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October 22nd, 2012

AMD Announces Never Settle Game Bundles and Catalyst 12.11 Drivers

AMD Announces Never Settle Game Bundles and Catalyst 12.11 Drivers radeon 7970 ghz radeon 7950 radeon 7870 radeon 7850 radeon 7770 radeon 7000

It’s definitely AMD day today. After launching Catalyst 12.11 drivers, which provide a noticeable performance boost for each Radeon card, the company is also announcing a new promotion for newly purchased cards.

For every Radeon HD 7950, HD 7970 (GE) you will receive a Steam cupons for FarCry 3, Hitman Absolution and Sleeping Dogs. If you decide to buy two Radeon HD 7800 cards or two Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition, then you will get FarCry 3 and Hitman. Also for a single HD 7800 or HD 7770 model there’s FarCry for free. It’s worth to mention that for every single model from Radeon HD 7770 to 7970 there’s a 20% off coupon for Medal of Honor Warfigther. So if you were planning to buy some of those games, but wasn’t sure which graphics cards to grab, then you should have your answer.

AMD has also launched its new Catalyst 12.11 driver. It appears that the driver provides substantial performance boost for each HD 7000 series card. This new driver was reviewed by techPowerUP and here are overall results:

  • HD 7750: +4%
  • HD 7770: +5%
  • HD 7850: +4%
  • HD 7870: +10%
  • HD 7950: +7%
  • HD 7970: +7%
  • HD 7970 GHz: +7%

Intersting facts: Radeon HD 7870 is now faster than reference model of GeForce GTX 660. Radeon HD 7950 has now slightly better performance than GeForce GTX 660 Ti. And finally the most interesting part: the fastest single-gpu graphics card is now Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition after beating up the GeForce GTX 680 (only by few percent, but it’s still faster).

You can see the full list here.


AMD Announces Never Settle Game Bundles and Catalyst 12.11 Drivers radeon 7970 ghz radeon 7950 radeon 7870 radeon 7850 radeon 7770 radeon 7000
AMD Announces Never Settle Game Bundles and Catalyst 12.11 Drivers radeon 7970 ghz radeon 7950 radeon 7870 radeon 7850 radeon 7770 radeon 7000
AMD Announces Never Settle Game Bundles and Catalyst 12.11 Drivers radeon 7970 ghz radeon 7950 radeon 7870 radeon 7850 radeon 7770 radeon 7000
AMD Announces Never Settle Game Bundles and Catalyst 12.11 Drivers radeon 7970 ghz radeon 7950 radeon 7870 radeon 7850 radeon 7770 radeon 7000
AMD Announces Never Settle Game Bundles and Catalyst 12.11 Drivers radeon 7970 ghz radeon 7950 radeon 7870 radeon 7850 radeon 7770 radeon 7000
AMD Announces Never Settle Game Bundles and Catalyst 12.11 Drivers radeon 7970 ghz radeon 7950 radeon 7870 radeon 7850 radeon 7770 radeon 7000

  • Anon

    Then your company faces bankrupt try to spread some BS. +20% :D
    http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image//skymtl/GPU/12-11-DRIVERS/12-11-DRIVERS-86.jpg

  • Syed Ahmed

    Amd rules!!!!!!
    just need physx now for the amd and i am yours

  • skr13

    HD 7950 20% faster than GTX 660 Ti…LOL
    Anyway nice improvement, but i wonder what AMD driver department had done in previous months? Sleeping :)

  • Nigel Harris

    This reminds me of Nvidia’s Big Bang drivers.

  • varantar

    oh lol.. hardwarecanucks was always bias towars nvdia.

  • Medallish

    Just buy a card for the side, like a 650, and enable Hybrid PhysX, yeah it can be a pain, but blame nVidia for being dicks.

