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MSI Lightning 7970 CF or 680 SLI Queries

Watlinguk

Watlinguk

Watlinguk

Associate
Joined
1 Aug 2010
Posts
1,870
Hi there.

Got a friend looking to purchase to new cards, his motherboard has the capabilities to run either CF or SLI. He has got his heart set on the MSI Lightning range due to the overclocking capabilities.

Which of the two types will give him the best performance in games, bearing in mind he plays at 1080p on a 120hz monitor. He will not exceed that resolution for a long time as his monitor is brand new.

So overall he is looking for the best solution for overclocking,frame rates and heat really.
With the boosted edition of the ati card, will he experience even more power as well as then overclocking it further?
Also will he experience any voltage limitations on the 680 MSI, as i know Nvidia are trying to cap there voltage?

Here are the ATI:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-152-MS&tool=3
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-181-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

Here are the Nvidia:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-171-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2255


Kind regards
 
After a hell of a lot of research and a few new threads. I've set my mind on a pair of msi 7970s.

They seem to be amazing overclockers on the whole(but can't guarentee anything:()

If he's only running one monitor does he need cf/sli?

If it was only one card I'd get the 680
 
I think he has his heart set on the two cards. So he was really wanting to know what would give him the best performance and most consistent high frame rates :)

Just looking myself but the MSI 7970 can be had for just a little over £350 elsewhere is which is quite annoying as i know he wanted to buy all from OCUK and possibly collect from the store. At the £350 price range would you say the two MSI 7970 would be the best choice or would the MSI 680 Sli give better performance, both ingame and overclocking?

EDIT - His monitor is a benq xl2410t would this be fine?
Kind regards
 
It all depends on max clocks attained. Clock for clock both the 680 and 7970 are neigh on identical, with the newer 12.11 drivers from AMD you might get a few percent higher minimums and averages in some games.

The difference is with the extras, with Nvidia you get superior 3D support (something his monitor supports) and Physix. If he isn't interested in these "gimmicks" and is only interested in pure performance i would put it down to cost - AMD.

Edit: Misread model number, the 2410t doesn't seem to have Display port, only DVI.
 
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Watlinguk said:
I think he has his heart set on the two cards. So he was really wanting to know what would give him the best performance and most consistent high frame rates :)

Just looking myself but the MSI 7970 can be had for just a little over £350 elsewhere is which is quite annoying as i know he wanted to buy all from OCUK and possibly collect from the store. At the £350 price range would you say the two MSI 7970 would be the best choice or would the MSI 680 Sli give better performance, both ingame and overclocking?

EDIT - His monitor is a benq xl2410t would this be fine?
Kind regards
Click to expand...

Is that monitor the nvidia 3d vision model?
 
Yup he has the 3D Model, i know he isn't interested in using the 3d feature though, Bought purely for the 120hz and aesthetics. Does this support the correct display for him to run two 7970 at full 120hz?

How much of a role does the physix play in games? I know Borderlands 2 uses this but he plays games such as BF3, so will he really miss out on such things?

The price is now looking massively different by about £200!

EDIT - I think he is set on the Lightning models for the unlocked bios, and he has seen great reviews on how far you can take both models.
Also the code for the 7970 on other sites is MSI R7970 is this the same model? Im guessing the R stands for Radeon? :S

Kind regards
 
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Yup they're the same thing. I've seen them mentioned by both codes previously. I presume your correct r=raedon

I was asking about phyx yesterday apparently it's not utilised by too many games (you can get separate physics cards these days if needed).

I'm wondering what psu and cpu is he running?
 
That does sound about right i think :)

Erm im not sure of his brand of psu but i know its a 1000watt psu and his cpu is a i7, first generation, he has it currently running at 4.8 i believe.
 
1kw is more than enough for the system:)

However check out the quality of the brand might just be me but I wouldn't plug so much money into something I can't 99% trust:)

Well I'm going the 7970 route but ill be watercooling. Ill stick with my orginal idea about the 7970s:)

As for the monitor it has dvi but not display port connectivity.

I'm sure you could get an adapter fairly cheaply.
 
liquidfire said:
I presume DVI D is capabable of 120hz:)
Click to expand...

The DVI connectors io the HD 7970 lightning aren't suitable for 120Hz as they're single link.

However:

Surveyor said:
It's not dual link though so won't do 120Hz.

I believe there's a driver hack (or something like that) which may get 120Hz out of it.
Click to expand...

pgi947 said:
Yep, give me a few hours I'll dig out a link to the mod, doesn't guarantee 120Hz though, depends how good the dvi cable is.
Click to expand...

pgi947 said:
How to get up-to 120hz via single link on an MSI 7970 Lightning
Click to expand...
 
I'm so disappointed with the gpu outputs on the 79xx series, I'm actually struggling to decide what to upgrade to (a 670 has the same ports as my CF 5850's), so may have to go against getting a 7970 :(.

2x 120hz & 1x 1080p monitor = pain.

If you can confirm the 120hz works on a Lightning please let me know - This is my remaining annoying factor with it before going green!
 
I think in this case I'd have to agree the 680s seem like your best bet:)

How could such a big company alienate such a large user base?:(

Thankfully my monitors are not 120hz (never thought I'd say that)
 
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