amazon Sapphire HD 7970 OC reviews
The Sapphire HD 7970 OC is equipped with the Radeon HD 7970 GPU, supports PCIe 3.0 interface with dual-X features. The card also supports overclocking with many options; From Sapphire TriXX Utility comes included to directly customize the GPU clock between 2 modes: BIOS 1 or BIOS 2.
Design
The Sapphire HD 7970 OC is based on the AMD Radeon HD 7970 graphics processor (codenamed Tahiti XT) with the new GCN (Graphics Core Next) graphics architecture and 28nm manufacturing technology. Compared to the old VLIW4 graphics architecture applied on the Radeon HD 6900 series GPU, the GCN architecture enhances the GPU’s multi-threaded processing capability, which can take advantage of the ability to handle multiple graphics pipelines at the same time and not significant influence on performance.
Similar to the Sapphire HD 7950 OC 950MHz Edition, the Sapphire HD 7970 OC is also overclocked by the manufacturer, so GPU clocking is at 950MHz (BIOS 1) and 1,000MHz (BIOS 2); Higher 2.7% and 8.1% respectively than the standard GPU of the Radeon HD 7950 (925MHz) GPU. The Sapphire HD 7970 OC also features 3GB of GDDR5 memory with clock speed of 1,375 MHz and 384-bit memory interface.
The Radeon HD 7970 is AMD’s highest-end monolithic graphics processor, with a TDP of about 225W. Therefore, this graphics card will need two power lines + 12V including 1 PCIe 8 pins and 1 PCIe 6 pins. As recommended by the manufacturer, readers should choose 550W or more power (real power) to ensure the power to meet the entire system.
Sapphire HD 7970 OC is 280x45x115mm and weighs about 820g. Supports next-generation PCI Express 3.0, DirectX 11.1 graphics libraries, OpenGL 4.2 and OpenCL 1.2. The Dual-X cooling system incorporates two 80mm cooling fans to ensure efficient heat dissipation as well as minimizing the noise generated during operation.
Underneath the two cooling fans are five large heatpipes, transferring heat from the GPU to the aluminum foil of the heatsink.
The actual test shows that the graphics card’s cooling system is very efficient. With 3DMark 11 graphics tests, the highest GPU temperature is 57 degrees Celsius at 100% full load, smooth running fan running at around 1,700 rpm.
Sapphire HD 7970 OC has four video outputs including DVI, HDMI 1.4a and 2 mini DisplayPort. Support for AMD HD3D video display technology and AMD Eyefinity technology to pair 4 monitors simultaneously to display images up to 4096×2160 (4K Support) resolution for gaming, movie playback Or work with multiple applications at the same time.
The card also supports CrossfireX technology, ready for game configurations or multiple graphics cards.
In addition to the usual accessories such as the CrossFire Bridge, DVI to VGA converter and two power cables (VGA Molex Power Connector), Sapphire HD 7950 OC 950MHz Edition also comes with Mini-DP to DP converter, HDMI to SL- DVI and HDMI 1.4a cables to output video signals through all monitor interfaces, TVs currently supported.
Performance
To test the power of the Sapphire HD 7970 OC graphics card, Test Lab uses a test configuration built on the Z77 BMC chipset, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit SP1 and driver (s) included. The tests include CineBench R11.5, 3DMark 11, Heaven DX11 Benchmark v3.0 and some DirectX 11 games like DiRT 3, Alien vs. Predator 1.03 and Crysis 2. The graphics card works in BIOS mode 1 (GPU 950 MHz) and results are taken an average of three runs.
With the power of the Radeon HD 7970 GPU, AMD’s highest-end monolithic graphics processor up to this point, the Sapphire HD 7970 OC gently flips through Test Lab tests with respectable scores at set Make the highest graphics.
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In the DirectX 11 multi-threaded graphics rendering engine based on the 3DMark 11 engine, the test configuration reached 8,039 points with a performance configuration of 1280×720 and reached 2,753 points with the Extreme configuration, 1920×1080 resolution; 4.2% and 6.4% higher than Sapphire HD 7950 OC 950MHz graphics card in the same test.
With Heaven Benchmark 3.0, one of the highlights of the DirectX 11 graphics library is Tessellation. In Ultra mode with the highest graphics setting (tessellation: extreme, shaders: high, 8xAA and 16xAF), the graphics card still goes far beyond the “standard” 30 fps at 54% at 46.2 fps.
Similar results for DirectX 11 games are DiRT 3, Alien vs. Predator 1.03 and Crysis 2 hardware testers, configured at 1600×1200 resolution and graphics performance pushed to the Ultra, the Sapphire HD 7970 OC demonstrates the power of the graphics card line. pair. For example, with Crysis 2, 1600×1200 resolution and Extreme graphics quality, the average result was 46.65 fps (highest frame rate was 60.6 fps and lowest was 29.8 fps.)
Unfortunately, when switching to BIOS 2 (1,000 MHz GPU clock), the frame rate and frame rate (fps) increase slightly; Even some test results are a bit lower than when configuring BIOS 1.
Analyze and compare the values of the Sapphire HD 7970 OC recorded during the test with the 0.6.2 GPU-z utility found in overclocking mode (BIOS2), the GPU clock can be reached 1,000MHz; In accordance with information Sapphire announced. However, with 3DMark 11, 1920×1080 resolution and Extreme graphics settings. The GPU-z records show that even at 100% full load, the highest GPU clock is 950MHz; Equivalent to BIOS 1. Therefore, the score and frame rate (fps) between BIOS configuration 1 and BIOS 2 differed negligibly.
Practical experience shows that this error due to the graphics card firmware is not optimal and they often happen with graphics cards that support overclocking directly through the switch between the two BIOSes. To fix this, just update the firmware from the manufacturer’s website.
