ASUS 7970 DirectCU II available now

I said screw it and cancelled my order through Amazon. The VRM temps that people are reporting threw me off. I bought the Gigabyte OC'd Winforce and couldn't be happier. VRM temps don't go above 65C.

If people are literally getting almost double with their DCUII, I think "bad design" is an understatement.
 
Recieved my card yesterday and its VRM is running really hot aswell. Stock 106c and 1125/1575 it came up to 112c in Tera then it locked my PC so i had to reboot. It runs 3dmark fine at that clock, but Tera constantly crashes, might be that the VRM gets hotter in Tera.

Im starting to get worried that the cards we have gotten are the same as the pre cards that reviewers got their hands on, which were not working good at all, hence no reviews yet. Its wierd that the ROG site had a picture of their 7970 which had the cut for the VRM, which our cards does not have. That was Feb 2, still they send out cards without the cut.
 
Melonss said:
Recieved my card yesterday and its VRM is running really hot aswell. Stock 106c and 1125/1575 it came up to 112c in Tera then it locked my PC so i had to reboot. It runs 3dmark fine at that clock, but Tera constantly crashes, might be that the VRM gets hotter in Tera.

Im starting to get worried that the cards we have gotten are the same as the pre cards that reviewers got their hands on, which were not working good at all, hence no reviews yet. Its wierd that the ROG site had a picture of their 7970 which had the cut for the VRM, which our cards does not have. That was Feb 2, still they send out cards without the cut.
Click to expand...

The thing is, several people have gotten cards with the cutout, yet the problem persists.
 
tonspike said:
I said screw it and cancelled my order through Amazon. The VRM temps that people are reporting threw me off. I bought the Gigabyte OC'd Winforce and couldn't be happier. VRM temps don't go above 65C.

If people are literally getting almost double with their DCUII, I think "bad design" is an understatement.
Click to expand...

Good choice lol
I went reference and got one hell of a clocker, couldn't be happier.
 
tonspike said:
The thing is, several people have gotten cards with the cutout, yet the problem persists.
Click to expand...

Oh didnt see that people have gotten that version of it, wierd that it doesnt seem to fix it then. Not sure how this card can run 40-45c hotter on the VRM then other 7970s.

I might just send mine back, i didnt pay extra for a card that doesnt overclock well and doesnt respond to voltage increases, while running extremely hot on the VRM.
 
thinking about cancelling my two too
you would think asus would be all over this with news and not just ignoring the problems:(

i'll see what come out of CeBIT this week
 
I installed an Alpenföhn Peter cooler with 2 x Scythe 140mm fans on my DC2T. Max GPU temperature with 1.2v and 1160Mhz fell by 8C (from 55C to 47C) running 20 Crysis 1 benchmark loops. Max VRM temperature fell by about 20C (from 110C to 90C). For the Peter I also had to remove the backplate. The card looks like crap now but I have my case closed and the card is also much quieter at any given usage. In 2D I run it passive.
 
BluePaint said:
I installed an Alpenföhn Peter cooler with 2 x Scythe 140mm fans on my DC2T. Max GPU temperature with 1.2v and 1160Mhz fell by 8C (from 55C to 47C) running 20 Crysis 1 benchmark loops. Max VRM temperature fell by about 20C (from 110C to 90C). For the Peter I also had to remove the backplate. The card looks like crap now but I have my case closed and the card is also much quieter at any given usage. In 2D I run it passive.
Click to expand...

well thats a little better news
what are you cooling the VRM's with the stock plate or that little ln2 heat sink
 
That extra ln2 heat sink came in handy here since the VRM heat sink from Peter is too narrow. The temperature decrease comes completely from removing the back plate and all other frames from the original design. Now it's simply the PCB + the Peter heat sink. To support the heat sink weight, the fans (frames) press from below against it.
 
I hate to say it, but if you're paying almost $600 for a graphics card I expect it to work out of the box, not have to jury rig it to do what it originally should.
 
tonspike said:
I hate to say it, but if you're paying almost $600 for a graphics card I expect it to work out of the box, not have to jury rig it to do what it originally should.
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true but it says it's just a crappy cooler design and not the card and a EK block should fix it
 
If you are used to an Accelero Extreme or Peter VGA cooler, like I was, there is essentially no manufacturers fan design which will satisfy you. The primary reason I bought the DC2T was the likelyhood to get a card without coil whine and there at least it succeeds :)
 
Atleast on my card its the VRM temps that mess everything up. I had the card on 1125/1575 on stock volt, running the fans at 70%(hello airplane) and Tera was rock stable, VRM got to about 101C i think. Then i put it on auto, gpu reached 79c and the VRM was at 113c before it artefacted and locked up.

