First GHz Edition Radeon HD 7970 hits shelves, throws $699 wrench into AMD's pricing
The GHz Edition was supposed to deliver a significant mid-cycle performance bump to AMD's flagship 7970, without any attendant rise in cost. Instead, according to AnandTech, it looks like third-party vendors are looking to exploit the GE has a chance to max out every other spec in addition to the updated silicon and then charge a premium. Sapphire's new Toxic card is a case in point -- a 6GB double-helping of VRAM and a "Lethal" BIOS mode that takes base clock up to 1150MHz and memory clock to 6.4GHz (compared to 6GHz on the stock card). Those who can splutter up $699 will surely love it, but it's no substitute for the $499 upgrade that AMD originally intended.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/31/s...adeon-hd-7970/