  • Syed Ahmed

    i dont think so nvidia are going to drop their price i dont know why nvidia never does they only when they are going to launch their next series correct me if i am wrong

  • Syed Ahmed

    and its totally wrong to compete with the gtx 650 ti vs 7850 i mean com on amd dont be that bad play fair win everywhere

  • xxx

    Clearly just marketing for better selling for upcoming holidays. Obviously there is an improvement but not so much! Everyone knows that nVidia has better software support so ..
    Perfomance chart from hardware canucks are more closer to reality ;)

  • skr13

    But don´t forget this generation AMD flagship is faster than Nvidia flagship, HD 7970 GE vs GTX 680.
    Previous generations Nvidia had dominated AMD with GTX 480 vs HD 5870 and GTX 580 vs HD 6970, since situation favor AMD now, price cut from Nvidia is a possibility.

  • BestJinjo

    The marketing slides do exaggerate the performance but the performance increase is the greatest I’ve ever seen from any GPU maker in 10 years I’d say.

    From HWC’s conclusion: “The 12.11 drivers represent a new beginning for the HD 7970 GHz Edition and while we haven’t tested the rest of AMD’s lineup, we’re sure the situation above will repeat itself throughout their product stack. This is not a selective performance bump in a few AMD-friendly titles either. Rather, the 12.11s offer an across-the-board performance increase that pushes the HD 7970 GHz Edition right past the GTX 680. From a price / performance standpoint, there are actually very few reasons to recommend the GTX 680 at this point and at higher detail settings there’s just no competition ”

    HD7970 GE is now leading GTX680 by 15% at 1600P.

    TPU’s full test for all cards shows real world increases of 4-10% for the HD7000 line, with BF3 growing 20-30% (same as shown by AnandTech, Guru3D, Hexus, etc.).

  • BestJinjo

    That’s because on price, they are within $20 apart but HD7770 goes for $105-115 with rebates. GTX650Ti 1GB is $150 and GTX650Ti 2GB is $170. That’s more in-line with HD7850 1GB/2GB pricing. If you do a straight price/performance calculation, GTX650Ti is both overpriced relative to 7770 or 7850. $20-30 savings and you lose 40-45% more performance. Skip a couple McDs meals :)

  • BestJinjo

    You can run PhysX on an AMD card in games like BL2 without an NV card at all.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_VE5yqNbLg

    For other games where PhysX is more demanding you’d need a slave NV card. If you want native PhysX, stick with NV but since so few games are coming out with PhysX worth playing, many gamers aren’t seeing a value in paying $100 (100 EUR) more for NV such as GTX680 over HD7970 GE to wait for a possible game that use PhysX in 6 months from now. We know for sure Metro Last Light is coming and if Metro 2033 is any indication, AMD will perform 20-30% faster in that game. Chances are AMD cards will be faster in MOH:W, Hitman Absolutoin and FC3 as well.

  • BestJinjo

    Ya obviously both AMD and NV exaggerate their press release slides. BF3 gains are not fake though – 20-30%:

    36% more without AA
    25% more with 4xMSAA + FXAA
    http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/bericht-amd-catalyst-12.11-beta/9/

    If you look at the average performance gain, it’s 7% for HD7970/7970GE series. That’s a lot considering they cost less than GTX680 and are faster. NV charged $100 over GTX670 and 680 is what 9-10% faster than 670? AMD just gave gamers 7% for free. Let’s hope NV starts dropping prices offering even more competition to gamers. As it stands, AMD offers more performance and price/performance at every price level below $600.

  • Syed Ahmed

    wow gtx 650 ti 1 gb at 150$ and 2gb at 170$ nvidia just ripe me off and i am going to upgrade my gpu to gtx 650 ti if i get at 130$ but not at 150$ nvidia is just ripping people off

  • BestJinjo
  • BestJinjo

    Not sure why you got thumbed down. Even without game bundles, AMD is now clearly offering superior price performance, consider overclocking and game bundles, NV’s cards are not on the map anymore without price drops. NV won’t drop prices if their customers keep paying the NV brand name premium. Supply and demand is the name of the game and if NV can sell GTX670/680 without price drops, they won’t drop prices. Recall HD5850/5870 for $269/$379. Insane value and for 6 months NV users still waited to upgrade anyway. I think NV can get away with charging $50-100 more per card. It’s pretty amazing that GTX670 was $100 less than GTX680 for about 10% less performance and here AMD offers 7% higher performance for 7970 with a free driver upgrade.

