AMD kick-started 2012 with the release of the Radeon HD 7970, the first member of the Radeon HD 7000 GPU series. This launch marked the introduction of the first-ever graphics card to be made on a 28nm design process, representing the company's most complex GPU to date, with 4,313 million transistors in a 352mm2 die.
Following this release, through the year AMD shipped seven additional 28nm HD 7000 cards targeting price ranges from $100 through to $400, which is where the HD 7970 sits today (nearly 30% below its debut price). Most of AMD's lineup has undergone similar price cuts to address stiff competition from Nvidia's own 28nm GPU offerings.
Nvidia arrived slightly later to the party, roughly two months after the HD 7970 debut, the GeForce GTX 680 at$500 was cheaper and faster than the HD 7970, forcing AMD to make swift price cuts even though the GTX 680 remained in very limited supply for many months.
This price war of sorts continued as Nvidia dribbled out new GTX 600 parts over the next five months. Discontent with reactively slashing prices, AMD made an effort to improve margins by releasing overclocked versions of its two top models: the HD 7970 GHz Edition and the HD 7950 Boost.
Core i7 Test System Specs
- Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (3.30GHz)
- x4 2GB G.Skill DDR3-1600(CAS 8-8-8-20)
- Asrock X79 Extreme11 (Intel X79)
- OCZ ZX Series (1250w)
- Crucial m4 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 (2048MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 (2048MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2048MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 (2048MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti (2048MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1024MB)
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3072MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 7970 (3072MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 7950 Boost (3072MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 7950 (3072MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 7870 (2048MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 7850 (2048MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 7770 (1024MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 7750 (1024MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6970 (2048MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6950 (2048MB)
- HIS Radeon HD 6870 (1024MB)
- Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
- Nvidia Forceware 310.61 Beta
- AMD Catalyst 12.11 (Beta 8)
According to the 3Dmark 11 entry test the GeForce GTX 650 Ti is 16% faster than the Radeon HD 6870 and 19% faster than the 7770.
Personally I prefer Amd over Nvidia, but feel free to make up your own mind.
Taken From: http://www.techspot.com/review/603-best-graphics-cards/
