Introduction

HD 7950 Market Segment Analysis Radeon

HD 7870 GeForce

GTX 580 GeForce

GTX 660 Ti Radeon

HD 7950 HIS HD

7950 X² Boost GeForce

GTX 670 Radeon

HD 7970 HD 7970

GHz Ed. GeForce

GTX 680 Shader Units 1280 512 1344 1792 1792 1344 2048 2048 1536 ROPs 32 48 24 32 32 32 32 32 32 Graphics Processor Pitcairn GF110 GK104 Tahiti Tahiti GK104 Tahiti Tahiti GK104 Transistors 2800M 3000M 3500M 4310M 4310M 3500M 4310M 4310M 3500M Memory Size 2048 MB 1536 MB 2048 MB 3072 MB 3072 MB 2048 MB 3072 MB 3072 MB 2048 MB Memory Bus Width 256 bit 384 bit 192 bit 384 bit 384 bit 256 bit 384 bit 384 bit 256 bit Core Clock 1000 MHz 772 MHz 915 MHz+ 800 MHz 950 MHz 915 MHz+ 925 MHz 1050 MHz 1006 MHz+ Memory Clock 1200 MHz 1002 MHz 1502 MHz 1250 MHz 1250 MHz 1502 MHz 1375 MHz 1500 MHz 1502 MHz Price $245 $430 $280 $310 $320 $380 $390 $400 $480

Initially, AMD released their HD 7950 Boost Edition as a custom BIOS that enabled the boost state on reference HD 7950 cards for a quick and easy performance increase. While the new design hasn't led to as many new releases as the normal models, some board partners have chosen to build custom cards based on that new BIOS.The HIS HD 7950 IceQ X² uses a new cooler that was introduced to the company's lineup recently. It also comes with a nice overclock out of the box and highly capable dual 8-pin power inputs.Pricing is quite reasonable with $320, given that it is just $10 more than a normal HD 7950 reference design card and significantly cheaper than the GTX 670, which offers a similar performance.