Pci 3.0

[cookiemonster]

Hi I have an AMD 6970 would i notice any difference going to an AMD 7970 as my mobo has PCI 3.0 or should i wait for series 8

 

[XL-R8R]

I'd wait it out a little bit and see what performance the 8 series brings.... unless you're desperate for more frames in the games you play.

If you need more POWAHHH then you could always OC your 6970 a little to get that bit extra from it... thought about that route yet?

 

[Law-II]

Hi

this is a good read - http://www.techpowerup.com/157253/P...mance-Incentive-for-Radeon-HD-7970-Tests.html

atb (all the best)

Law-II

Edit: check out Sasqui updated link below

 

[cookiemonster]

I had though of overclocking the card but it has a stock cooler on it and it is noisy enough as it is, I priced an Artic cooler for it and that was about £50 and to me that is a bit too much as it could to towards a new card, any idea when the series 8 is due out as i would like to stick to AMD as long as there is an AMD.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

March / April or there abouts 2013

atb

Law-II

 

[XL-R8R]

I think the most economical solution would be to keep what you have now and hold out for a while to see what AMD/ATI & nVidia come up with in the near future.

You can adjust the fan speed using MSI Afterburner to a more desirable noise output level if its annoying you with the current whirling sounds.... I'm sure you're already aware of that, though.

May as well give it a go and OC it, the extra heat wont be so great so I doubt the fan will make so much more noise than it does already.

Also, what games do you currently play?

 

[cookiemonster]

Hi the main game i am playing and really enjoy is Skyrim but i have ordered the new Hitman and i am looking forward to Farcry.

 

[XL-R8R]

In Skyrim you should manage a respectable frame rate (45 - 65fps) so frame lag in that game shouldn't be a problem....

Are you getting any lag at all or just feel the nerdurge to upgrade something?


What drivers are you using?

 

[cookiemonster]

I think it's just nerdurge, I have just upgraded the mobo processor ram and put in an ssd so as you said nerdurge. I have no problems playing Skyrim or any other game, I have stuck to 12.8 drivers as i noticed skyrim got glitchy with the latest ones. I think it's time to wait till series 8.

 

[Sasqui]

Hi

this is a good read - http://www.techpowerup.com/157253/P...mance-Incentive-for-Radeon-HD-7970-Tests.html

atb (all the best)

Law-II

I remember seeing that. It left with the question if there would be any improvement with Ivy Bridge (the did the test with Sandy Bridge on an X79 Rampage IV Extreme).

So, here's a more recent review: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/07/18/pci_express_20_vs_30_gpu_gaming_performance_review/5

And it DOES indicate a decent performance jump, but probably not enough to be noticeable in most cases. Don't like the fact that they are testing against two different MBs & chipsets (P67 PCIe 2.0 vs. Z77 PCIe 3.0).

 

[XL-R8R]

If you're dying to have some kinda nerdgasm and spend a little bit on your rig then consider upgrading from onboard audio to something a little more "refined"... I'm sure you'll notice the difference if you use even semi-decent headphones or a amp/receiver of some kind.

Something like THIS would be pretty nice looking sat in your rig and sound awesome too.


Also, rip out the 6970 and clean the heatsink and while your at it, repaste it too.... if its been around for a while and you havent done this recently you could see some marginal temp decreases allowing room for that OC talked about earlier at no fan speed increase due to a more efficient cooler on the card.

 

[cadaveca]

Try using the 11.11c performance drivers for your 6970. They were the best overall for most titles that came out before then. Great for BF3, too.

linkage:

http://www.techpowerup.com/156030/AMD-Posts-Catalyst-11.11c-Performance-Driver.html

 

[cookiemonster]

Hi I did have an xfi fatality about 6 years ago but I found out I wasn't using everything that came with it so I got rid of it and I found that onboard sound was quite good, I don't know about present day cards. I will keep the 11.11c drivers in mind.

 

[cookiemonster]

Hi decided to take cover of Graphics card and I repasted it with some Zalman thermal grease that i had left from the cpu cooler, and i cleaned the fan as much as i could then put it all back together again temps went down a little but now when i play skyrim the fan sounds as if it is going into overdrive especially when the graphics get busy, any ideas or is the fan nackered.

 

[cookiemonster]

I was thinking of getting one of these Arctic Accelero Xtreme Plus II VGA Cooler as the cards fan got rather noisy last night, I think what doesn't help is the heating in the house plus the tower is right next to the cupboard where the central heating system is,it would cut the noise down and there is quite a bit of life in the card if not for me for somebody else.

 

[Widjaja]

If the fan has become noisy after cleaning and reapplying thermal paste, then it may be a re-seating issue or the fan may have been damaged some how during cleaning.

The Arctic GPU coolers are not the value for money they used to be when I had one.

See if there are any other options you can choose from.

Xigmatek possibly or Thermlright although the latter is probably going to be either around the same price as the Arctic cooler or more expensive.

 

[cookiemonster]

hi the fan was noisy before but i thought cleaning it may help but it has got louder maybe i should try a better quality thermal paste and i will look at alternative coolers, i wouldn't bother but i think the card has some life in it yet.