I read that it could handle 130c somewhere? That is not the deal on my card...
 
After some more playing around on stock clocks, my opinion at this point is that there seems to be a combination of design flaws. The first being, the VRM's run hot - it seems reference cards run in the 60's, the VRM seems to be designed to run hotter on the DC2T card. This comes into what I think is the second design flaw. With the stock cooling profile, my gpu never gets hot enough to bring the card past 10% fan speed. This results in low air flow, and the VRM heating up into the 105c + temps. I modified the profile to kick the fan up to 50% when the gpu hits 50c, and my VRM never went above 89c after 2hrs of gaming BF3. I haven't had any time to play with the profile of lower speed and VRM temps.

This leads to a third issue - since the VRMs seem to be designed to run hot, and require manual fan speed profiling to keep them in a more respectable temp, it means if you want to OC this card, your VRM's are going to have much less head room before getting really hot, even with a high fan speed. So the card seems to be design too well in the cooling department for the GPU, but forgot about the VRM cooling which has put a ceiling on OC'n the card.

At this point, I am considering sending the card back. I was really hoping to run this at a super low fan speed to keep it dead quiet. I also want all the additional ports for screens so its a tough call. OC'n the card would be nice too, but I think with out some better designed cooling, the VRM temps are going to be an issue which is unfortunate since the GPU cooling is so damn good.

I wonder if the resident Asus rep on HardOCP is checking this forum out to report back the difficulties this group is having with the card.
 
Alkihaul said:
After some more playing around on stock clocks, my opinion at this point is that there seems to be a combination of design flaws. The first being, the VRM's run hot - it seems reference cards run in the 60's, the VRM seems to be designed to run hotter on the DC2T card. This comes into what I think is the second design flaw. With the stock cooling profile, my gpu never gets hot enough to bring the card past 10% fan speed. This results in low air flow, and the VRM heating up into the 105c + temps. I modified the profile to kick the fan up to 50% when the gpu hits 50c, and my VRM never went above 89c after 2hrs of gaming BF3. I haven't had any time to play with the profile of lower speed and VRM temps.

This leads to a third issue - since the VRMs seem to be designed to run hot, and require manual fan speed profiling to keep them in a more respectable temp, it means if you want to OC this card, your VRM's are going to have much less head room before getting really hot, even with a high fan speed. So the card seems to be design too well in the cooling department for the GPU, but forgot about the VRM cooling which has put a ceiling on OC'n the card.

At this point, I am considering sending the card back. I was really hoping to run this at a super low fan speed to keep it dead quiet. I also want all the additional ports for screens so its a tough call. OC'n the card would be nice too, but I think with out some better designed cooling, the VRM temps are going to be an issue which is unfortunate since the GPU cooling is so damn good.

I wonder if the resident Asus rep on HardOCP is checking this forum out to report back the difficulties this group is having with the card.
Click to expand...

*sets fan to 50%* My god that's loud, I'd prefer the 105c VRMs (higher ambient here so mine run at 34% at load to maintain that temp)

All good if you game/etc with headphones though.
 
Ya I wasn't implying 50% was acceptable. I bought this card because I like quiet, and lots of display ports.
 
BluePaint said:
If you are used to an Accelero Extreme or Peter VGA cooler, like I was, there is essentially no manufacturers fan design which will satisfy you. The primary reason I bought the DC2T was the likelyhood to get a card without coil whine and there at least it succeeds :)
Click to expand...

Then why not buy a reference card and save $30? My Diamond reference had zero issues.
 
Alkihaul said:
After some more playing around on stock clocks, my opinion at this point is that there seems to be a combination of design flaws. The first being, the VRM's run hot - it seems reference cards run in the 60's, the VRM seems to be designed to run hotter on the DC2T card. This comes into what I think is the second design flaw. With the stock cooling profile, my gpu never gets hot enough to bring the card past 10% fan speed. This results in low air flow, and the VRM heating up into the 105c + temps. I modified the profile to kick the fan up to 50% when the gpu hits 50c, and my VRM never went above 89c after 2hrs of gaming BF3. I haven't had any time to play with the profile of lower speed and VRM temps.

This leads to a third issue - since the VRMs seem to be designed to run hot, and require manual fan speed profiling to keep them in a more respectable temp, it means if you want to OC this card, your VRM's are going to have much less head room before getting really hot, even with a high fan speed. So the card seems to be design too well in the cooling department for the GPU, but forgot about the VRM cooling which has put a ceiling on OC'n the card.

