MSI Radeon HD 6970 Lightning 2048 MB

W1zzard · Apr 7, 2011, 03:15 PM

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/M...970_Lightning/

alexsubri · Apr 13, 2011, 12:38 AM

Wait...what?! It supports CUDA & Physx?

Spaceman Spiff · Apr 13, 2011, 02:14 AM

Lol yeah, just saw that too.

Wiz under pros you got supports cuda and physx and under cons no support for cuda and physx.

Good review though. Ill stick with my reference 6970 and oc manually.

reehdus · Apr 13, 2011, 02:21 AM

just curious...how does this stack up to a powercolor 6970 hd? from what i see...the designs are pretty similar with powercolor having copper heatpipes and dual fans as well...i wonder how performance differs?

AsRock · Apr 13, 2011, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

Lol yeah, just saw that too.

Wiz under pros you got supports cuda and physx and under cons no support for cuda and physx.

Good review though. Ill stick with my reference 6970 and oc manually.

By the looks of it it's not even worth overclocking.

Spaceman Spiff · Apr 13, 2011, 04:12 AM

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/M...ghtning/7.html

For me it is. I play BC2 with Vsync on and when I get those dips under 60fps in major sequences is incredibly frustrating. Just the 940 stock on the lightning gave a reasonable boost so I'm going to try to pump some volts and get as close to 1ghz core as I can to give myself some buffer.

Radys · Apr 13, 2011, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

Lol yeah, just saw that too.

Wiz under pros you got supports cuda and physx and under cons no support for cuda and physx.

Good review though. Ill stick with my reference 6970 and oc manually.

Probably he confused his standard taglines for AMD and Nvidia. I posted this before, no reply:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...=138744&page=2

When do I see "no support for APP and open solutions" for the Nvidia reviews? No support for SLI on AMD motherboards?

pantherx12 · Apr 13, 2011, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radys

Probably he confused his standard taglines for AMD and Nvidia. I posted this before, no reply:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...=138744&page=2

When do I see "no support for APP and open solutions" for the Nvidia reviews? No support for SLI on AMD motherboards?

Whilst I kinda agree, has to be said.

Nvidia are going to start supoprt sli on amd boards.

They do support open solutions, they just push their own ones as well.

(Nvidia have better opengl support ATM)

Razi3l · Apr 13, 2011, 01:13 PM

Good card though the ASUS DCII seems better. Hey W1zzard, any chance you'll ever be reviewing that?.. Which would you say is the better card for water? (I know you probably haven't tested that but.. :P).
And why are you guys using Cata 11.1?.. Shouldn't you be using 11.4p? gives more performance.

W1zzard · Apr 13, 2011, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razi3l

any chance you'll ever be reviewing that

card has been lying here for ages, just havent had found time to review it yet

Razi3l · Apr 13, 2011, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W1zzard

card has been lying here for ages, just havent had found time to review it yet

o.O
Then I hope you can sometime test it. I don't think the extra 10Mhz will do much the only main interest is the overclocking and cooling performance. So far it has had positive feedback from other reviews and has been overclocking better than the Lightning but I'd be more interested in your review since you always max out the voltage (like a bauss xD).

tallyhoe · Apr 13, 2011, 08:46 PM

Did he disable OCP when he OC'd?
Why didn't he use 11.4 drivers?

Ryoushi · Apr 14, 2011, 12:49 PM

Can i flash the bios on my 6950 twin frozr 3?

I wasn't able to unlock shaders

tallyhoe · Apr 14, 2011, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryoushi

Can i flash the bios on my 6950 twin frozr 3?

I wasn't able to unlock shaders

Nope. Edit: Sorry, DCII and Lightnings don't from what I've read.

cadaveca · Apr 14, 2011, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tallyhoe

Nope. Only reference cards can unlock to 6970s.

My nonreference card laughs in the face of this info.

Non reference cards unlock fine. Not all, of course, but many do.

Ray_Rogers2109 · Apr 15, 2011, 09:38 PM

Still WoW? Nah, I'd rather play a MMO where the characters look more realistic instead of what WoW is. Oh wait, I will be again when I get my computer finished.

tallyhoe · May 18, 2011, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadaveca

My nonreference card laughs in the face of this info.

Non reference cards unlock fine. Not all, of course, but many do.

What model is that you have? What other companies with non-ref do you know of that unlock?

Apr 7, 2011, 03:15 PM	#1
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,766 (4.18/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,215 Times in 3,159 Posts System Specs	MSI Radeon HD 6970 Lightning 2048 MB To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/M...970_Lightning/ Last edited by W1zzard; Apr 13, 2011 at 06:10 AM.

