard equipped with a PCI Express 3.0 PHY. Not all mainboards feature this technology – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities.
  6. AMD CrossFireX™ technology requires an AMD CrossFireX Ready motherboard, an AMD CrossFireX™ Bridge Interconnect (for each additional graphics card) and may require a specialized power supply.