Conclusions
Contents
Before our analysis, we have to explain that we re-tested the Radeon HD 7970 using the latest drivers provided by AMD, and that is the reason that the numbers for this video card presented in this review are different from the Radeon HD 7970’s original review.
The new Radeon HD 7950 proved to be a good contender to the GeForce GTX 580, with the advantage of being cheaper. The only game where the GeForce GTX 580 was significantly faster than the Radeon HD 7950 was FarCry 2, with the video card from NVIDIA being between14% and 19% faster. The GeForce GTX 580 was also between 5% and 6% faster on Deus Ex: Human Revolution. On Battlefield 3, both video cards achieved the same performance level. They also achieved the same performance level on DiRT3 at 1920×1200, but at 2560×1600 the Radeon HD 7950 was 5% faster. On StarCraft II, the Radeon HD 7950 was 12% faster at 1920×1200, but at 2560×1600 both achieved the same performance level.
In all other games and simulations we ran, the Radeon HD 7950 was faster than the GeForce GTX 580: between 17% and 19% on Aliens vs. Predator, between 7% and 11% on 3DMark 11, and 47% on Media Espresso.
As you can see, although the battle between the GeForce GTX 580 and the Radeon HD 7950 will depend on the game and resolution you run, the Radeon HD 7950 has a better price/performance ratio than its big sister, the Radeon HD 7970. To prove this point, consider that the Radeon HD 7970 was between 6% and 20% faster than the Radeon HD 7950 on the games we ran, but it is 22% more expensive.
Therefore, the Radeon HD 7950 is a good option if you are looking for a high-end video card and have USD 450 to spend on one.
