Sapphire 7970 Crossfire Review
review by
denim-187
Testbed:
i7 2700k @ 5.0ghz
Asrock Z68 Fatality Pro Gen3
2x 4 GB XMP 2133mhz G.skill RAM (CL 9-11-9-28) cr 1
60 GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD
600 GB WD Velociraptor Gen3
1200w Antec Quattro OC Edition PSU
Driver: 11.12 - 7900 Support Driver 1/9/12
Lets get straight into it with some RAW Crossfire numbers.
BENCHMARKS
3D Mark Vantage DX10:
STOCK:
-
VS
22% Overclock:
-
3D Mark 11
UNIGINE 2.5
Tessellation: NORMAL
-
Tessellation: EXTREME
-
Battlefield 3 DX11
-
Crysis 2 DX11
-
Max Temperatures on a
22% Overclock using the default fan profile @ 1125/1575 were:
Card 1 - 81c
Card 2 - 83c
Keeping in mind its a summer night here in Sydney so ambient is way up there.
Updating the fan profile through MSI's afterburner, and setting a little more responsive profile yielded with a 10-15c temperature drop.
Card 1 - 70c
Card 2 - 68c
This is great if you don't want any temps above 70c in your system although these cards maximum threshold is somewhere near 100c. Its not recommended to run that hot but they are able to. Personally i wouldn't let any graphics card rise above 85c.
The Reference cooler succeeds the 6970's cooler with a great force of hot air expulsion outside the back of the case. It does it's job superbly.
The fan profiles on these cards are not too light and not too aggressive, you start hearing the fan at about 50% as it gradually increases with the temperature.
But even at that, the noise is absolutely bearable, the screeching noise that the 6970's had, has now been eradicated. The fan is not annoying and barely noticeable when your deep into your gaming.
One thing i dislike about the card is the fact that they left out the back plate. I don't know if this helps in temps but it sure does help with static protection and aesthetics.
Gaming, i felt little to
ZERO MICROSTUTTER so for all those that are holding back and are afraid of multi-gpu setup's because of reports or negative statements on these cards, i can assure you that this isn't a problem in this case.
More BENCHMARKS
METRO 2033 DX11:
DOF disabled
DOF enabled
It goes without saying that 2 these cards are a perfect solution for a 120hz 1080-1200p setup, and would definitely fill the 60hz Eyefinity Refresh rate without a problem.
DOF doesn't give noticeable quality, in fact it looks too blurry. So I'd recommend playing Metro 2033 without it.
Far Cry 2 DX10:
-
Alien Vs Predator DX11:
-
Crysis: WARHEAD DX10.1:
-
Quote:
They do and they do a damn good job at it too.
I did see some FPS drops in Crysis:Warhead that i didn't witness much on other games. But even while dropping below 80 sometimes, it is still being played flawlessly. The game play was smooth and fluidly.
More OVERCLOCKING
Using MSI's Afterburner Beta11, coming from a default 925mhz and 1375mhz, the cards were able to overclock 30% on a slight voltage bump. They were also able to be pushed further with more voltage applied, but i was happy benching with up to
crazy 1250mhz core clock and
1700mhz memory clock.
Here are some benchmark results.
3DMark 11
-
3DMark Vantage
-
Unigine Heaven 2.5
-
Clock comparisons:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
evensen007?
Denim,
Is there any way you can do a Metro2033 bench with your cards clocked at 900/1000/1100/1200? I think it will be interesting to see what kind of frames each 100mhz yields.
Metro2033, very GPU intensive where every FPS counts. I tested using stock 1375mhz memory clock all the way through but made a comparison of when its overclocked also.
Single Card results...
900mhz: 62.08
1000mhz: 66.35
1100mhz: 70.91
1200mhz: 74.32
1300mhz: 78.22
1200mhz/1375mhz 74.32
1200mhz/1700mhz 77.68
Memory overclock results.
-
- It seems as though every 100mhz on the core in Metro2033 gives 4 FPS. Of course other titles will vary, but in my opinion, 4 FPS in a worst case scenario is not too bad. Adding the 3 FPS to the total of all the above results will give you an indication of the memory overclocked versions ot the results.
- More Coming.....
Any benchmark requests? PM me.
Pros | Cons |
---|
Fastest single GPU, 3GB VRAM, Big Overclocking Headroom, Great refference design | No backplate, A little pricey |
Ratings