AMD to Launch Radeon HD 7950 GHz Edition

Recent reports indicate that AMD will soon be launching a Radeon HD 7950 GHz Edition card. Compared to the reference specs of the Radeon HD 7950 with a clock speed of 800 MHz, and up to 900 MHz on factory overclocked models, it amounts to a clock speed boost of 25% or more. This suggests that, following the launch of the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition cards, AMD have enough good dies to guarantee the higher clock speeds even on dies which don't meet the full specs required for the 7970.

Currently, a reference clocked NVidia GTX 670 outperforms an HD 7950 at stock speeds by a few percent. The extra 25% over the current stock speeds means the HD 7950 GHz Edition, combined with the new AMD PowerTune with Boost feature (introduced with the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition) should outperform a stock GTX 670. That should help AMD to win back some of the market share they have recently lost.

The basic specs will be the same as the original HD 7950, with 1792 GCN cores, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs and 3GB GDDR5 memory with a 384-bit bandwidth. Reports suggest that most cards bearing the new branding will use custom design PCBs, although they will still require the same 2 x 6-pin PCI-E power connectors.

It is not yet known when the new SKU will launch, but pricing is expected to fall into the $350-400 price range, in direct competition with the GTX 670.