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FRONTPAGE ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP Graphics Card Review
- Thread starter Overclockers.com
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- Nov 30, 2009
Great review as always Hokie!
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- Dec 4, 2010
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- China
What was the power consumption like when you were pushing those high clocks?
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- Jun 7, 2011
Amazing card, does beat the 680 GTX when OC. Prehaps its even priced lower than a 680 GTX, thats a hard cookie.
Power consumption is probably up to 50 W higher than 680 GTX at OC (~1300/1750) but thats fine in term its able to beat the 680 GTX. It can move through Metro with 45 FPS... oh dear, thats not high but its basically the only single core GPU able to play that game at sufficient FPS (40-60) when max settings. In term its only at 31 FPS (such as the GTX 680) its not good to play with. Dont think i would need a insanely priced double GPU in term i got such a single GPU.
Anyway, seems like Nvidia is now pulling around in the mid to low range GPU pool with way to overpowered solutions (to less performance gap between) because they kinda seems to be challenged to much in the high end. But to all people who still believe that a 660 and 660ti is able to regulary beat any 7870, thats simply wrong. Its clock related and a OC-GPU-solution such as a Hawk is a serious challenge to any 660/660 ti.
Power consumption is probably up to 50 W higher than 680 GTX at OC (~1300/1750) but thats fine in term its able to beat the 680 GTX. It can move through Metro with 45 FPS... oh dear, thats not high but its basically the only single core GPU able to play that game at sufficient FPS (40-60) when max settings. In term its only at 31 FPS (such as the GTX 680) its not good to play with. Dont think i would need a insanely priced double GPU in term i got such a single GPU.
Anyway, seems like Nvidia is now pulling around in the mid to low range GPU pool with way to overpowered solutions (to less performance gap between) because they kinda seems to be challenged to much in the high end. But to all people who still believe that a 660 and 660ti is able to regulary beat any 7870, thats simply wrong. Its clock related and a OC-GPU-solution such as a Hawk is a serious challenge to any 660/660 ti.
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- Oct 29, 2010
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- Loveland, CO, USA
Will there be a full water block for this card do you think?
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- Jun 10, 2003
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- Plymouth, UK
heh, nice timing for this review.
Am looking to tempt myself with a new GFx card all too soon
Well, diving into your review now, hoping for good things
Am looking to tempt myself with a new GFx card all too soon
Well, diving into your review now, hoping for good things
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2007
I didn't even look at the kill-a-watt, so I'm not sure. I'll clock it up today and find out for you though.
Yep! EK makes one (actually two). I couldn't find any more though, so EK looks like your only choice currently.
I think you'll find some.heh, nice timing for this review.
Am looking to tempt myself with a new GFx card all too soon
Well, diving into your review now, hoping for good things
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2003
- Location
- Plymouth, UK
Very Fine indeed, thanks for that great write up.
Might be heading closer towards the 7950 version of this card I feel
Might be heading closer towards the 7950 version of this card I feel
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- Oct 14, 2007
I noticed I had forgotten to add a photo of the card installed. It is now in the review, but for those that already read it, here you go.
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- Oct 14, 2007
Ok, peak power draw during 3DMark 11 @ 1300/1750 (CPU @ 4GHz, RAM @ 1866/9-9-9-24) was 457W. During heavy load it looked to be hovering between 435W & 445W, but there was that heavy 452-457W pull during the first graphics test, which is the hardest for power draw.
That's a fair bit more than the 312W peak at stock for sure. The GTX 680 Lightning didn't have near that increase, but it also didn't have near that overclock, thanks to NVIDIA's complete watering down of their cards' capabilities. If they got rid of - or just heavily increased - the Power Tune limit and allowed voltage control, I'd wager Kepler would be more competitive with the overclocked HD 7970, but for whatever reason, NVIDIA has hamstrung all of their partners and isn't allowing any custom overclocking BIOSes, thus making AMD the overclockers' choice at the high end.
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- Jun 7, 2011
There is already games using up to 1.5 GB at 1080P (for example Skyrim, when using lot of mods), so the 3 GB for 4k is certainly very close and not a bit to much RAM. Luckily AMD didnt release some inferior 2 GB 680 GTX such as Nvidia did (at the beginning). Of course for midrange its pointless because we usualy dont go above 1080P but for high end 3 GB+ is very useful.
Luckily AMD didnt release some inferior 2 GB 680 GTX such as Nvidia did (at the beginning). Of course for midrange its pointless because we usualy dont go above 1080P but for high end 3 GB+ is very useful.3Gb is plenty for 3840x2048
2GB is also enough for most things, most 2GB GTX 680 owners are happy enough on 3 screen setups
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- Loveland, CO, USA
Thanks alot for showing the link to the waterblocks. I finally took the time to read your entire review and I have to thank you for that as well. It seems this may actually be the better card for me as I'm building a new rig with the ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z motherboard. My current computer uses the Crosshair IV Extreme and I do use ROG connect to tweek my tuning, along with Overdrive and some other apps. This is how I found stable clocks at 4.8 GHz on this board using the FX-8150 CPU.I didn't even look at the kill-a-watt, so I'm not sure. I'll clock it up today and find out for you though.
Yep! EK makes one (actually two). I couldn't find any more though, so EK looks like your only choice currently.
I think you'll find some.
So, how well would this card do would you suppose in a tandem crossfire setup with a good 360 rad and custom loop for the FX-8150 (maybe Piledriver when released) and both GPU's? It's all going in a Corsair 650D box (for now), so I could do a second 240 rad and loop if necessary.
-Rodger
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2007
I'd add a second 240 rad if you're going to cool two of these plus the CPU, especially a BD CPU, which aren't exactly known for running cool when overclocked. 5x120 total should be enough for a loop like that. 
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- Oct 29, 2010
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- Loveland, CO, USA
Kinda what I thought you'd say. It's what I was thinking as well.
Thanks again.
-Rodger
Thanks again.
-Rodger
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- Jun 7, 2011
3Gb is plenty for 3840x2048
2GB is also enough for most things, most 2GB GTX 680 owners are happy enough on 3 screen setups
A 680 GTX should be good enough for everything (up to 4k) , not for "most things". I would never get a 680 GTX with 2 GB RAM, because in some years it can be limiting on many software (except 1080P is used and nothing higher). 3-4 GB or nothing.
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I noticed I had forgotten to add a photo of the card installed. It is now in the review, but for those that already read it, here you go.
Is the "hotwire" feature being used in this photo? I'm just curious as to where on that board with that GPU those solder points are, if its not too much trouble to ask.
