Fastest/Top 7970 Card

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jwl24

Limp Gawd
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Jan 1, 2013
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As the title states, I'm looking for the fastest, top of the line 7970 card.
There's so many different ones out there, I've read all the reviews, and what not but still haven't been able to determine which card actually takes the lead..

I'm hoping that posting here, I can get some help in determining the outcome. From what I've read and everything, it seems possibly... that these few are the top cards for 7970 edition cards?

Of course I'm assuming the Ghz edition cards are always faster than the non, but this is including overclocking, etc.

From what I put together, a couple of the cards that I figure in the line up are:

MSI Lightning 7970
Asus Matrix Platinum 7970
Sapphire Vapor X 7970
....?

Any others that would beat these cards, and take the lead would be greatly appreciated. Hope some folks can give me feedback, can't decide on what card to actually get.
I know the Titan beats the single card, but I can't justify the price (if i was to xfire, around $800, rather than just $1k for a single card), and from what I know the 7970 ghz edition single cards, beat the current nivida single cards (exception of titan)
 
Diamond 7970. They tend to be able to overclock past 1300 on the core. I don't know of any other 7970 that can get that high.

If your not going to overclock then any brand is pretty suitable in the GHZ line. The 7970 really benefit and shine with a good overclock.
 
naticus said:
Diamond 7970. They tend to be able to overclock past 1300 on the core. I don't know of any other 7970 that can get that high.

If your not going to overclock then any brand is pretty suitable in the GHZ line. The 7970 really benefit and shine with a good overclock.
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Yeah I figure whatever card I'm going to get I'm going to be overclocking it, just need to know which is the best to go with, that will be the fastest, top of the line card.
I actually wasn't even considering the diamond, as I figured that was one of the bottom of the line cards.
 
naticus said:
Yeah it is not the sexiest looking thing, but it is the probably the best overclocker. It does get hot and it is loud, if those are not concerns then that is what I would get. If you want anything in the ghz line these are good:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161431

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001
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Yeah I've seen those, but what particular card be it ghz edition, or just normal card is the actual best 7970 available at this time? Like out of all of them.
 
jwl24 said:
Yeah I've seen those, but what particular card be it ghz edition, or just normal card is the actual best 7970 available at this time? Like out of all of them.
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Well it doesn't really work like with the 7970, except of you mean which has the highest boost clock without overclock? Or do you mean top build quality? They are all pretty good in the ghz line. Some cards in the GHZ line are voltage locked so they don't overclock past 1125/1575.

The two I posted earlier are not volt locked. Factory overclocks (which you are paying a premium for) mean nothing if you are going to OC it yourself. It is all luck of the silcone lottery. You do want a brand that is not voltage locked -- for example I think ALL Gigabyte cards are locked down now. HIS brand are not volt locked and are very cool.
 
naticus said:
Well it doesn't really work like with the 7970, except of you mean which has the highest boost clock without overclock? Or do you mean top build quality? They are all pretty good in the ghz line. Some cards in the GHZ line are voltage locked so they don't overclock past 1125/1575.

The two I posted earlier are not volt locked. Factory overclocks (which you are paying a premium for) mean nothing if you are going to OC it yourself. It is all luck of the silcone lottery. You do want a brand that is not voltage locked -- for example I think ALL Gigabyte cards are locked down now. HIS brand are not volt locked and are very cool.
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Yeah I don't want a locked card, that's for sure. I do intend on going xfire, but that doesn't really make much a difference in which card I'm going to get. Just trying to make that final decision.

Like for example that MSI lightning has a 1070 stock clock, and it's classified as a non ghz edition card, and actually has higher stock clocks than some of the ghz edition cards.

Same goes with the Asus Matrix Platinum, I really thought those 2 cards were the cream of the crop when it came to the 7970 cards, but I could be mistaken.
 
99% of 7970's can get to 1125/1575 without a voltage change and be cool and quiet. So those little boosts from the factory aren't much. In fact every no GHZ card I tested ran 1125/1575 stable @ stock volts. When you go past 1140ish on the core you need to bumb the volts, some brands, some cards cant do this. The few I mentioned earlier can. You can pay 550$ for a card factory overclocked to 1050 or 1075 core, or you can do it yourself free. If your card can't do 1125/1575 you have probably bad VRM and should get an RMA -- this applies to non-ghz cards.
 
Yeah I hear ya. That's why I'm just trying to find the best one to go with, and then I'l get 2x, and OC them, regardless if they're already ghz editions, or if they're just normal cards, I plan on OC'ing even more..

With that being said, what is the 1 card that tops all the others, I plan on custom water cooling them, ocing, etc. I just want to have I guess the top 7970 card there is at this time. Is that still the msi lighting as I've seen posted, the asus matrix plat? Or have others taken the crown since then.
 
