Which 7970 should i get?

[draigan89]

Hi after looking over my previous thread, I think im going with a Single 7970. It seems like a better choice (to me at least).

But im not sure which to get, i've looked at a few on Overclockers, Ebuyer and Scan Pc. I would prefer to stick around the price of the cards listed. So would any one recommend or advise against any of these? (some one mentioned, that the xfx and the his cards aren't great coil wine and poor quality?)

HIS HD 7970 IceQ X²

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X (This was reommended)

PowerColor HD 7970 V3

XFX Double Dissipation Edition

XFX Black Edition

While i would prefer to stick around the prices of the above cards, I would consider going for something slightly more expensive.

Sapphire HD 7970 OC

asus DirectCU II TOP (Its out of stock atm, though but it does have 4 displayports so no need for adapters.)

I need something which can display 2560 x 1440 on 3 dell u2711's. So either dual link dvi, or display port/mini display port, id need adapters for the mini dp though.

Monitor/Resolution

3 x dell u2711 @ 2560 x 1440

Current Pc Specs

Antec DF-85 case
ASUS HD 6950(Unlocked) 2gb
i5 2500k @ 4.5ghz
8gb ram DDR3
p8p67 pro rev 3.1
240 gb ocz agility 3
1tb hdd
900w antec power supply (high current gamer series)

 

[sze5003]

You can review my post on the HIS IceQ 7970 I had. I refunded it. Horrible coil whine. To the point that I was scrolling pages and it squeeked.

Its temps were fine and it kept pretty quiet fan wise. Saphire 7970 seems good too but it also has reports of coil whine.

Asus Direct Cu II is nice, quiet and no coil problems. I have read issues regarding it crashing and such but for the most part lots of people like it.

I'm not familiar with XFX at all.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I like the Sapphire Vapor-X cards myself.

 

[sze5003]

I like the Sapphire Vapor-X cards myself.

Have you ever had to rma one?

 

[draigan89]

I like the Sapphire Vapor-X cards myself.

The cheapest I can find one of those for is £380 which is a bit more then im willing to spend atm.

 

[3DVagabond]

I like the Sapphire Vapor-X cards myself.

+1 solid chokes = no coil whine. Connectivity is a bit hodgepodge though.

Have you ever had to rma one?

The OP's in Britain. There's no way to compare RMA's.

OP, of the ones you've mentioned seems like the Asus DCII would be the best because of the 4xDP and high grade parts.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Sapphire, it's both cooler and quieter than others. Process is mature and it's Sapphire's binning, if you get a fresh card it will likely pay off with a good ASIC rating.
Never had a Sapphire fail or arrive DOA. Mine bitcoins, consider used cards or wait til you have the funds, Sapphire card is worth it. I got the MSI because of discount but If I could choose again, Sapphire.

 

[draigan89]

OP, of the ones you've mentioned seems like the Asus DCII would be the best because of the 4xDP and high grade parts.

I think i might go with the asus largely for the 4 display ports. my current card is also DirectCU II as well and i've not had any problems with it.

 

[Keysplayr]

Russian Sensation had asked about this and linked to this thread, so here is the info.
Single GTX680 in surround max resolution is 7600x1600. Slightly greater for bezel correction to.

 

[sze5003]

So how many displays can you connect with the Saphire Vapor X Ghz 7970? Are the cons just that you would need an adapter? I'm only running one display but just curious if I were to get another monitor.

 

[RussianSensation]

Russian Sensation had asked about this and linked to this thread, so here is the info.
Single GTX680 in surround max resolution is 7600x1600*. Slightly greater for bezel correction to.

*Only in 2D.

Alright, I did some more digging last night and found some relevant information but AT forums were down for maintenance so I couldn't post.

Here is what you need to know:

1) Are you going to be playing games across 3 monitors or only gaming on 1 or 2 monitors?

2) If you are going to be playing 3D games on 3 DL-DVI (i.e., 2560x1440/1600) monitors, you need a consumer GPU that can drive 3x1440P displays concurrently in 3D.

Point #2 automatically disqualifies GTX600 series. It cannot do this (but frankly even though 7970 can do it theoretically, in practice it cannot play modern games on 3x 1440P either). You can buy a 680 to drive 3x 2560x1440 displays in 2D and then game on 1 on the 680 in 3D but it cannot support 3D gaming on 3x DL-DVI displays (although it would be basically unplayable even on 2x 2560x1440 screens on a single 680/7970 anyway)

For 3D gaming a single 680 only supports 1920x1080x3 (with 4th accessory display for non-gaming needs).

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/3dvision-surround/system-requirements

AMD


To be able to use AMD for 3x 2560x1440 displays, for 1 AMD videocard you MUST use dual-link DVI and an Active displayport to dual-Link DVI adapter combination. Therefore, the Asus DCUII will not work without an active-DisplayPort-to Dual-Link DVI adapter IIRC. Those usually cost $100-110.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/tech...Pages/faqs.aspx#multiple-display-requirements

These are the viable options:

1) Buy GTX670/680 and support all 3 displays in 2D and use 1 for 3D.
2) Buy GTX670/680/7950/7970 CF/SLI and run all 3 displays in 3D (but that's still not enough GPU power for 3 such displays)
3) Buy HD7950/7970 and $100 active active-DP to dual-link DVI adapter to run 3 displays in 2D @ 2560x1440 but game on 1 of them.

