Who Snagged a HD 7970 Last Night?

[DimmyK]

Newegg dropped the price of the Asus model to $560 today. If you ordered at the $590 price and your card is still on its way, you can get the difference back. Contact Newegg support.

Thanks from me too! Even though I already got the card, and they have no stock of $560 Asuses currently, I thought I'd ask politely. As usual, they went out of their way for me and offered $20 refund. Even apologized that it's not full $30 difference... Seriously, this is exactly why I buy my hardware from them only.

 

[FiLeZz]

I just ordered 3 XFX 7970's for my new sandybridge-E build.

 

[Panopticon]

I just ordered 3 XFX 7970's for my new sandybridge-E build.

Congrats that will be wicked. Be sure to test your cards to see how they take overclocking when you get them. Someone on this forum bought an xfx 7970 that didn't take to overclocking as well as most everybody else's cards are doing. I'm wondering if XFX highly binned their first batch so they could sell the black editions pre-overclocked meaning some of their ref cards aren't stable at 1125 and above. Anyhow I personally have to ill will against XFX because the last three cards I bought before my current were from them and the people I built those rigs for have had zero issues.

 

[Will Robinson]

cough*....3 x 7970....yikes :awe::biggrin:

 

[FiLeZz]

cough*....3 x 7970....yikes :awe::biggrin:

When you have 3x30" dell monitors you can never have enought video HP

 

[The2ff]

Would be nice if some would cover the undervolting these can do.

Both of my HIS 7970's run 100% usage (bitcoin) at .878v. Doing this dropped the wattage pull by roughly 140w total. Still same stock clocks, still same awesome.

 

[Panopticon]

Just a quick thought for users that haven't manually changed their fan speed yet. Yeah go ahead and throw that bad boy and 60% and prepare to be shocked at how much louder it is then 30%

 

[SlowSpyder]

Mine should be here after work tomorrow... I can't wait to nerd out. I will run a few benches on my CF'd 5870's (875/1250MHz) and than on a single overclocked 7970. I imagine I'll see some pretty close results, and where the 1GB limits me the 7970 should be really strong.

I'm really going to miss these 5870's, though. I get ~365MHash in bitcoin mining, I bought the first 5870 when the GTX480 was still held together with wood screws. I really got my money out of this card, and then I added a second just for the hell of it. Best set up I've ever had, the 7970 has a tough act to follow, but I have high hopes for it.

 

[gizbug]

newegg the only place selling?
Noticed Microcenter doesnt stock them yet.

 

[The2ff]

Dude, 2 at 100% fan speed, I was SHOCKED.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Dude, 2 at 100% fan speed, I was SHOCKED.

Did the exhaust create propulsion and start pusing your tower across the floor or something?

 

[Panopticon]

newegg the only place selling?
Noticed Microcenter doesnt stock them yet.

I picked mine up at microcenter in store pickup. Tigerdirect and NCIX have had them in stock also.

 

[Dark Shroud]

Doing that totally negates the cooling system of the case. Hot air rises so why would you intake all your cool air from the top where there are no filters, and blow it all into the dust filter at the front?

I have the 120mm fan in the back and 2 gentle typhoons blowing out the top through my h100.

I never said anything about taking air from the top, please re-read my post.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Serious question though,

On anothers purchase of 3 of these graphics dust-busters, what exactly would need to be rendered by it?

Is there anything, within realistic (say standard HDTV) resolution, that would need this kind of power to be able to give a steady, unfaltering 60Hz under heavy load?

I can understand that maybe some would want a 120Hz rock-solid rate for potential 3D, but realistically, what games would need this horsepower?

 

[Elfear]

Got my XFX in last night and the results are good and bad. I can run OCCT just fine at 1100/1450 with load voltage at 0.962. Bad news is that voltage doesn't seem to be helping with higher clocks.

