Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 OC 3GB Graphics Card Review

[siopao1984]

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Mafia II is an older game and therefore it does have older graphics engines, however this is is still a good all-round in game benchmark that combines the terrain and explosion rendering of Crysis with the dust and dirt particle rendering test of Dirt 2. It also takes into account the changing light conditions albeit not in quite the same detail as the others, but none-the-less still proves a cards capabilities on slightly older games.



As we move over to Mafia II, we once again see ample gains from the overclock 7970, with anywhere up to 4FPS increases depending on the resolution.

[lloyd_joy]

A Nice to Have Thing on this benchmark...

mas nindot unta if gi apil dri ang MSI Lightning kay para ma tanaw nato ang performance nila kay OC veriant man ning sa gigabyte pud...

basin, mas kusog tong MSI maong wala gi apil dri para dili ma hugawan ang charts... hehehe...

nindot ni gyud na info hinoon ang mga benchmarks para maka gauge ta kun asa ang mas maayo na brand and model...

[siopao1984]

Metro 2033 is a first-person shooter game based in the Russian metro system. Metro 2033 is very similar to the much loved game STALKER as it is developed by the same programmers. The game utilises DirectX 11 and relies heavily on tessellation features and is considered to be one of the most graphics intense games on the market.



When looking at one of our most intensive benchmarks, we can see that a similar 4-5FPS increase is to be had from the Gigabyte 7970 OC across all resolutions including Eyefinity. At 1680×1050 we also see this card tipping over that 100FPS mark again as we’ve seen with some of the previous benchmark tests.

[siopao1984]

Noise is generally the bain of most consumers lives and in the hope of finding the quietest operation, we feel it’s necessary to show you the audio level of components. We use the same components throughout this test and use a sound level meter to record the audio level of the system with a passive graphics card installed. Once we have the level recorded with the passive card, we continue to change the graphics card for the one that we are testing. Due to us having the audio level recorded before installation, it gives us a guide to work with and shows that anything over our initial level is an audio gain.



We love the performance of Gigabyte’s WindForce coolers and this card is no exception with a low idle noise output of 47.3 dBA. As we crank things up and put some load onto the card, we find that the noise output only increases slightly to 56.5 dBA, which is still an acceptable level of noise.

[siopao1984]

To test power consumption, we monitor the overall power of the system through a plug-in electricity usage monitor at an idle and load state. This allows us to show the fluctuation between how much power draw the graphics card takes at idle and at load. By monitoring the overall usage of the whole system, it gives an easy comparison if you wish to do the same yourself as opposed to buying very expensive individual testing equipment.



Power wise, we saw some impressive results at 85.5 Watts when idle, and an equally impressive 238.5 Watts when loaded and these are complete system power draw readings.

[siopao1984]

Measuring temperatures is all about being consitent, therefore we keep a steady eye on monitoring the ambient room temperature to make sure that it stays the same. While this is constantly being monitored, we measure the idle temperature of the card using HWMonitor over a 15 minute period. Once this has been recorded, we set FurMark into motion for 15 minutes and record the results again.



At idle, the card was running at a cool 34 degrees which is considerable 5 degrees lower than a reference card. At load we see an incredibly low 59 degrees which when compared to a reference 7970 running at stock hitting a high 78 degrees, we can’t help but fall more in love with the WindForce cooler, more now than ever.

[siopao1984]

Currently, the Radeon 7970 is still the top banana when it comes to an AMD single core graphics card, with the GTX 680 giving some extreme competition from Nvidia. Due to this, it’s no surprise that manufacturers are keen to squeeze as much power out of these cards as possible to give even more performance over stock, especially if the rumours about the new Nvidia card are true.

The overclock on this card of 75MHz on the core clock may sound small but the difference it makes is nothing to be laughed at as it offered up a good spectrum of increases across all bar one of our benchmark tests. The results that impressed us the most weren’t specific to just one test, but across them all as we saw consistent increases across single resolutions and also Eyefinity, which showed that this card can quite easily handle larger display outputs with ease.

Due to my love for Gigabyte graphics cards, I honestly felt that this was going to be another winner, and as the results have shown, it’s exactly that. Not only is the performance great, but you also have a cooler that can keep things cool, with a low noise output at idle and load, and also not affect your electricity bill to much, which in my opinion ticks all of the right boxes with one left to spare, and that, at least for most, is one of the most vital characteristics of any purchase. We can only be talking about one thing, and one thing only; price.

Pricing on this card is still not 100% clear as not a lot of retail channels have picked up on it yet, but from what we’ve seen so far, the pricing shouldn’t be to disimilar from a reference card, with a typical reference card with stock speeds retailing at around £430, this shouldn’t set you back more than around £460 giving is a great bargain price considering the extra performance you will gain in terms of raw compute power and the great potential behind the WindForce cooler.

Some consumers will obviously be put off by the price at almost £450, but for users wanting to buy a 7970, we’d certainly usher you towards this “overclock edition” card as it simply offers so much more for your money and hardly requires much more of an outlay when looking at the difference with a stock card, and did we mention that it’s much better looking that a square looking reference design that lots of other manufacturers are sticking to. At least with this card, you get some extra sense of style and a good brand behind it, and what’s to say that you can’t push the overclock on this card even further?

Simply put, no matter what resolution you game at, this is an extreme card aimed at enthusiasts, and acts as good competition for the GTX 680. With that in mind, if AMD is your thing then this card is simply the best AMD card on the market and reigns supreme for them in our books as being one of the fastest single core graphics card we’ve ever tested.