hi there just a quick question about the amd 7970 for a desktop, would you know what version of the card it would be, would it be standard card or an oc version, and what make would it be. i always had nvidia before and they was a ge force card if im right, just wondering what the amd card would be in my build. This will be my first ever amd card and want as much info before i include it in my build. so are there any reliability issues, or problems that i could get with this card. Sorry to ask lots but i have had a good few pc in the past and the only pc i had technical issues with was an amd system so just want to be sure before i choose this card . thanks for your time
desktop amd 7970 question
- Thread starter leea12345
- Start date
keynes
Multiverse Poster
I am afraid I do not know the type of card offered by PCS for the 7970 but I would advice you to get the Nvidia GTX 680 instead since it is better. The one offered by PCS is palit for the Nvidia GTX 680.
thanks for the reply. i have done some research and although it does seem the 680 is slighlty better i dont feel it is better by so much that the extra cost is worth it and i have to stick to a budget as the system build so far is almost £1400 and i could just keep going and adding . but thanks for the reply
keynes
Multiverse Poster
Sorry my bad! Last time I checked the GTX 680 was cheaper. Regarding the reliability issues, it is very unlikely you get one and if it takes place the RMA and technical support is pretty efficient and a replacement should be sent to you in a matter of days if that is the case.
thanks for that, and i should have added that i would also get another 7970 to add to system in future so the cost is an issue and total cost of two 7970 is a lot less than 2, 680 and perfromance would still be great for games but at a lot less cost. thanks for your time as you have been so helpful i will copy and paste my order and see what you think if thats okCase
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 500R WHITE MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7970 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1
Price: £1,318.00 including VAT and delivery.
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 500R WHITE MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
3GB AMD RADEON™ HD7970 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£86)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1
Price: £1,318.00 including VAT and delivery.
Last edited:
keynes
Multiverse Poster
I did the same, sligthly different set up and got a warning 754w. You could call PCS and enquiry about it but I'd go for something bigger just for peace of mind.
baron75mk2
Banned
Hi if your planning on doing a two card setup , i would go for the GTX 680 & add another one in the future.
Radeon/ati cards are great by themselves , but in crossfire they are very problematic with many issues (i speak from my own experiences with 4 crossfire setups)
main issues being;
1) poor performance gains in crossfire compaired to Nvidia SLI
2) Crossfire profiles have to be obtained seperate from the drivers ("cap" downloads) , with nvidia they are downloaded automatically & updated more often than crossfire profiles
3) & this is the biggest one ; - splitup (screen tear) on in game videos ( not all in game vids though , but a lot & even in the games themselves in crossfire - devil may cry 4 , mass effect 2 & portal 2 just to name a few (v-synch has no affect in this reguard either when in crossfire , its an actual crossfire issue) - you wont get any of this in SLI.
Dont get me wrong ATi cards are great when used in a single card config but in crossfire they are a nightmare.
Go for nvidia SLI every time for multiple gpu solutions. ( also scaling is better with Nvidia SLI as well )
If you cant run to a GTX 680 , go for two GTX580s in SLI - they are cheaper than a GTX 680 ( well one will be , two will be a fair bit more expensive , i paid roughly £700 for my two but they were both 3gb models as opposed to the standard 1.5 gig models , so this possibly pushed the price up a bit) - but 2 of them wipe the floor with a single GTX 680 (but to be fair this is no surprise as there is two of them working together)
No to sure if PCS still supply GTX580s but if not there are still many places selling them - i sourced both of mine from elsewhere.
I also would have to agree with rubensolo , no matter what you decide i would go with a bigger power supply for two card setups ( you will have to for 2X GTX 580s anyway , minimum 850w) - lower for 2x GTX680s , but not much & as rubensolo has said its better to have more power than you need when doing SLI/Crossfire so there is some left in reserve as this usually results in a more smoother stable supply of power to your components & this is essential when doing multiple gpu setups. (as if its not smooth & stable you could get microstutter issues)
An 850w corsair will be great for this , but if you can streatch to it go for the 1050w corsair , this will give you bags of headroom.
