BlackZero
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 168 (0.03/day)
- Location
- England
System Name | Dark Armour |
---|---|
Processor | i7 2600K H2O |
Motherboard | Asus P67 Pro |
Cooling | RX360 + SR1-240 |
Memory | 8GB G.Skill |
Video Card(s) | MSI 7970 OC |
Storage | Crucial M4 SSD + 2TB HDD |
Display(s) | P243w 24" + 42lh5000 42" |
Case | TT Armor+ |
Audio Device(s) | X-Fi + 2400ES |
Power Supply | Corsair AX850 |
Software | Windows 7 x64 |
Benchmark Scores | http://hwbot.org/user/blackzero/ |
I have tried to hold out until the new cards arrive but with nothing expected for up to six months I think I'm going to order a 7970 for now and then see how the new cards do, whenever they are released. The card I'm looking at is the MSI 7970 OC, it comes overclocked to 1010Mhz, so should have a slightly better chance of being a good overclocker.
The Pros
Reference PCB
Will allow for better compatibility with water cooling blocks, also can be flashed with GHz bios.
Voltage Unlocked
Unlike an increasing number of other 7970 models, the MSI 7970 cards can be voltage tweaked, and of course we have afterburner designed primarily for MSI cards.
3 year warranty/ Better components
An extra year compared to most other brands, this will be handled by the retailer, but MSI are not that far away in Netherlands. It also apparently has higher quality components according to MSI, make what you want of that.
Price
This specific model is currently on sale at a popular retailer, it will end up costing me under £300. The retailer in question is also one I regularly use, so it also gives me a little extra peace of mind.
Free games
The card will come with sleeping dogs, hitman: absolution, and far cry 3. The games are worth a good £50 at the best prices I have seen so far, so that's clearly a big plus. I have had my eye on hitman for a while but was waiting to see how far cry 3 did before ordering. I think I'll keep hitman and sell far cry 3, that will chop another big chunk off the price in terms of cash I would have spent anyway. Sleeping dogs is of course a bonus.
The Cons
Reference like fan/ Heatsink
From what I have gathered the fan will probably not be that bad but can get a little noisy. I'm either going to add a custom water block or sell it on when newer cards are released so it shouldn't be a major issue.
I can't really think of any other cons at the moment, if anyone can think of something I have missed or knows of a better deal here in the UK, please feel free to contribute.
The Pros
Reference PCB
Will allow for better compatibility with water cooling blocks, also can be flashed with GHz bios.
Voltage Unlocked
Unlike an increasing number of other 7970 models, the MSI 7970 cards can be voltage tweaked, and of course we have afterburner designed primarily for MSI cards.
3 year warranty/ Better components
An extra year compared to most other brands, this will be handled by the retailer, but MSI are not that far away in Netherlands. It also apparently has higher quality components according to MSI, make what you want of that.
Price
This specific model is currently on sale at a popular retailer, it will end up costing me under £300. The retailer in question is also one I regularly use, so it also gives me a little extra peace of mind.
Free games
The card will come with sleeping dogs, hitman: absolution, and far cry 3. The games are worth a good £50 at the best prices I have seen so far, so that's clearly a big plus. I have had my eye on hitman for a while but was waiting to see how far cry 3 did before ordering. I think I'll keep hitman and sell far cry 3, that will chop another big chunk off the price in terms of cash I would have spent anyway. Sleeping dogs is of course a bonus.
The Cons
Reference like fan/ Heatsink
From what I have gathered the fan will probably not be that bad but can get a little noisy. I'm either going to add a custom water block or sell it on when newer cards are released so it shouldn't be a major issue.
I can't really think of any other cons at the moment, if anyone can think of something I have missed or knows of a better deal here in the UK, please feel free to contribute.
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