AMD Rolls Out new HD 7950 BIOS, Expects Existing Customers to Look the Other Way

[velias]

You do have a point about availability, although I don't believe the price was ever meant to be the same as reference.

The way you word articles makes you seem very biased towards nvidia, truthfully (and word of mouth from other websites point this out) - i'm generally brand agnostic and using 680s for the time being - but again you do bring good points here about availability. You're absolutely right about that in regards to the ghz 7970.

[geokilla]

Rage3D

[Sam_Reynolds]

To be fair, NVIDIA does have the edge right now. That wasn't always the case, and it may not be in the future, but during this cycle they're riding high.

[velias]

That they do indeed, I got nvidia myself because the game I played the most at the time (Skyrim ) was better on nvidia. Hopefully AMD can re-capture customer good-will with the sea islands series.

[SKYMTL]

Trust me, when NVIDIA screws up, we'll call them on it too. My hesitation here is due to a lack of physical evidence that this HD 7950 smoke screen will be any different from the one put up as the Ghz Edition launched. If it turns out differently, you'll see plenty of coverage.

[Bond007]

Hopefully this whole situation gets sorted out with the release of cards with this bios. In the mean time I think you are making the righ decision skymtl

[SKYMTL]

It isn't just a release. It is a PROPER release (ie: more than a single SKU with limited availability) before the end of the week with the cards PROPERLY indicated as having a separate BIOS and utilizing the CLAIMED price of $349. We'll be watching out for it.

[sswilson]

If this card is something that's going to be available through retail channels in a week's time, you'd think that one of the OEMs would have a review sample they'd be falling over themselves to get out to you. I agree completely that it doesn't pass the smell test, best to wait until product actually shows up and then you can do a review of the "new" product against the 660ti benchmarks.

[SKYMTL]

Out of (now) six board partners I talked to, four didn't even know about the update, one said they already have a card that's clocked above those speeds anyways and one said they may have a few dozen units available at some major retailers next week. Unfortunately, that last one said (HIS) said they won't be indicating anything different on their packaging.

[great_big_abyss]

Hmmm, it seems like it's no different than overclocking. My 7950's stock speed is 880MHZ directly from Powercolor, and I have it overclocked to 900MHZ....so what's the difference? If I reflashed my card, I'd actually be potentially LOSING performance due to the base clock being lower than my card's stock (and currently OC'd) state.

I admit though, my interest is piqued by the addition of the powerboost function with the new BIOS flash and drivers. I like the idea of increasing the powerboost function and letting the card self regulate depending on load.

Since it seems that my board is one of the reference board designs that this applies to, I may actually use the two-position bios switch that comes on my card for this reason. Warranty be damned, I'm an enthusiast!!!!!!!

EDIT: I just read that the warranty is only voided if the user has the BIOS switch incorrectly set during the flash. The RAGE3D website indicated that the switch should be in position 1. Sky, any insight on this? Have you heard the same? What has AMD told you? All liability is assumed by the consumer, of course, and not by you, the reviewer/advice giver.