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Which 7970 would You Recommend

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Wiggy

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Sep 25, 2012
Hello, another quick question, Which 7970 would you recommend? Im about to sell my 660Ti and splash out another £200 to get a 7970. The top price i can reasonably comfortably afford would be a £350 card incl VAT. All factors included, Overclocking capability, Cooling, Loudness, price and so on and so forth. Cheers :)
 
MSI Lightning because it looks cool ;) ... but really anything with better power section than reference and Lightning looks best but not always best for OC on air/water ... still, I got one and I'm not complaining :) Good quality, solid cooling. Not so loud but also not silent. You have also full support in Afterburner for voltages and clocks that are missing some other brands.

If it's only for games then I see no point to switch from 660Ti unless you are going to play on 2-3 1920x1200+ monitors ;) Actually I'm not sure why I bought my card as I don't really need it .. but I just wanted it :D
 
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As the guys said, sounds like you are probably interested in 3 monitor gaming...
Then of the 7970's around the Asus Direct CUII TOP would be a top recommendation:

Asus Direct CUII TOP

Though it is a 3 slot cooler - it is Quiet and runs with great temps and has bags of OCing headroom!

And Best of all it has 4 Display ports - meaning you can run 3 monitors from the same output types - This eliminates display tearing (tiny lag of one screen next to the other) that can occur between different output types that are "not quite" fully in sync as I have been reading...

Most people find they can run BF3 in 3 x screen 1080p just fine on a 7970
Or for just over £200 per card - you can now about get a couple of 7950's - and sell the extra free game tokens perhaps to make it cheaper

But I must say I am one who prefers a single card solution... and that Asus I linked a review of is awesome when overclocked ^^
 
Asus Direct CUII 7970 £360, it's not the 'TOP' but the next best thing.

The 7970 Direct CUII TOP is here again for £360 but it's preorder, it's not out yet.

Do read that 7970 Direct CUII TOP review, the thing is an absolute Monster.
 
How can you guys smell 3 monitor gaming from that post? I dont...

Anyhoo, if single monitor 1080p gaming, the 660ti should be fine already. As far as which brand, I like the Asus Direct CU II series or the LIghtning series from MSI. Gigabyte also has a solid cooler in their windforce models.

Personally, unless you benchmark, I wouldnt worry about better power phases and such. The difference in cost and FPS isnt worth it to most users IMO.
 
heh, perhaps I should have said possibly rather than probably... but was as good as a reason as any to mention the advantage of the Asus Direct CUII over other 7970 cards just in case this is the OP's intent :)

If I had a decent 660 Ti and wanted that little extra for 1080+ gaming I might consider cranking my OC, or going for a cheap higher end 7950 and OCing that a touch - to hold me over with next years 8000 series cards come

I just paid £205 inc delivery for my new Asus Direct CUII TOP 7950 from ebay - though you do tend to miss out on free games buying cards from many ebay auctions like I probably have (being delivered tomorrow)

A 7970 would be pretty big overkill for only 1080 gaming

Give us some more info about what you have and what you desire :)
 
I currently play on a (no laughing) 23" inch screen, at 1080, but the 660Ti cant hold recording and playing at the same time, hence the need for an upgrade on the upgrade. I also am unable to fully max out some games, and those i can, i get a few FPS drops, (This is mostly GTA4).
But as im about to start a new youtube channel, and start recording i need something with abit more Umph than the 660Ti.
I am also kind of buying the 7970 because i can. I am a novice when it comes to PC's (Ive only owned it for 6 months) and i generally believed that the higher the number, the better it is. I would also rather have a AMD than Nvidia. You know how it is..
 
No card can max out GTA4... its poorly coded or something. Terrible choice for a barometer.

I dont know brand loyalty, no. I know performance though.

You will always get significant drops in game while recording. Im not sure if a better card helps that out or not as I dont record games.
 
Are you using MSI AB to record or FRAPS?

Use FRAPS, MSI AB recording is junk in every way, bad quality, unacceptable FPS Drops and HDD use.