  • http://www.facebook.com/FwixGamer Anas Azghari

    damn this is the best deal ever happen in video cards !!!!
    nvidia it’s just ripped offf damn if just amd have a nice support in 3d rendering (3ds max – after effect ect ) i m gonna definitely sell my gtx 590 and buy 2 ore 3 7970 …. any way let’s hope nvidia come up with a good price 680 400$ ect then yeah costumers gonna have the best real price/performance ratio

  • max

    How do we get the coupons if we purchase the cards, ? im looking at a 7850 where do i get the games.

  • thodge84

    NIce incentives to buy. Obviously the “Radeon Performance Advantage” is speaking of some random +20% that favors them, but their cards really do compete well with Nvidia’s. Can’t be mad at getting free games from AMD. I hope it works for them because I would hate to see a world where it’s just Nvidia as the only discrete GPU manufacturer. MAKE SOME DAMN MONEY AMD!

  • skr13

    I don´t care about free games, they need to downloaded of Steam, and my Internet is really slow with ISP blocking high traffic bandwidth.
    Maybe there are customers that pay more because it´s Nvidia, in my case i pay $30 for G210…LOL
    People are amazed with AMD driver, but making good drivers should be their job, we pay for cards and respective software, and this drivers are clearly a marketing tactic.
    When AMD saw that GTX 660 catch and in some cases surpasses 7870 they get scared, that´s why 10% increase in 7870 performance.
    If Nvidia won´t drop price, i will buy AMD card.

  • Jerome

    AMD GCN just has more headroom as it should being a new architecture, Kepler is a Fermi Evolution. With the way things are at this time its impossible to recommend anything Nvidia given AMD’s priceperformance ratio.

  • Raghar

    Does it mean GTX 660 and GTX 650 Ti would have price drops? I’d delay acquisition by one week and wait.

  • NVIDIA GGCE

    12.11 is a beta driver and a fix for MOH warfighter (amd evolved title) on the way…….geforce 310.33 beta neutralizes that gains….dont forget GTX 670 FTW IS THE BEST SELLING GPU OF 2012 …HAHAHAHAHAHAH

  • http://www.facebook.com/TheHeartOfAsiaa Pratik Rawankar

    +1

  • BestJinjo

    Not even close. 310.33′s have no major improvements in BF3 or MOH if you read the release notes.

    HD7970 GE is 15% faster than GTX680 is in MOH:W:
    http://gamegpu.ru/images/stories/Test_GPU/Action/Medal%20of%20Honor%20Warfighter/test/moh%201920%204x.png

    That EVGA GTX670 FTW version is plagued with BSOD/RROD issues and has a very high failure rate. Also, there you must work for NV or EVGA as no one knows what the best selling GPU in 2012 was that card…

  • BestJinjo

    The games should be sent to you as a coupon if the retailer is participating in the program. Check with the retailer if you get the games, otherwise it won’t be enclosed with the card. The coupon for the games is redeemed on AMD’s website where they later get you the Steam coupons once the games are released in November I believe.

  • BestJinjo

    “People are amazed with AMD driver, but making good drivers should be their job, we pay for cards and respective software, and this drivers are clearly a marketing tactic.”

    NV gave Fermi cards 10% performance increase in 6-8 months of driver releases. You are saying NV drivers sucked then too? I don’t understand this double standard. Both NV and AMD are expected to improve driver perfomrance but when AMD does it, they are ridiculed for having bad drivers “all this time” but when NV does it, their driver team is “amazing.”

    Here is proof that NV gained 10% with Fermi cards
    http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2011/test-nvidia-geforce-285.79/3/

    GCN is a brand new architecture like Fermi was. It took AMD time to get 5-10% gains since there were some inefficiencies in the architecture. I don’t think it’s about being scarred but about delivering more value to existing and potential gamers.

