Tuesday, March 20th 2012

MSI Radeon HD 7970 Lightning Overclocked to 1800 MHz Core, 7.70 GHz Memory

If you thought MSI made too much song and dance about the product design of its R7970 Lightning, particularly the GPU Reactor module, think again. When augmented with liquid nitrogen cooling, the card has the electrical muscle required to sustain 1.7V, and facilitate a staggering 1800 MHz core clock speed, with 1925 MHz memory (7.70 GHz GDDR5 effective), churning out a gargantuan memory bandwidth of close to 370 GB/s, all thanks to the genius of Swedish proverclocker Elmor.

This R7970 Lightning on 'roid-rage was stable enough to bag a 3DMark 11 (performance preset) score of P15035 points. The rest of the test-bed consisted of an Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition six-core chip clocked at 5207 MHz, with 4 GB (4x 1 GB) DDR3 memory clocked at 2314 MHz, and MSI Big Bang XPower II motherboard, to seat it all. Perhaps this is an indication that AMD Radeon HD 7900 can work wonders on potent non-reference designs, such as MSI's R7970 Lightning.
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74 Comments on MSI Radeon HD 7970 Lightning Overclocked to 1800 MHz Core, 7.70 GHz Memory

#51
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
DarkOCeanI'd do that only problem is i dont have a dime right now.
Ill be building a rig later this year, Probably a Refresh of the 7 series inside
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#52
Fairlady-z
Yes yes yes....but can it play Crysis...oh wait that was 5 years ago lol. This is neat, but id probably burn my face off with LN lol.
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#53
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
There you go, added picture of Elmor's beast.
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#55
1Kurgan1
The Knife in your Back
cadavecaThat's great. Not everyone holds the same opinion as you, and just because you do not agree, doesn't make you or them right either. The fact that people don't agree on the subject should point you to how niche it really is. It's not like everyone here is rocking the latest greatest, so clearly not everyone has uses for this sort of stuff. Majority here doesn't even have current-gen VGAs, CPUs, or anything else.
My point was more this seems to be only a computer thing. Anytime I watch videos or hear about these insane cars, I don't hear people saying anything about it not being a daily driver. Just kind of puzzling as theres a lot more gear heads out there than there is tech heads, and with the larger audience they still seem to have an understanding of what a world record means. I'm not saying others aren't allowed their opinions, I'm just putting the reasoning out there behind mine. Like I said earlier, discounting this is like opening up a Guinness and discounting it all because everyone can't accomplish those goals.

By the same reasoning, not everyones hardware is current like you said. So we shouldn't post news about new products as it doesn't effect most of the readers here. News is news, if I see a headline that doesn't interest me, I move on, I don't pop in to complain about it usually, and it seems all too common that others do. People are just too negative these days.
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#56
EarthDog
+1 ^^.

But they get paid to post news... and on top of that, it creates controversy as it has little to do with the demographic, which creates posts, which create more page views which creates more money for the site.
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#57
cadaveca
My name is Dave
Point taken, 1Kurgan1. Personally I see it as feedback towards a lack of marketing directly to "average" users, who are the majority. Your analogy about gearheads might be apt though, altohugh I think there's a bit more brand loyalty i nthe PC market, as nearly every segment, as I said before is highly polarized. It's Intel, or AMD; nVidia, or AMD; LN2 clocking, or not. :laugh: It's not negativity, it's fanboyism, which is WAAY more eveident in the PC market.


Nice to see that elmor used an MSI motherboard too! Thanks for adding the pic BTA.
EarthDogwhich create more page views which creates more money for the site.
Traffic is good, but I don't think traffic really relates to more money here...there's no ads in the forum. ;)
Posted on Reply
#59
EarthDog
cadavecaPoint taken, 1Kurgan1. Personally I see it as feedback towards a lack of marketing directly to "average" users, who are the majority. Your analogy about gearheads might be apt though, altohugh I think there's a bit more brand loyalty i nthe PC market, as nearly every segment, as I said before is highly polarized. It's Intel, or AMD; nVidia, or AMD; LN2 clocking, or not. :laugh: It's not negativity, it's fanboyism, which is WAAY more eveident in the PC market.


Nice to see that elmor used an MSI motherboard too! Thanks for adding the pic BTA.



Traffic is good, but I don't think traffic really relates to more money here...there's no ads in the forum. ;)
News articles are on the front page, people look at them through the forums if they dont land on the front page first............which = front page views = Moneh or more advertisers due to page hits, alexa ranks, etc. ;)

And there are PLENTY of gear heads with brand loyalty/fanboyisn.. I used to be one when I had time... though I was a 'ricer'. Plenty of Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Honda people around and trust me, they are just as loyal as the PC industry.
Posted on Reply
#60
cadaveca
My name is Dave
EarthDogAnd there are PLENTY of gear heads with brand loyalty/fanboyisn.. I used to be one when I had time... though I was a 'ricer'. Plenty of Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Honda people around and trust me, they are just as loyal as the PC industry.
Sure, but in cars, there are more brand options.
Posted on Reply
#61
Jonap_1st
30% increase w/ air cooling is absolutely amazing, you can beat 6990 or even 6970 on crossfire.

i dont get a it, if there's someone who wants to try using LN2 setup for 24/7? who wants to pouring LN2 every 5 - 10 seconds for 24/7? that guy must be an idiot..