So how many displays can you connect with the Saphire Vapor X Ghz 7970? Are the cons just that you would need an adapter? I'm only running one display but just curious if I were to get another monitor.

4x = 2560x1600x3 + 1x 1080P.

1x 2560x1600 - DL-DVI
1x 2560x1600 - HDMI
1x 2560x1600 - $100 Active DP-to-DL-DVI adapter
1x 1080P - SL-DVI

For each such high resolution display exceeding 2, on Radeons you need an active DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter.
For NV, you can drive in 2D all 3 displays @ 2560x1600 but you can only play games on 2 of them.

The NV solution starting off with a single GTX670 is cheaper and later gives the option for a 2nd 670 in SLI to play games on 3x2560x1440 displays. However, even GTX670 SLI cannot game on this setup as it doesn't have the GPU power.

3x 1920x1080 Displays
GTX680 SLI = 43.5 fps average / 21.4 fps min (very slow)
HD7970 GE CF = 56.5 fps average / 24.3 fps min (better)
GTX690 SLI (4x ~GTX680s) = 61.4 fps average / 22.6 fps min (best, costs $2000)

2560x1440 x 3 is 78% higher pixels count then 1080P.

In real world that means:

3x HD7970 GEs (at minimum, most likely 4) or 4x GTX680s.

Seems to me the easiest option is 670 and game on 1 screen (but many people here would agree that a single 670/680/7970 would struggle in modern games on 1x 2560x1600 screen).

The decision here is not easy. The HD7970 GE + active-DP or GTX680 sound like bad options as well since then you can just get 2x 7950s for about 100 more than what those 2 options cost and have way faster performance.

 

[3DVagabond]

*snip*

Are you sure that it can't be done with display port alone? DP supports 2560*1600 natively. I think needing to use DP -> DL/DVI is only if your monitor doesn't support DP directly.

 

[RussianSensation]

Are you sure that it can't be done with display port alone? DP supports 2560*1600 natively. I think needing to use DP -> DL/DVI is only if your monitor doesn't support DP directly.

Maybe, I am not 100% sure but that's all I could find for now. I think at this point the OP can email or call AMD's customer service technical department. We do know with 100% certainty that 680 won't play games at 3x 2560x1440 because it can't support such high resolution in 3D off 1 card.

Let me ask Blastingcap.

 

[Jeff007245]

Are you sure that it can't be done with display port alone? DP supports 2560*1600 natively. I think needing to use DP -> DL/DVI is only if your monitor doesn't support DP directly.

This is true... as long as you are using a display port on the video card, it will work. Only reason to use the adaptor is if you don't have any monitors that support DP

 

[RussianSensation]

3DVagabond, I stand corrected!!

Blastincap responded:

"There is no cheap way to get 3 x 2560x1440 with AMD Radeon cards right now UNLESS at least one of them [the monitor] has native DP. Then just hook that one [monitor] up via DP cable and the other two can use dual-link DVI or HDMI.

The cheaper Korean ones have only one dual-link DVI port, so you would need an Active Displayport-to-DVI Dual Link adapter which usually costs $80+. An Active single-link adapter is not good enough. And non-Active adapters are also not good enough.

I believe GeForce GTX 680/670 can do it without any active DP adapters, though a single one is underpowered at that resolution.

Hope that helps!"

 

[draigan89]

I decided to go with the Asus DirectCU II Largely due to the 4 displayports

The cards installed and all 3 of my monitors are using displayport no adapters etc.

For any one who might be wondering. (connectivity/resolution etc). I wasn't aware of some of these things at first, so it might be helpful for anyone reading this.

the u2711's have 1 hdmi, 2 dvi ports and 1 display port. (has vga etc aswell)

The hdmi is limited by the monitor to 1080p (no idea why). I think the only ports that allows you to go to 2560 x 1440/1600 are the dvi and display port.

the Asus DirectCU II cards have six ports 4 display and two dvi one is dual link the other is single but. You need to use the dvi switch on the top of the card to change the dual link slot to dual link, which disables the output of one of the display ports. Otherwise it works as single.

so you an either have, depending on the postion of the swich.

display port | display port | display port | display port | dvi | dvi |

2560x1600 | 2560x1600 | 2560x1600 | 2560x1600 | 1920x1080 | 1920x1080 |

2560x1600 | 2560x1600 | 2560x1600 | no output | 2560x1600 | 1920x1080 |

I don't know how common display ports are on monitors, but if your monitor doesn't have them and your looking at this card and wanting to use the higher res, you'll need adapters and not the cheap ones either.

So if you have 3 of the cheap korean monitors, which only have dvi (from what i know) then this card probably isn't for you.

Anyway

Game wise i had a quick go on (in eyefinity @ 7860x1440) crysis, just cause 2, hard reset and syndicate. Not enough to find the right kind of settings, for a single card at that resolution.
Ofc I know I wont be playing at maximum settings, as people have already pointed out you need at least two cards for that.

