After a handful of price drops on AMD's highest-end graphics cards, the Radeon HD 7970 is now more attractive than it was immediately after the introduction of Nvidia's $500 GeForce GTX 680. Particularly because Nvidia's flagship card is still very difficult to find more than a month after its launch.

With that in mind, added to the fact that AMD's board partners have had ample time to make their own improvements to the company's top-end model, we have a great opportunity to revisit the Radeon HD 7970. Five different vendors sent models for us to consider, resulting in an impressive round-up of Tahiti GPU-based graphics cards.
| Gigabyte R797OC-3GD | HIS IceQ X2 Turbo (Turbo X) | MSI R7970 Lightning | Sapphire HD 7970 OC (Alt. BIOS) | VisionTek HD 7970 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics Clock | 1000 MHz | 1050 MHz (1120 MHz) | 1070 MHz | 950 MHz (1000 MHz) | 925 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 1375 MHz | 1400 MHz | 1400 MHz | 1425 MHz (1450 MHz) | 1375 MHz |
| GDDR5 Memory | 3 GB | 3 GB | 3 GB | 3 GB | 3 GB |
| Cooler | Windforce | IceQ X2 | Twin Frozr IV | Dual-X | Reference |
| Size (PCB & Cooler) | 10.5" x 4.75" x 1.5" | 12" x 5.5" x 1.5" | 11.75" x 5.5" x 1.5" | 11.5" x 5" x 1.75" | 12" x 5.5" x 1.5" |
| Weight | 1 lb 10.6 oz | 2 lb 1.3 oz | 2 lb 7.6 oz | 1 lb 14.1 oz | 2 lb 1.3 oz |
| Connectors | 1 x DL-DVI, 1 x HDMI 2 x mDP | 1 x DL-DVI, 1 x HDMI 2 x mDP | 2 x SL-DVI, 4x mDP | 1 x DL-DVI, 1 x HDMI 2 x mDP | 1 x DL-DVI, 1 x HDMI 2 x mDP |
| Form Factor | Dual-slot | Dual-slot | Dual-slot | More than Dual-slot | Dual-slot |
| GPU Voltage Adjustment | MSI Afterburner | HIS iTurbo | MSI Afterburner | Sapphire TriXX | MSI Afterburner |
| Special Features And Software | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Warranty | 3-Year | 2-Year | 3-Year | 2-Year | Limited Lifetime |
| Price | $499.99 (Newegg) | $499.99 (MSRP) ($519.99 MSRP) | $549.99 (Newegg) | $499.99 (Newegg) $579.99 (Updated) | $479.99 (Newegg) |
Note that HIS has two models represented on the chart. We were sent the company's "Turbo X" model for testing, and we believe it has the highest factory core overclock of any Radeon HD 7970 in the world at 1120 MHz. Unfortunately, though, this product is not expected to be available in the U.S. (only in Europe and Asia). Instead, we'll be getting the "Turbo" model, with no X and a 1050 MHz core clock. Thus, we benchmarked the card a second time with HIS' more conservative specification to demonstrate what North America can expect.
In lieu of HIS' Turbo X, MSI's 7970 Lightning sports the highest-clocked core available for sale to our U.S. audience, running at 1070 MHz. Sapphire's HD 7970 OC enjoys the distinction of shipping with the fastest memory compared to all other Radeon HD 7970s. However, its core operates a more modest 1000 MHz.
Operating frequencies aren't the only variables affecting our decision of what Radeon HD 7970 to recommend, though. Software bundles, acoustics, thermals, price tags, support, and overclocking headroom all come into play. Let's break down each model and explore what these five vendors offer.

Gigabyte’s flagship Radeon HD 7970-based board employs a custom black PCB. Measuring 10.5” long, 4.75” tall, and 1.5” thick (not including the bezel), and weighing 1 lb 10.6 oz, this is the smallest and lightest card in our round-up. At press time, the GV-R797OC-3GD sells for an even $500 bucks on Newegg.

This card boasts a core clock of 1000 MHz core and memory running at 1375 MHz; that’s a 75 MHz GPU boost complemented by memory running at AMD's reference specification. Also like the reference model, Gigabyte's R797OC-3GD requires one six-pin and one eight-pin auxiliary power connector.

