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7970 Lightning, worth the premium?

pgi947

pgi947

pgi947

Soldato
Joined
25 Jun 2011
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Aberdeen
Debating a foray back into the red side of GPU's, the MSI 7970 Lightning is a card that I've had my eye on for quite a while.

From what I understand these cards are guaranteed to be great clockers, even more so under water.

IS this card really worth the ~£70 more over an MSI 7970 OC? or just marketing pushing the price up?

I'm considering a move from my 670, its no real fun to overclock and I don't fancy assaulting it with a soldering iron to get higher voltages.

So what is everyone's general feeling towards the Lightning? Would also appreciate some input from Lightning owners too :)
 
The cooler doesn't interest me, it would be watercooled as soon as ek released blocks for it. Again with the 680 comes the lack of fun overclocking them, is there an eta on the ghz edition cards? As if they are what they are cracked up to be then it would possibly give more guarantee of a good clock?
 
The single link dvi could be a problem as I game at 120hz, £450 for the card, £100 for block and backplate, another £80 for an active display port adaptor, the cost is mounting. Do any manufacturers cherry pick their oc edition cards? Also these ghz edition cards are supposed to have a higher yield, sure that means better clocks? Or are we back at marketing with the ghz cards?

I could gamble on a standard ref card, but the last 7970 I had was a shocking clocker, could barely reach ccc limits.
 
Thanks for all the input, as usual you've all been very helpful :)

I think I'm going to leave it for now, see what the HD89x0 and GTX7x0 cards bring to the table. For the time being I'll just fiddle with my 670 and resist the urge to destroy it with a soldering iron :p
 
I've caved and pre-ordered one, due in stock in a few days too :)

The price drop makes it a viable buy, it was £450, now £379, so throw in the £74 MDP to Dual Link DVI active adaptor into the mix and its looking at £454. I can't argue at essentially paying £4 for the adaptor for a card I was seriously considering at £450 anyway :)

For those that it interests, EK expect waterblocks for the lightning to go in-to mass production/distribution in 3-5 weeks, it may have been sooner but they are moving premises and has caused a slight delay. Looking forward to flicking that bios switch to LN2 mode while under water and seeing what one of these really can do.
 
Dual link is needed for any monitors over 60hz that don't have display port.

I either try find someone that has a 120hz monitor with Displayport that fancies a swap with my Asus VG236H or buy the adaptor.

I'm not too fussed about the adaptor, as in my earlier post I pointed out you're essentially getting it for £4 now. It was just a little drastic at the old price considering £524 for the card + adaptor.

Edit: Buy it cleee, I know you want too.
 
23/24" displayport equipped 120hz monitors, what are my options?

It may well be an idea to sell off my Asus monitor and get something different.
 
Pre-ordered :D

The Guru3D review of the Lightning is pretty good (27 pages!) it covers the 'GPU Reactor Core' and pretty much confirms what Surveyor said, it didn't make much odds in their overclocking tests.
 
masscrazy said:
I tried twice to place an order with the same Halifax debit card through ocuk payment system and paypal neither went through. HSBC debit card was fine. Pre-ordered :). Will believe it however, when i see it...
Click to expand...

Went through first time on a Natwest credit card (don't tell the mrs!).

Some good info thanks surveyor :)
 
I'm waiting for a reply from Msi about the cooler cleee, strange if it would void the warranty considering the second BIOS switch is called 'LN2'.
 
Will do, pre-sale the cost was a real factor with the adaptor, now its nearly free if you think about it.

Will be getting one once the dsr for my 680 waterblock is through
 
Cleeecooo said:
When are these due in?
Click to expand...

Monday. So I would imagine the latest we will get them would be Wednesday based on Monday delivery might not arrive until 4pm then shipped out Tuesday morning. Best case scenario is we get them on Tuesday.

Just been reading about a chap shoving 1.7v through one of these and getting 1.8ghz on the core under LN2 :p
 
I'm struggling to find anything on watercooling these as the full cover blocks aren't available yet, I did see a review using a universal block but they only seemed interested in overclocking with stock voltage.

I think HOCP managed 1280mhz @ 1.254v under air, with water I'm almost expecting to be able to use at least 1.3v. How far they go under water I presume is chip dependant, I can't find anywhere concrete saying these cards do/don't have cherry picked cores.

Would 13-1400mhz under water be too much to aim for?
 
I've noticed those struggling to hit 1200mhz are far from using the full features of the PCB though, the majority of reviews don't even touch the clock voltages let alone the other voltage options the LN2 bios offers.

The card is aimed at extreme overclocking along side extreme cooling, only about 60% of this cards potential is being showcased with the TF air cooler.

Get a bad clocker, return it and wait for the GHZ Edition cards to start showing up?
 
Mal X said:
you lot had better hurry up , this card is rare online, stocks are running out fast, 1.7V ? not a hope in hell, you'll be lucky to get it over 1.3V, or even stable on 1.3, more like 1.25v

the Sapphire Dual X Slider is limited to 1.3v anyway, so i dont know where he got such a massive figure of 1.7 from, unless the MSI software goes much higher !!!!! but the high temps will probably stop you at about 1.35v anyway......because at 1.3V mine was at about 83 degrees on Auto Fan.

And the temp rose alarmingly from 1.25 to 1.3v
Click to expand...

If you re-read my post I stated he had it under LN2, meaning sub-zero cooling. Not sure if AB allows up-to and over 1.7v, but AB is made by MSI, as is the card, its entirely possible the voltage was achieved with the help of MSI and some tweaking.

Also temps will not be an issue for me as the card will be getting watercooled. 1.3v sounds like a nice target to hit, if temps are limiting air cooling @ 1.35v then its almost certainly possible to keep at those figures with water cooling.

Edit: TPU Link

Take note of this part:
the card has the electrical muscle required to sustain 1.7V, and facilitate a staggering 1800 MHz core clock speed, with 1925 MHz memory (7.70 GHz GDDR5 effective)
Click to expand...

As with ANY 7970, you're not going to get huge overclocks on air, regardless of the cooler it comes with.
 
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I never suggested I was going to attempt to put 1.7v through it, that would be suicide without LN2. You also have to remember that the VRM's etc... are all directly cooled with a full cover waterblock, as such sustaining a higher voltage, something air-cooling does not achieve so well. Today is hot, but even on a day like today under water I'd be shocked to see temps rise above 50c.

I'm not saying "under water this card will certainly handle 1.3v+" but it has a higher possibility than with air.
 
Martini1991 said:
So much want.
Shame about the flipping lack of dual link DVI, full on preventing me from buying.
Wish Asus would just fix their OC'ing with the newer DCII's.
Click to expand...

Still don't fully understand MSI's logic with the single link connectors, fairly sure even my old FX5200 had a dual link connector :o
 
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