I went for the corsair 1,200w 80+gold but this is real SERIOUS overkill , i only did it so i wont have to upgrade the power supply for years & i can trow what i like in the pc without worrying about wattage or amperage requrements are ( exept possibly where some dual chip gpu cards are concerned maybe , but i hate dual chip cards anyway & wont be ever getting another one as long as i live , way to many issues)
Also another thing you might want to do in that case is to get pcs fit a couple of exaust fans in the top bay for better airflow as with dual card setups things can get quite hot in general. ( my top GTX580 can go in to the 80c range with real high spec games maxed out) , its a referance desighn so hotter than aftermarket coolers like for instance the gainward phantom 3 that i have in bottom slot goes to about 71c in this situation , so with those two tems combined its a bit toasty but im ok as i have the coolermaster half X with a 200mm intake in the side , a 230mm intake in the front & two 200mm exaust in the top so most of the hot air is being thrown out of the case & isnt blowing around inside & heating the processor cooler up at all. :yes:
Radeon/ati cards are great by themselves , but in crossfire they are very problematic with many issues (i speak from my own experiences with 4 crossfire setups)
main issues being;
1) poor performance gains in crossfire compaired to Nvidia SLI
2) Crossfire profiles have to be obtained seperate from the drivers ("cap" downloads) , with nvidia they are downloaded automatically & updated more often than crossfire profiles
3) & this is the biggest one ; - splitup (screen tear) on in game videos ( not all in game vids though , but a lot & even in the games themselves in crossfire - devil may cry 4 , mass effect 2 & portal 2 just to name a few (v-synch has no affect in this reguard either when in crossfire , its an actual crossfire issue) - you wont get any of this in SLI.
Dont get me wrong ATi cards are great when used in a single card config but in crossfire they are a nightmare.
Go for nvidia SLI every time for multiple gpu solutions. ( also scaling is better with Nvidia SLI as well )
If you cant run to a GTX 680 , go for two GTX580s in SLI - they are cheaper than a GTX 680 ( well one will be , two will be a fair bit more expensive , i paid roughly £700 for my two but they were both 3gb models as opposed to the standard 1.5 gig models , so this possibly pushed the price up a bit) - but 2 of them wipe the floor with a single GTX 680 (but to be fair this is no surprise as there is two of them working together)
No to sure if PCS still supply GTX580s but if not there are still many places selling them - i sourced both of mine from elsewhere.
I also would have to agree with rubensolo , no matter what you decide i would go with a bigger power supply for two card setups ( you will have to for 2X GTX 580s anyway , minimum 850w) - lower for 2x GTX680s , but not much & as rubensolo has said its better to have more power than you need when doing SLI/Crossfire so there is some left in reserve as this usually results in a more smoother stable supply of power to your components & this is essential when doing multiple gpu setups. (as if its not smooth & stable you could get microstutter issues)
An 850w corsair will be great for this , but if you can streatch to it go for the 1050w corsair , this will give you bags of headroom.
I went for the corsair 1,200w 80+gold but this is real SERIOUS overkill , i only did it so i wont have to upgrade the power supply for years & i can trow what i like in the pc without worrying about wattage or amperage requrements are ( exept possibly where some dual chip gpu cards are concerned maybe , but i hate dual chip cards anyway & wont be ever getting another one as long as i live , way to many issues)
Also another thing you might want to do in that case is to get pcs fit a couple of exaust fans in the top bay for better airflow as with dual card setups things can get quite hot in general. ( my top GTX580 can go in to the 80c range with real high spec games maxed out) , its a referance desighn so hotter than aftermarket coolers like for instance the gainward phantom 3 that i have in bottom slot goes to about 71c in this situation , so with those two tems combined its a bit toasty but im ok as i have the coolermaster half X with a 200mm intake in the side , a 230mm intake in the front & two 200mm exaust in the top so most of the hot air is being thrown out of the case & isnt blowing around inside & heating the processor cooler up at all. :yes:
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