Benchmarks: Metro Redux, Tomb Raider
Metro Redux provided some interesting results. At 1080p the HD 6970 was 47% faster than the 5870. What's more interesting was how the 7970 was 91% faster than its predecessor (the 6970). Unsurprisingly, the 7970 GHz Edition was 10% faster than the standard 7970 while the R9 290X enjoyed a 37% performance advantage over the GHz Edition with 63fps.
Jumping to 2560x1600 mixes up the results. The HD 6970 was now 60% faster than the 5870, while the 7970 was now just 69% faster than the 6970. The R9 290X results are much the same, though it was now 41% faster than the 7970 GHz Edition.
The HD 6970 was 33% faster than the 5870 at 1080p in Tomb Raider with an average of just 28fps. The HD 7970 averaged 55fps, a whopping 96% faster than the 6970, the 7970 GHz Edition was 7% faster than the standard card, and the R9 290X was 27% faster than the GHz Edition.
The 2560x1600 results were much the same when comparing the 7970 graphics cards and the R9 290X. However the Radeon HD 6970 was now 58% faster than the 5870 and the 7970 has dropped to just 74% faster than the 6970.