Processor:	Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.4 GHz
Motherboard:	ASUS P8Z68-V Pro
Memory:	3x 2048 MB Mushkin DDR3
Video Card:	ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP
Hard Disk:	Crucial C300 128 GB, WD6400AAKS 640 GB, WD15EADS 1.5 TB
Optical Drive:	BenQ DW1640
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell U3011 30", 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Case:	NZXT H2
Sound Card:	On-board Realtek HD
PSU:	Kingwin Absolute Platinum 550 W
Software:	Windows 7 64-bit

Apr 13, 2011, 12:38 AM	#2
alexsubri Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 1,250 (1.04/day) Thanks: 123 Thanked 200 Times in 130 Posts System Specs	Wait...what?! It supports CUDA & Physx? __________________ Heatware Last edited by alexsubri; Apr 13, 2011 at 12:44 AM.

System Name:	AlexSuBri
Processor:	AMD 965 BE (o/c 3.8 Ghz) C3
Motherboard:	ASUS Sabertooth 990 FX (Latest BIOS Update)
Cooling:	Asetek 240mm LCLC (w/ 240mm Enermax Cooling LED Fans)
Memory:	Corsair Dominator (OEM) 4 Gigs @ 9-9-9-24
Video Card:	ATI Sapphire OC Edition 7950 @ 1085/1785 1.25v
Hard Disk:	Samsung 600 Gig HDD (Raid 0 @ 7,500)
Optical Drive:	LG 4x BluRay + DVD/R/RW Drive
CRT/LCD Model:	23'' LG LCD Flatron W2361VG 1080p @ 50,000:1
Case:	Coolmaster Storm Sniper
Sound Card:	Onboard 7.1 HD Realtek --soon getting SB X-FI
PSU:	Apevia 750 Watt
Software:	Windows 7 Home Premium 64x
Benchmarks:	My FarCry 2 Benchmark (RUNNING XFX+Powercolor 5850) crossfire: Settings: Demo(Playback (Action

Apr 13, 2011, 02:14 AM	#3
Spaceman Spiff Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 410 (0.18/day) Thanks: 188 Thanked 88 Times in 72 Posts System Specs	Lol yeah, just saw that too. Wiz under pros you got supports cuda and physx and under cons no support for cuda and physx. Good review though. Ill stick with my reference 6970 and oc manually. __________________

Processor:	i7 2700k @ 5.0 Ghz
Motherboard:	ASUS P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3
Cooling:	Watercooled - Raystorm (cpu), Aquagrafx (gpu)
Memory:	16gb G.Skill @ 1866Mhz
Video Card:	EVGA GTX 690 modded bios PT150% core=1202Mhz mem=3800mhz
Hard Disk:	Crucial M4 256gb
Optical Drive:	External
CRT/LCD Model:	ASUS VG236HE 23.6" 1920 x 1080 120hz
Case:	Lian Li PC-A05NB
Sound Card:	HT Omega Claro Halo+(LME49720NA opamps) --> AudioTechnica ATH-W1000X (Purrin's Mod + L3000 pads)
PSU:	Corsair HX850
Software:	Win7 Ultimate 64bit

Apr 13, 2011, 02:21 AM	#4
reehdus Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 16 (0.02/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	just curious...how does this stack up to a powercolor 6970 hd? from what i see...the designs are pretty similar with powercolor having copper heatpipes and dual fans as well...i wonder how performance differs?

System Name:	weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Processor:	i5 2500k \ i7 3770k
Motherboard:	ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 \ ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
Cooling:	Gemini II S524 \ XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 with Couger 1500 RPM fans\ ZM-MFC2
Memory:	Samsung 1600 16GB \ Samsung 1600 16GB
Video Card:	XFX HD6770 \ XFX 6970 w/Prolima MK-13 ( With modded 5870 VRM hrstsink )
Hard Disk:	2x intel ssd x25 G2 80GB \ OCZ Solid 3+2 Corsair Force GT's 120GB (Use HDD's for backups only
Optical Drive:	LiteOn DVD 163 \ TEAC exturnal DVD drive
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung 204B 20.1inch ( Native 12x16 ) \ Toshiba 40" HDTV ( Native 1920x1080 )
Case:	ARK Black HTPC 400BA \ None
Sound Card:	Though video card HDMI ONKYO TX-SR608 +TANNOY MERCURY F4+ Polk Audio RTI4+Polk Audio PSW505
PSU:	CoolMax CXI-600B\ PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad
Software:	Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit \Win 7
Benchmarks:	Track IR 4 Razer Blackwidow Ultimate ( rma'ed trice and same issue's ) Steelseries XAI

