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

[Moose]

By the way, you've added the 7970 DC2T 3GD5 instead of the 7970 DC2 3GD5. Here's a comparison link (dutch website)

Would you reckon it's worth the 15 bucks? I can overclock graphics cards myself, but there's always a risk that you're going to screw up.

[ViciousXUSMC]

I am not entirely sure its the connection interface responsible for the tearing (aka "the line") on the older cards, it was more to do with the internal clock stuff (hard for me to explain but it was the reason why despite my 5970 having 4 connections only 3 could be live a a given time and people had to use "active" adapters.

I have had the tearing take place on all 3 of my monitors at random based on various drivers, settings all the while never changing the actual physical connection to my gpu. I ran 2xDP and 1xDVI and thus did not even use any adapters I got Dell U2410 specifically for this reason of having native connections.

I suppose having a bad adapter could induce or worsen the problem though.

For me to get rid of it the best thing for me to do was definitely not overclock my cards, didn't matter how stable the OC was even a very minor OC caused the tearing to worsen at exponential levels. I do not notice it anymore so I guess one day it just went away on its own, but I did not notice when it went away. Perhaps most logically when I replaced my old Q6600 and P45 motherboard with a i7 2600K and a P8P67 motherboard.

[Haldi]

You can Damage a Card with overclocking? Ah common. If you don't overdo it there's a 0.005% chance your card get damaged by overclocking! And it's physically not possible to check if a GPU was OC'ed or not!
But it's worth it! From 925mhz to 1100mhz is around 30% Performance increase!

[player-x]

I would be in no hurry to buy a new card till the GTX680 is out, and AMD is no longer asking for the "Biggest bad ass" bonus anymore.

I never buy video cards when they come out, because very often they drop in price, I learned my lesson years ago, with two 3Dfx Voodoo 2 cards i got for 300 euro a pop, and after 2 weeks they dropped below 200 euro.

Now i wait till there are no shortages anymore and there is a health competition.

I my self will, (even do i would seriously consider nVidia cards, specially because better SLI support), buy properly first 2 bit properly 3 (because of less problems with micro shutters), and maybe even 4 of these cards and slap a water block on them.

Whit in March/April nVidia will come wit its card's till then i wait en see ^_^

[player-x]

You can Damage a Card with overclocking? Ah common. If you don't overdo it there's a 0.005% chance your card get damaged by overclocking!

Actually every card is waring out when in use, OCing just speeds up the process, but good cooling will help slowdown the process.

And it's physically not possible to check if a GPU was OC'ed or not!

I actually wish they would put temp changing paint on the back of the card ware the GPU sits, as i really don't care that mouths about buying a second hand OCed card, i do mind, buying a thermal stressed one!

But it's worth it! From 925mhz to 1100mhz is around 30% Performance increase!

A 925mhz to 1100mhz is more like a up to 20% Performance increase.

Got my self 3 5870 Matrix card i OCed from 850MHz standard clock to 1130MHz and i have also max low 20s percent performance boost.

Tho these 7970s specially with good card like these will properly do about 1.4~1.5GHz on water.

[BHawthorne]

I would be in no hurry to buy a new card till the GTX680 is out, and AMD is no longer asking for the "Biggest bad ass" bonus anymore.

I never buy video cards when they come out, because very often they drop in price, I learned my lesson years ago, with two 3Dfx Voodoo 2 cards i got for 300 euro a pop, and after 2 weeks they dropped below 200 euro.

Now i wait till there are no shortages anymore and there is a health competition.

I my self will, (even do i would seriously consider nVidia cards, specially because better SLI support), buy properly first 2 bit properly 3 (because of less problems with micro shutters), and maybe even 4 of these cards and slap a water block on them.

Whit in March/April nVidia will come wit its card's till then i wait en see ^_^

NVIDIA is worthless for anything other than 3x1L. Until they get their act together for feature set, they don't have my money. If I'm to wait, it'll be the for Sapphire E6 6GB card. NVIDIA has not put anything into the rumor mill to lead me to believe they have any intent on improving NVIDIA Surround for the next series of cards. NVIDIA Surround is pretty much a farce of AMD Eyefinity 1.0...never mind 2.0 that is just rolling out.

[Wijkert]

By the way, you've added the 7970 DC2T 3GD5 instead of the 7970 DC2 3GD5. Here's a comparison link (dutch website)

Would you reckon it's worth the 15 bucks? I can overclock graphics cards myself, but there's always a risk that you're going to screw up.

I would almost always buy the oc version of a card, since manufactures use higher bind chips for them. On everage this means that when you overclock a oc version, you will get higher maximum clocks.

I would be in no hurry to buy a new card till the GTX680 is out, and AMD is no longer asking for the "Biggest bad ass" bonus anymore.

I never buy video cards when they come out, because very often they drop in price, I learned my lesson years ago, with two 3Dfx Voodoo 2 cards i got for 300 euro a pop, and after 2 weeks they dropped below 200 euro.

Now i wait till there are no shortages anymore and there is a health competition.

I my self will, (even do i would seriously consider nVidia cards, specially because better SLI support), buy properly first 2 bit properly 3 (because of less problems with micro shutters), and maybe even 4 of these cards and slap a water block on them.

Whit in March/April nVidia will come wit its card's till then i wait en see ^_^

You are worried about paying an premium price for cards that have just been released, but you are ok with buying 4 of them later on. That doesn't make sense at all, imo.

[Moose]

Player-x, I'm sorry, but your post doesn't contribute to the thread at all.

