Overclocking AMD's Radeon HD 7970
With a better sense for how each Radeon HD 7970 performs in its stock form, we're able to apply those aforementioned maximum stable overclocks and use Crysis 2 to better gauge the headroom enabled by aftermarket cooling and nifty tuning applications.
With each card dialed in as fast as they'll go, less than 5% separates the bottom and top, squeezing a field previously spread by closer to 10%. Four of the five submissions land within 2% of each other, even.
Clearly, overclocking is something of an equalizer when it comes to gauging Radeon HD 7970 performance. But how easy is it to live with these products when they’re pushed to the limit? Our noise, temperature, and power usage comparison on the next page tells the story.