Been away for a while, and will be again for a couple months.

However, just got my HD7970 -- so writing a short report. No new news I expect.

SAPPHIRE 11197-01-40G Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card OC Version

Sapphire HD7970 OC Version

$450 with free game. Others report getting it for as low as $401 -- a no-brainer at that price. Too bad I've not been on-line much lately -- I missed that sale

This is the best graphics card I've ever bought. Very very low noise at full output (no coil whine as reported by some), low power (relative to Crossfire), dual-BIOS, can OC voltage as well as OC GPU and Memory (easily with included Sapphire application). Best looking "package" -- by far.

Faster than dual HD5870 CrossFireX in Eyefinity even at HD7970 stock clocks 925/1425. This one comes with two stock clocks slightly above that. Some have OCd this exact card to 1250+/1550+ by adding 0.1 volts. I got a stable OC at 1125/1500 adding no volts -- only need CCC for that. Got 1200 adding 0.05V -- but did not pass every test. I "assume" the 0.1V would get 1200 to work all the time.

At 1125/1500 0.0V OC:

Heaven 3.0, normal Tessellation, 16x AF, 0AA
1920x1200: 86FPS (11% faster than Crossfire HD5870)
5760x1200: 35.5FPS (21% faster than Crossfire HD5870) -- Eyefinity

3DMark11 1280x720 performance
Graphics 9185 (9% faster than Crossfire HD5870)

3DMark Vantage Extreme 1920x1200
Graphics 18455 (8% faster than Crossfire HD5870)

My goal for a new card was 20 percent faster than Crossfire HD5870 in Heaven 3.0 Eyefinity. Surprisingly, I got that. I really was expecting less -- but was "hungry for a new card"

Is it worth $450. To an AMD fan -- yes And, when I want to risk burning it up, I can shoot for another 10 percent (based on OC test reports)


Now I await the rumored AMD Piledriver FX 8350 which seems to have addressed the Bulldozer deficiencies (based on rumored changes). Given the Ivy-Bridge OC deficiency, Piledriver might close the gap a bit. Due in late Summer or Fall.

FWIW

Congrats Allen, a very nice card and $100 off from the initial launch price! Pays to be patient.

Also nice to see that 10% improvement even on 5870s crossfired.

damn i paid $479 for my 7950 Sapphire.


this summer i may upgrade to pile driver and see if i cant get a 7970 cheap, demote the 7950 to my brother's system and keep the Bulldozer as a backup CPU, or use it to build a HTPC Rig.

There was a sale a few weeks ago were the 7970 was $425 w/ Promo code on Newegg +$25 Instant.



I got Dirt 3 for free, now, if i order the same card i did in feb. its $79 Cheaper and comes with 3 free Steam/GFWL Download codes.

When I ramp my fans up all the way i get some vibration noise, but only during the RPM change, once its up to speed the noise fades, i suspect when the BIOS controls the fans it doesnt go from 40/50% speed to 100% in 1 step. I dont run it at 100% anyway, the max i've gone up to was 65%, i haven't overclocked it other than running it at 1Ghz for some tests, which were marginal.

But the sapphire dual fan setup is QUIET, put it this way, when my system is running, the loudest fan is the 40mm fan in the back of my RCA Sound system. if that is off, my system is virtually silent.

I dont like how the card flexes on the end with the power connectors, but when i propped it up using zipties through the holes to the top of the case it had side effects.




My 7950-OC runs BF3 on Ultra w/ 4x MSAA, My other 2 screens havent been hooked up because i moved and left them in storage, they'll be here this weekend. I may have to OC a lil and run lower Anti-Aliasing to run 3 screens, I ran 2 screens in a few games as a test, and i saw no difference in minimum or max Frames/sec from 1 screen (vsync on.) I may have to drop BF3 from Ultra to High (which many people say jumps the FPS significantly.). Im sure dropping traditional MSAA to none or at most 2x would allow me to run 3 screens with no problem.

with me coming from a 8800GTS, the gap and jump is obvious.




7900 series w/ non reference cooling is definitely worth it, my 8800GTS idled at 60^C (which was the norm for that card).
7950 idles in the low 20s, sometimes teens.

Cant wait for the new FX processors, i love my 8120, but since i have the platform, not dropping in a new cpu that fixes the IPC issues would be dumb on my part. TBH that's my system's only "weak" link.

Im still writing the reports on my system, everything from installing windows to video editing, to gaming, etc. I have to wait for Ceton to get back with be regarding beta testing some new cards before i finish up the TV/Entertainment part.

Be interesting to read how that turns out


Looking at Tweaktown (linked in 680 thread), I see they used Heaven benchmark. They got:

GTX680 2GB 1920x1200: 1921
GTX680 4GB 1920x1200: 1942

To get that they're using an Intel i7 3960X EE at 4.7GHz. The GTX680 is clocked at GPU 1006-boost 1059 / Memory 1502.


Using my cheaper AMD Phenom II 1100T CPU at 4.0GHz, my cheaper Sapphire HD7970 3GB gets:

2058 when clocked at 1050/1450 (similar to GTX680) -- better clock for clock performance

2178 when clocked at 1125/1500 (apparently a common OC for my card, no voltage increase -- passes stress tests).

Info FWIW.

my card matches the 680 when i OC it to 1.2GHz/6.5Ghz, but im not leaving it there.

I'll prolly lock my OC at 1Ghz/6Ghz (maybe 5.5Ghz), i dont know if i wanna use Sapphire's tool or CCC, for now i have it at stock settings, with the fan on 65% and quiet.

