I gave you the skinny two days ago and now you're back for the whole scoop eh? Well listen up sweet heart cause I'm only going to say this once. AMD will be pushing a new product to the streets in a few weeks and from what I've heard on the grapevine, it will be the cat's meow. If you're looking for the real deal, something with a lot of kick then the HD 7970 will be right up your alley. Now scram sister! I got a lot of work that needs doin' around here and I don't need no ditsy dame distracting me.
Member
Still blown away by the 250W power draw for that much perf...
Senior Member
The only real problem with it is the ridiculous price. Noise really isn't much of an issue considering that when idle it doesn't really draw much power = the fan doesn't have to go around fast.
Though truth be told, unless ones playing games at 2560x1600, a video card several years old would still be more than sufficient - games look pretty good nowadays, and making them look even better would cost a crap ton of money, which many developers just wont do. That doesn't mean games won't look better in the future, it's just that graphical fidelity (which one should consider seperate from game aesthetics, which is the part one actually evaluates when evaluating game gprahics) won't get that much better in the near future.
Nvidia will probably release something that'll be faster than the HD 7970 soon enough... and that'll mean the prices will drop, so no point in buying this thing before that actually happens, to be honest.
As for the TDP... it's a high-end card, and it won't draw anywhere near 250W unless you run Furmark. And when idle it draws very little power, so it won't really make ones electric bill skyrocket.
People who buy highend cards such as this thing will invariably have a fairly decent PSU anyway, so that's not much of an issue either.
n00b
Member
Sure the price... while high I don't know if it's truly all falling on AMD's shoulders. TSMC is a player in the new price structure, and I wouldn't make any call until Nvidia has their "Über Enthusiast" part in the market to pass judgment. Heck, Nvidia being 6 months (or longer) on that release might play in their favor, that's a millennium for TSMC/Nvidia to tweak their process(s) and provide cost ratio on deliverables. Though Nvidia big die strategy is still as always a factor (strike) against them. It again is AMD taking lead, being the "guinea pig" and on parts for their star player first. That was a baalls'ie move IMO.
Then if you're thinking of this for 1920x, it like thinking of coming from popcorn stand to the dugout! Unless it's for BF3, Skyrim or STALKER COP; those are titles really pushing the hardware and that's how it works. (you have to pay to play to be a Top Tier Player)
With awesome power/performance it's a long wait for Kepler, and these are now what I'm re-terming as "Super Über segment", and dropping "Über Enthusiast" to 580/570/6970/6970 or what will be the 7870 when it shows...
Is it time for the average Joe to grab one? Only if you're a Joe with disposable income.