If you are going to throw a waterblock on your 7970 then a Diamond 7970 it is, and don't look back. They are beast cards and are probably the best card period on the market. You will need a reference 7970 to do a waterblock but you will be in the 1300 core range with a Diamond. I know it is an ugly card, but are you going to be staring at the card or the games? I can't help you help with crossfire as I haven't messed around with it yet, and haven't really needed to with the exception of Crysis 3 being the only game that brings my card down at Vhigh with any AA other than FXAA.
 
Budget aside, the Toxic Vapor X 7970 6GB is king. With 1300Mhz core clocks and 1800Mhz+ memory clocks its your fastest card. It is expensive though.
 
FlawleZ said:
Budget aside, the Toxic Vapor X 7970 6GB is king. With 1300Mhz core clocks and 1800Mhz+ memory clocks its your fastest card. It is expensive though.
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Yeah that's like a $700 card, I don't see it actually being worth that price. What would you state comes 2nd to that? Matrix? Lightning?
 
lcampbell89 said:
Bump as I am curious too.

Is 2x 7970s better than 3x 7950s
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From the raw performance the 7950's would wreck the 7970's but you also introduce a third card which many games still have issues with anything past two and scaling can drop off if you're not playing something truly optimized like BF3. Most of the time getting two of the stronger cards vs three of the middle tier cards is better but in the 7970 vs 7950 they're so close in performance clock for clock that I would still advise only TWO 7950's and get them to 1100+ and be done with it.


On topic as a current Matrix 7970 I would advise going with a GB WF3 as that's been my favorite cooler (though I've seen more than a few voltage locked WF3's as of late :/ ) or just get a Lightning if you have no need for a dual link DVI. The lighting while cool and quiet only has single link so it can't do 1440 OR 120hz over DVI and has to use DP connections for it so if you don't plan on getting a Catleap/Shimian/ect with DVI only then a lightning will do fine.

Though if you plan to go under water then reference is best for block compatibility.
 
Junkboy said:
From the raw performance the 7950's would wreck the 7970's but you also introduce a third card which many games still have issues with anything past two and scaling can drop off if you're not playing something truly optimized like BF3. Most of the time getting two of the stronger cards vs three of the middle tier cards is better but in the 7970 vs 7950 they're so close in performance clock for clock that I would still advise only TWO 7950's and get them to 1100+ and be done with it.


On topic as a current Matrix 7970 I would advise going with a GB WF3 as that's been my favorite cooler (though I've seen more than a few voltage locked WF3's as of late :/ ) or just get a Lightning if you have no need for a dual link DVI. The lighting while cool and quiet only has single link so it can't do 1440 OR 120hz over DVI and has to use DP connections for it so if you don't plan on getting a Catleap/Shimian/ect with DVI only then a lightning will do fine.

Though if you plan to go under water then reference is best for block compatibility.
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As far as I know the lightnings have water blocks available?
I'm using the new Asus VG248QE's, which imo the best 120hz+ available. :p
 
jwl24 said:
As far as I know the lightnings have water blocks available?
I'm using the new Asus VG248QE's, which imo the best 120hz+ available. :p
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They do, but typically it's much easier to find and purchase blocks for reference designs than non-reference while occasionally being cheaper too. For people who later want to CF/SLI finding a match to their current reference card is usually cheaper and easier as well , and later on non-reference blocks really become a pita to find sometimes and they retain their value better to boot. :(
 
naticus said:
Diamond 7970. They tend to be able to overclock past 1300 on the core. I don't know of any other 7970 that can get that high.

If your not going to overclock then any brand is pretty suitable in the GHZ line. The 7970 really benefit and shine with a good overclock.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Overclocking a 7970 is unlike any other card I've ever had.

Just for reference I ran my 7970 through 3DMark11 at stock speeds and then overclocked (1200 core/1780 RAM) and my score went from 9054 to 10700 with the FPS increasing DRAMATICALLY. I don't have the numbers on hand but test 1 went from like 50fps to 58fps or something like that. Either way, 7970 overclocks boost performance way more than my GTX 580 did when overclocked.

Truly an amazing card and I have to say that I am proud to own such a beast!
 
I stick by what I posted in this thread. I have been on overclock.net for 8 years now, and I have tested many cards. Get a good blue 7970 PCB card and overclock it to the moon. You are paying a stupid premium to have some one else do it for you.
Edit: if you are going over 1650 for memory I would give give MVDDC at about 1615 or higher -- if your VRM temps are OK ( below 80C). I think MSI AB has mem volts but I am not sure. GCN needs a good VDDC and MVDDC to be really stable.

I can do 1260/1900 for Crysis 3 on air. I know people that can get get over 1300 on reference, and I am using a shitty card that is less than $400 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161412 BTW my default clocks are 925/1375.
 
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Matrix would be my choice. Great PCB, great stock cooler, 4x full size DP, Dual link DVI, Eyefinity 6 capable, Waterblock available, it really has everything. At $500 not too unreasonable of a price, either. Only possible drawback is it's 3 slots. If you are going to crossfire you're going to need a board that allows for some wide spacing.
 
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