At first glance, this card's cooler appears to be fairly typical of what we've seen from Gigabyte in the past, with three 80 mm axial fans blowing over a trio of 8 mm heat pipes, all covered in a plastic shroud. The company claims that a new heat sink structure minimizes turbulence between the fans and provides better cooling efficiency. Of course, that sounds nice, but we need to put it through our test regimen in order to gauge the true improvement.

Gigabyte employs the same dual-link DVI, HDMI, and twin mini-DisplayPort outputs as AMD's reference design.

The company includes a CrossFire bridge, a DVI-to-VGA adapter, a dual four-pin Molex-to-six-pin power adapter, dual four-pin Molex-to-eight-pin power adapter, a driver disk, and a user guide.
Gigabyte covers the basics; however, we think that all Radeon HD 7970s should come with at least one mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI and one HDMI-to-DVI adapter for the folks interested in exploiting Eyefinity on the desktop. DisplayPort and HDMI are both less prevalent in that space.
Overclocking Gigabyte's R797OC-3GD
Gigabyte relies on AMD's Catalyst Control Center’s Overdrive feature for overclocking, though it enjoys an elevated 1200 MHz core and 1600 MHz memory limit.

MSI’s vendor-agnostic Afterburner software is even more generous in its ceilings, facilitating 1800 and 2475 MHz core and memory limits, with a voltage slider that tops out at 1.3 V.
We were able to stably overclock our sample to 1200 MHz and 1600 MHz for the core and memory, respectively, using a 1.25 V setting.

HIS sent us its highest-end Radeon HD 7970, dubbed the IceQ X2 Turbo X. Unfortunately, this $519.99 (MSRP) card will never make its way to North America. The company is limiting distribution to Europe and Asia. Customers in the U.S. will instead see the Turbo version instead, without the X, sporting a lower $499.99 MSRP and less-aggressive frequencies.
Neither card is available yet, but both are expected within the next month.
Both sport an identical PCB, IceQ X2 cooler, 2 lb 1.3 oz weight, and substantial 12” x 5.5” x 1.5” dimensions (not counting the bezel). This makes HIS' Turbo X the longest card in our round-up.

A 1120 MHz core and 1400 MHz memory clock give HIS’ Turbo X the highest core overclock of any other Radeon HD 7970 we've seen, though Sapphire's 7970 OC has a higher 1450 MHz memory clock.
As we mentioned, however, the Turbo X isn’t available in North America anyway. The less aggressive Turbo model should be soon, and it offers a 1050 MHz core and 1400 MHz memory frequency. That's still a respectable overclock, though the core is 20 MHz shy of MSI's Lightning, the fastest Radeon HD 7970 you can purchase in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. Because of this disparity, we're benchmarking HIS’ card twice: once at its Turbo X-rated clocks and once at the Turbo specification.
Both of HIS' IceQ X2 cards require six- and eight-pin auxiliary power connections. And they're both expected to employ 6+1+1 PWM phases (compared to the reference card’s 5+1+1 design).

The IceQ X2 cooler employs two 85 mm axial fans and five heat pipes (two 8 mm and three 6 mm) to dissipate heat from a larger 40 x 48 mm copper heatsink. The large, thin metal shroud is detailed with a raised honeycomb pattern and custom branding.

HIS decided to follow AMD’s reference display output configuration, exposing a single dual-link DVI connector, HDMI, and two mini-DisplayPort interfaces.

The Turbo X includes a CrossFire bridge, a DVI-to-VGA adapter, a software install CD, and an installation guide. Considering this product’s premium position, we're particularly disappointed that HIS decided not to include mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI or HDMI-to-DVI adapters.
Overclocking HIS' 7970 IceQ X2
HIS includes its own overclocking utility called iTurbo, which supports voltage control up to 1.292 V, in addition to 1600 MHz core and 2100 MHz memory limits. Those are both significantly higher than the Catalyst Control Center 1200 MHz core and 1500 MHz memory ceilings.
With a voltage setting of 1.25 V, we took our sample to 1250 MHz core and 1800 MHz memory frequencies, achieving the highest stable GPU overclock in this round-up. Our only complaint is that iTurbo doesn’t offer control over AMD's PowerTune technology. So, we had to choose the maximum setting in Overdrive before changing the clocks.

The iTurbo software is both interesting and quite functional. Although MSI’s Afterburner utility gave us access to even higher 1.3 V, 1800 MHz core, and 2475 MHz memory limits, HIS' board didn't appear to operate stably under Afterburner.

