Received for Xmas an MSI 7970 Lightning Ghz Ed

[Robin B]

Will have my Msi 7970 Boost Edition in a few days, can rip the bios if someone is interested in a copy.

[lavaheadache]

Originally Posted by Robin B

Will have my Msi 7970 Boost Edition in a few days, can rip the bios if someone is interested in a copy.

yes please

[lavaheadache]

any update?

[Fx1]

Can someone explain the benefit of a ghz card over a normal 7970 with an overclock?

[Robin B]

Havent recived my card yet, will be back when i have it

[Eureka]

Originally Posted by Fx1

Can someone explain the benefit of a ghz card over a normal 7970 with an overclock?

None, really. Stock settings are all higher, about it. Potentially better cooling on those cards, but they are more expensive anyway.

[Fx1]

Originally Posted by Eureka

None, really. Stock settings are all higher, about it. Potentially better cooling on those cards, but they are more expensive anyway.

Given the price jump its clearly not worth it then.

[Erenhardt]

And where is that crisis you are talking about in US?

[Paratus]

Hey guys I finally got around to installing my new card. I was delayed due to the extensive length of my holiday honey do list.

Anyway, the installation was quite the ordeal. My case in the sig, I've used since my first build in 04 which was a P4 Prescott (yes that one). It would now be considered on the small size. I like it however, and have built a stand for it that works with our office furniture. Plus it passes the WAF.

I started with a tiny 9600XT and moved up to an AGP X1950Pro but to fit my current 5870 I had to move a couple of drives around because the card and middle two drives were interfering with each other.

Well the Lightening is even larger, in every dimension. I ended up having to take the back-plate off ,(the plate that attaches to case and surrounds the DVI and DP connectors.). After shoe-horning the card in, I had to reattach the backplate while partially mounted in the case which was a real PITA.

Then when I went to boot up, the computer would start to boot and then turn off. It would even cycle on and off without hitting the power button.

Turns out a wire had come loose from the power button. I temp fixed that and finally got the computer to boot.


I haven't really put the card through its paces yet. I've only played some ME3 and SC2. Neither of which is very demanding. The card is idling at 33C and peaking below 50 during gaming which is incredible.

I'm going to load up Skyrim tomorrow and crank all the settings and see how it fairs. I may pick up Futuremark and give that a shot.

Other thoughts, I still need to load the MSI software and again I have the normal lightening ghz edition not the boost edition. But if someone wants the bios I'll provide it. Also on running the 12.11 beta drivers.

[Robin B]

Just got my Lightning Boost Edition up and running, default clocks are 1150/1500 1.25v. The card idle at ca. 34c and hit 65c at load, havent tried to overclock it yet.

Tried to backup the bios but got a black screen and had to reboot again after nothing had happend.

[lehtv]

Why do you want to back up the BIOS? Also I would use GPU-Z to back it up... and I don't know how it's even possible to get a black screen doing that

[lavaheadache]

woah.... they arent shy going with 1.25v for the stock clocks although you do have a boost edition. My 2 regular lightings run 1.175v. 1 of my cards will do 1200+ on the stock voltage yet my other one needs 1.275 to do 1200.

[Robin B]

Asic quality is 66% on my BE, tried it at 1200 with no problem in Crysis. Will try later to see how far it will go on stock vcore (1,25v).

[lavaheadache]

As far as I can tell, all of the "elite" cards have low ASIC. My 2 lightnings are 60 and 67% and my buddies matrix is 66 %.

Supposedly this makes then Overclock high with good amounts of voltage at the expense of beefy cooling needed.

[chimaxi83]

Same here, my Lightning has a 63% ASIC.

[lavaheadache]

Originally Posted by chimaxi83

Same here, my Lightning has a 63% ASIC.

I have yet to hear about one of these caliber of cards having a 70+. I'm not saying there are none out there but I'm willing to bet they are cherry picked to be low

[lavaheadache]

Originally Posted by chimaxi83

Same here, my Lightning has a 63% ASIC.

what is overclocking like with your card?

Just out of speculation based on what my cards do and what I think I know about asic, I'm guessing that you would need around 1.225 or so for a true stable 1200. I more or less pulled that number out of my arse but I have 6 7970's worth of overclocking under my belt and they all pretty much followed a trend

[Robin B]

What temps do you get under load? See my card stays at 64c at 1200 Mhz, so the cooler does a nice job.

[lavaheadache]

Temps can be very game specific. Also I limit my cards 60 fps when gaming on my 30 inch since that is the most it will display anyways.

Your temps are very similar to mine

[chimaxi83]

Yes sir, 1.235V for a stable 1200. Limit is around 1280 at 1.325V, not worth it to me.

[lavaheadache]

lol, looks like I have asic quality to 7970 voltage/overclocking figured out

[Robin B]

Tried 1250 in heaven at default vcore for the BE, but that was a no go. Heaven froze at the end, temp was 68c max.

[lavaheadache]

I need upwards of 1.285 for 1250 if not more on one of my cards. I don't remember and I haven't pushed the other one that hard yet

[Paratus]

Can you guys give me some pointers for OC'ing this card?
Other than just hitting the sliders.

[lavaheadache]

Powertune +20%

1200 mhz core

start at 1.275v (sounds like a lot but the card is built like a tank and can handle 1.35 and beyond). Play an intense game for a bit or run a benchmark like the AMD Leo Demo and monitor temps and check for artifacts. Hopefully and likely you are stable.

work you voltage down from there until you reach instability and bump it back up a notch or 2.

Ram can almost definately set and forget at 1600mhz.

1200/1600 will give you a monster card and not be beating on it very much.

What is your cards Asic score? Do you know how to check that?

Load up GPU-z and right click on the top of the app, if you do it on the words (techpowerup) it'll work. A menu will pop up, scroll down to "Read asic quality" and click that. It will give you a score % number.