ASUS Radeon HD 7970, CrossFiring The Monster!

[X-ROG]

http://rog.asus.com/66732012/news/asus-radeon-hd-7970-crossfiring-the-monster/

:cool:

[mdzcpa]

I have a pair of the Asus HD 7970s in cross fre and indeed these cards are monsters. The 7970 is the most significant performance bump AMD has produced in the last several generations. I've been running these Asus 7970s factory air cooled on the Asus Rampage IV Extreme while I wait on my waterblocks. Even under air these cards rock. A single 7970 outperforms my previous 6970 crossfire set up easily. I also like the GPU Tweak app from Asus which works well controlling both cards speeds and voltages. I am, however, waiting to lean on the voltage hard until my blocks arrive. But even with stock and low voltage bumps, these cards are the best overclocking cards I've seen in years.

I ordered my Koolance 7970 waterblocks (they are in stock now) and they will be here tomorrow. I will run my benchmarks again wit full max overclock under water and put them up here in this post.

[DougOtt]

Hi mdzcpa.
I am interested in seeing how you are doing with these two cards in the 800D with air cooling. I am thinking about doing the same but use the Corsair H100 to cool the CPU and run the rad as air intake at the top of the case.

Do you experience any stuttering or tearing?

Are you running multiple monitors? If so, how are they connected? etc.

[Radi8tor]

DougOtt wrote:
Hi mdzcpa.
I am interested in seeing how you are doing with these two cards in the 800D with air cooling. I am thinking about doing the same but use the Corsair H100 to cool the CPU and run the rad as air intake at the top of the case.

Do you experience any stuttering or tearing?

Are you running multiple monitors? If so, how are they connected? etc.

I had two 7970 cards in CrossfireX recently in a smaller case (Thermaltake Element T) and they ran around 70-80 centigrade celsius.
They could be run colder, but the fans were a bit loud at 60 C. This is why I am waiting for DirectCUII cards. 🙂

[DougOtt]

Radi8tor wrote:
I had two 7970 cards in CrossfireX recently in a smaller case (Thermaltake Element T) and they ran around 70-80 centigrade celsius.
They could be run colder, but the fans were a bit loud at 60 C. This is why I am waiting for DirectCUII cards. 🙂

Hi Radi8tor. I am debating the use of 2 ASUS HD7970 cards (regular version) versus the DirectCU II cards. I would prefer to go with 2 of the DirectCU II cards (with cooler) in order to use the regular Displayport connectors with my 3 Dell U2410 monitors; however, I also want to use an ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card. I plan to use the Corsair Obsidain 800D case and the ASUS Rampage Extreme MOBO. Unfortunately with the 2 DirctCU II cards installed in slots 1 and 4 of the ASUS Rampage Extreme MOBO, the Xonar Essence STX sound card would only fit in slot 3, thus obstructing the airflow into the first graphics card installed in slot 1. So I amy have to use the regular 2 slot version.

Do you see any stuttering or tearing?

[mdzcpa]

DougOtt wrote:
Hi mdzcpa.
I am interested in seeing how you are doing with these two cards in the 800D with air cooling. I am thinking about doing the same but use the Corsair H100 to cool the CPU and run the rad as air intake at the top of the case.

Do you experience any stuttering or tearing?

Are you running multiple monitors? If so, how are they connected? etc.

I had no issues with stuttering or tearing at all when the cards were air cooled. The 800D is a big case with decent air flow. I run the case fans off my Rampage IV Extreme and and use the Fan Expert to scale case fan RPMs as system temps change. Works pretty good. Air cooled in the case at Default clocks and fans, I was seeing temps in mid 70s. The fans kicked up but the noise wan't bad in the closed case. They did, however, kick a boatload of heat out the back vents!! I was able to clock them up to 1075 without messing with voltage and fan settings and they ran at the same noise level as stock...only warmer into the low 80 range.

Under water I have cranked them to 1150/5800 and they run cooler at 60-65.

I would not hesitate to place these in crossfire and aircooled so long as you have decent case cooling.

[DougOtt]

mdzcpa wrote:
I had no issues with stuttering or tearing at all when the cards were air cooled. The 800D is a big case with decent air flow. I run the case fans off my Rampage IV Extreme and and use the Fan Expert to scale case fan RPMs as system temps change. Works pretty good. Air cooled in the case at Default clocks and fans, I was seeing temps in mid 70s. The fans kicked up but the noise wan't bad in the closed case. They did, however, kick a boatload of heat out the back vents!! I was able to clock them up to 1075 without messing with voltage and fan settings and they ran at the same noise level as stock...only warmer into the low 80 range.

Under water I have cranked them to 1150/5800 and they run cooler at 60-65.

I would not hesitate to place these in crossfire and aircooled so long as you have decent case cooling.

Thanks Mdzcpa. Glad to hear that there was no noticeable stuttering or tearing, and also that the heat was manageable too.

[houndazs]

i have a CF 7970 setup. with my setup my cards run mid to high 60's (c) at a clock of 1110/5998 at idol. at 100% usage the cards run about 83c with 50% fan. i have been having issues over clocking my cards and have narrowed the problem down to GPU #2 being faulty. it will be going in for an RMA this week.

[DougOtt]

houndazs wrote:
i have a CF 7970 setup. with my setup my cards run mid to high 60's (c) at a clock of 1110/5998 at idol. at 100% usage the cards run about 83c with 50% fan. i have been having issues over clocking my cards and have narrowed the problem down to GPU #2 being faulty. it will be going in for an RMA this week.

Hi houndazs. Sorry to hear about your faulty card. When not overclocked, how do the 2 cards run? Any stuttering or tearing?

[houndazs]

DougOtt wrote:
Hi houndazs. Sorry to hear about your faulty card. When not overclocked, how do the 2 cards run? Any stuttering or tearing?

to be honest i havn't really tested it much, but i get very poor frame rates (high 20's) in BF3 with eyefinity Ultra/x4AA/motion blur off with these 2 cards stock. they are stable at 1115/5898 but just barely.....

i hate to troubleshoot my own stuff lol.....