MSI’s family of Lightning-branded graphics cards is notorious for going over-the-top, and its R7970 is no exception.
Measuring 11.75” x 5.5” x 1.5”, this is the second-longest card in our comparison. It’s the heaviest, for sure, at 2 lb 7 oz. And at $549.99 on Newegg, it's also the most expensive.
What sort of hardware does this board deliver in exchange for its higher price tag?

Boasting a 1070 MHz core and a 1400 MHz memory frequency, MSI’s Lightning comes armed with the highest core overclock on a Radeon HD 7970 available in North America. Sapphire’s 7970 OC sports faster memory running at 1450 MHz. And as we mentioned, HIS’ Turbo X has a higher 1120 MHz core. Because it's not being sold in the U.S., though, we're not counting it here.
Power is delivered to the R7970 Lighting via its PCI Express slot and two eight-pin auxiliary connectors (rather than the reference six-pin and eight-pin plug). Featuring a 17-phase voltage regulator, the card has more than two times the phases employed by AMD's own design. MSI claims its card is built to the MIL-STD-810G specification, the United States military standard for the Department of Defence. The marketing term for this is Military Class III. And while it sounds gimmicky, the standard is legitimate.

MSI includes a small add-in board it calls the GPU Reactor that sits right behind the GPU. This component is designed to provide additional power capacity and minimize power noise, and it can be accessed by removing the blue illuminated MSI dome on the back of the card. Serious overclockers might also be interested in the V-check points on the top edge of the PCB that enable convenient GPU and memory voltage readings on the fly.

MSI’s Radeon HD 7970 is the only one in this round-up equipped with a backplate heat sink. Without question, this contributes to the card's heft, although the Lightning remains lighter than other enthusiast-class cards we’ve seen (like Asus' Ares), and it doesn't give us any reason to worry.
The Twin Frozr IV cooler relies on two large 95 mm axial-flow fans and five heat pipes (two 8 mm and three 6 mm) to cool the card. As you’ll see in the thermal benchmarks, it does an effective job of keeping temperatures low.

The 7970 Lightning is the only card in our round-up that doesn’t expose the same display outputs as AMD's reference board. It’s certainly encouraging to see a manufacturer facilitate six display outputs from a dual-slot I/O panel. But our enthusiasm is seriously curbed by the realization that the two DVI outputs are single-link-only. Resolutions over 1920x1200 (such as 2560x1600) are not supported and require an active mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter that’s not included. Similarly, 120 Hz refresh rates also require a DVI adapter. That means that anyone planning to take advantage of AMD's HD3D initiative are forced to pay more unless they take the DisplayPort route.
At the end of the day, three-way output utilizing DVI outputs at resolutions in excess of 1920x1200 and HD3D beyond that same resolution requires an active mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter that costs extra.

MSI's package includes a CrossFire bridge, a DVI-to-HDMI adapter, a mini-DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort adapter, two six-to-eight-pin- power adapters, three V-check cables, a software installation CD, a user guide, and a certificate of authenticity/stability. As we've already said, our most prevalent concern is, yet again, the lack of an active mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter.
Overclocking MSI's R7970 Lightning
MSI’s Afterburner utility remains the best enthusiast overclocking tool available, even incorporating support for AMD's PowerTune technology. So, we didn't have to look elsewhere in our quest to modify this board's settings.
The Lightning’s BIOS switch purportedly unlocks overclock protection, active-phase switching, and higher overclocking limits in the Catalyst Control Center. But, in the case of our test sample, the 1300 MHz core and 1600 MHz memory limit in Overdrive didn’t change, regardless of the BIOS switch position. Neither did the 1930 MHz core or 2520 MHz limit in Afterburner.

Regardless of BIOS switch setting, the highest stable overclock we achieved was 1175 MHz on the core and 1800 MHz for the memory at a voltage of 1.25 V.

Sapphire’s HD 7970 OC is the company's top-of-the-line option, currently selling for $479.99 on Newegg (Update [6/1/2012]: Newegg recently jacked the price up to $580, destroying this card's originally-cited value. If you're interested in this board, we'd recommend shopping around.). At 11.5” by 5” x 1.75”, it's the thickest card in our competition, eating up slightly more than two expansion slots. Despite its width, the HD 7970 OC weighs 1 lb 14 oz, making it the second-lightest board in our round-up. That's less than AMD's reference design, even.