FRAPS is everything but that. :)

Anyway, you want a 7970... go for it, it's an awesome card, and why not eh?
 
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I try to use fraps, but it significantly reduces FPS in some games.
 
Also note that if you are recording to the same drive as the game, you can get quite a bit of "choppiness." If you have another drive that you can record to, that can help
 
Wiggy: If you are dead set on buying a 7970 then i would humbly suggest the
Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 VAPOR X (11197-12-40G) it has a large cooler to keep things nice and cool while playing games also you can connect 2 x screens via DVI cables to the card and it is some what future proof as well. But the decision is your's and your's only, we can only point you in the right direction?
 
Operant said:
Also note that if you are recording to the same drive as the game, you can get quite a bit of "choppiness." If you have another drive that you can record to, that can help
Click to expand...
Why would that be? Do games constantly write to the HDD or something (page file) or randomly or only between levels?

I think it depends on the game to be honest. For example, in BF3, once a level loads, there is VERY little HDD(SSD) activity on my PC. :shrug:
 
EarthDog said:
Why would that be? Do games constantly write to the HDD or something (page file) or randomly or only between levels?

I think it depends on the game to be honest. For example, in BF3, once a level loads, there is VERY little HDD(SSD) activity on my PC. :shrug:
Click to expand...


For whatever reason it can do, it's not bad unless you have a slow drive and not much RAM.

I guess BF3 accesses to drive from time to time to load data, if the drive is already at full pelt it can caws BF3 to get a little choppy.

@ Wiggy, the free version of FRAPS lets you record 1 minute or so for each turn. you do have to pay for it if you want full recording. but it is a cheap app, and IMO worth it as nothing comes close to it for recording or benching.
 
I said the exact opposite happens on my system, there is VERY little HDD activity in BF3 post level load.
 
I have full version of fraps paid for, i have it installed on a second drive. But it can make Some games choppy, Not all and certainly not most. For example i can record BF3 Perfectly fine, very little framerate drop. Games such as Mount and blade warband on the other hand Do not. I will go from 140fps to 30>
Anyways the way i see it, its future proof, i will eventually get 2 more screens, or rather 3 bigger screens, Depends on whether i get this job in london.

*Edit*
Wiggy: If you are dead set on buying a 7970 then i would humbly suggest the
Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 VAPOR X (11197-12-40G) it has a large cooler to keep things nice and cool while playing games also you can connect 2 x screens via DVI cables to the card and it is some what future proof as well. But the decision is your's and your's only, we can only point you in the right direction?
Click to expand...

Its not that im dead set on buying one, i just thought that it would suit my needs, But yes, please do point me in the right direction, i certainly need it!
As for the card, we've narrowed it down some, So between the Sapphire HD 7970 VAPOR X, the Asus Direct CUII TOP, and last but not least, the Asus Direct CUII.
 
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I have heard people say the Vapor X version is voltage locked, people are buying the Saphire 950MHz non Vapor X version which OC's Great. Though if you are not after Great OC on higher voltages then the Vapor X is a lovely card also that runs cool.
 
I'd get a GBT 7970OC personally. Assuming they're still available.
Totally unlocked core voltage with the proper afterburner, decently unlocked even with normal AB.
Good cooler, too.
 
Well, im partial to my 7970 (sig). Its quiet and cool...no complaints here. I know the New OC version is better but you can OC the vanilla 7970 and thumb your nose at the newer model..and save a few bucks.
(and it goes w/ out saying...its kick *** for games even a bit overkill for my system: 1x Acer 27inch and x1 Dell 22inch both at 1920x res
 
Can't officially recommend it as I just installed it and have maybe 1 hour on it, but I feel pretty good about the ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II. It really "feels" good and looks very awesome both in my giant sized hands and my smallish Antec Lanboy Air case. It will be going into my full water cooled Corsair Obsidian Series 800D case when I get back from vacation next week.

I'll know more maybe the week after that, but for now I'd have to vote DCUII.

-Rodger
 
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