Anandtech's XFX 7970 BE Overclocking review

[Grooveriding]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5314/...-double-dissipation-the-first-semicustom-7970

Similar OC results seen elsewhere with this card maxing out the AMD sliders at 1125core, card was not stable past 1150 on stock voltage.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Looks impressive! but price is too high here in New Zealand. Me wants a 7950..

 

[Ryan Smith]

We'll have another article up later today (or at worst, tomorrow) covering a few things with our reference card that we didn't get to in our initial review, including overclocking. Our reference card did almost as well as the XFX card; I hit 1100/6300, which is a bit lower core clock than the XFX. Unless there are a bunch of marginal Tahiti chips hiding somewhere, I strongly suspect 1025MHz+ is possible on every 7970 at 1.17v.

 

[blackened23]

Ryan, have you guys tried the new beta of MSI afterburner? Supposedly it unlocks software voltage tweaking. I'd imagine that would help oc'ing a great deal

http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afterburner-2.2.0-Beta-10-download-2839.html

 

[Arkadrel]

Stares at the 590... then the 7970:

stairs at the 6990, then at the 7970:

Then looks at power usage:

Alot of people where kinda disappointed by its performance, but I still think it looks great.
The fact that it can beat the 6990 and 590 in some situations in itself is neat.

 

[Grooveriding]

We'll have another article up later today (or at worst, tomorrow) covering a few things with our reference card that we didn't get to in our initial review, including overclocking. Our reference card did almost as well as the XFX card; I hit 1100/6300, which is a bit lower core clock than the XFX. Unless there are a bunch of marginal Tahiti chips hiding somewhere, I strongly suspect 1025MHz+ is possible on every 7970 at 1.17v.

Hopefully now that you have two cards in hand we will see a Crossfire review soon!

 

[Ryan Smith]

Ryan, have you guys tried the new beta of MSI afterburner? Supposedly it unlocks software voltage tweaking. I'd imagine that would help oc'ing a great deal

http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-Afterburner-2.2.0-Beta-10-download-2839.html

I do have it (it's what I used to push the XFX 7970 above 1125MHz), but honestly I only have the two 7970s and I have other plans for them. From an editorial standpoint we're not a hardcore overclocking site and we try to keep our review samples intact, so I don't intend to be the first person to figure out when the 7970's VRMs explode. It's not an intentionally overbuilt card like say the 6990, and I suspect the VRMs are already approaching their limits with regular air coolers considering that I've had the XFX model blackscreen on me when testing 1150MHz.

 

[Cookie Monster]

We'll have another article up later today (or at worst, tomorrow) covering a few things with our reference card that we didn't get to in our initial review, including overclocking. Our reference card did almost as well as the XFX card; I hit 1100/6300, which is a bit lower core clock than the XFX. Unless there are a bunch of marginal Tahiti chips hiding somewhere, I strongly suspect 1025MHz+ is possible on every 7970 at 1.17v.

Are you guys going to include how the overclocks effect the temps, power consumption and noise?

 

[Arkadrel]

@Cookie

the 1125mhz core / 1575mhz memory , overclock has all that in the review he did.

Its the "orange" bar in the charts.

Temps with overclock (9 degree's lower than a 580 stock ref design):

Power consumption: (lower than a 580 stock)

Noise: (this card is less noisy, than refernce designed cooler for 580@stock speeds)

 

[Cookie Monster]

Yeah Im aware he did have those numbers, but Im more interested in the stock versions of these cards not ones with custom coolers that disperse heat everywhere into the case.

 

[Arkadrel]

Yeah Im aware he did have those numbers, but Im more interested in the stock versions of these cards not ones with custom coolers that disperse heat everywhere into the case.

Best I can do is link to Computerbase de, I remember they mentioned it, from a earlier thread:
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/...radeon-hd-7970/16/#abschnitt_uebertaktbarkeit

1125mhz core (ref. design cooler): google translator:

The power consumption of the Radeon HD 7970 rises by 35 watts to 350 watts. At the same time, the volume increased by one decibel and the temperature by two degrees Celsius.

925mhz -> 1125mhz (OC) + memory@1575mhz (on ref. design)
+35watts more peak, +1 dB more noise, +2 degree's celcius more hot.


They tested the card to 58 dB.... then added this lateron:

AMD has told us a few hours before the end of the NDAs that our (and others) to test cards may have provided an error when applying the thermal compound, so the cooler does not lie perfectly on the GPU. Accordingly, we can not guarantee that the measured values ​​correspond regarding the volume and temperature of the facts. Our special test with the replaced thermal compound shows the best case for the Radeon HD 7970, which the graphics card would work much cooler and a little quieter. To our statement that the 3D accelerator is very loud, but this is likely to change anything. We remain in contact with AMD, and try to correct the problem as quickly as possible in order to perform new measurements.

After that, they redid test
(manually reapplying thermal grease, and makeing sure cooler was on correctly):

they found it was now 55 dB, max out at 74 degree's celcius (down from 81), and they dropped 6 watts in power used.

They tested the 580 to by 52 dB... so the 7970 ref. design is still 3 dB louder for them.

 

[GaiaHunter]

At current prices the GTX 580 is obsolete by the 7970.

It is interesting to see that the 7970 architecture behaves quite differently from the older AMD cards but it isn't similar to NVIDIA offerings either.

 

[Borealis7]

nice review. it seems that buying a 7970 and not setting immediately to 1125/1575 is a waste of money it's almost like the 400Mhz FSB O/C on C2Ds.

but buying a 7970 here would cost me an equivalent of 700$ before 16% tax...price gouging and all. i want one to go with my planned IVB rig!

 

[blckgrffn]

Wow.

Maybe not another 9800 Pro or 5870 - but still. Crazy impressive card.

It's nice to see that competition on the VGA performance front is very much alive - the CPU side seems like such a lopsided contest in comparison in the "exciting for enthusiasts" high end segments...