Last monthwe compared half a decade's worth of DirectX 11-capable GeForce cards in the latest and Watch Carnal Cravings (2006)greatest PC games to see where Nvidia has made the biggest performance leaps and which GPUs have aged the best.
We had never compared so many GPU generations under the same conditions and the results were fascinating. So naturally folks using AMD Radeons were also curious to see how their single-GPU flagship parts have held up.
Equipped with five years of Radeon technology and the latest Catalyst driver, we set to benchmark major AMD architectures released between late 2009 and October 2014: Evergreen (HD 5870), Northern Islands (HD 6970), Southern Islands (HD 7970) and the company's most recent GPU architecture, Sea Islands (R9 290X).
The HD 7000 series was a big deal for AMD as it saw the move from 40nm to a 28nm fabrication process. Moreover, it was the company's first truly new architecture in five years since the HD 2000 series.
Known as 'Graphics Core Next' (GCN), the HD 7000 range featured a RISC SIMD architecture that required considerably more transistors than before but offered advantages for GPU computation and also lead to better efficiency. Most of the GPUs in the HD 7000 series were based on the GCN 1.0 architecture, though the HD 7790 featured an improved GCN 1.1 logic, which added AMD TrueAudio and a revised version of AMD's Powertune technology.
GCN 1.2 launched along AMD's Radeon R9 285, featuring improved tessellation performance, lossless delta color compression to reduce memory bandwidth usage, an updated and more efficient instruction set, a high quality scaler for video, and a new multimedia engine for video encoding and decoding.
AMD's upcoming Radeon 300 seriescode-named 'Pirate Islands' is expected to be based on similar GCN 1.2 architecture.
| Radeon | HD 5870 | HD 6970 | HD 7970 | HD 7970 GHz | R9 290X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Codename | Cypress XT | Cayman XT | Tahiti XT | Tahiti XT2 | Hawaii XT |
| Fab (nm) | 40 | 40 | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| Transistors (Billion) | 2.15 | 2.64 | 4.31 | 4.31 | 6.2 |
| Die size (mm2) | 334 | 389 | 352 | 352 | 438 |
| SPU | 1600 | 1536 | 2048 | 2048 | 2816 |
| TAU | 80 | 96 | 128 | 128 | 176 |
| ROP | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 64 |
| Memory (MB) | 1024 | 2048 | 3072 | 3072 | 4096 |
| Bus width (bit) | 256 | 256 | 384 | 384 | 512 |
| Bandwidth (GB/s) | 153.6 | 176.0 | 264 | 288 | 320 |
| Release date | Sept-09 | Dec-10 | Jan-12 | June-12 | Oct-13 |
| Price at release | $380 | $370 | $550 | $500 | $550 |
The Radeon HD 5870 and HD 6970 were clearly the single-GPU flagships for their series, while the 7970 was replaced after only five months with an overclocked version known as the 7970 GHz Edition, which went on to be the single-GPU flagship for 16 months.
The 7970 GHz was released out of necessity as it allowed AMD to retain the performance crown over Nvidia's GTX 680 – if only barely. This was AMD's answer to avoid immediate price cuts, a move often forced on graphics chip makers after the competition undercuts them in price vs. performance offered. Still, we didn't like the 7970 GHz Edition when it landed as it was more expensive than the standard 7970 and only offered a modest factory overclock. We've included both the 7970 and the 7970 GHz Edition since both were Radeon HD 7000 flagships at a given point.
Let's explore how Radeon GPUs have scaled from one generation to the next over the past few years...
YouTube adds parent code feature, blocking your child's access to adult accounts
China approves 129 domestic online games in March, a new monthly high since 2023 · TechNode
Intel and TSMC reach preliminary agreement for US chip plant joint venture: report · TechNode
Early Prime Day deal: Get $50 off the Ninja Creami
NYT mini crossword answers for December 20
House of the Dragon Season 2, episode 5: The moment Alicent *knows* what happened to Aegon
Apple devices spared as US eases tariffs on Chinese tech imports · TechNode
AT&T reportedly paid hacker $370,000 to delete stolen customer data
HDMI 2.2 set to be announced at CES 2025
'House of the Dragon' Season 2, episode 5: Daemon's strange sex vision, explained
Best free AI courses in April 2025
Tencent tests Yuanbao AI assistant within WeChat, expanding its role beyond chat · TechNode
JD.com expands into embodied AI with focus on home applications · TechNode
Spain vs. England 2024 livestream: Watch Euro 2024 final for free
Nishioka vs. Alcaraz 2025 livestream: Watch Australian Open for free
Canada vs. Uruguay 2024 livestream: Watch Copa America third
DeepSeek AI supports Myanmar earthquake relief efforts · TechNode
Ant Group cuts AI costs by 20% using Chinese chips · TechNode
Many Indigenous communities still lack broadband internet. Here's why.
Best Prime Day 2024 Kindle deals so far
Inauguration, and the Women's March, will give Airbnb its biggestThis education minister believes cows exhale oxygenWinkd is a dating app where LGBTQ people are not an afterthoughtDancer busts gravityYes, Jude Law knows about your 'Young Pope' memesDancer busts gravityJenny Hoyos shares the secret to turning YouTube views into a businessChina claimed its troops can reach New Delhi in 48 hours and everyone cracked the same jokeThe Ringling Bros. circus is shutting down after 146 yearsThis cello cover of the 'Game of Thrones' theme might be the classiest we've heardMaisie Williams makes Twitter request, gets more than she bargained forInflatable Xbox One controller is perfect if you ever manage to go outside'Pharma bro' Martin Shkreli says he wasn't hit in the face by dog poopSurfer survives 16 hours at sea after being dragged miles offshoreThis viral photo of lemons could save your life10 of the most hilarious calls received by the RSPCADude's viral complaint about a tanning mitt is relationship goalsGene Cernan, the last astronaut to walk on the moon, has diedWhy LeBron James retroTrump to use personal Twitter account instead of @POTUS, report says Uber wants to make flying cars cheaper than owning a regular one Badass 105 Zunum Aero startup could bring domestic electric aircraft by 2020s Whoa, Microsoft just squeezed by Apple in tablet satisfaction There's more to tech stock photography than hokey gold bitcoins Fans of a TV show discovered 4 planets in only 48 hours Oldest living Aussie leader loves chugging beer so much, he's created his own 3 big reasons why you need to read 'The Handmaid's Tale' right now Google Play Music All Access arrives in India, and it's cheap March Madness ref opens up about death threats and online abuse from bitter fans Clips could be Apple’s most addictive content creation app ever MashTalk: Is Apple's Mac Pro apology enough to stop users from defecting to Windows? The days of free internet from Reliance Jio are over Sprint goes all in on its unlimited data plan Do we need another wireless carrier? Who cares! Comcast is here anyways. 'Marvel Heroes' fans are NOT happy about this 'Omega' console release The next iPhone will be less expensive than we thought, analysts say Skype adds Japanese to its real Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Oprah named among this year's Disney Legends Adidas reveals upcoming super fly 3D
3.4321s , 10138.96875 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Watch Carnal Cravings (2006)】,Fresh Information Network