Rather than using the Radeon HD 7970's second firmware as a backup, Sapphire chose to do something else with AMD's BIOS switch, allowing enthusiasts their choice between an already-overclocked 950 MHz core and 1425 MHz memory frequency, or a more aggressive 1000 MHz GPU and 1450 MHz memory clock. This is a neat way to allow enthusiasts to easily squeeze more performance out of their hardware with the flip of a switch, literally.
As an aside, Sapphire’s submission sports the fastest factory memory clock of any Radeon HD 7970 we’ve seen. And yet, The card requires the same six- and eight-pin auxiliary power connectors as AMD's reference model.

The Dual-X cooler features two 90 mm axial-flow fans, three 6 mm and two 8 mm copper heat pipes, a copper block, and aluminum cooling fins. The shroud is plastic, but nicely detailed and stylized.

Sapphire opts for AMD's default output configuration, consisting of one dual-DVI port, HDMI, and a pair of mini-DisplayPort connectors.

Sapphire’s 7970 OC bundle includes a CrossFire bridge, a DVI-to-VGA adapter, an HDMI-to-DVI adapter, a mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter, a mini-DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort adapter, a four-pin Molex-to-six-pin auxiliary adapter, a dual four-pin Molex-to-eight-pin auxiliary adapter, a software install CD, a quick-install guide, and a registration card. This is by far the most robust bundle in our round-up, and it'll accommodate a triple-monitor DVI-based setup right out of the box. Sapphire earns our praise for its value-added inclusions.
Overclocking Sapphire's HD 7970 OC
Sapphire's TriXX overclocking utility is a great little program that clearly comes from the same developers as HIS’ iTurbo app; both offer similar options, but with different skins. This isn’t a problem, since the two programs work well. Again, though, we're missing support for AMD's PowerTune technology, so we have to max it out at +20% in Catalyst Control Center to prevent the clocks from throttling back under load.
Whereas Catalyst Control Center's Overdrive applet tops out at 1125 MHz core and 1575 MHz memory clocks, the TriXX utility allows adjustments up to 1500 MHz and 2100 MHz, respectively, with a 1.3 V maximum voltage.

We were able to push Sapphire's card to a stable 1175 MHz core and 1800 MHz memory overclock at 1.2 V.

VisionTek was the first company to supply us with a Radeon HD 7970 for this article, and the company’s entry doesn’t deviate from AMD's reference design. Its 2 lb 3 oz weight and 11” x 4.5” x 1.5” dimensions are the same as the sample we received when Radeon HD 7970 launched. Priced at $479.99 on Newegg, this is the most affordable board in our round-up.

Bearing such close resemblance to AMD’s standard, it comes as no surprise that VisionTek’s interpretation of the Radeon HD 7970 employs the same 925 MHz core and 1375 MHz memory clocks, nor that it requires both six- and eight-pin auxiliary power connectors.

A single 70 mm centrifugal fan stands apart from the rest of the products in this review, all of which use two or three axial-flow fans instead. As with the reference model, VisionTek’s GPU cooling block contains a copper vapor chamber with aluminum fins directly attached, and none of the heat pipes we see on the other models.

Display outputs are also standard fare, including one dual-link DVI port, HDMI, and two mini-DisplayPort connectors.

VisionTek’s Radeon HD 7970 comes with a CrossFire bridge, DVI-to-VGA, HDMI-to-DVI, and mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters, a dual four-pin Molex-to-six-pin auxiliary power adapter, a dual four-pin Molex-to-eight-pin power adapter, a software install CD, and a quick-install guide. We’re impressed that this card includes all of the output adapters needed in order to achieve a three-display Eyefinity configuration using DVI connectors.
Overclocking VisionTek's Radeon HD 7970
Though VisionTek doesn't bundle any overclocking software of its own, the Catalyst Control Center’s Overdrive utility can push core and memory clocks up to 1125 and 1575 MHz, respectively. Employing MSI’s Afterburner utility increases those ceilings to 1800 MHz (for the GPU) and 1950 MHz (on the memory) with a voltage limit of 1.3 V.

