Having successfully launched their first 28nm GPU codenamed Tahiti XT on January 9th 2012 AMD went on to release a whole family of Radeon HD 7000 series GPUs over the coming months. The last of which were the Radeon HD 7870 and 7850 graphics cards, which were closely followed by the launch of Nvidia’s next generation flagship part, the GeForce GTX 680.

The GeForce GTX 680 instantly knocked the Radeon HD 7970 off its perch, becoming the world’s fastest single GPU solution. AMD attempted to lessen the blow by cutting pricing of their 7900 and 7800 series lineups. Yet in the end perhaps the best news for AMD came from the almost complete lack of GTX 680 stock.

In fact even today getting your hands on a GeForce GTX 680 is no easy task and those that have likely paid more than the $499 MSRP. Still this didn’t stop Nvidia from going on to release the GeForce GTX 670 just 2 months later at the bargain basement price of $399. At this price the GTX 670 cost less than the Radeon HD 7970 and based on our testing provided the same level of performance.

Meanwhile Nvidia’s flagship single GPU was found to be on average 5% faster than the Radeon HD 7970, and at times as much as 30% faster. This is the very reason why the 7970 was reduced from its initial price of $549 to just $449.

Having come so close to claiming the performance crown for the world’s fastest GPU it seems AMD is desperate to do just that, as today they are releasing a ‘GHz Edition’ of the Radeon HD 7970. As the name suggests the 7970 GHz Edition features a core clock speed of 1GHz, while the GDDR5 memory has also been overclocked to 1500MHz. AMD believes this will allow them to sell the GHz Edition cards for $499, which is an 11% markup, but will the overclock justify the price premium?

For those familiar with the Radeon HD 7970 there honestly isn’t a lot we can tell you about the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. Essentially this is the same graphics card with a little factory overclocking and a bigger price tag.

Whereas the standard Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards feature a core clock of 925MHz and a memory frequency of 1375MHz the GHz Edition has been overclocked to 1000MHz/1500MHz. This is a mere 8% core overclock and 9% memory overclock, so at best we expect to see less than a 10% improvement in price. Yet despite this users can expect to pay up to 11% more for the GHz Edition cards.

Even more surprising is the fact that users can already purchase Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards which have been factory overclocked to 1GHz and even beyond. The PowerColor PCS+ AX7970 is a perfect example, as this graphics card comes clocked at 1.1GHz (10% higher than the GHz Edition) while the memory is only slightly lower at 1425MHz, and it costs just $490.

AMD believes that an 8% core overclock and 9% memory overclock is enough to take the performance crown from Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 680 and today we plan to find out if this is true. For more information regarding Radeon HD 7970 technology please refer to our original article.

Hardware - Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (3.30GHz) - x4 4GB G.Skill DDR3-1600(CAS 8-8-8-20) - Crucial m4 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s) - Gainward GeForce GTX 680 Phantom (2048MB) - Gainward GeForce GTX 670 Phantom (2048MB) - Gainward GeForce GTX 680 (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 590 (3072MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 (1280MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1024MB) - AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7970 (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7950 (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7870 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7850 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6990 (4096MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6970 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6950 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6870 (1024MB) - HIS Radeon HD 5870 (1024MB) - Gigabyte G1.Assassin2 (Intel X79) - OCZ ZX Series (1250w) Software - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - Nvidia Forceware 301.42 - AMD Catalyst 12.4

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition scored 2980pts in the 3Dmark 11 Extreme test, making it 9% faster than the standard 7970 or 257pts faster. Yet despite this increase the 7970 GHz Edition was still 9% slower than the GeForce GTX 680, trailing it by 296pts. The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition scored 2980pts in the 3Dmark 11 Extreme test, making it 9% faster than the standard 7970 or 257pts faster. Yet despite this increase the 7970 GHz Edition was still 9% slower than the GeForce GTX 680, trailing it by 296pts.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was impressive when testing with Aliens vs. Predator rendering 42fps at 2560x1600, making it 13% faster than the standard 7970 and 31% faster than the GeForce GTX 680.

Again we see a very small performance gain delivered by the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition as it was just 1fps faster than the standard 7970. This meant that the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was also 1fps faster than the GeForce GTX 680, giving it a 2% performance advantage.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition closed the gap on the GeForce GTX 680 in Battlefield 3 at 2560x1600 as it was just 2% slower, getting within 1fps thanks to a 5% boost over the standard 7970.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was 5% faster than the standard 7970 in Modern Warfare 3, allowing it to match the performance of the GeForce GTX 680 with 81fps.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition failed to provide any improvement over the standard 7970 in Crysis 2 at 2560x1600 and as a result it was only able to match the performance of the GeForce GTX 680.

