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AMD Radeon HD 7970M

AMD Radeon HD 7970M

The AMD Radeon HD 7970M is a 28nm DirectX 11 graphics card based on the GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture. Built primarily for large laptops, the advanced card is positioned near the top of the high-end category as of 2012.

The design of the Radeon 7900M series has its roots to the Pitcairn chip as found, for example, on the desktop Radeon HD 7870. The 7970M in particular is similar to its desktop 7870 counterpart with 1280 1D shader cores and 80 texture units, but has a core clock of only 850 MHz versus the 1000 MHz of the HD 7870.  As a result, general performance of the HD 7970M is expected to lie somewhere between the 7850 and 7870 desktop Radeon cards.

When compared to mobile Nvidia GPUs, the HD 7970M performs significantly faster than the GeForce GTX 675M and roughly on par with the GTX 680M. In fact, the card scores P5900 in 3DMark 11, while the GTX 680M achieves P6000. Therefore, almost all demanding games of 2012 will run fluently with maxed out details and 1080p resolution.

Features of the 7970M include the new UVD3 video decoder for decoding MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, Flash and now also Multi-View Codec (MVC) and MPEG-4 part 2 (DivX, xVid) HD videos directly from the AMD GPU.

The 7900M series also supports automatic graphics switching between the integrated GPU and discrete GPU. Called Enduro, the technology supersedes AMD's Dynamic Switchable Graphics and is similar to Nvidia's Optimus. Furthermore, the 7970M can directly support up to 6 connected monitors using Eyefinity Technology if Enduro is disabled.

Other features of the 7900M series include ZeroCore for reducing power consumption when the display is turned off. Power Gating, however, is not supported according to AMD. PowerTune allows automatic overclocking and underclocking of the graphics card as long as the GPU is within its TDP range. For example, the chip may be underclocked when running FurMark and OCCT, but will overclock in certain games like Lost Planet, Crysis or Resident Evil 5.

The integrated HD audio processor is able to transmit HD Audio (TrueHD or DTS Master Audio) over HDMI and DisplayPort (e.g., for Blu-Ray videos). Additionally, it now allows audio to output simultaneously and in parallel to multiple devices with the new Discrete Digital Multipoint Audio (DDMA) feature.

Power consumption of the 7970M is in the same ballpark as the GeForce GTX 675M. According to Dell, users can expect a 100 Watt TDP from the AMD GPU. The subsequently large heat output suits the 7970M as an option only for large laptops or DTRs (desktop replacements) that have relatively powerful cooling solutions.

ManufacturerAMD
Radeon HD 7900M Series

Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire 2560@850MHz

Radeon HD 7970M 1280@850MHz

Radeon HD 7950M 1280@700MHz

CodenameWimbledon XT
ArchitectureGCN
Pipelines1280 - unified
Core Speed *850 MHz
Shader Speed *850 MHz
Memory Speed *1200 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 11.1, Shader 5.0
Current Consumption100 Watt
technology28 nm
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement01.05.2012
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 4633     avg: 5881 (57%)     max: 6525 points
3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 5447     avg: 5884.9 (53%)     max: 6423 points
3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 12294     avg: 20913.8 (57%)     max: 23183 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 17084     avg: 21394 (58%)     max: 23701 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 11638     avg: 20739.7 (70%)     max: 23197 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 13708     avg: 24337.2 (66%)     max: 29121 Points
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 44561     avg: 53442.2 (35%)     max: 94730 Points
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 68.9     avg: 76.8 (51%)     max: 83.9 fps
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 15078     avg: 17776 (68%)     max: 19236 Points
SPECviewperf 11 - Catia 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 6.64     avg: 7.3 (11%)     max: 8.05 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Ensight 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 37.03     avg: 41.3 (70%)     max: 45.54 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Lightwave 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 27.88     avg: 30.1 (37%)     max: 32.4 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 14.04     avg: 14.1 (13%)     max: 14.08 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Pro/ENGINEER 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 2.21     avg: 2.4 (14%)     max: 2.61 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - SolidWorks 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 25.93     avg: 27 (42%)     max: 28.12 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Tcvis 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 6.47     avg: 6.7 (11%)     max: 6.83 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Siemens NX 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 13.84     avg: 14.1 (22%)     max: 14.34 fps
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 39.3     avg: 61.1 (69%)     max: 71.7 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 8573     avg: 8985.5 (83%)     max: 9398 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 7.3     avg: 7.6 (97%)     max: 7.9 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 7.3     avg: 7.6 (97%)     max: 7.9 points
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailled information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Metro: Last Light
Metro: Last Light (2013)
low:
74.7  fps      Compare
med.:
65.2  fps      Compare
high:
51.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
31  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
BioShock Infinite
low:
168.1  fps      Compare
med.:
121.2  fps      Compare
high:
116.6  fps      Compare
ultra:
43.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
low:
267.6  fps      Compare
med.:
118  fps      Compare
high:
107.9  fps      Compare
ultra:
46.5  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
SimCity
SimCity (2013)
low:
69.6  fps      Compare
med.:
51.5  fps      Compare
high:
43.9  fps      Compare
ultra:
30.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider (2013)
low:
249.3  fps      Compare
med.:
164.8  fps      Compare
high:
99.3  fps      Compare
ultra:
46  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Crysis 3
Crysis 3 (2013)
low:
106  fps      Compare
med.:
63.8  fps      Compare
high:
44.8  fps      Compare
ultra:
20.3  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Dead Space 3
Dead Space 3 (2013)
low:
263.3  fps      Compare
med.:
168.4  fps      Compare
high:
141  fps      Compare
ultra:
92.3  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Far Cry 3
Far Cry 3 (2012)
low:
83.3  fps      Compare
med.:
75.2  fps      Compare
high:
31.7 58.5 ~ 45 fps      Compare
ultra:
21.8 25.4 27.1 ~ 25 fps      Compare
» With most tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Assassin´s Creed III
med.:
37.7  fps      Compare
high:
16.2 36.3 ~ 26 fps      Compare
ultra:
13.4 24.6 24.7 ~ 21 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Hitman: Absolution
low:
53.1  fps      Compare
med.:
49.3  fps      Compare
high:
18.9 43.3 ~ 31 fps      Compare