While this card's core didn't scale quite as high as some others, its memory turned out to have quite a bit of headroom available. We managed a maximum stable core overclock of 1125 MHz, with memory operating at 1900 MHz. That's the highest memory overclock in this story. We went with a 1.2 V setting, too.
In order to compare the performance of these high-end graphics cards, we're employing an X79 Express-based platform and overclocking Core i7-3960X processor.
Of course, isolating relative performance is important, so game and synthetic benchmark results are key. But the power, temperature, and noise tests are just as critical.
| Test System | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E), 3.3 GHz, Six Cores, LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled. Overclocked to 4.25 GHz | |||||||
| Motherboard | ASRock X79 Extreme9 (LGA 2011) Chipset: Intel X79 Express | |||||||
| Networking | On-Board Gigabit LAN controller | |||||||
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance LP PC3-16000, 4 x 4 GB, 1600 MT/s, CL 8-8-8-24-2T | |||||||
| Graphics | Gigabyte GV-R797OC-3GD 1000 MHz GPU, 3 GB GDDR5 at 1375 MHz HIS 7970 IceQ X2 Turbo X 1120 MHz GPU, 3 GB GDDR5 at 1400 MHz HIS 7970 IceQ X2 Turbo* 1050 MHz GPU, 3 GB GDDR5 at 1400 MHz *simulated by underclocking the Turbo X MSI R7970 Lightning 1070 MHz GPU, 3 GB GDDR5 at 1400 MHz Sapphire HD 7970 OC 950 MHz GPU (1000 MHz Alt. BIOS), 3 GB GDDR5 at 1425 MHz (1450 MHz Alt. BIOS) VisionTek Radeon HD 7970 925 MHz GPU, 3 GB GDDR5 at 1375 MHz | |||||||
| Hard Drive | Samsung 256 GB (SSD) | |||||||
| Power | ePower EP-1200E10-T2 1200 W ATX12V, EPS12V | |||||||
| Software and Drivers | ||||||||
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 x64, Service Pack 1 | |||||||
| DirectX | DirectX 11 | |||||||
| Graphics Drivers | Catalyst 12.3 WHQL | |||||||
| Benchmarks | ||||||||
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.1.0, Benchmark Only | |||||||
| Crysis 2 | Adrenaline Crysis 2 Benchmark Tool 1.0.1.13, Times Square, DirectX 11 | |||||||
| Aliens vs. Predator | Version 1.0.0.0, DirectX 11 Benchmark | |||||||
| Metro 2033 | Full Game, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene DX9, High, AAA, 4x AF, No PhysX | |||||||

HIS’ Turbo X leads the pack with slightly more than a 10% lead over the reference-clocked VisionTek card. That's a fairly substantial range for cards based on the same GPU operating at factory-set frequencies.

Often, when we compare synthetic metrics designed to maximize the difference between products (sometimes to an unrealistic extent) and real-world applications, we see less correlation. However, Crysis 2 demonstrates a similar spread between the reference design and HIS' Turbo X implementation as 3DMark.

Aliens vs. Predator gives us relative performance that's pretty darned similar to what we saw in Crysis 2. HIS' Turbo X sits up top, teasing the enthusiasts in North America who'll never be able to buy it. MSI's Lightning is the more meaningful winner, followed by our simulated HIS IceQ X2 Turbo card and Sapphire's HD 7970 OC with its alternative firmware enabled.

Performance differences are a little less pronounced in Metro 2033. Given our Very High Quality settings and application of anti-aliasing, all of these cards are struggling to keep average performance above 50 FPS.
With a better sense for how each Radeon HD 7970 performs in its stock form, we're able to apply those aforementioned maximum stable overclocks and use Crysis 2 to better gauge the headroom enabled by aftermarket cooling and nifty tuning applications.

With each card dialed in as fast as they'll go, less than 5% separates the bottom and top, squeezing a field previously spread by closer to 10%. Four of the five submissions land within 2% of each other, even.
Clearly, overclocking is something of an equalizer when it comes to gauging Radeon HD 7970 performance. But how easy is it to live with these products when they’re pushed to the limit? Our noise, temperature, and power usage comparison on the next page tells the story.
Now that we know it's possible to achieve very similar performance by taking AMD's Tahiti GPU and its GDDR5 memory as far as they'll go, it's equally important to evaluate power use, thermals, and acoustics.

The blue bar represents idle power usage, and the green bar shows load consumption at each card's stock frequencies. There’s a 23 W spread between the contenders under load, likely reflecting a number of factors, including cooling solutions and voltage settings.
The dark grey bar is indicative of power consumption under load of the overclocked configurations. The only real surprise is a relatively high result from Sapphire's board.

