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

[BirdOtt]

I am waiting too. Your avatar looks great! I am anticipating BBQ season which is just around the corner!

[BIGGRIMTIM]

I am waiting too. Your avatar looks great! I am anticipating BBQ season which is just around the corner!

Around the corner? It is always BBQ season. I grill with snow on the ground.

[Exmortis]

I have given up on ASUS card, I am too afraid of issues with VRM long term. Not worth investing in a more expensive card, and have more issues then reference design.

I also do not want to have the "coil whine or click", seems every OEM went cheap on reference and imroperly insulated the coils and you can hear them, even youtube vids on some being that bad.

MSI has shown the new 7970 lightning but not released it. I also have no info other then rumors on the 6GB card, every bit on info I read shows 3GB only. MSI has not offically announced the new lighting, it uses a new revision of their TF cooler. I am now waiting, but my eyefinity is down now, I have 3xDP monitors and a DP port died on my exsisting 6970, and I need to use DP for my 24' "wings" as they are DP monitors, only my middle 27' has DVI.

I have terrible luck sometimes.

I will RMA the card when I replace it then sell it.

[BIGGRIMTIM]

I think I am going to stay away from this card also. I found this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBwDvhnaUzA of the MSI Lightning. It looks pretty nice.

[BirdOtt]

I found the following thread on SIMHQ today that indicates TSMC may have shut down their 28nm production line about 3 weeks ago!

Quote: "Very roughly 3 weeks ago, it is rumored, TSMC shut down the 28nm production line(s). The cause is not known. TSMC is saying "all will be well"."

SEE: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3534568/TSMC_Shuts_Down_28nm_Productio.html#Post3534568

SEE: http://semiaccurate.com/2012/03/07/tsmc-suddenly-halts-28nm-production/

[Exmortis]

I think I am going to stay away from this card also. I found this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBwDvhnaUzA of the MSI Lightning. It looks pretty nice.

Yep looks really slick, it is my next card for sure.

[BirdOtt]

I am considering it as well! I have all of my new PC parts except for the G-Card. I am tired of waiting for ASUS DC2T and reading about its issues. I want a single G-card with three identical monitor connections, preferably DisplayPort but Mini DisplayPort will do. I will have to buy adapters though.

The weather was great here in the Great White North today! Felt almost like spring. :)

[BirdOtt]

I placed an order for one ASUS HD7970-DC2T today at newegg.ca after receiving a notice it is now in stock. Order confirmation came in via email. It should ship within 24-48 hours. I hope I get a new improved version! :)

[BIGGRIMTIM]

I placed an order for one ASUS HD7970-DC2T today at newegg.ca after receiving a notice it is now in stock. Order confirmation came in via email. It should ship within 24-48 hours. I hope I get a new improved version! :)

Please report back once you get things up and running. I am curious what the VRM temps are I have seen reports in excess of 100C. Good luck.

[BirdOtt]

Will do. The out of stock notice went up about 3 hours after the notification came to me. I was very lucky to get my order submitted and accepted. Now I hope I am lucky enough to get a good version of this G-card.

I also picked up my new Hyundai Santa Fe today! My wife and I both like it a lot over our 9 year old Montana van. Plan to keep it for the next 10 years. :)

[Moose]

My retailer called me, my card is in! It's the Asus card, I hope I can pick it up tomorrow. Excited! But I hope this is a good card, because I don't want any frying stuff :p

[BIGGRIMTIM]

I think the new cards may be in the retail channel now as reviews at newegg are starting to look more positive.

[Moose]

I got the card! It's beast, I hope I can reïnstall my windows soon and start writing some first impressions once I have everything set up properly. Will get back to you guys.

[BIGGRIMTIM]

I got the card! It's beast, I hope I can reïnstall my windows soon and start writing some first impressions once I have everything set up properly. Will get back to you guys.

What does the back plate look like is it the solid on or the one with the space cut out for the VRM?

[Exmortis]

Gratz Moose hope it all goes well for you!

The MSI has been officially released and exected in retail next week.

http://event.msi.com/vga/lightning/r7970.html

[Exmortis]

First MSI review

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1444/pg1/msi-r7970-lightning-enthusiast-overclocked-graphics-card-review-introduction.html

[Moose]

Is there anyone else who has an Asus or soon an MSI card? If you do, please let me know. I'll post some more images soon.

Also, the card indeed has a backplate, it feels very well built and decent.

[BIGGRIMTIM]

Cards are back in stock at the egg. Not sure if I should wait for the MSI Lightning or pull the trigger on this?

[Exmortis]

That can only be answered by you.

My new Mobo will be the ASUS Z77 Maximus V Formula. I have a OCZ Revo3 for the top x4 slot, and I also have a SB XFi PCIE 1x. If the onboard sound is still a realtek codec I will keep my sound card, thus I could not CFX with a 3 slot card. So because I love options and hate being crippled, I will go with MSI Lightning for 2 slot. Just in case I want to go CFX (even though I have not run CFX since my pair of 3870s, I just must have the option.

I beleive the MSI is a better card, but thats simply my opinion, and no one elses choices should be made soley on one persons belief.

The ASUS CU cards have always been great cards, but there has been an aweful lot of issues crop up on forums, seems there are shims missing and the cooler does not make full and tight contact on the card. ASUS has refused to admit the problem, but newer cards could be fixed, maybe moose can tell us.

Last one for me is I own 2 mDP to DP cables, thus the MSI allows me to leverage these, their not cheap, so only need to buy one longer mDP to DP and I have my eyefinity back all using DP connection (NO MORE TEARING YAY!!).

Either card im sure wopudl be great, im getting ansy too, my eyefinity has been down for a few weeks now, hate looking at those dark monitors.

[Loganbacca]

HardOCP has a review of the Lightning up now as well: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/20/msi_r7970_lightning_video_card_review

Looks like the only real problem with the Lightning may be the dome on the back if you intend on running it in a crossfire setup with only double (or would that be single?) spacing between the PCI-E x16 slots, or if you have a sound card in the x1 slot that's most likely above your graphics card.

Also, fuuuuuu, look at that overclocking headroom: http://www.techpowerup.com/162729/MSI-Radeon-HD-7970-Lightning-Overclocked-to-1800-MHz-Core-7.70-GHz-Memory.html

The ASUS is a very nice looking card though.