MSI 7970 Lightning Spotted at CeBIT

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,002
126
How have the MSI Lightning cards been in the past? I thought they were monsters on paper, but for the average overclocker got to roughly the same speed. I think for extreme overclockers, this board is built for you. But on the stock cooler, or even swapped out to water, do the Lightning really tend to overclock that much better?

*edit

5870 OC

6970 OC

Looks like they are good cards, but really not an OC that can't be done on a decent reference card, don't you guys think?
 
Last edited:
I

INGlewood78

Senior member
Dec 22, 2002
939
0
71
Paying for a lightning just takes the risk out of getting a dud reference overclocker. Sure you can get a great overclocking reference, but that definitely isn't always the case.

Nice cards, if I didn't already have 2 reference Sapphires, I'd pay a little extra for these cards. My guess is $650 msrp.
 
DrBoss

DrBoss

Senior member
Feb 23, 2011
415
1
81
My MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III's did not overclock much beyond the factory overclock. What gains i was able to achieve yielded minimal improvements. At the end of the day i ended up keeping the cards at their factory overclock. They were also a non-reference PCB and therefore could not be unlocked to 6970 specs.

I was interested in the MSI Frozr cards because of the cooling system (low heat, low noise). Inside my Fractal Design case, both GPU's never operate beyond 65% fan speed and temps never crest 72 degrees. The setup is silent even when pushing the cards (Crysis, etc).

If you plan on running Crossfire or SLI with MSI frozr's you do need to allow for a spare pci slot between the cards. If they are directly side by side the top card does not get the cooling it needs an will operate at a much high temperature.

THIS is my build thread from last year, its a long read but it includes quite a bit of information on the MSI Frozr performance (at least my experience). Crysis benchmarks HERE
 
Last edited:
railven

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
126
jackstar7 said:
"Those are speedholes. They make the car go faster."
Click to expand...

"Really?"

<takes pick axe to car>



Back on topic. If the strip were red, I'd prefer it better, but since my new MoBo has gold accents, it works too. Not that anyone but me would ever know/see it, still...:)
 
D

DeeJayeS

Member
Dec 28, 2011
111
0
0
3DVagabond said:
The 7870 Hawk doesn't look too bad either!

hd7870hawk.jpg
Click to expand...

Here's hoping they have the 7870 Hawk edition available at launch on the 19th :p
 
A

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
INGlewood78 said:
Paying for a lightning just takes the risk out of getting a dud reference overclocker. Sure you can get a great overclocking reference, but that definitely isn't always the case.
Click to expand...

Yep, this is how I view it too. To be honest, this is probably one the few cards I would actually consider. I am really, really, really happy with my MSI Hawk based cooler, and this looks very similar.
 
R

realjetavenger

Senior member
Dec 8, 2008
244
0
76
Is there much of a difference between the twin frzr cooler and what sapphire uses on their oc/toxic models? They at least appear to be very similar. Does one do better with noise and cooling than the other?
 
RussianSensation

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
I think the Sapphire Toxic 7970 is going to better the Lightning series.

Factory guaranteed 1150mhz GPU (which likely means cream da le crop GPU binning), 6000mhz GDDR5, most likely a quieter cooler too and 6GB of VRAM for those running two of these for Eyefinity. Sapphire also bundles all the cables, so you are ready to go without spending extra on those.
 
Last edited:
Q

Quantos

Senior member
Dec 23, 2011
386
0
76
RussianSensation said:
I think the Sapphire Toxic 7970 is going to better the Lightning series.

Factory guaranteed 1150mhz GPU (which likely means cream da le crop GPU binning), 6000mhz GDDR5, most likely a quieter cooler too and 6GB of VRAM for those running two of these for Eyefinity. Sapphire also bundles all the cables, so you are ready to go without spending extra on those.
Click to expand...

You're going to pay for the 6GB RAM, though. If you don't need it...


I'd say the Lightning probably is also getting the same GPU binning treatment as well.

Interesting competition, though! :whiste:
 
A

aaksheytalwar

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2012
3,389
0
76
MSI should make this card with something at least as good/quiet/cool as a Accelero Xtreme 7970 and sell for $650+, and release at launch date. I would anyday prefer that over the stock MSI 7970 which I have, considering after market cooling is an additional $100 any way. Even at $670-680 it would be steal with a stock clock of 1070 and more OC room :)
 
chimaxi83

chimaxi83

Diamond Member
May 18, 2003
5,457
63
101
aaksheytalwar said:
MSI should make this card with something at least as good/quiet/cool as a Accelero Xtreme 7970 and sell for $650+, and release at launch date. I would anyday prefer that over the stock MSI 7970 which I have, considering after market cooling is an additional $100 any way. Even at $670-680 it would be steal with a stock clock of 1070 and more OC room :)
Click to expand...

Ehh... they DO make that card. You're posting in the thread for it. Unlike buying an Accelero, you don't have to cool your VRMs and memory with small heatsinks after buying a $100 cooler, since the Twin Frozr cooler does the entire card.
 
S

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
That's one seriously badass graphics card.

Hopefully Kepler will be good and will drive down the prices.
 
S

skipsneeky2

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
5,035
1
71
Impressive card,the locked 7970 lighting thread claimed a world overclock of 1,800 core,1925 memory with a whopping 1.7 vcore cause of the features this thing boosts.

Now my tiny 1200 core/1600 memory overclock @ 1.86v looks very insignificant on my reference card LOL thanks for rubbing it in there msi.;)
 
D

DeeJayeS

Member
Dec 28, 2011
111
0
0
A bit OT, but I am REALLY hoping that MSI launches the 7870 Hawk (similar Twin Frozr IV design to the 7970 Lightning) on the 19th. C'mon MSI.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom