The Asus HD7970-DC2-3GD5 and MSI R7970 Lightning; the solution for tearing in the 79XX family

[BirdOtt]

Hi Moose. There is little sign of the card in the stores here in Canada either. I have my order in for one and am waiting patiently for it to arrive. Bye for now.

[Moose]

Hi Moose. There is little sign of the card in the stores here in Canada either. I have my order in for one and am waiting patiently for it to arrive. Bye for now.

I've contacted the store, and they've called different suppliers. They all tell that a date can not be set yet. No word from Asus either :/

EDIT:

Well, about the ASUS problems:

Ive orderd mine a while ago, they changed the delivery date from middle feb to 31st march, which is a bummer. When i asked why there was such a delay on Swedens biggest computer community (Sweclockers.com) i got the answer that the reason for the delays is that ASUS apperantly found some problem with the Voltage Regulation to the GDDR5 memory that the could not fix with software and had to re-design something. A twitter comment is all the sources i have on that however, but since they have direcct dialogues with the manefacturers over at sweclockers i think that information is accurate.

Another explenation ive heard as to why the ASUS Radeon HD 7970 DirectCU II cards are delayed is due to that they missed their european shippment thanks to the chinese new year, this ive heard from two different retailers when i phoned them and asked why the card was changing release date each day.

The stock ASUS 7970 cards should not have this Voltage Regulation problem however since its the very same chipset and components on that card as ATI have on their own 7970 cards.

I'll look around on the web for more info on that.

EDIT:

This is a report going out on the 7950, but it counts for the 7970 as well.

[Exmortis]

Well the ASUS never came in to stock to buy and just got dethroned:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?279501-MSI-7970-Lightning-revealed

4xmDP ports, dual slot, better OC and appears to be better cooler??? MSI FTW.

MDP is huge for me, means I can keep and use my two mDP to DP cables that cost me like 75spacebucks. So even if a premium over ASUS its still probably cheaper.

Also with so many reports of the cooler on the ASUS being assembled wrong and cards overheating a dieing, I was really not looking forward to that being an issue, especialyl since ASUS would not acknowledge it.

So will wait for this to come into stock and get it.

Added sites for info:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?act=url&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.ca&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://lab501.ro/stiri/cebit-2012-msi-7970-lightning-si-alte-noutati&usg=ALkJrhiF3bfleyW0s3SYnqffXBRdhXAWZw

http://translate.google.ca/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Flab501.ro%2Fstiri%2Fcebit-2012-msi-hd-7970-lightning-update&act=url

[CY:G]

So i got inpatient and ordered a regular 7970 since the DC2 its just never in stock..

So sad, i have worse tearing problems than i did with a 6950!

Now both my external monitors have it instead of just one.

I have 4 screen, 1 connected to DVI, another to HDMI, and the other 2 with m-DP to DVI Active adapters, and both of the latter show tearing, is there anything i can do?

[Wijkert]

So i got inpatient and ordered a regular 7970 since the DC2 its just never in stock..

So sad, i have worse tearing problems than i did with a 6950!

Now both my external monitors have it instead of just one.

I have 4 screen, 1 connected to DVI, another to HDMI, and the other 2 with m-DP to DVI Active adapters, and both of the latter show tearing, is there anything i can do?

Make sure your primary monitor (doesn't have to be the center one) is connected via mDP. Then you only have tearing on the one connected via DVI.

[Exmortis]

[quote]So i got inpatient and ordered a regular 7970 since the DC2 its just never in stock..

So sad, i have worse tearing problems than i did with a 6950!

Now both my external monitors have it instead of just one.

I have 4 screen, 1 connected to DVI, another to HDMI, and the other 2 with m-DP to DVI Active adapters, and both of the latter show tearing, is there anything i can do?

Make sure your primary monitor (doesn't have to be the center one) is connected via mDP. Then you only have tearing on the one connected via DVI.

When i had it all setup on my 5870, I had 2 DVI one DP to DVI and I only had tearing on my DP monitor. I now have 2xDP native and DVI, and I have onlyu tearing on my DVI, which is my centre monitor as it is connected to my 7.1 4 port DVI switch box.

[Moose]

Well the ASUS never came in to stock to buy and just got dethroned: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?279501-MSI-7970-Lightning-revealed. 4xmDP ports, dual slot, better OC and appears to be better cooler??? MSI FTW.

Looks really good. I'm currently still running an MSI R5870 Lightning and man, it is good. However, it was also very expensive compared to other 5870's, so I wonder what the price on this thing will be.

MDP is huge for me, means I can keep and use my two mDP to DP cables that cost me like 75spacebucks. So even if a premium over ASUS its still probably cheaper.

Remember that not all people have mDP displays or cables, so you can't judge a card by looking at required accesoires custom to your rig.

Also with so many reports of the cooler on the ASUS being assembled wrong and cards overheating a dieing, I was really not looking forward to that being an issue, especialyl since ASUS would not acknowledge it.

