MSI's high end card is
as fast as they come.
When the
AMD Radeon HD7970 first came out, it was billed as one of the most powerful
cards available in consumer space. Since then, there have been many variants of
the graphics powerhouse, and this month, we take a look at MSI's own R7970
Lightning graphics card.
What MSI
has done here is that they've thrown away the stock cooling setup, and instead
opted for its very own Twin Frozr IV dual 100mm fan units, which is a lot more
effective in keeping the card cooler. An extra feature included in the Twin
Frozr IV cooling system is its dust removal system, which blows away dust
lodged in the heatsink whenever you start your computer.
MSI Radeon R7970 Lightning
A cooler
graphics card also allows for bigger overclocking capacity, and this is made
true via MSI's own Afterburner overclocking utility, that allows its users to
tinker with the voltage, core and memory speeds, helping users get more bang
for their buck.
Using a
14+2+1 phase PWM power solution, the R7970 is powered by two 8-pin PCIE power
plugs, and at its peak, uses over 350 watts of power, so those who want to buy
this card may want to also consider getting a power supply unit that can
support this sort of power consumption.
It is quite
surprising to see that MSI saw fit to completely let go of VGA and HDMI
connectivity, opting instead for two DVI ports and four mini DisplayPorts. It's
a little baffling.
In terms of
performance, we can see all the Tahiti cores being put to good use. Benchmark
scores shot through the roof as games also run past the recommended FPS count
with ease. There is little to nothing to complain about on the performance end
as even at full load, the R7970 runs cool and relatively silent at the same
time.
We should
also mention that the card, measuring in at about 11 inches in length, will not
be able to fit into an ordinary ATX casing, and will require at least a mid
tower chassis to comfortably fit inside your computer.
“If you can
look past the power consumption of the MSI R7970 Lightning, it's easy to see
that this card is a beast. If you can afford it, this card is most likely to
keep you steady for the next three or four years easily, if you look at the
long term investments that can be made with this card. Our only gripe though?
If you want to CrossFireX this card you'll probably need a separate power
supply unit just for that.”
Interestingly enough, MSI did not include any HDMI ports to the R7970
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Detais
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Price
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TBA
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Manufacturer
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MSI
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Info
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my.msi.com
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Specifications
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Chipset
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AMD
Radeon HD 7970
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Core
Clock Speed
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1070MHz
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Memory
Size
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3GB DDR5
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Ratings
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Performance
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Features
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Cooling
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Graphics
powerhouse Cool and silent - high power consumption No HDMI ports
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Benchmark
results
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3DMark11
(Performance)
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10,233
points
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3DMark11
(Extreme)
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4,219
points
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Unigine
Heaven
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95 fps
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