# HD 7870 vs. HD 6970



## Siddharth_1 (Mar 10, 2012)

AMD Raedon HD 7870 and HD 6970 have almost the same cost but have difference in some of their technical specifications. Which one would have a better performance and at the same time would be more future proof.

Also i want to that i should buy it from sapphire, xfx, msi or asus and which model of the GFX.


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## Gaurav Bhattacharjee (Mar 10, 2012)

From what I have seen the 7870 is about equal with a 580 which is currently alot more money and at a higher wattage.

In fact the 7870 stands up quite well to the 7950.

Basically the 7870 is about a 10-15% gain over the 6970 with about 30% less power usage.


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## Siddharth_1 (Mar 10, 2012)

Actually is was talking about their advantages over each other:

*HD 7870*

PCI-E 3.0 over PCI-E 2.1
Core Clock speed of 1000MHz over 880MHz
Max Power Draw of 175W over 300W
Open GL 4.2 over 4.1
DirectX 11.1(compatible) over 11
28nm Process over 40nm Process
More future proof because it is launched 1.5yrs later

*HD 6970*

Memory Clock speed of 5.5GHz over 4.8GHz
Memory Bandwidth of 176GB/s over 153.6GB/s
1536 Fragment Pipelines over 1280 Fragment Pipelines(Fragment Pipelines: Pixel Shader Processor Pipes)
96 Texture Units over 80 Texture Units

*Similarities*

Memory Size of 2GB
GDDR5 Memory Type
256bit Memory Bus Type
Raster: 32


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## Skud (Mar 10, 2012)

All you need to do is to see some benchmark results and you can decide by yourself. And 7870 would be touch pricier at this moment and its not even released in India as of now. And the pros and cons you have mentioned are mere theoretical, its the performance in games that matters.


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## mohiuddin (Mar 10, 2012)

Ofcourse 7870hd if same/almost-same price.
Cause:
1. Great oc
2. Less power hungry.
3. Newer 28nm technology.
4. Significant increase in computational power.
5. Dx11.1
6. More lead over 6970hd at shader heavy games like metro2033.
7. Last but not least, u can brag of being  a proudful owner of 7xxxhd gfx card.


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## vickybat (Mar 10, 2012)

Same here. 7870 is the card to buy. The main reason being it performs very very close (almost similar) to a Gtx 580 and even a 7950 at much lesser price. That should be a good enough reason imo.


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## Siddharth_1 (Mar 10, 2012)

So you mean to say that i should wait for some time till the performance stats of 7870 are published over the internet.

But dont you think that the less no of texture units and pixel shader processors(fragment pipelines) in 7870 as compared to 6970 would effect its performance.


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## ico (Mar 10, 2012)

Siddharth_1 said:


> Actually is was talking about their advantages over each other:
> 
> *HD 7870*
> 
> ...


You should ignore things like memory bandwidth, core clock etc. You don't judge by those.

Only three things matter -
1) FPS in games.
2) Power consumption.
3) Price.


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## Skud (Mar 10, 2012)

Siddharth_1 said:


> *So you mean to say that i should wait for some time till the performance stats of 7870 are published over the internet.*
> 
> But dont you think that the less no of texture units and pixel shader processors(fragment pipelines) in 7870 as compared to 6970 would effect its performance.




It's already out a week ago. Google.


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## Siddharth_1 (Mar 10, 2012)

ico said:


> You should ignore things like memory bandwidth, core clock etc. You don't judge by those.
> 
> Only three things matter -
> 1) FPS in games.
> ...



Thanks for your suggestion.



Skud said:


> It's already out a week ago. Google.



I found this source-
AMD Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850 Launched - 3D Tech News and Pixel Hacking - Geeks3D.com

HD 7870 has much better performance than other GFXs of its price range. Especially, as compared to GTX 570, it has better performance and yet its quite cheaper. It also has variably good performance as compared to HD 7950 and GTX 580, which possibly be matched by an OC edition of HD 7870.

But because nvidia kepler series are going to be launched in a month, so i think that i should also wait for GTX6.X.X. Take a look at this link-
*www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2012/2/10/real-nvidia-kepler2c-gk1042c-geforce-gtx-670680-specs-leak-out.aspx

It says that GTX 660(GK104) would have an approx. cost of $250 and will perform better than HD 7950. So, i may be able to get something better than HD 7870 in a price of $350.

But 1 thing is want to ask is that will my Gen2(PCI-E2.0x16) mobo [MSI Z68MA-ED55(B3)] will support these PCI-E3.0x16 GFXs.


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## rchi84 (Mar 17, 2012)

GPUs are backwards compatible, meaning you can even plug those into a Pci-e 1.0 slot, but they will have some performance crippled.

They will run absolutely fine on Pcie 2.0 x16 slots. There are few games that will actually utilise all that bandwidth on a single monitor as of now.


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## A_ashish_A (Mar 17, 2012)

Btw from where r u planning to buy 7870?? Its not even released in india.


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## Siddharth_1 (Mar 17, 2012)

I have the contact of an importer who imports electronics in India. He possibly could get a graphics card for me from US or Europe.


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## coderunknown (Mar 18, 2012)

^^ by the time your importer imports the GPU, you may get it from ITWares, or SMC or TE's dealer's paradise for much less. also warranty.


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## Siddharth_1 (Mar 18, 2012)

^^ the person frequently travels from india to abroad so maybe if he gets the GPU personnaly, i need not pay any import duties and i could get it at the prices abroad. But maybe it might never happen.

Anyways, thanks for your suggestion.


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## devx (Mar 18, 2012)

Hey people in here if somebody knows the 7870 seller info. in India by next week please post.....


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## Siddharth_1 (Mar 18, 2012)

^^k...


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## devx (Mar 29, 2012)

= *ebay.in* is selling Gigabyte / Powercolor / Sapphire 7870 at 27-28k as always IMPORTING from USA., i don't think anyone is going to order from Ebay  better to wait till it properly arrives in our market.

= _Hey MSI R7870 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC is available on *SMC* for 22.1k + shipping (100 for surface & 300 for Express)_., by the way CILUS found it first & posted.

= *Hardwire.in* > _SAPPHIRE = 22,889/- > MSI = 24,450/- > HIS 23,595/-_
Sapphire HD 7870 2GB - Hardwire.in

*hardwire.in/graphics-cards/468-msi-radeon-hd-7870-twin-frozr-2.html

*hardwire.in/461-his-radeon-hd-7870-iceq-2gb.html

= *TheITwares* > _HIS = 22,850/-_
HIS HD 7870 IceQ Edition 2GB GDDR5 H787Q2G2M HD7870 Radeon 256-bit PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Graphic Card


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