I might play a bit more later then post my fps settings etc.

I haven't overclocked the card yet though since ive never really done it before. So i don't really know what program is the best to use afterburner, ccc or the asus gpu tweak. Or what i should be aiming for currently the card runs at.

Engine Clock 1000 MHz
Memory Clock 5600 MHz ( 1400 MHz GDDR5 )

 

[aaksheytalwar]

To run 1440px3 you need 7970 ge quad cf. you will probably be playing at low settings with a single card.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Have you ever had to rma one?

The Vapor-X is different entirely than the Sapphire card you had. They have black diamond VRMs, a Vapor chamber heatsink system, solid chokes.

 

[sze5003]

The Vapor-X is different entirely than the Sapphire card you had. They have black diamond VRMs, a Vapor chamber heatsink system, solid chokes.

Yeh I had a HIS card lol completely different. They even advertised solid chokes. Pfff

 

[RussianSensation]

I haven't overclocked the card yet though since ive never really done it before. So i don't really know what program is the best to use afterburner, ccc or the asus gpu tweak. Or what i should be aiming for currently the card runs at.

Engine Clock 1000 MHz
Memory Clock 5600 MHz ( 1400 MHz GDDR5 )

Thanks for sharing the information on the displays. So I take it you hooked them up as:

DP + DP + DL-DVI? or all 3 DP?

BTW, how quiet is the card? any coil whine?

Personally I like using MSI Afterburner. Here is Post #2 on how to enable unofficial overclocking. All you have to do is modify the .cfg MSIafterburner.cfg file (program files/msi afterburner folder) with right click --> Open With... select NotePad. The paste the 2 lines bolded (you can use "1" or "2" to enable unofficial overclocking) in the proper location.

You can also get HWInfo64 to read exact GPU VRM Voltage Out (VOUT/VID) voltage (this is your actual GPU voltage), and other things for your system. The voltage you set in MSI afterburner is just target voltage.

 

[Rvenger]

Yeh I had a HIS card lol completely different. They even advertised solid chokes. Pfff

Your power supply is making the card squeel. This is very common. My coil whine got much quieter when I went from an Corsair HX650 to a NZXT Hale 82 850w PSU. They probably used more glue on the coils.

 

[sze5003]

Your power supply is making the card squeel. This is very common. My coil whine got much quieter when I went from an Corsair HX650 to a NZXT Hale 82 850w PSU. They probably used more glue on the coils.

It could be but I really don't want to spend more money on a powersupply. I'm about to spend $4-450 on a card and the reason I got corsair was because it was recommended. I figure if the powersupply needs changed I may do it later and go for a modular one.

Its just not something I want to change right now.

 

[draigan89]

Thanks for sharing the information on the displays. So I take it you hooked them up as:

DP + DP + DL-DVI? or all 3 DP?

I have all 3 DP, I did test the other input. and DP + DP + DL-DVI was fine as well. with all 3 monitors running 2560x1440. I also tested eyefinity with both and either works okay.

BTW, how quiet is the card? any coil whine?

Its really quiet imo. And nope not that i can hear.

And game wise for anyone interested.

Mixed results for the most part. As expected one card typically isn't enough for this resolution. (7860x1440). But in some games I still think they look good, and play fine as well.

I went though the following games mostly just running/driving around etc or continuing with the story.

Crysis 2: just isn't playable, i get 33 fps average even on the lowest settings. in dx9 & dx11.

Metro 2033: on low to medium settings (dx 9) seems mostly fine. I think some overclocking would solve the issues though. Any higher and things just go to shit.

Saints row 3: low/medium settings dx10/11 mostly fine, not really played around with it to much. though.

CS: GO: everything maxed out and still gets 70+ fps.

Just cause 2: max settings i get about 30 fps still feels quite playable. I adjusted the settings, to get 60 fps while still getting the game to look fairly good.

Hard reset: Ultra but with no aa and 2 x Af. 45-60 fps in more open spaces 60-80 in more closed areas fps lowest it went was about 30 in a open area, when everything exploded.

Syndicate: 8 bit bit depth shadows & textures maxed no aa. 60-70 fps. The game looks fairly good as well.

Crysis: Ive not played around to much runs fine medium with no aa. On high i get about 30 fps. It still feels okay though (I have motion blur enabled, so guess that helps), until it drops to about 25 fps.

I was hoping to play some Guildwars 2 as it one of the main reasons I went eyefinity and bought a better card, but my accounts been hacked so, guess I wont be doing that for a few days.

Anyway overall I like the card, not overclocked it yet (might do that tommorow, hopefully a few more fps will help with the games with minor problems). Game wise for the most part ill be sticking with one monitor, but i didn't buy them solely for gaming anyway. If I was going to do that id probably have just picked up some decent 1080p ones and saved a lot money.

 

[RussianSensation]

Great! I hope this card serves you well. Glad it all worked out as far as connectivity went. You taught me that you can drive 2560x1600 x 3 off a single 7970 card with DPs.

 

[sze5003]

All those settings you listed for the games were on 3 monitors right?