At this point, I am considering sending the card back. I was really hoping to run this at a super low fan speed to keep it dead quiet. I also want all the additional ports for screens so its a tough call. OC'n the card would be nice too, but I think with out some better designed cooling, the VRM temps are going to be an issue which is unfortunate since the GPU cooling is so damn good.

I wonder if the resident Asus rep on HardOCP is checking this forum out to report back the difficulties this group is having with the card.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting. It seems that your issues are pretty much in line with most others.

I'm planning on water-cooling mine, but my question out of all this is whether the flaw lies in the way the VRMs are being cooled (as in, the cooler just doesn't make adequate contact with them or force sufficient flow over them), or whether the problem is that the VRMs are just poorly designed such that they produce an undue amount of heat.

I ask because if it's the latter, then even switching to a different custom cooler may not fix the problem, or at least it would add an undue amount of heat into the loop.

On the other hand, if it's the former, and the VRMs are similar in heat output to reference cards, but simply aren't getting proper cooling, then switching to a better cooler on this card will effectively alleviate the issue. I'm somewhat inclined to believe this is the case, based on similar high temps out of other reference OCed cards like the XFX DD, so it's not like these non-reference VRMs are the only ones getting hot.

As I've mentioned, my primary interest in this card is the 6 outputs, but if I'm going to have to deal with all kinds of problems to get it (even with a full coverage water cooling block), then I'd just go back to the 6990.

Just my 2c
 
I would like to see the results of your WC, as well taking detail to how the VRM's are cooled with the waterblock, would help identify if the stock cooler is just ineffective, or if the VRM's are poorly designed.
 
well the VRM's look like the same set up as the GTX 580 Direct CU II but it did not have that black plate, just what looks like the ln2 heat sink

to someone that have taken a card apart what is that black plate made of ?
it looks like painted cast pot metal

1- why would you paint a heat sink, paint is a insulation
2- cast pot metal holds heat

the more i look at that stiffening plate the more i think it is the problem
did the GTX 580 Direct CU II have a VRM overheat problem ?
 
Alkihaul said:
I would like to see the results of your WC, as well taking detail to how the VRM's are cooled with the waterblock, would help identify if the stock cooler is just ineffective, or if the VRM's are poorly designed.
Click to expand...

When EK finally releases the block and I get it installed, I'll be sure to post with results.
 
As mentioned before, I removed the backplate and also put on an Alpenfoehn Peter cooler with the optional ASUS VRM heatsinks and my maximum VRM temperatures went down by about 20c. About 10 from removing the backplate and 10 from the better airflow of the Peter cooler.
 
BluePaint said:
As mentioned before, I removed the backplate and also put on an Alpenfoehn Peter cooler with the optional ASUS VRM heatsinks and my maximum VRM temperatures went down by about 20c. About 10 from removing the backplate and 10 from the better airflow of the Peter cooler.
Click to expand...
That seems odd considering the backplate doesnt make any contact to the PCB other then the mounting areas. I might give this a try since I don't even see the backplate since my case is inverted
 
Ive been keeping an eye on this thread and by weednesday ill be cheking out one of this cards and see what version of the backplate it has. Can someone with one of this cards take a pic of their holeless backplate.

Iam desperate to make the purchase of a 7970 card and realy cant make my mind about one.
Hopefully the guys at the store will test the card with me and ill report to you guys later this week.
 
Not even gonna bother with testing the asus 7970 dcu 2. just gonna refuse the shipment for a refund. Figured i could wait a lil longer for kepler or the 7870 and save some money.
 
Wise choice, I'll be chucking mine up on ebay "IF" kepler turns out any better. This card is a joke and the driver problems are just icing on the cake... :(

I like how they won't be releasing XP compatible drivers until April, nice one, now my XP partition with all my old games is useless (Just found out recently)
 
well, it's on Newegg right now, although i"m sure by the time i hit post, it'll be gone :\
 
well ordered two from newegg and cancled amazon
newegg is better to work with if cards are bad
 
bill_d said:
well ordered two from newegg and cancled amazon
newegg is better to work with if cards are bad
Click to expand...

How do you figure? Amazon has probably the best return policy in the business. It's zero effort - go online, print the form, put it back in the box and put it on your doorstep; done. Some items even qualify for immediate refunds (that they take back if they don't get your item within 15 days or something). In contrast, I've never made a return at newegg that I didn't have to call to get the restock fee refunded, even if it wasn't supposed to be taken in the first place (like video cards).

