Purchasing advice AMD 7970

[imported_DukeP]

Dear sirs. I work a lot at home and prefer to only have 1 stationary machine. It thus needs to both be powerful enough to satisfy my (ageing) gaming needs - and still quiet enough for me to work on it, and to have meetings near it - all day.

System Specifications:

I. Processor/CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-860 Processor(8M Cache, 2.80 GHz)


II. Current Graphics Card: Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X


III. Display Resolution: 1920 x 1200


IV. Power Supply Unit Specification (Brand, Wattage, Ampage, Age). If possible, please provide a link to a website containing the power supply specifications: Corsair HX520W


V. Case Specifications(N/A, Model, Length, Low Profile, Cooling, HTPC, Water, Silent): Thermaltake Lanbox Lite


Purchase Details:

I. Budget: N/A


II. Any particular preferences (Manufacturer[nV or AMD], Brand[XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, etc], Cooling Solutions)? Looking at AMD 7970 - f.ex. XFXRadeon HD7970 Black Double (3 GB)



III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as Crossfire or SLI? NO.


IV. Have you previously looked at a product(s) which you feel would fit your needs? Haven't found any yet.


V. What are your needs for this GPU? Which games(If any)do you intend to play? If you have this information at hand, what are the desired detail levels? I both play and use 3D hardware scanning and retouching (GOM).


VI. Do you plan on overclocking the card you intend to purchase? Probably not.


Additional Notes:

My primary worry about the XFX Radeon HD7970 Black Double (3 GB) is how my smallish Thermaltake Lanbox Lite will deal with the heat - with only the Corsair to pull air out and a single 100mm fan to push air into the cabinet (located at the left rear side - blowing directly at the GPU) - should I go for a closed unit instead? And if so, which one?

I am confindet that any 7970 card would be fast enough for my needs for the next couple of years - its the quietness (or least wattage) I am looking for amongst the cards on the market - not the highest clock.

Best wishes,
DukeP
(Imported? Hey - not the first database I have survived!).

 

[cmdrdredd]

You'll be fine with an aftermarket cooling solution. The Sapphire, XFX, Asus are all good I think.

 

[3DVagabond]

If you are in the States, I'd recommend a 7950. Save ~$100 (I know you said budget isn't important, but no point in wasting money.) The MSI is on sale for $330 ($310AR) or the Saphire 7950 OC is $350. The Sapphire has the quietest cooling solution. If you really want a 7970 I'd still go with the Sapphire 7970. Same quiet cooler.

Your PSU should be OK, but it's right at the minimum recommended power (Actually slightly less, but it's good quality so it will be fine.) The 7950 Uses less power and at 950MHz is going to be about the same performance as a reference 7970. Clock for clock the difference is minimal between the two.

 

[Subyman]

Double check the length requirements of the card versus your Lan computer case. With a tiny case, I'd recommend looking at a rear exhaust (reference) model.

 

[imported_DukeP]

If you are in the States, I'd recommend a 7950.

I am a Dane, so thats the EU.

.... If you really want a 7970 I'd still go with the Sapphire 7970. Same quiet cooler.

Your PSU should be OK, but it's right at the minimum recommended power (Actually slightly less, but it's good quality so it will be fine.) ...

Thanks! The rest of the setup is pretty frugal, I hope I won't have to exchange the PSU (the lanbox lite is not that friendly to rewiring).

Since I don't use any other slots in my machine, I could even fit the massive Asus Radeon HD 7970 DirectCU 2.

How do You think it compares to the Sapphire You recommend?

(I am particularly interested in whether I could fit a permanent 5% underclock and lower the voltage - is that possible on any AMD cards today?).

 

[imported_DukeP]

Double check the length requirements of the card versus your Lan computer case. With a tiny case, I'd recommend looking at a rear exhaust (reference) model.

I think most of the 7970' cards are actually shorter than the 5870 I have now?
(I think its almost a beastly 30 cm.. 10,5").

But yeahs and thanks.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

You will need a better psu with a 7900 series card, your psu might cut it but isnt recommended.

 

[Phynaz]

You will need a better psu with a 7900 series card, your psu might cut it but isnt recommended.

Ummm...No. A Cosair 520 is fine.

 

[RussianSensation]

You will need a better psu with a 7900 series card, your psu might cut it but isnt recommended.

What? A stock i7-860 draws 95W. That PSU is rated at 520W at load at 45-50*C. That leaves room for a 300W graphics card and everything else. Corsair 520HX and 620HX units were made by Seasonic (M12 design). The rating corresponds to what they can handle at load. Other manufacturers might have labelled such a PSU as a 600-650W one. I've seen people running Q6600 + HD4890 in Crossfire on that PSU.

imported_DukeP, why do you want to upgrade the HD5870? Do you feel like you need more performance in games? Which games do you play?

