Easy question, yes or no, simple as that.No need to answer, just vote. Members only, poll for 30 days.
I am very happy with my 7970s crysis 3 is the only thing that slows these badboys down, but its kind of nice to know it slows everything else down too, including the titan
few performance issues. on a couple levels, that will be fixed by a patch. Swaying ropes causes huge dip in fps on 1st lvl
Gigabyte 7970 has good cooling capabilities and is less noisy than stock. MSI 7970 (reference) is built like a tank, and is one of several voltage unlocked models currently. Epic performance, epic OC potential, almost never run into any serious issues (apart from CrossFire microstutter where I applied VSync and eliminated it). VRAM? Pfft, I never look at VRAM usage. I'm not worried :nerd: Have them on water.
Since I am done with my heavy and risky cooling mod (mid 2012). I am happy like puppy. VRMs never goes over 80°C and GPU stays bellow 65°C.
yes, I been happy with my HD 7950 since I moved from GTX 460 SLi to one card, Since I bought it early last year.
I had reference HD7970, took passive heatsink and de-soldered copper vapor chamber from it. WARNING: Vapor chamber contains most likely bit toxic stuff, but it has to be open before you heat it, otherwise you risk explosion. And tin used melts above 180°C. Which in case of explosion will have similar effect like Steam Locomotive explosion. And I am pretty sure you do not want super heated gas anywhere near your body/face. And some hard flying peaces too. Then I used Arctic Cooling 2component compound mixture, which is being usually used to stick heat sinks to memories. They have 15minutes version and 5 minutes version (1min. to mix, 3to apply, 1to solidify and 5 minutes wait and it's ready). And easy removable soft vs non-removable hard one. 5minutes Hard is pretty dangerous stuff for such complex work since it gives you only one shot. I advice to use 15minutes soft or just regular thermal pads. But before even sticking it back on board you have to do some cutting. Half ring which is around power cables obstructed my Accelero passive. And I had to cut it around GPU to make space for mounting holes. Those small heat sinks which are from Arctic are really not capable to cool VRMs.
You're awesome for sharing this! I have a question, though. What about the Arctic Cooling 2 component mixture? You mentioned an easily removeable soft one vs a non-removeable hard one. Can you link me to both products please? Me and a friend have been looking for removeable thermal adhesive for a very long time now. I've contacted Arctic about their discontinued G1 glue and they said they're developing a newer product. They also said that applying the thermal adhesive they provide with the Accelero coolers (e.g Accelero 7970), sparingly, makes it easy to still pop off the heatsinks and remove the adhesive. May I also recommend the Alpenfohn VRAM and VRM heatsinks as they are awesome for the job. I read in a thread that they had reduced VRM temps from 85 on 100% fan (Accelero) to 75 on Auto fan over the Arctic heatsinks! Thanks.
Soft one and easily removable is that which comes with Accelero. Hard one and short timed is: http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_thermal_adhesive.htm Really good if you want to glue heat sink to chipset and you do not ever intend to remove it. And this one is short timed non removable too: http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_alumina_thermal_adhesive.htm Ones which comes with Coolers are here: http://www.arcticsilver.com/epoxy.htm 15 minutes: MCSE - Medium Cure Silver Epoxy 15 minutes: MCCE - Medium Cure Ceramic Epoxy (I believe I used this one) You should be cautious about it, so mix small amount and let's say glue some old heat sink to another one. Wait one day for it to totally sit and then deattach it, it should be soft and you should have no problem to remove it. Based on what I read it should hold for 10 years.
But to be honest, I got Accelero because I believed they know what they are doing. They seriously have no idea. Now I would not get another one again. I would go for water cooled solution since it is better for every part of card and it does not take 3 slots. And 2 or more cards in one loop just look sweet.