When testing with Dragon Age II the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition averaged 39fps, making it just 1fps slower than the GeForce GTX 680. This meant that the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was 8% faster than a standard 7970.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition performed well in Deus Ex: Human Revolution despite being just 3% faster than the standard 7970. Averaging 66fps meant that the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was 6% faster than the GeForce GTX 680 and 14% faster than the GTX 670.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition provided a 14% performance gain over the standard 7970 when testing with Hard Reset as it averaged 50fps. Yet despite this impressive gain it was still 2% slower than the GeForce GTX 670 and 12% slower than the GTX 680.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was 10% faster than the standard 7970 at 2560x1600 when testing with DiRT 3 as it averaged 68fps. Despite that gain it was still 6% slower than the GeForce GTX 670 and 11% slower than the GTX 680.

DiRT Showdown is the world’s first game to use Global Illumination, while it also supports Advanced Lighting via Forward+ Rendering, High Definition Ambient Occulation (HDAO) and Contact Hardening Shadows.

Global Illumination is a group of algorithms that are used to add more realistic lighting as they not only take into account light that comes directly from the light source (direct illumination), but also other light which is reflected from other surfaces (indirect illumination). By combining the two you get Global Illumination, and DiRT 3 Showdown looks very impressive when using this technology.

Using the maximum in-game quality settings, which includes the use of Global Illumination, we found that the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was capable of rendering 67fps making it the fastest graphics card tested. It was 6% faster than a standard 7970 and a whopping 52% faster than the GeForce GTX 680.

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition averaged 55fps at 2560x1600 when testing with The Witcher 2, making it 8% faster than the standard 7970 which rendered 51fps. However this also meant that the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was 12% faster than the GeForce GTX 680 and 20% faster than the GTX 670.

At 2560x1600 we saw a very mild performance increase when comparing the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition to the standard 7970. Here the 7970 GHz Edition was just 4% faster which equated to a 2fps performance increase. This slight improvement meant that the 7970 GHz Edition was still 4% slower than the GeForce GTX 670 and 9% slower than the GTX 680.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition showed a huge performance gain over the standard 7970 when testing with Alan Wake at 2560x1600. Here it was 15% faster, making it 21% faster than the GeForce GTX 680 and 31% faster than the GTX 670.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition averaged 25fps in King Arthur II making it 4% faster than the standard 7970. Moreover it was 14% faster than the GeForce GTX 680 and 19% faster than the GTX 670.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition showed no signs of improvement when testing with Just Cause 2 at 2560x1600, rendering the same 47fps as the standard 7970 making it just 2% slower than the GeForce GTX 680 and 2% faster than the GTX 670.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition averaged 49fps at 2560x1600 in Max Payne 3 making it just a single frame faster than the standard 7970. This meant that the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was still 4% slower than the GeForce GTX 670 and 9% slower than the GTX 680.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition consumed considerably more power than the GeForce GTX 680 and standard 7970, using around 7% more power.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition operated at roughly the same temperature as the standard 7970 under load and at idle. With a load temperature of 81 degrees we expect to see much better results from AMD’s board partners with their own custom cooling designs.

As you can see our custom overclock boosted performance by around 4 – 6% in the three games tested. In Crysis 2 this was enough to overtake the GeForce GTX 680, while in Battlefield 3 it became just 1fps slower than the GTX 680.

When we tested the GeForce GTX 670 we concluded with this… “the GTX 670 is today's best value, most efficient high-end graphics card.” Our only concern was availability and that did provide to be a real problem for Nvidia, though today it does seem relatively easy to pick one up at the MSRP of $400.

Today’s release from AMD does little to change our feelings about the GeForce GTX 670, perhaps that’s a job for a GHz Edition of the 7950

Although we believe the GeForce GTX 670 should be AMD’s main concern they have instead gone after the GeForce GTX 680. Price wise the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and GeForce GTX 680 occupy the same price bracket, so which one should you buy?

Based on the 16 games that we tested with, 10 of which were DX11 titles, the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was on average 5% faster than the GeForce GTX 680. However by far its biggest win came when testing DiRT 3 Showdown, where the 7970 GHz Edition was 52% faster, even so when removing that game it was still on average 2% faster.

Yet despite being faster on average, the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and GeForce GTX 680 had an equal share in the wins with 7 apiece, as there were 2 draws. So really when you break it down there is no clear winner here, it would be safer to say both cards deliver a similar level of performance overall.

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However the real comparison we should be making here is between the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and the standard HD 7970. The HD 7970 GHz Edition was just 6% faster overall and some games saw no performance improvement at all, and despite this users could be paying 11% more for the GHz Edition.

Therefore the cost of matching, or at best slightly beating, the GeForce GTX 680 has been decreased in value as the cheaper Radeon HD 7950 and GeForce GTX 670 graphics cards are still the way to go for smart shoppers. Still, if the primary role for the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition is to compete with Nvidia’s best, then it does fulfill that role rather well.