Graphics Wars...HD 7970 vs GTX 680, don't be duped

Radeon 7970

Geforce GTX 680

What Matters...

                                         HD 7970                            GTX 680

Clock Speeds                  925 Mhz                            1006 Mhz

Memory capacity         3 GB GDDR5                     2.048 GB GDDR5

Memory Bandwidth      264 GB/s                            192.2 GB/s

Memory speed            5.5 Gbps                            6.0 Gbps

No of Displays             up to 6 monitors                  up to 4 monitors

Max Temp                   98C                                  72C

Damage                      $549                                 $499

Both are based on a 28 nanometer fabrication process. The simple question is, which one of these is the bleeding edge? Is $50 worth a difference of 71.8 GB/s memory bandwidth?

Reports indicate that the HD 7970 is louder (literally) than the GTX. The GTX may be quieter, but will it fit into a PCI port with other stowaways? It is wider than the 7970 (bulkier), is thinner better?

So, one is quieter than the other, one costs less, the other has a faster memory...oh, the anguish of choices.

Solution

Easy enough, we took to benchmarks...

Our favorite...

 

..."what you saying? I can't hear you"

Nvidia are well known for writing kick a-- drivers and code, could this mean that the GTX will win this round because of 0s and 1s?

...and The Power Bill

and the GTX wins eventually, why? Thought you would't ask, four things:

At 1 Ghz processor speed, silent operation, lower bills and a $500 price tag, I would marry the GTX 680.

iPad 3 overheating...the culprits

Some iPad 3 users have reportedly complained that the device may get uncomfortably "warm" especially when playing 3D games or using it in the sun. The device will then turn off as a protection feature so as not to damage the silicon inside.


Let it be known that it is quite common for something to get warm in the sun (quite obvious we must say) especially an electronic. However, we set out to figure what else could cook your hands while having fun with your iPad.


Convict 1: The 4G chip


This is not a big offender for overheating (probably get 1 month for it). However, great speeds come with great power consumption, great power consumption equals great heat emission. Its not that much of heat emission but it contributes to the heat build up.

chips chips chips

The Qualcomm 4G/3G transceiver (orange) and Toshiba MCP-Master Control Program (yellow) are the main perpetrators here.


Convict 2: The Display


Remember when Sharp said that they could't supply the iPad 3 display because of the illumination needed to light up the screen? The new screen has 72 LEDs, twice the iPad 2's. This may consume a lot of juice, giving up more heat in return.

oooooh, smoooth

Convict 3 : A5X


What happens when you cram a couple of ICs in a small box and ramp up the amount of graphics they churn every second? Yes, more power requirement, more heat output. 

A5X in all its glory

Main Perpetrator : The Battery


If you draw lots of power from a lithium-ion battery (any), you gonna have some heat coming off it that you can fry an egg on. In this case, we have a 42.5 watt hour Lithium-polymer battery generating and insulating the heat produced by all the above mentioned. It gets 10 years...and probation.

WANTED: $1000 Bounty

Solution


Easy enough

"hisss"

Galaxy Note, Upgrade?

Key Feature Comparison

                 Galaxy Note 10.1                                                                                   Galaxy Note

CPU         Dual-core 1.4 Ghz                                                                           Dual-core 1.4 Ghz                                                                      

Weight     583g                                                                                              178g


Display    Plane Line Switching TFT                                                              Super AMOLED 16M colors
                 Touch screen 16M colors                                                                285 pixels per inch

                 149 pixels per inch                                                                               

Galaxy Note10.1

Galaxy Note

Unless you want a bigger screen and something you don't want to fit in your pocket, you might consider going for the 10.1.


The Note has superior graphics 285 pixels per inch so I'd want to watch a movie on that. Can fit in my jacket? yep. And furthermore, the processing power is the same on both.


The 10.1 would be handy if I had a keyboard (dockable) so I could carry it to the office and dump my PC. So, same processing power big difference in graphics and portability, which to pick?

iPad 3 - an iPad 2 on Steroid Graphics

iPad 3

iPad 2

CPU: 

iPad 3

-Dual-core Apple A5X custom-designed, quad-core graphics running at 1 GHz. 

-Manufactured by Samsung Electronics.

-Produced from March 2012.

-*1GB RAM

iPad 2

-Dual-core Apple A5 custom-designed, 800 Mhz- 1Ghz 

-By Samsung Electronics

-Produced from March 2011 to present 

-*512 MB RAM

Screen/ Display

iPad 3 

 -9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit with IPS

 -*2048-by-1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi)

 - Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating 

iPad 2 

 -9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-back lit with IPS (In-plane Switching)

 - *1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi) 

 - Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating

(Update) Benchmarks against  Asus Eee Transformer prime show that the A5X processor isn't as powerful as Tim Cook told us. But the A5X sure kicks some Tegra 3 ass in frame rates but not in processing power.