The fact that Asus still hasn't acknowledged it buggs me. Anyway's, my supplier couldn't pinpoint an exact location here in Holland, so I have some time left to decide whether to go for the Asus or the MSI. This new card might turn the whole thread around..

One question though: is there any difference between mDP and DP what so ever? Power usage, different signals, you name it. Because like 99% of problems in Eyefinity involve mDP ports or cables at some point, never DP. Can anyone shed some light on that?

Moose

[BirdOtt]

I looked into this recently and discovered that some cables/adapters that use DisplayPort to MiniDisplayPort do NOT work properly with some monitors. It appears that if the cables are designed for Apple they may not work with non-Apple products. So it appears that there may be some issues with the way some manufacturers implement the two different types of DisplayPort. I do not know what the exact issues are, but I do know there are some problems. I also checked the AMD web site for "certified" adapters for "Eyefinity". Sorry I cannot provide any more info.

[Exmortis]

One question though: is there any difference between mDP and DP what so ever? Power usage, different signals, you name it. Because like 99% of problems in Eyefinity involve mDP ports or cables at some point, never DP. Can anyone shed some light on that?

Moose

As far as I am aware there is zero difference, it is really just a smaller connector. I have currently two mDP to DP cables for my Asus monitors, they work great. The DP connector is more robust though, and the cable is much more secure with the metal latches then the plain old plugin of the mDP. I really liked t he ASUS full DP, but MSI seems to be right now (pending reviews and ASUS issues) the better card. Also every MSI lighting owner seems to have been really impressed with their cards, and that speaks volumes.

I know not everyone has DP monitors, but it should be a consideration, it is the future, and unlike previous connectors it is not a signal but data a packet technology which means even if they upgrade the spec, they will not be a reason to change connectors for some time. Kinda like ethernet, in fact I have heard it referred to as "video over ethernet".

Since I have time and even if its 75 dollars more its still same for me, keeping my two cables is huge, DP cables are not cheap.

I pick up my new case this weekend, I have out grown my modded Lian Li PC8FIR. I will pick up the third DP cable i will need as well.

[Exmortis]

I looked into this recently and discovered that some cables/adapters that use DisplayPort to MiniDisplayPort do NOT work properly with some monitors. It appears that if the cables are designed for Apple they may not work with non-Apple products. So it appears that there may be some issues with the way some manufacturers implement the two different types of DisplayPort. I do not know what the exact issues are, but I do know there are some problems. I also checked the AMD web site for "certified" adapters for "Eyefinity". Sorry I cannot provide any more info.

That does not surprise me, there is a reason I avoid anything Apple like the 7th sign.

[BirdOtt]

I see that you are located in Ottawa Ontario Canada! So am I! Blackburn Hamlet! :)

I also avoid Crab-Apple!

[Exmortis]

WOW small world, I live in Ottawa south, but work downtown as a silly servant.

[BirdOtt]

I used to work in downtown Ottawa for Bell. I am retired now but working part-time. :)

[BIGGRIMTIM]

I see that the cards are starting to become available again. Is it worth it to sell my Sapphire reference card and get one of these? The tearing is really starting to drive me nuts. I have tied the mDP to DVI adapters and they id not help at all. I m using 3 DellU2410s.

[compres]

I canceled my order since the delivery date got pushed again 2 weeks...

Enough time to wait and see what nVidia has to odder, in addition to the MSI lightning...

[BIGGRIMTIM]

I canceled my order since the delivery date got pushed again 2 weeks...

Enough time to wait and see what nVidia has to odder, in addition to the MSI lightning...

I haven't heard anything about the MSI lightning. What is the ETA for this card?

[Paradigm Shifter]

A 6GB MSI Lightning 7970 was shown at CeBIT, from what I understand... no ETA.

[compres]

There is no ETA for either the MSI or the ASUS, at least at my retailer... :(

Equally unavailable so perhaps I even wait for kepler, in spite of me always going ATI at least it should lower prices due to competition.

[BirdOtt]

We have been waiting for this ASUS card for quite some time; however, the problem that has been reported about it (e.g., VRM overheating) has made me reconsider getting this card unless ASUS addresses the issue publicly to ensure me that the problem has been addressed.

I am seriously considering an MSI or Saphire HD7970 card that has three identical monitor connectors, either 3 DisplayPort or 3 miniDispayPort for my Dell U2410 monitors. I would rather not use the 3 minDisplayPort cards because that would require miniDisplayPort to DisplayPort adapters or special new cables for my monitors and because of issues I have read about some of the adapters and cables not working properly with certain monitors such as mine (e.g., flicker, monitor going into sleep mode and not coming out of it without disconnection and power-off).

The NVidia Kepler G-card is also under consideration as I read somewhere that it may be in stock before the end of March. I hope it would allow me to use 3 identical monitor connectors to avoid tearing, and on a single card too.

[BIGGRIMTIM]

After doing a lot of reading on this issue and the DCUII in general I am going to wait and see. I guess I can live with the tearing for now. If anyone has one of these cards please post you experience.