Despite an eclectic range of cooling solutions, measured temperatures are quite similar at idle and under load using factory-supplied frequencies. The exception is VisionTek's card, perhaps as a result of its reference heat sink and fan. The rest of the field’s overclocked thermal results mirror the power draw chart.

Noise is a critical consideration when comparing graphics cards with the same GPU, particularly when we consider that AMD's reference implementation was observed to be quite noisy under load back when the card launched.
A majority of today's contenders perform much more admirably, regardless of whether the card is resting idle or working hard under a load. Of course, VisionTek’s board struggles as a result of its reliance on that familiar cooler from AMD. Overclocked and under load, both the Gigabyte and VisionTek cards generate more noise than we'd like, even as the rest of the pack is significantly quieter.
MSI’s Twin Frozr IV performs exceptionally well in this situation, generating slightly more noise than idle under load, and just a tad more than that overclocked.
When it comes time to buy a new graphics card, don't let a factory overclock become your primary consideration. As we saw in our benchmark results, there's up to a 10% delta separating a reference-class board and the most aggressively-configured model. But then you factor in your own overclocking efforts on each contender and the gap shrinks to somewhere around 5%.
Rather, evaluate each offering as a complete package, factoring in its price tag, its bundle (and how those bundled extras apply to you specifically), noise, heat, and power use. Performance is an important variable, sure, but for most of these air-cooled boards, there's a fairly practical limit where clocks simply won't scale much further.
Sapphire HD 7970 OC
Sapphire’s HD 7970 OC includes an impressively quiet cooler, enough adapters to support a trio of DVI-based displays right out of the box, a secondary BIOS switch for easily-toggled performance boosts, and the flexible TriXX overclocking utility (which includes voltage control). Currently selling for $500, it's a compelling model that's $50 more affordable than even the cheapest reference-class cards just one month ago.
The Sapphire board isn't perfect. It monopolizes three expansion slots worth of space due to its oversized aftermarket cooler. So, it could be hard to use two of them in CrossFire, depending on your motherboard. Plus, a two-year warranty represents cut-back coverage compared to competing cards with three-year guarantees.
Nevertheless, this board's pluses far outweigh those minuses, and for enthusiasts with three screens, it represents the strongest showing in today's round-up. The only factor holding us back from giving this board our Recommended Buy award is Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680. Serving up better performance and selling for the same price, it'd be a shoo-in were it not for sporadic availability.
Sapphire's HD 7970 OC was recently available for $460 on Newegg, and we've been told by a company representative may be extended. At that price, this board is a fantastic buy, regardless of the competition. We still can't hand an award out to a temporary price reduction, though.
Update (May 21, 2012): According to Sapphire, the HD 7970 OC is now permanently priced at $479.99 on Newegg.
Update (June 1, 2012): Shortly after providing assurance that this card would retain a $480 price tag, Newegg jacked it up to $580. If you're interested in this board, Amazon and Tiger Direct offer much better values on it.
HIS IceQ X2 Turbo and Turbo X
It’s a shame that HIS isn’t bringing its IceQ X2 Turbo X to North America, with its best-in-class 1120 MHz core overclock. But the U.S.-bound 1050 MHz Turbo version (second only to MSI’s 1070 MHz Lightning here in the States) is also appealing.
The IceQ X2 cooler common to both models is extremely quiet under load. HIS’ iTurbo overclocking utility is both simple and effective. Moreover, an MSRP of $500 for the less-aggressive model seems fairly reasonable, though greater availability of GeForce GTX 680s could put some pressure on that price point. The Turbo X is even more expensive (we're told it'll be roughly equivalent to $520 overseas). However, gamers content to leave their clock rates alone will pay a premium for an already-overclocked model purported to be the fastest in its class. HIS' Turbo X was the only card with a GPU we could push past 1200 MHz, yielding a 1250 MHz overclock.
Our concerns about this board include 12" of length (plus the bezel), a two-year warranty that falls short of the vendors offering three years, and a lack of bundled mini-DisplayPort adapters. Enthusiasts building multi-display configurations will incur additional cost if they require DVI connectivity. Finally, because HIS' board is not available, we can't accurately place it amongst the competition.
VisionTek Radeon HD 7970
We're impressed by AMD’s Radeon HD 7970 (particularly at a new price point that competes a little more aggressively against GeForce GTX 680). So, it follows that we would like VisionTek’s own offering based on AMD's reference design.