Also, If I order something overnighted from Amazon with prime for the $4 fee and it's defective, not only do they pay me for the return shipping, but they even refund my $4 overnight shipping fee. Most retailers will pay for return shipping, but they won't always refund your initial shipping cost.

I know this sounds like I work for them or something. I don't, but I really think they're the best retailer I've ever done business with.
 
Neon01 said:
How do you figure? Amazon has probably the best return policy in the business. It's zero effort - go online, print the form, put it back in the box and put it on your doorstep; done. Some items even qualify for immediate refunds (that they take back if they don't get your item within 15 days or something). In contrast, I've never made a return at newegg that I didn't have to call to get the restock fee refunded, even if it wasn't supposed to be taken in the first place (like video cards).

Also, If I order something overnighted from Amazon with prime for the $4 fee and it's defective, not only do they pay me for the return shipping, but they even refund my $4 overnight shipping fee. Most retailers will pay for return shipping, but they won't always refund your initial shipping cost.

I know this sounds like I work for them or something. I don't, but I really think they're the best retailer I've ever done business with.
Click to expand...

This. I have sworn off of Newegg if the price delta from buying from Amazon isn't too big. The customer service at Amazon is amazing.
 
Neon01 said:
How do you figure? Amazon has probably the best return policy in the business. It's zero effort - go online, print the form, put it back in the box and put it on your doorstep; done. Some items even qualify for immediate refunds (that they take back if they don't get your item within 15 days or something). In contrast, I've never made a return at newegg that I didn't have to call to get the restock fee refunded, even if it wasn't supposed to be taken in the first place (like video cards).

Also, If I order something overnighted from Amazon with prime for the $4 fee and it's defective, not only do they pay me for the return shipping, but they even refund my $4 overnight shipping fee. Most retailers will pay for return shipping, but they won't always refund your initial shipping cost.

I know this sounds like I work for them or something. I don't, but I really think they're the best retailer I've ever done business with.
Click to expand...

well i never had a problem with newegg and if i do it's only a 6hr drive from my house
i like amazon to but have not had to return anything with them but i do know newegg
 
If the item is shipped by amazon it's probably the easiest return procedure. IMO Amazon is easier then local B&M stores. Newegg is probably comes in 2nd place, but almost just as easy.

I wonder if those cards on newegg are the so called revised models. I'm also wondering why there isn't any reviews on the DCII from any of the typical review sites, at least in the US. Maybe they are under NDA and it was pushed back from Asus because of some known problems?
 
What revised model do you guys speak of? I've only heard of a revised 7950, but not 7970.
 
Hanakuso said:
If the item is shipped by amazon it's probably the easiest return procedure. IMO Amazon is easier then local B&M stores. Newegg is probably comes in 2nd place, but almost just as easy.

I wonder if those cards on newegg are the so called revised models. I'm also wondering why there isn't any reviews on the DCII from any of the typical review sites, at least in the US. Maybe they are under NDA and it was pushed back from Asus because of some known problems?
Click to expand...

revision number is the first thing i'll check :)

there was a rumour of a new revision of the 7970 in one preview
 
Ya I am extremely curious on why no one is reviewing this card to be honest. It almost seems like Asus NDA'd the reviewers, a few hundred shipped out, but the supplies got closed off.

I will be shipping my card back. I really want this card, so I hope to jump on a revised model.
 
Alkihaul said:
Ya I am extremely curious on why no one is reviewing this card to be honest. It almost seems like Asus NDA'd the reviewers, a few hundred shipped out, but the supplies got closed off.

I will be shipping my card back. I really want this card, so I hope to jump on a revised model.
Click to expand...
Even though I have the 1.00x model, I'm not concerned about returning it anytime soon. If we find out the later models did fix some serious stuff I will just go through Asus for the RMA. I've gone through at least 6 RMAs with Asus and everytime it's been a good experience. I especially liked how they handled the Sandy Bridge chipset recall. They actually sent me a free set of headphones, bear in mind that fiasco was Intels fault, not Asus :p

On a side note, the EK waterblocks should be coming out any day now. An EK rep mentioned they will be out around Cebit and that is going on this week. Now I just need to figure out if I should buy direct or go through a US vendor..
 
How long were you with out your GPU when you RMA'd through Asus?

My big fear is RMA'ing it once a major title comes out like Guild Wars 2 and I want to do some serious gaming I could end up with out a card 6 weeks or something. (Being in Canada)

Running the card at 40% fan speed seems to make it usable. If it wasn't for the sound proofing in my case though i'd probably go nuts with noise lol.
 
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