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Best 7970 Card?

L

lcampbell89

n00b
Joined
Feb 27, 2013
Messages
47
Looking to spend about 600-700 on a pair of used 7970s but want to know if I should be looking at a specific brand or if I should be trying to find the Lightning edition of them?

I see a lot of the MSIs and such on eBay don't know if that is a good or bad thing though.

I intend to use the cards on a triple monitor (3x 24" LEDs) setup for multiboxing EVE online (10+ clients), also want to play games like Skyrim (modded), Farcry, and Crysis.
 
lcampbell89 said:
Looking to spend about 600-700 on a pair of used 7970s but want to know if I should be looking at a specific brand or if I should be trying to find the Lightning edition of them?

I see a lot of the MSIs and such on eBay don't know if that is a good or bad thing though.

I intend to use the cards on a triple monitor (3x 24" LEDs) setup for multiboxing EVE online (10+ clients), also want to play games like Skyrim (modded), Farcry, and Crysis.
Click to expand...

I have asked the same questions you're asking now, and people have told me these answers, and I'll tell you what I was told, and hopefully see some further feedback. :)

Anyway, I was told the top 2 cards were the MSI Lightning 7970, and the Asus Matrix Platinum 7970, with that being said it seems to be extremely difficult to find those cards for sale..

After those two, I don't really know what ranks 3rd. :\
 
Ya those are almost 800-900 for a pair. Almost feel like getting a different set of cards then may be better bang for the buck. But I am honestly not sure.
 
lcampbell89 said:
Looking to spend about 600-700 on a pair of used 7970s but want to know if I should be looking at a specific brand or if I should be trying to find the Lightning edition of them?

I see a lot of the MSIs and such on eBay don't know if that is a good or bad thing though.

I intend to use the cards on a triple monitor (3x 24" LEDs) setup for multiboxing EVE online (10+ clients), also want to play games like Skyrim (modded), Farcry, and Crysis.
Click to expand...

You can always get squaretrade warranty if you buy thingsfrom eBay. For branding problem, you should be looking for card that has unlocked voltage, otherwise it might affect your ability to overclock.
 
lcampbell89 said:
Ya I found 2x lightning msi 7970s but they are already at like 400+ dollars.

EDIT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127652 Looks like the upgraded version of the lightning maybe and it might actually be same price as a used one with the free games.
Click to expand...

I don't think these are considered the upgraded version of the lightnings, because if you see they have lower stock clocks than what the lightnings had same as memory clock. Also the ports are different and more difficult for multi-monitor gaming if you ever decide to venture into that.
 
I will be running 3 monitors actually. So the lightnings are better huh?

The core clock on the newer one is 1010mHZ vs 975 mHz on the lightning is that what you are referring to?

And ya I guess the lightning does have better ports although its max resolution is 1600 for all ports vs 2160 for the newer one. Although realistically I doubt I will have a 2160 res monitor any time soon.
 
lcampbell89 said:
I will be running 3 monitors actually. So the lightnings are better huh?

The core clock on the newer one is 1010mHZ vs 975 mHz on the lightning is that what you are referring to?

And ya I guess the lightning does have better ports although its max resolution is 1600 for all ports vs 2160 for the newer one. Although realistically I doubt I will have a 2160 res monitor any time soon.
Click to expand...

No, I believe there's like 4 different versions of the lightning.
You have:
PE - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127677
Lightning - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670

Then that one OC edition you showed. Here's a direct comparison of the 4 MSI models.
http://www.msi.com/service/product-comparison/vga.html

Unfortunately, the PE is not listed, and the boost edition is only available in Europe. As for the Lightning it was available on newegg for awhile.. and now it's discontinued, and it's a bit of a bummer, because I want to purchase 2x new 7970's at this point also, and want the best, and the Matrix/Lightning are both discontinued, and I don't know what follows being the best after those... or possibly better?
 
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