Unlocked Voltage 7970?

[Fx1]

Im sending back my 7970 Windforce. Im not happy that the volts have been locked and the free games didnt come with Amazon UK. - Stupid promotion imo. Put them all in the damn boxes.

So Gigabyte loses my business.

Any know for sure which models are unlocked? Forget MSI Lightning its 30% more expensive btw

Thanks

 

[Rvenger]

Reference models

 

[Fx1]

Reference models

The reference MSI card looks ok but apparently the cooler sounds like a jet engine people claim.

I do use headphones though so maybe it will be ok?

 

[thilanliyan]

I thought that the Windforce models were volt unlocked? My GTX460 Windforce I had was.

 

[Fx1]

I thought that the Windforce models were volt unlocked? My GTX460 Windforce I had was.

Rev 1.0 was then they locked Rev 2.0 on the sly.

ass oles.

 

[Rvenger]

The reference MSI card looks ok but apparently the cooler sounds like a jet engine people claim.

I do use headphones though so maybe it will be ok?

I have a ref MSI 7970. Its a bit noisy during gaming but at idle you can't hear it. Its not noisy to the point where it bothered me though.

 

[Fx1]

I have a ref MSI 7970. Its a bit noisy during gaming but at idle you can't hear it. Its not noisy to the point where it bothered me though.

What overclocks you getting on it?

 

[Rvenger]

Actually only set it at 1000mhz at stock voltage. Performance has been so good I didn't need to bump the clocks too much.

 

[Fx1]

Actually only set it at 1000mhz at stock voltage. Performance has been so good I didn't need to bump the clocks too much.

Im at 1900x1200 on the verge of 60 FPS constant in all my games at 1GHZ. If i can get another 200mhz on the CPU and bit more on the memory then i pretty much can max out those games without problem. Such as Far Cry 3.

I have ordered that MSI Reference card. I have my 3 Free games which ill probably ebay anyway and its cost me nothing to exchange since i now have a return shipping label.

Gotta love Amazon.

My current card will run at 1050mhz and 1400mhz Vram but thats pretty poor imo given its 1.175v The cooler is wasted.

 

[3DVagabond]

In case you'd prefer a non reference design the HIS IceQ X2 has O/C'd exceptionally well in recent reviews I've read and the voltage can be adjusted with their supplied software.

Hardware Canucks reached 1322/6888, Tweaktown got 1205/6800, and TechPowerUp got 1265/6940. AFAIK Hardware Canucks was the only one to use increased voltage.

There might be some other reviews, but those are the ones I can remember reading recently.

Edit: The card @ TechPowerUp was actually their more expensive model with their tweaked out PCB. The other two were the standard GHz models.

 

[Fx1]

In case you'd prefer a non reference design the HIS IceQ X2 has O/C'd exceptionally well in recent reviews I've read and the voltage can be adjusted with their supplied software.

Hardware Canucks reached 1322/6888, Tweaktown got 1205/6800, and TechPowerUp got 1265/6940. AFAIK Hardware Canucks was the only one to use increased voltage.

There might be some other reviews, but those are the ones I can remember reading recently.

Edit: The card @ TechPowerUp was actually their more expensive model with their tweaked out PCB. The other two were the standard GHz models.

Yeh i want the 7970 and not the Ghz edition.

Kind of pointless paying for a Ghz when the standard 7970 from MSI comes clocked at 1010 mhz.

I cant find the HIS one for sale in the UK with the game bundle. cheapest is £330 with no games vs £300 for the MSI

 

[3DVagabond]

They make a standard version, as well, but I haven't seen it reviewed.

 

[Fx1]

They make a standard version, as well, but I haven't seen it reviewed.

I cant find it for sale with the game bundle. This is kind of like my budget upgrade before i go big later this year with an 780 GTX SLI on a Haswell based PC. So i want to keep costs down.

Looks like im going to get £120 back for my 460's and about £30 for selling 2/3 games on ebay from the bundle. which gives me an upgrade cost of £150.

Cant really grumble since im going from Medium BF3 to ultra and same with Far Cry for £150.

Not forgetting im going to need all the juice its got for Crysis 3

 

[3DVagabond]

That's cool. Just thought I'd mention it because it's one of the few I've seen a site put extra voltage to recently. At least you know it's available.

 

[buremarey]

I didn't need to bump the clocks too much.

 

[blackened23]

What the heck? Some aftermarket 7970s are voltage locked now? Not having voltage lock or restrictions was the single best attribute of what 7970s (which generally had a ton of OC headroom), when did this happen....

Ugh.

 

[Fx1]

What the heck? Some aftermarket 7970s are voltage locked now? Not having voltage lock or restrictions was the single best attribute of what 7970s (which generally had a ton of OC headroom), when did this happen....

Ugh.

there are only a couple which are unlocked now.

 

[Rvenger]

Its the AIBs trying to cut costs on newer revisions. That's why all these great deals pop up from time to time...


I guess we will see when the 8900 series come out if we have voltage control. AMD can't afford to be pulling this crap like Nvidia.

 

[ICDP]

VTX X-Edition.

This is a non GE card but it is clocked at GE speeds and has unlocked voltage. Runs cool and quiet and it's a very good price IMHO.

I get 1200/1750 out of mine at 1.226 volts.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-...28nm-gpu-925mhz-2048-cores-mdport-dl-dvi-hdmi

 

[3DVagabond]

What the heck? Some aftermarket 7970s are voltage locked now? Not having voltage lock or restrictions was the single best attribute of what 7970s (which generally had a ton of OC headroom), when did this happen....

Ugh.

I haven't seen any reviewers say that any are locked, but I've seen posts where people can't adjust voltage on their cards. If they are locked, and it's not just user error, then flashing them to an unlocked BIOS should fix it. Dual BIOS FTW. :thumbsup:

 

[Fx1]

I haven't seen any reviewers say that any are locked, but I've seen posts where people can't adjust voltage on their cards. If they are locked, and it's not just user error, then flashing them to an unlocked BIOS should fix it. Dual BIOS FTW. :thumbsup:

They are hardware locked and bios flash doesn't seem to work. One or two may have got it working but most really can't. Bsod and driver crashes plague anyone trying.

I have gone with the reference design msi who still seem to support voltage tweaking. The last gpu in my 7970 was a dog and so was the memory. I'm really not having much luck lately my 950 i7 isn't very good either.

 

[3DVagabond]

They are hardware locked and bios flash doesn't seem to work. One or two may have got it working but most really can't. Bsod and driver crashes plague anyone trying.

I have gone with the reference design msi who still seem to support voltage tweaking. The last gpu in my 7970 was a dog and so was the memory. I'm really not having much luck lately my 950 i7 isn't very good either.

How do you mean hardware locked?

 

[Fx1]

My new MSI 7970 has come. Check this out

1125/1575 STOCK VOLTS!

Vs my Windfarce gigabyte card which topped out at 1050/1400!

Now need a better program to clock past afterburner limits.

 

[Rvenger]

Hows the noise? What is your ASIC Score? Mine is 76%

 

[Fx1]

Hows the noise? What is your ASIC Score? Mine is 76%

where do i get that score from?

noice is fine. 76c temp max

anyone know of a better tool to OC with voltage other than MSI