AMD 7970m vs GTX 680m

[manlai]

man these numbers are sick! this kind of performance is definitely worth waiting to upgrade.

[Alkiviad]

hmm very interesting! I thought the 6990m was an enormous jump from the 5870 and was thinking at the time 5870 sli power in a 15in im sold. so i bought a sager np8150 with a 6990m in december and max every game except metro 2033. now I see the 7970m getting 6990m sli performance and im thinking this is crazy its like laptops are obsolete every 6 months.

I have a np8150 stock with 6990m would it be wiser to sell my laptop or upgrade my gpu? like how much money could i sell my 8150 for with 6months left on the warrenty? and how much will a sager np8150em cost with a 7970m ...like if i can sell my laptop for 1000 and get a new laptop for 1700 the cost is 700, but if i keep my laptop and upgrade the cost is only 500? but i lose out on the backlit keyboard!

should I sell my laptop now or upgrade what should I do?

its up to u only

[HSN21]

hmm very interesting! I thought the 6990m was an enormous jump from the 5870 and was thinking at the time 5870 sli power in a 15in im sold. so i bought a sager np8150 with a 6990m in december and max every game except metro 2033. now I see the 7970m getting 6990m sli performance and im thinking this is crazy its like laptops are obsolete every 6 months.

I have a np8150 stock with 6990m would it be wiser to sell my laptop or upgrade my gpu? like how much money could i sell my 8150 for with 6months left on the warrenty? and how much will a sager np8150em cost with a 7970m ...like if i can sell my laptop for 1000 and get a new laptop for 1700 the cost is 700, but if i keep my laptop and upgrade the cost is only 500? but i lose out on the backlit keyboard!

should I sell my laptop now or upgrade what should I do?

Well that was an interesting era and for a good reason.

6990m jump was duo moving to 100watt
7970m jump is duo 28nm

NEXT GPU wont be smaller than 28nm for 2 years at least so that's out

Watt increase, considering how 100Watt is already pushing it i doubt we will get +100 watt GPU anytime soon

Expect 8970m to be the usual +20-30% though early 2013

There was never a better time to buy a laptop, people need to realize that
Moving to 22nm CPU (ivy bridge) and 28nm GPU is huge jump for laptops and specially gaming laptops.

[SemiGamer]

Has it been noted if the 7970 will work in an R2? If so, with what mods, if any?

[thegreatsquare]

I bought the 6990m hoping it would last 4 years do you think i should wait a couple years or wait till the 8970m or 9 series comes out?

I am waiting. The 7970m [and Ivy Bridge to boot] is really nice and from some stand point I am in a worse boat than you with just a 5870m/720QM, though I just have to deal with 1600x900 instead of 1080p ...so I've been pretty good so far and I guess I can go another year and tweak the settings.

There is another aspect to consider and that is the games. Most PC games are ports of six year old console games. The 6990m and even the 5870m will be pretty good with them. The real issue is the new consoles coming in 2013. When PC games are no longer held back by ancient consoles, the graphics "ceiling" is going to be raised more freely. With that in mind, another reason I have to wait is that I think the best strategy would be to grab the better hardware available for PC when the new consoles release.

I don't think there is a lot of downside for wait as 2012 is sort of a slow year for games in comparison to 2011. My biggest concern about how well my 5870m will run is Bioshock Infinite and that 's pretty much it. Tomb Raider? Torchlight 2? Diablo III? Those shouldn't be any trouble. Skyrim runs great, all that DLC won't be an issue.

The 7970m is sweet, but the way I see it the payoff of waiting for a 8970m [or two] is greater than the cost of waiting with my current card at a time when gaming graphics have for the most part hit a temporary plateau .

[Meaker]

Shock news: Don't upgrade your system if you happy with it

1080p does require a lot of extra grunt and depending on what the person feels about frame rates and the games they play they could easily need the 7970M to get the experience they want.

[thegreatsquare]

On a related note, I just ran across this.

AMD will stop supporting older GPUs with Catalyst 12.7 drivers :: TweakTown AU Edition

AMD plan to conclude driver updates for pre-Evergreen, and even pre-Radeon HD 2000, HD 3000, HD 4000 and HD 5000 series GPUs, starting this summer. The change should go into effect with the Catalyst 12.7 drivers which should pop up sometime in July.

There is another version that doesn't include the HD 5000 series on the chopping block.

[Phoronix] AMD To Drop Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000 Catalyst Support

WTH?

If this is true, I'll never buy another AMD GPU again.

[Meaker]

They are dropping support for DX10 GPUs.

But it does not mean your card wont work, just that there will be no new drivers for it.

[DEagleson]

How many users here on NBR use a mobility HD 4000 series gpu for gaming?
The ones who do know AMD doesent really improve the older cards performance with the newer Catalyst suites.

Average joes wont notice it because they barely understand what drivers are and the linux users rely on the superior open source drivers anyways.

This wont affect my decision to buy from AMD.


Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[thegreatsquare]

They are dropping support for DX10 GPUs.

But it does not mean your card wont work, just that there will be no new drivers for it.

But the 5000 series is DX11. When I buy a $700 GPU or a $1200 computer, I expect driver support while the hardware is relevant. What was the point of doling out the extra ~$300 on a HD5970 [instead of just a HD 5870] with future proofing in mind when the HD 5870 could of kept me until driver support gets cut prematurely.

Same with my 5870m. I upgraded from FX-9805u and did so with future proofing in mind.

Dropping support on the 5000 series is ridiculous.


OPEN QUESTION:

Anybody feel good about buying a new laptop with a 7000 series card if AMD has a record of dropping driver support barely two years after launch?

[Edit: After a bit more googling, it seems only tweaktown Australia have included the 5000 series on the chopping block. Hopefully it is just their mistake. It seems that way...crosses fingers]