I wouldn't get the XFX HD7970. It's neither a good overclocker nor a quiet 7970. Gigabyte Windforce, Asus DirectCUII or Sapphire Dual-X are the better 7970 cards. You could also consider GTX670 or something like a PowerColor PCS+ HD7950 (or MSI TwinFrozr) and overclocking it.

Most HD7970 cards are 10.75-10.8 inches in length (at minimum) because of the cooler/shroud extending beyond the PCB. Since your 5870 fit, you should be fine.

If you are not going to be overclocking, maybe GTX670 is the better option for you. It's just as fast as a stock HD7970 and consumes less power. Again, Asus Direct CUII, Gigabyte Windforce 3x are good options for the 670 as well.

 

[3DVagabond]

I am a Dane, so thats the EU.


Thanks! The rest of the setup is pretty frugal, I hope I won't have to exchange the PSU (the lanbox lite is not that friendly to rewiring).

Since I don't use any other slots in my machine, I could even fit the massive Asus Radeon HD 7970 DirectCU 2.

How do You think it compares to the Sapphire You recommend?

(I am particularly interested in whether I could fit a permanent 5% underclock and lower the voltage - is that possible on any AMD cards today?).

IMO the only reason to get the triple slot DCII's is if you are going to use their expanded output capability. 4xDP+2xDVI (1xsingle link + 1xdual link) is nice for connecting a lot of monitors to. Single display though and all that goes to waste. The cooler doesn't perform any better than the Sapphire one.

If the 670 is close to the same price as the 7950 then the recommendation to get it is a solid one. Most places though, they are quite a bit more expensive and the Sapphire at 950MHz is going to be very close in overall performance.

The XFX 7970 DD is terrible at cooling the power stage (VRM's).

This review compares a lot of the cards that have been mentioned here. They also have a French site with the same review. In case your French is better than your English. (Your English is perfect. I'm not trying to insinuate it's not. )

 

[imported_DukeP]

Thank You very much all.

Before 3D vagabonds message I was learning towards the Asus HD7970-DC2T-3GD5.

Anyone know if Asus have fixed the problem mentioned in the review?

Otherwise it seems the Sapphire RADEON HD 7970 OC (3 GB) is the one to get, even tho it doesn't exhaust outside of the cabinet.


The reason for my upgrade is more towards habit - I usually upgrade mu GPU every two - three years. And someone just offered me more than 100$ for my old 5870.

My experience tells me that this works well.
I usually wait 3-4 years with the same motherboard and cpu.

~~DukeP~~

 

[RussianSensation]

Anyone know if Asus have fixed the problem mentioned in the review?

It doesn't look like a serious problem if you don't mind setting up a custom fan curve in MSI Afterburner. You could set temperature points at which you want the fan to increase to compensate for increased GPU temps.

"The cooling system accelerates constantly up to 100% though never catching the GPU, whose temperature continues to climb until it reaches 100 °C and crashes. If however the fan speed is fixed manually, for example at 90%, the GPU temperature remains under control and overclocking is perfectly stable."

If you don't want to do that, the Sapphire Dual-X has a good Auto fan function to compensate. I didn't need to set up a manual fan curve for the Sapphire for overclocking, while I had to do it for every card I've ever owned before to lower noise levels.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Asus is voltage locked.

I have an XFX DD and the VRM runs at 100-115 ºC average depending on my set clock speed

 

[imported_DukeP]

Asus is voltage locked.

I have an XFX DD and the VRM runs at 100-115 ºC average depending on my set clock speed

That sounds... Hot...??

~~DukeP~~

 

[chimaxi83]

Asus is voltage locked.

I have an XFX DD and the VRM runs at 100-115 ºC average depending on my set clock speed

Asus 7970 is voltage locked? That's incorrect.

XFX cards are known to have hot ass VRM's because of poor cooling. You can see some thermal images in this AT post. That was testing done by hardware.fr. Some people are cool with 100+ degree VRM's since "they can handle it", but F that.

 

[ShintaiDK]

2900XT and HD4870 reached 125C. And beside sthe Furmark thing on HD4870. I dont think those cards had any higher RMA rates due to that.

 

[Apologiliac]

My power color 7970 is pretty loud once it gets to 40%+ fan speed, but I also have an open air case. I dont think 7970's in general are quiet if thats a big deal for you.

 

[chimaxi83]

2900XT and HD4870 reached 125C. And beside sthe Furmark thing on HD4870. I dont think those cards had any higher RMA rates due to that.