Apr 13, 2011, 04:12 AM	#6
Spaceman Spiff Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 410 (0.18/day) Thanks: 188 Thanked 88 Times in 72 Posts System Specs	http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/M...ghtning/7.html For me it is. I play BC2 with Vsync on and when I get those dips under 60fps in major sequences is incredibly frustrating. Just the 940 stock on the lightning gave a reasonable boost so I'm going to try to pump some volts and get as close to 1ghz core as I can to give myself some buffer. __________________

System Name:	Panther's PC
Processor:	FX8120 4.5 ghz + 0.125 volts over stock
Motherboard:	Gigabyte 990fxa ud3
Cooling:	Ek Supreme, Coolingking Tripple Thick Copper Radiator
Memory:	Hyperx 4x2gb 1600mhz
Video Card:	460 768mb : [
Hard Disk:	WD blue 500gb
CRT/LCD Model:	AOC HD
Case:	Mountain Mods U2-UFO
Sound Card:	Audigy z2
PSU:	Powercool 750w modular PSU ( GAMBLING YAY!)
Software:	Windows SEVEN
Benchmarks:	Pffft benchmarking for me is for the lulz only!

Apr 13, 2011, 01:13 PM	#9
Razi3l Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Sub-sector Aurelia Posts: 38 (0.05/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 8 Times in 3 Posts System Specs	Good card though the ASUS DCII seems better. Hey W1zzard, any chance you'll ever be reviewing that?.. Which would you say is the better card for water? (I know you probably haven't tested that but.. :P). And why are you guys using Cata 11.1?.. Shouldn't you be using 11.4p? gives more performance.

System Name:	Fireworks!
Processor:	i5-2500k @ 4.5Ghz 1.31v
Motherboard:	Biostar TP67XE
Cooling:	Antec Kuhler H20 620
Memory:	Corsair Dominator @ 1600 7-8-7-21 1T
Video Card:	2x GTX 480 \| GTX 590 \| GTX 460
Hard Disk:	SSD?
CRT/LCD Model:	22" LED
Case:	NZXT Phantom White
PSU:	Corsair HX750
Software:	Windows 7 64-bit

Apr 13, 2011, 08:46 PM	#12
tallyhoe Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 13 (0.02/day) Thanks: 1 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Did he disable OCP when he OC'd? Why didn't he use 11.4 drivers?

Apr 14, 2011, 12:49 PM	#13
Ryoushi Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 1 (0.00/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Can i flash the bios on my 6950 twin frozr 3? I wasn't able to unlock shaders Last edited by Ryoushi; Apr 14, 2011 at 01:02 PM.

System Name:	Eyefinity Gamer
Processor:	Intel i5 3570K @ 4.6 GHz
Motherboard:	ASUS Maximmus V Formula
Cooling:	Corsair H100
Memory:	16 GB G.Skill F3-2666C11Q-16GTXD
Video Card:	AMD Radeon HD7950 3GB x2 w/AMD Catalyst 12.10
Hard Disk:	OCZ Nocti 60GB mSATA, Crucial M4 120GB x2
Optical Drive:	LG BluRay/HD-DVD
CRT/LCD Model:	3x Dell U2412M
Case:	LianLi T60
Sound Card:	N/A
PSU:	Silverstone Strider 750W GOLD
Software:	Windows 8 Pro
Benchmarks:	Benchmarking is for suckers. ;)

Apr 15, 2011, 09:38 PM	#16
Ray_Rogers2109 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Santa Cruz, California Posts: 375 (0.45/day) Thanks: 256 Thanked 17 Times in 15 Posts System Specs	Still WoW? Nah, I'd rather play a MMO where the characters look more realistic instead of what WoW is. Oh wait, I will be again when I get my computer finished.

System Name:	Atomik Monkey
Processor:	AMD Phenom II X6 1100T AM3
Motherboard:	ASUS 890GX M4A89GTD USB3
Cooling:	Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1 own it; Cooler Master 120mm fans
Memory:	G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 8GB for now
Video Card:	Sapphire 100312-3L HD 6950 2GB not going to unlock. HAVE IT!
Hard Disk:	Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA 3; WD Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6 (PC Games); Seagate 500GB SATA 3
Optical Drive:	ASUS BW-12B1ST; TOSHIBA DVD/HD X807616 USB; ATAPI DH16A6L
CRT/LCD Model:	ASUS PA238Q IPS
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