Wijkert, my thoughts exactly. I'd go for the OC too. I'm just wondering, are you getting this card as well? It would be nice to share some experiences and maybe write an article for WSGF.

[Wijkert]

Wijkert, my thoughts exactly. I'd go for the OC too. I'm just wondering, are you getting this card as well? It would be nice to share some experiences and maybe write an article for WSGF.

Currently I am leaning towards the 7950 OC from Sapphire. I agree with you though that this Asus is geared more towards the wsgf member, since it can support up to 6 monitors. Just figured out that I can run my tv of my Integrated Graphics, which means that I no longer need a HDMI port on my gpu, so choices choices...

[Moose]

Aren't you worried about tearing? I mean, with three displayport displays (according to your Sig) at least one of them will be connected to a DVI/HMDI port via an adapter, and that means you'll get the dreaded line, or also called tearing. Am I right?

[Wijkert]

Aren't you worried about tearing? I mean, with three displayport displays (according to your Sig) at least one of them will be connected to a DVI/HMDI port via an adapter, and that means you'll get the dreaded line, or also called tearing. Am I right?

You are probably right. As long as they are not on my primary monitor, I don't even notice tearing. Currently have 2xdvi and 1xdp and that works just fine. So yes there will be some tearing, but no it won't bother me.

[Moose]

You are probably right. As long as they are not on my primary monitor, I don't even notice tearing. Currently have 2xdvi and 1xdp and that works just fine. So yes there will be some tearing, but no it won't bother me.

You have just dismissed the biggest problem I've encountered in my quest for the best GPU as it is nothing. Since I have never encountered tearing myself, I cannot be sure if it'll bother me. I mean, I even get bothered if I play without AA. That's why I still don't have a GPU after all these months. And you're just: nah, whatever, tearing is not even noticeable. I'm confused :tired:

[Wijkert]

You have just dismissed the biggest problem I've encountered in my quest for the best GPU as it is nothing. Since I have never encountered tearing myself, I cannot be sure if it'll bother me. I mean, I even get bothered if I play without AA. That's why I still don't have a GPU after all these months. And you're just: nah, whatever, tearing is not even noticeable. I'm confused :tired:

Why are you searching for so long for a card that doesn't have tearing without even knowing if it bothers you? Anyway, the point I want to make is that while gaming on triple screens you stare at your middle monitor for 99% of the time. Even if both peripheral monitors have tearing, you wont notice it. The reason why it is so immersive is that although you don't look at the peripheral monitors, they will 'trick' your brain into believing that you are really in the gaming environment. This is also why bezels seem so annoying when your look at a setup, but when you are using it, it seems as if they are not there. Put on a pair of (sun)glasses en have them on long enough and you will not see the frame anymore.

[Moose]

That is a very good explanation! However, I now have the chance to get rid of the tearing completely by buying the Asus. I mean, that's even better right? It doesn't cost a 100+ bucks more, like a 6990, and you get 3GB VRAM. I think I'll regret it if I do not buy the Asus, even if I might never notice the tearing. What do you reckon? (I don't need a HDMI port for my tv)

[Haldi]

There is still NO guarante that you will get Tearing! And even if that small possibility shoul happen, cant' you bring the card back because of insufficent quality of the Product?

@Project-x
Yeah, shure you shouldn't overheat a GPU!
Oh, and did you know that XFX Dual Dissapation Cards get 103C hot on the back site? Reference design is 80C. So that would Mark all XFX cards right from the begin.

[Wijkert]

I would indeed recommend the asus to you. It makes you limited in your choices though (e.g. if its not in stock you have to wait). Also, the CUII cooler isn't the best cooler, its cheap though. Twin frozr/sapphire oc/windforce and powercoler ones are better. Besides it takes up three slots instead of two. The price and the connection is what makes this card interesting.

[Moose]

There is still NO guarante that you will get Tearing! And even if that small possibility shoul happen, cant' you bring the card back because of insufficent quality of the Product?

Well, I've got three DVI/HDMI monitors, so if I pick a regular 7970 I'd have to use adapters, and until now everyone that uses adapters has the line. If you have 'evidence' that the new 7000 series don't have that, please share with me

[mattsimis]

I already said I use an adapter and Ive no idea what this tearing is about. I cannot believe you are out to solve a problem you have never experienced and most people dont even see. Besides the adapter only changes the mechanical aspect of the connection, DP transmits a DVI type signal when a single link passive DP-DVI adapter is connected (same signal x3), outside a problem with the adapter, the card has no idea anything has changed.

Im also using 2 different monitor types, my middle 24" is an S-PVA panel, sides are TNs.

Fill me in here, what and where is this bad tearing problem Im meant to see?

[Bifurk8]

It's too bad there's usually no convenient way to try Eyefinity before you buy. Bezels bother some people, but not others. Likewise, some people want 30 FPS while others need 60 FPS for things to seem smooth. Some people want v-sync and others don't care about tearing from v-sync being disabled. Lot's of folks care about anti-aliasing, but some don't. Micro-stuttering bugs a lot of folks, but I hardly ever notice it (some games are worse than others).

I think you're in the same boat. There's no way to know if tearing will bother you or not. I run 2x 5870's at 6052x1080 bezel-compensated on 2 X DVI ports and 1 native display port and I've never noticed any tearing. But, I'm also the kind of guy that doesn't mind v-sync disabled tearing (I can see it, but usually am not bothered by it).

[BHawthorne]

It's a bit silly, because you have no context or real frame of reference on taring. Taring is inconsequential IMHO.