if it's true (it seems to be..) that 100Mhz clock increase on 7970 would bring 10% faster performance, try to get watercooling. maybe you can push it to 1,4k or even 1,5k. that's 50% faster than regular 7970 and barely match 580 SLI. and also with watercooling, you surely can run it 24/7 since it's much more convenient than LN2 setup..
Posted on Reply
#62
EarthDog
cadavecaSure, but in cars, there are more brand options.
Whats that have to do with the price of rice in China? :slap:

The blatently obvious point was that there are fanboy's with cars too ;). Doesnt matter if there are 10 brands or two, they are fanboys and are just as loyal even with MORE choices further supporting my point.
Jonap_1sti dont get a it, if there's someone who wants to try using LN2 setup for 24/7? who wants to pouring LN2 every 5 - 10 seconds for 24/7? that guy must be an idiot..
LN2 is not a 24/7 solution...it was never intended to be. Its for benchmarking for a couple hours at a time. Those idiots do not exist.


Back on topic, I still didnt see that reactor core in the screenshot... was it used?
Posted on Reply
#63
cadaveca
My name is Dave
EarthDogWhats that have to do with the price of rice in China? :slap:

The blatently obvious point was that there are fanboy's with cars too. ;)
Just like it's blatantly obvious that those that aren't into LN2 are gonna comment and say they don't care.


ANd now that we've come full circle, let's move on. :laugh:


I wanna see more pics of these cards running, and more benches, hopefully showing what the GPU Reactor adds, if anything, to daily running, whether it be one water or air.
Posted on Reply
#64
jaredpace
Hayder_MasterWTF it's core 2 duo speed, LOL
haha:toast:
Posted on Reply
#65
EarthDog
cadavecaJust like it's blatantly obvious that those that aren't into LN2 are gonna comment and say they don't care.
Preaching to the chior. That was Kurgan(?) making that point... not me. :)

EDIT: I bet Neliz knows if the reactor was on there....
Posted on Reply
#66
Jonap_1st
EarthDogWhats that have to do with the price of rice in China? :slap:

The blatently obvious point was that there are fanboy's with cars too ;). Doesnt matter if there are 10 brands or two, they are fanboys and are just as loyal even with MORE choices further supporting my point.


LN2 is not a 24/7 solution...it was never intended to be. Its for benchmarking for a couple hours at a time. Those idiots do not exist.


Back on topic, I still didnt see that reactor core in the screenshot... was it used?
wanting to achieve that clocks for 24/7, maybe (or surely) none of those idi*ts were exist. i'm just pointing at some people who *prefering* to be like that..
Posted on Reply
#67
m1dg3t
cadavecaJust like it's blatantly obvious that those that aren't into LN2 are gonna comment and say they don't care.
I don't really care about LN2 or benching myself for that matter but as i mentioned earlier i still like to see people pushing hardware to the max! :rockout:
cadavecaANd now that we've come full circle, let's move on. :laugh:


I wanna see more pics of these cards running, and more benches, hopefully showing what the GPU Reactor adds, if anything, to daily running, whether it be one water or air.
+1
Posted on Reply
#68
cadaveca
My name is Dave
Found some pics(credit goes to OC_Windforce):






Looks like VRM LEDs indicate loading, nice, gonna match well with MSI board LEDs and Corsair AirFLOW PRO:eek::




Nice touch addng an extended Crossfire bridge in the box rather than one of the shorter ones, too. The more I see of this card, the more I want it. Dammit:banghead: :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#69
EarthDog
Its so sexy....

Im not one for bling, but this does look cool.

I still wish, for the extreme benching crowd, we can know if that GPU reactor fits with a GPU pot...I hate to say it, but if it cant (and didnt for Elmore's run), kind of shows its not really needed if even on DI/LN2 you are hitting 1800Mhz...
Posted on Reply
#71
radrok
I'd be tempted to chill bananas and break them on a desk with LN2 :D, anyway it's not safe to keep such thing because of Jason X :roll:

Awesome clocks, this feat mustn't make you think of anything else other than the marvelous engineering put on this card PCB, this is what I get out of WRs, more than scores alone :)

On another note: MSI please make a Lightning edition of the upcoming HD 7990, dual GPUs need more love.
Posted on Reply
#72
naram-sin
theubersmurfFor the largest part I agree with you, but at 1800 core I'm a little more interested, it says something about potential 24/7 clocks...sort of, if those clocks come close to scaling w/ temp fairly well.
Meaning you'll settle nicely with I dunno... 1500 MHz @ -70°C? :D Just joking... who knows, someday, maybe in a retirement home, we'll make do with 2GHz GPU under stock cooling...:cool:

Actually, I just can't wait to see this compared to 680 :D
Posted on Reply
#73
neliz
EarthDogIts so sexy....

Im not one for bling, but this does look cool.

I still wish, for the extreme benching crowd, we can know if that GPU reactor fits with a GPU pot...I hate to say it, but if it cant (and didnt for Elmore's run), kind of shows its not really needed if even on DI/LN2 you are hitting 1800Mhz...
GPU Reactor is installed with LN2, just use paper tissues on the back against condensation, you can easily push the pins through the paper.

first-hand experience.
Posted on Reply
#74
EarthDog
Thats awesome.... :)

Thanks Neliz for the confirmation.
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