It can look a little crazy that way. The big two only really want to beat their own previous cards by around 10-20%, as anything else isn't going to make them the big money.
But as far as the HD69xx pairing are concerned, I really hope people, especially the would-be enthusiasts, don't get completely engulfed by the immediate reviews of the range and take it as a set-in-stone opinion of them - quite like the awful effect reviewers had on the 480 releases. Remember for such a bad card, the 480 immediately dominated the overclocking charts, setting records. (subsequently broken obviously)
There have been outstanding results particularly with the 6970, that I've just not seen duplicated yet. I can only really say that there must be variations to come that will prove better performers. ASUS's offerings merely with the differences they're making, will push the numbers already seen - further.
And if you're not a physx/folding fan, and just crave fps, they're an outstanding set of cards.
Also look out for bios changes and updates. Those with switches would have them for a reason imo. (ones I seen never had switches at all)