Aside from Sapphire’s card, this is the only board in our round-up that includes enough adapters for triple-display output via DVI connectors, and it conveniently fits into two expansion slot spaces. Available for $480 on Newegg, VisionTek tempts us with the second-lowest cost of entry, the highest stable memory overclock (an astounding 1900 MHz), and the only limited lifetime warranty in the crowd.
This card's biggest liability happens to be its familiar AMD reference cooler, which happens to be louder than any of the aftermarket designs presented in our round-up. When the Radeon HD 7970 first launched, we hoped that AMD's board partners would address the card's disappointing acoustic profile. And they did. But by sticking with that original implementation, VisionTek inherits its unattractive fan ramps and distracting output under load. There are much quieter options available.
Despite our one complaint, gamers shopping for a card with a solid collection of display outputs and adapters, able to fit within the confines of two expansion slots, could enjoy VisionTek's Radeon HD 7970. Particularly at its modest $479 price.
Gigabyte GV-R797OC-3GD
Gigabyte’s card does a solid job all-around, boasting a tuned 1000 MHz core clock and a decent custom cooler. It managed to achieve the second-highest core overclock in our round-up, and it was one of only two cards to breach the 1200 MHz barrier.
Gigabyte offers a three-year warranty on its graphics cards. That's better than the two-year term a number of competing vendors offer.
This product's claim to fame is probably relatively compact dimensions. Measuring only 10.5” long, it’s one and a half inches shorter than the largest card in our round-up, making it an attractive option for people with limited space in their PC case.
The cooler, with its three fans, is a little louder than other options under load though, and when overclocked it produces more noise than any other card we tested. The bundle is missing mini-DisplayPort adapters, too, making the R797OC-3DG less than ideal for a display configuration composed of multiple DVI-based monitors.
With that in mind, the $500 price tag might be a tad steep, particularly if you need to buy a couple of adapters, too. We think that enthusiasts limited by the room in their enclosures (and ready to appreciate this card's short PCB) are the most likely customers for Gigabyte's interpretation of the Radeon HD 7970.
MSI R7970 Lightning
MSI’s Lightning family is, by pedigree, designed to be the very best of the best, enabling great stock performance through tuned clocks, optimized cooling, and beefed-up power. The R7970 Lightning is no exception. It ships with the highest factory core overclock in North America (1070 MHz), a 17-phase voltage regulator, lots of lighting, the most effective and quietest cooler in the pack, purported hooks into the popular Afterburner utility via the second BIOS setting (by far the best overclocking software out there), and adhesion to the United States Department of Defence’s robust MIL-STD-810G standard.
What does that last bit really mean? According the specification itself, "When applied properly, the environmental management and engineering processes described in this standard can be of enormous value in generating confidence in the environmental worthiness and overall durability of materiel system design." No joke. Moreover, the card is backed by a generous three-year warranty.
Priced at $550, MSI's R7970 Lightning pushes the limits of what we’re able to consider value. Though, with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680 not available in sufficient quantity to give AMD any competition, a premium card like this stands a better chance of success. Unfortunately, the Lightning doesn't seem to be in stock at the time of writing either, making the comparison largely academic.
Our biggest issue with this card is its lack of dual-link DVI support (and consequently a lack of 1920x1200+ resolution and HD3D support over DVI). An active mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter could have addressed this, but MSI doesn't bundle one, which is disappointing. If an adapter was part of the package, we would have a much easier time recommending the Lightning at $550 (a full $50 more than Sapphire's overclocked card, including adapters).
Final Thoughts
When AMD launched its Radeon HD 7970, the company made it clear that board partners were expected to include HDMI-to-DVI and active mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters as standard equipment. We’re bummed to see that a majority of Radeon HD 7970 submitted to us don't include those important components. After all, we believe that every one of these cards should enable easy access to Eyefinity through a trio of common DVI outputs (at least until DisplayPort becomes more prevalent).
Be aware also that the graphics market is currently very volatile. Radeon HD 7970 is settling in to a more ideal price point now that GeForce GTX 680 is known (we hesitate to use the word available, since it's almost impossible to find). Keep a close eye on each one of these cards; prices continue to shift around in the face of GeForce GTX 680, and we expect that behavior to continue until it's more broadly available.