My Fan setup actually helps with the heat the card puts back into the case, 120mm fan on the floor of the case blows up, and the heat gets blown up and out the H100 Exhaust or the rear 120mm exhaust fan. not to mention the 200mm side fan.

my screens will all be here tomorrow. and my digital camera seems to have crapped out (old 4MP), so i gotta get a new one to take more pics of everything. its already time for my system's first cleaning.

Allen, do you get tearing in Eyefinity Mode?

I have my Middle display as DP-> DVI Active, HDMI-> DVI on the Right,, and DVI native on the Left.

Left Screen Tears on the Desktop, right and middle ones dont?, I'll tinker with the "preferred" setting, I think when i Put it on the left screen preferred, which uses Native DVI with no adapters, the desktop tearing goes away as well as in game tearing..

i also noticed that my system turned the screens off and they wouldnt come back on, hit the reset button, Middle (DP) and Right sceen (HDMI->DVI) came on w/ POST and Windows Loading, but the left stayed off, and had to re-configure everything again in windows to get everything back up and running..

No tearing. With my system, if the monitor goes into sleep mode, it does not come back on (not a problem with HD5870). I read something like that happens with HD7970. For now, I've disabled "sleep mode". 12.4 is the first driver set that "correctly" supports HD7970, they say. Evidently, there is something left to fix.

Basically, I've set up CCC to the options that essentially say -- use the "application settings". I.e. no CCC overrides of game settings.

Using DVI for center, DVI for left, Displayport for right -- works. I tried HDMI for center -- worked. I've ordered mini-displayport to displayport cables. I'll be trying HDMI for center and Displayport for right and left.


Regarding HDTV via Windows Media Center: Media Center will not display "protected content" if it detects a "displayport" hookup. So, I have to use a single monitor configuration with DVI or HDMI when watching cable HDTV. I could also go DVI, HDMI, DVI to watch HDTV on Eyefinity. I'll experiment when the extra cables come (though it all works now).


Regarding Bulldozer: I finally "bit". There is a sale (as you've probably noticed). So, last night, I ordered an FX 8150 to use until FX 8350 comes out (now it will come out months sooner ). I'll experiment with OC and Windows 8 (dual boot) which is supposed to use the cores better than Windows 7 (I know you know that, but I like to write complete thoughts in case someone is interested ).

The update from 12.3 to 12.4 gave me a lot better performance,

the 12.3 drivers seemed to be choking the GFX Card, i was barely able to get 50 Fr/sec in BF3 on Ultra, once I updated a week or so ago, I was pegged on the 60 Fr/Sec VSync Cap. And i Can run BF3 at 35 Fr/sec on outdoor maps in Eyefinity (Deferred MSAA off, Shader FSAA on).

I'll Try Re-Arranging my Cables tonight or tomorrow. I was told the tearing I see is because I'm using 2 different "clocks" (DP Clock and the HDMI/DVI Clock). My card only has 2 miniDP, HDMI, DVI, so I have to use 2 of the display clocks regardless.

Yeah, after the first lockup, off went sleep mode (didnt have that problem in single screen) and I put on a screensaver. possibly a memory leak in the Driver.. as it was sleeping it was idle, as soon as I moved the mouse, the HDD light went crazy for the entire 5 minutes i waited before i pressed reset on the case.

TBH other than the IPC/Single core performance, I cant find anything wrong with the FX CPU I have,
it still plows through everything efficiently and was a HUGE upgrade from a Dual Core AthlonX2 6000+.

other than the IPC, the Clock speed of the chip seems to throttle a lot even under load for no reason, which prolly effects the scores a lot,
seeing as Cine Bench Scores it as a 4C/8T @ 3.1 Ghz CPU, but almost the entire time of the benchmark all 8 Cores throttled down to 2.8/2.9GHz, only a few seconds of the benchmark did the cores actually run at the rated 3.1 GHz, and they never went into 8 core turbo of 3.4 Ghz.

I have to Re-install Windows 8, for some reason it wont let me boot it now, it sits at the start up screen then slaps me with the "Ooops something is wrong emoticon screen", i think its because i added the Xfi Card and the Intensity pro card. or something (i was running win8 beta before my system was completed). No Biggie, I'll just boot USB Flash and Do inplace re-install. Hopefully AMD has better drivers for Win8 Now.

I decided not to run with my 4 Ghz overclock and to maybe push it to FX8150 specs, or to 3.6/3.8Ghz
I was gonna go into the BIOS, and change the settings (Multiplier/Turbo00 Multiplier/Turbo01 Multiplier/Bus/Volts) of the chip to that of the FX-8150, but i haven't had time, and i haven't actually found all those values on the internet.

I saw the 8150 dropped to like $195, and the 8120 dropped to $149/159 recently.

But Alas, Im running Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic, DCS A-10C, Battlefield 3, all in Eyefinity on 1 card, A-10c and SF both using FSAA

I was told i would not be able to run BF3 on a Single GPU card, but I can,
I had to drop a few settings from Ultra to HIGH, and turn off Deferred MSAA to keep FrPS above 30.
(Still dont see no difference in Visual quality.) Now i just have to get used to the wider FoV.

DCS A-10C Runs Flawlessly.

SF2 Series requires some GFX Engine Tweaks to get the correct aspect ratio and FoV.

I have other games that I havent tried (Dirt 3 etc).

This is what I get on desktop,

if i set a DVI/HDMI Screen as preferred, the miniDP screen tears, if i Set the MiniDP screen as Deferred the DVI/HDMI Screens Tear.