AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB Review

Performance Analysis

With a price tag of £350 there’s no doubt which card AMD is gunning for with the HD 7950 3GB; Nvidia’s GTX 580 1.5GB. In ARMA 2 the HD 7950 3GB certainly shows its advantage, with a minimum frame rate of 56fps at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA, 6fps more than the GTX 580 1.5GB, but 10fps fewer than the HD 7970 3GB. At 2,560 x 1,600 with 4x AA the HD 7950 3GB is again substantially faster, with a minimum frame rate of 35fps, some 30 per cent faster than the GTX 580 1.5GB in the same test: wow! At the three-screen resolution of 5,760 x 1,080 with 4x AA however, things get a whole lot tougher and the HD 7950 3GB is only able to produce a minimum frame rate of 20fps, matching that of the HD 7970 3GB.

While the HD 7950 3GB was far faster than the GTX 580 1.5GB in ARMA 2, the same doesn’t apply to performance in online splode-‘em-up Battlefield 3. A minimum frame rate of 45fps at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA is 2fps shy of the GTX 580 3GB. At 2,560 x 1,600 with 4xAA the HD 7950 is able to squeeze marginally in front, with a minimum frame rate of 28fps matching that of the GTX 580 1.5GB and only a 2fps average frame rate advantage seeing it come out on top. Again, at 5,760 x 1,080 the HD 7950 3GB struggles to produce playable frame rates at our ultra-detail setting, with a minimum frame rate of 19fps, compared to the HD 7970 3GB’s 23fps in the same test .


Dirt 3 again sees the HD 7950 3GB produce a less convincing show against the GTX 580 1.5GB, with a minimum frame rate of 85fps at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA 2fps behind the Nvidia card. At 2,560 x 1,600 though, the HD 7950 3GB is well in front, with a minimum frame rate of 58fps to the GTX 580 1.5GB’s 53fps. 5,760 x 1,080 performance is a little dour however, and offers just a 2fps improvement to the minimum frame rate over the HD 6970 2GB.

We know Skyrim to be CPU limited, even at 1,920 x 1,080 and this is the reason for the HD 7950 3GB’s seemingly disappointing minimum frame rate of 50fps at that resolution. Dial it up to 2,560 x 1,600 with 4x AA though, and we see the HD 7950 3GB pip the GTX 580 1.5GB by 3fps with a minimum frame rate of 51fps. 5,760 x 1,080 performance is also fair, and with a minimum frame rate of 25fps, is just about playable.


The HD 7950 3GB’s reduction in stream processors and core frequency sees it also drop a healthy 66W from peak power consumption in comparison to the HD 7970 3GB. Idle desktop system power consumption of 89W is similarly impressive. However, with the scaled down cooler of the HD 7950 3GB operating temperatures are a little higher, with an idle delta T of 15°C and a peak load delta T of 57°C. The card’s firmware is set to keep the GPU at 83°C, so above this GPU temperature you’ll near the fan speed increasing to whatever's necessary. At our delta T of 57°C in a 21°C ambient we found the card to be impressively quiet even when under extended load; it’s not silent, but it’s extremely un-intrusive.

**We’ll be adding the power and thermal performance of the larger ‘primary’ version of the HD 7950 3GB later on today – sorry for the delay! **