    You said you don’t care about $150-170 worth of free games but even without the games, every card in AMD’s lineup now offers more value. Some guys at OCN are reporting HD7950 @ 1140mhz is faster than a 1260mhz GTX680 in BF3 now:

    http://www.overclock.net/t/1318674/tpu-amd-announces-never-settle-catalyst-12-11-driver-update/150#post_18428759

    You keep saying power consumption is a big deal but you are saving 200 Euro to get the same performance as a GTX680 card if you buy a 7950 and overclock it. I already linked you before that an overclocked 7950 doens’t use more power than an overclocked 680, so power consumption isn’t a factor in this comparison :)

  • BestJinjo

    Unlikely. Even during HD5000-6000 series, AMD offered more value and NV didn’t drop prices officially even once.

  • BestJinjo

    Sky knew he’d be in trouble if his website didn’t show HD7970 winning with latest drivers after all other professional review websites unanimously showed it winning. It would be too obvious :)

  • Raghar

    It’s too early for a refresh product. AMD didn’t release theirs next line either and they started before NVidia.

  • common sense
  • Raghar

    I would, but I want 6 core CPU, and high power consumption would interfere with CPU overclocking. My curent CPU is overclocked on passive, and combination of dumping 100 W more into case and 6 cores isn’t that simple.

    On the other hand I don’t care about AA, and I think that people who care about graphics are better when they are using 2560×1600 no AA, than 1920×1080 with AA.

    BTW that article didn’t show that important driver setting. Did they modded it or did they left it on default? A lots of reviewers suck.

  • Raghar

    200/33 – 380/59 = -0.38007190549
    230/33 – 430/59 = -0.31843862352

    It looks like AMD sucks.

    270/33 – 440/58 = 0.59561128526

    On the other hand NVidia delivers.

    Mathematical analysis is a bitch.

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  • BestJinjo

    Huh?

    Wow, you are slowly cementing yourself as a huge NV fanboy if you twisted the above data I posted from a review to show NV in a positive light. Can’t you see that to get similar performance as AMD’s cards get in MOH:W, you need to spend more on an NV card?

    What don’t you understand in the above review by Guru3D? AMD cards deliver similar performance for less $. I responded to NVIDIA GGCE’s post that NV will improve performance with GeForce 310.33 drivers to put them over the top in Frostbite 2.0 game but even when Guru3D retested NV’s cards with the latest drivers they still perform worse at the same price level.

  • BestJinjo

    I only responded to your statement regarding 310.33 drivers neutralizing advantage in MOH:W. I linked you the latest review for that comment you made. I didn’t mention a word regarding Black Ops 2, Assassin’s Creed 3 or Crysis 3.

    First of all TXAA blurs textures severely, reducing image quality even more so than MLAA and FXAA. Almost no gaming enthusiast who likes image quality would choose to use TXAA. Those of us who want even better image quality use SSAA (SGSSAA and so on). TXAA makes the game look like a console port (see it’s awful implementation in the Secret World). Perhaps TXAA will improve in the future but so far it has been disappointing.

    As for Black Ops 2 or AC3, those are straight up console ports. There could be some DX11 sprinkled effects but most likely you can max both out on a GTX660 or HD7870 at 1080P. Crysis 3 is so far away that by that point we might be talking about GTX700 vs. HD8000 series.

  • BestJinjo

    AMD did a refresh this year already. HD7950 –> V2 and HD7970 –> 7970 GE. Normally we would have expected NV to recapture the performance crown with GTX685 or something but they decided not to. Hopefully GTX780 will be a good card as 680 was underwhelming overall.

  • MoMoMoMoooooo

    WoW I sold 7970 and GTX 680 before this freaking deal came out

    Guess I will reconsider bought back 7970 again :D AMD you are freaking rock!

    Not to mention their awesome driver 12.11! that neat.

  • Dark Vengence

    Dam i just bought a gtx 660ti 3gb for 190gbp 2nd hand read about new amd drivers and saw 7950 for same price 2nd hand
    with 900mhz clock. Dam i feel like a fool should have gone for Amd FTW and before u ask i got gtx480 atm so aint an fanboy
    U got to admit amd with decent drivers and great prices have won this graphics card round i so wish i had 7950 instead of 660ti now :(