To each his own. Why anyone would be ok with their components reaching a sustained 125C is their own business

 

[ShintaiDK]

To each his own. Why anyone would be ok with their components reaching a sustained 125C is their own business

If they are designed so. Then its totally fine. Human illusion play mindtricks on people in terms of temps.

 

[chimaxi83]

If they are designed so. Then its totally fine. Human illusion play mindtricks on people in terms of temps.

Your opinion is perfectly fine :thumbsup:

 

[Binky]

The corsair might have enough power, but what about the connections? I don't think that the Corsair HX520W has 8-pin PCIe connectors. It does have 2x6-pin. The 7970 needs two 8-pin. Can adapters be used?

 

[RussianSensation]

My power color 7970 is pretty loud once it gets to 40%+ fan speed, but I also have an open air case. I dont think 7970's in general are quiet if thats a big deal for you.

Reference 7970s are loud. However, there are quiet options such as Sapphire Dual-X, HIS ICE-Q2, Gigabyte Windforce 3x / MSI Lightning (with fan control curves). See my post above with temperatures and fan speed. Very quiet despite the overclock.

The corsair might have enough power, but what about the connections? I don't think that the Corsair HX520W has 8-pin PCIe connectors. It does have 2x6-pin. The 7970 needs two 8-pin. Can adapters be used?

All reference HD7970s are 6+8, not 8+8. The 8+8 versions are Sapphire TOXIC 6GB, MSI Lightning and Asus DirectCUII. Sapphire Dual-X is still 6+8.

The very early 520W units had 2x6-pin only, but it was quickly updated with a new revision. I got my Corsair 520 in the summer of 2007 and it already had 2x8-pin connectors (it's actualy a 2+6 split to make it in 8 or a 6, giving you flexibility much like the 20+4 pin connection = 24 pin), even though the specs for it were not updated. Also, adapters work perfectly fine. The Sapphire Dual-X comes with a free 4-pin to 8-pin adapter anyway.

Between the Asus and the Sapphire DX, I'd take the Sapphire. It has reference PCB which means it supports full voltage control up to 1.3V. It has 2 power phases for memory instead of 1 and a memory heatsink. Time over time I see it getting one of the highest memory overclocks out of any HD7970 card.

It's also strikes a good balance between temperatures and noise levels:

Source

Not trying to be biased because I have one, but because I went through my own search process to narrow it down. So just using the same search links. Of course I'd take the MSI Lightning or the Sapphire TOXIC over the DX, but those other cards are more expensive.

 

[Binky]

All reference HD7970s are 6+8, not 8+8. The 8+8 versions are Sapphire TOXIC 6GB, MSI Lightning and Asus DirectCUII. Sapphire Dual-X is still 6+8.

The very early 520W units had 2x6-pin only, but it was quickly updated with a new revision.

My HX520 must be the older version, since I only have 2x6-pin. I also recently received an MSI 7950 which came with an 8 pin and a 6 pin power connection even though the specs call for 2x6-pin. The damned thing also came without an 8-pin power adaptor (b/c it's not supposed to have them?) so I'm still waiting on a way to power it.

 

[imported_DukeP]

Wow. That Sapphire Toxic truly is a beast.

Setting that aside for a moment (it's unlikely to be available within my window of time) - why would You choose the MSI lightning?

It seems to be somewhat more noisy than the Sapphire DX. ?

As for my Cosair - it has got plenty of spare plugs (my edition came with a bunch of spares - far more than could be fitted at once).


Much appreciate all Your inputs, btw! Keep em up!.

~~DukeP~~

 

[RussianSensation]

Setting that aside for a moment (it's unlikely to be available within my window of time) - why would You choose the MSI lightning?

Uses the most premium components for VRM/chokes/High-C caps, which guarantee no coil whine for the chokes. The other stuff like the MSI GPU reactor is more of a gimmick. I don't know what the prices are for the Sapphire Dual-X, Asus Direct CUII 7970 or MSI Lightning where you are at, but I wouldn't pay more than $40 extra for the MSI Lightning version. Also, MSI Lightning cards can probably take a beating at 1.25-1.3V 24/7. I wouldn't load my GPU with overvolting 24/7 99% GPU load but I'd be more comfortable doing that with the Lightning's components. If you only plan to overclock mildly (~1.175-1.2ghz), the MSI Lightning would offer no advantage for you.

Also, depending on the prices, HD7950 MSI TwinFrozr could be a great deal as well. Right now the Lightning costs $520 in US, while 2x MSI TwinFrozr are around $640. If I were spending > $500 on a GPU, without question I'd take 2x MSI TwinFrozr 7950s instead. At 1.1ghz, they would be 50-60% faster than an overclocked 7970/GTX680. That's why I really don't see much value in getting a high-end $500+ HD7970 since at that point the value proposition starts to fade quickly imo.