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7970 Lightning, worth the premium?

I saw n article about some guys that got a VTX3D 7970 to 1.7GHz lol, it died after Heaven though. I will try emailing vtx3d... :D

eh... think I will have more luck emailing god than VTX3D, they don't even have a website.
 
http://www.vtx3d.com/default.asp ;)

Its all very tight lipped surrounding increasing voltage beyond stock values on the Lightning unfortunately, I'd be comfortable going to 1.4v for some 3dmark runs.

I saw something interesting earlier, the MSI cap that covers the reactor on the Lightning, remove it, seemingly that little chip can get hot, being exposed cools it down and may allow a slight core increase.
 
Lmao, that's cool. I didn't think that chip really did anything other than power the LED. Thanks for the link! Looks handmade that website!
 
The reactor is supposed to reduce voltage ripple to the chip giving better power delivery - well thats what we are told.

It does look pretty cheap :p
 
Thats 5mhz short of a 600mhz overclock on the memory vs a stock 7970. Was a little gutted the core choked out so early on but very impressed with the memory.

Worth the premium? Very much so IMO.
 
pgi947 said:
Thats 5mhz short of a 600mhz overclock on the memory vs a stock 7970. Was a little gutted the core choked out so early on but very impressed with the memory.

Worth the premium? Very much so IMO.
Click to expand...

Does the MB power connections help at all? Were there any options in the bios to increase voltage to the pci-e lane?
 
Nickolp1974 said:
can any lightning owners run this please and report back what you get its a memtest for open cl cards http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadUtils

direct http://fah-web.stanford.edu/MemtestCL/memtestCL-1.00-windows.zip
Click to expand...

My results:
SpJgb.png


EDIT: Google the issue with memtestCL as I don't think it relates to your error 62. Looks like there's an error with the program and running with Tahiti cards.
 
Last edited:
Thx for running it crim, i know the test is not very reliable but was just trying every possible test i could with my card. Spoke to msi, there pointing at the gfx and a few other people have sorted the error by changing the gpu. I'm gutted may lose my card for a while, no BF3 and have to sit with the missis!! :(, thank god for my ipad!!!
 
I'm fairly sure turn around should be pretty quick on your card Nick, I think OcUK are allowed to test the card in house and issue a replacement on the spot, faulty cards are then sent back to MSI in the Netherlands in batch for MSI to work through.

OcUK have a very very good working relationship with MSI :)
 
So far tried:-
Onboard gfx, no problems
Updated all drivers/official, problem same
Latest mobo bios, still there
Different pci-e slot, still there
Memtest 86, no errors
Memtest CL, not reliable, but errors
Tried old 280gtx, would not post at all, maybe past it but did work, maybe mpower very sensitive to gfx problems as it was artifacting on other mobo, z68 gen3(asus)

Gonna try my lads 6 month old 6850 at weekend and try booting with mobo out of case, just in case theres a short(doubt this)

Anything else i can try?? Just worried they dont find a fault and its cost me postage and wasted everyones time.

And thx pgi for he info

If it is at fault it could be the reason why overclocking does not seem right, who knows?????
 
It could well be an indication of the overclocking performance.

Only thing you can try to 100% guarantee its the GPU is to try it in a completely different machine, if the same happens, bingo.

Remember any fault you find OcUK have to be able to replicate it, otherwise its a testing charge and return at your expense.

Running everything out of the case is a good place to start too, when you have it running with the 6850 run with 1 stick of memory in, the CPU, GPU and OS drive plugged in only, if stable, add another stick of memory and so on until all components are added and you're satisfied its all working. IF its all working on the 6850, remove drivers and put the 7970 back in and install latest WHQL drivers.

Long shot as well, have you tried a clean OS install? When I managed to install windows on a buggered CPU, I changed the CPU out and it caused no end of issues. Clean install sorted it.
 
Did a clean install when i got new mobo, week ago
Will try it in my lads machine first before i rob his gfx!!

Dont ya just love PC's!!

Think we all spend more time fixing, improving and shouting at them, than we do using 'em :)
 
I can agree with that, took me near 3 weeks to figure out and fix a dodgy CPU.

If it gives errors/bsod in your lads PC then the odds are OcUK will easily be able to replicate the fault :)
 
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