I'm thinking the big voltage droop of these cards is a result of mediocre power circuitry. I'd rather it were the result of beta software (Afterburner) but I'm leaning towards the power delivery. Someone smart chime and correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[badb0y]

Got my XFX in last night and the results are good and bad. I can run OCCT just fine at 1100/1450 with load voltage at 0.962. Bad news is that voltage doesn't seem to be helping with higher clocks.

I'm thinking the big voltage droop of these cards is a result of mediocre power circuitry. I'd rather it were the result of beta software (Afterburner) but I'm leaning towards the power delivery. Someone smart chime and correct me if I'm wrong.

MrK6 had the same problem with his XFX, his card would under volt lol.

 

[Elfear]

MrK6 had the same problem with his XFX, his card would under volt lol.

Hmm. Well I decided to take the plunge and get a waterblock. Hopefully the low temps will help the card OC better. EK hit 1350/1750 using their waterblock on a reference card.

 

[wahdangun]

Hmm. Well I decided to take the plunge and get a waterblock. Hopefully the low temps will help the card OC better. EK hit 1350/1750 using their waterblock on a reference card.

seeing that XFX model hard to oc, if i were you i will return the card and grab something else

 

[Elfear]

seeing that XFX model hard to oc, if i were you i will return the card and grab something else

I may have spoken too soon. I tried using Trixx instead of AB so I could up the clocks beyond the CCC limits. I've made multiple runs through the STALKER:COP benchmark at 1225/1450 at stock volts (1.089 with vdroop). Fan is at 65% and 65C was the highest temp. The STALKER benchmark seems to be a pretty good test of stability. What was stable in OCCT got a hard lock in the benchmark.

Seems to be stuck at 1225 though. I tried 1250 but even with voltage at 1.25V it locked up. Hopefully it's just the VRMs getting too hot and better cooling will fix the problem.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Newegg has XFX and MSI back in stock.

 

[Porter_]

I may have spoken too soon. I tried using Trixx instead of AB so I could up the clocks beyond the CCC limits. I've made multiple runs through the STALKER:COP benchmark at 1225/1450 at stock volts (1.089 with vdroop). Fan is at 65% and 65C was the highest temp. The STALKER benchmark seems to be a pretty good test of stability. What was stable in OCCT got a hard lock in the benchmark.

Seems to be stuck at 1225 though. I tried 1250 but even with voltage at 1.25V it locked up. Hopefully it's just the VRMs getting too hot and better cooling will fix the problem.

how are you monitoring voltage while using Trixx? AB is the only software i know of that allows for actual voltage monitoring. are you running AB at the same time?

 

[Elfear]

how are you monitoring voltage while using Trixx? AB is the only software i know of that allows for actual voltage monitoring. are you running AB at the same time?

Yup. I was worried they would conflict with each other but they decided to play nice. I also played Skyrim for an hour with those clocks and it worked flawlessly.

 

[FiLeZz]

Serious question though,

On anothers purchase of 3 of these graphics dust-busters, what exactly would need to be rendered by it?

Is there anything, within realistic (say standard HDTV) resolution, that would need this kind of power to be able to give a steady, unfaltering 60Hz under heavy load?

I can understand that maybe some would want a 120Hz rock-solid rate for potential 3D, but realistically, what games would need this horsepower?

Three 30" monitors need it.

4800x2560
or
7680x1600

Trust me when I say in some games 3 6970's was not enough.

 

[gizbug]

What is the prefered brand by users on here? Sapphire? I tend to avoid Diamond and XFX due to poor reviews

 

[Despoiler]

What is the prefered brand by users on here? Sapphire? I tend to avoid Diamond and XFX due to poor reviews

I'm sure I'm going to get some debate, but Sapphire is the best for a number of reasons.

1)They sell the most AMD cards in the world
2)Have made AMD cards since the dawn of AMD time
3)They have an R&D role with AMD
4)They are the only manufacturer of the FirePro cards
5)Regardless of branding they are the only manufacturer of the dual chip cards.