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Product ReviewsPowercolor Radeon HD 7970 925MHZ 3GB 5.5GBPS GDDR5 V3 DVI HDMI 2XMINIDP PCI-E Video Card
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With 21 User Reviews
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 Rating: Review Date: 11/03/13  |
Cons: Graphical glitches probably due to amd's drivers. Simple fix seems to be using V-Sinc. I define 'graphical glitches' as the following1) random blocks of colors flashing in random places on screen2) random blocks/lines of black/grey (like the fuzz on a tube tv when you change it to channel 3 with no input)The fan side of the card is really decorative and has some blue color. When you put it in my case you can't see the cards cool stuffs. I didn't want blue in my case anyway, only white and blak.
Pros: Quiet, good cooling, quality fans (I hope). Very powerful, Great price, great FPS. |
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Rating: Review Date: 10/13/13 |
Cons: I have the card for a month and the price drops even more
Pros: Great performance in BF3, and the BF4 beta as well Comment:
I bought this card in anticipation for the BF4 Beta, and it works well with my 8350. Some settings had to be dropped to medium in order to maintain 60 fps. |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/14/13 |
Cons: the hot air is not concentrated out the back of the card
Pros: looks cool, and its fast Comment:
Picked up this card for folding. It's working 24/7 full throttle and has been producing points like mad. I have the fans on 90% and the temps are around 55c in a 23c room.Overclocks easily to 1025/1425 so far no crashing. |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/11/13 |
Cons: Card is "flimsy". PCB twists and bends with very little force applied. This is worrisome. A quality product shouldn't be this flexible.
Pros: Easy card install. Easy driver install. Pumps out more FPS and is quieter than the 570 it replaced. Similar temps. 289.99 after MIR is an excellent price. Comment:
My last ATI/AMD card was almost ten years ago, been a member of team green for quite a few years. Couldn't resist the clearance prices we are seeing on the 7000 series right now. Overall this card has been a generally positive experience. Will consider another AMD card when I'm finished with this one.The only thing that truly bothers me about this particular card (and why I docked a star) is the way the PCB flexes. I've owned over a dozen video cards of various makes and models and have never, ever, seen one bend and flex like this one does.It bends even when securely mounted in the case. Wow. Somebody (not naming names) turned into a serious cheapskate when it came time to buy the PCB's.Put a water block on this thing at your own risk. I wouldn't.Also, at the moment AMD is running the Never Settle Forever promotion. Buying this card allows you to select three free games from a list that AMD has made. Beware, some of the promo codes AMD is handing out are invalid (of my three game codes, two were good). An email to support will result in you getting a generic auto reply stating that it could take up to two business days to fix the error. |
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Rating: Review Date: 08/16/13 |
Cons: Fan shroud design could be better
Pros: OverclockabilityFan noise Comment:
Currently running 24/7 under 100% load overclocked to 1042 Core/1496 mem with Catalyst 13.4 drivers. Volted to 1.09VDDC from stock of 1.175vddc. Temps run around 75-80C in an 30C ambient temp room, fans set to run at 69%. Noise is bearable at this speed, quieter than my Bitfenix 20cm fan. Overall I am extremely impressed with this. Planning on picking up a few more if possible.Only change I would make is to have better ventilation for the fan, currently pulls from top and exhausts all around the PCB instead of directing air flow in one direction. |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/16/13 |
Cons: None that I have come across.
Pros: Everything that you want and more. Comment:
I have had this card for just over 3 months now, it has played any and all games I've thrown its way (from Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite to Sleeping Dogs, Batman Arkham City, Darksiders 2 and more...) at their max settings with no problems at all. Dual fans keep card nice and cool (At 50% mine idles at 20C and when gaming hovers around 60C.) |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/11/13 |
Cons: Read the summary
Pros: No need for overclock and you can run ALL games (as far as I know) on max settings; like a boss. Comment:
Though I said I owned this for 4 days so far, I've spent each and every one of them on web trying to find the reason why it keeps shutting my computer down randomly. Apparently, it's not very friendly with my i5 760 processor with an Intel stock cooler so the CPU overheats like crazy. Now I gotta spend more money on a new cooler.Would've given it a 1 star if I still can't pinpoint the problem by end of today....Otherwise, it can max out Crysis 3 in 1680:1050 resolution and makes victories so much sweeter.Now I just want to know if this card can last as long as my previous card (Radeon HD 5770 by Diamond; lasting 3 years and counting) |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/05/13 |
Cons: -None
Pros: -Quiet-Great power-Great build quality Comment:
Bought this for about ~$360 and it is working great. Runs all games I play on max settings and doesn't heat over 64C (idles o ~30C), paired with my i5-3570k. |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/02/13 |
Cons: long length - as expected in this market
Pros: incredible performance, decent fan silence, great value Comment:
A video card review is probably the epitome of enthusiast hardware reviews so I hope I do this one justice. This card is a true winner in all aspects we look at in such a device. At the time of purchase, it was priced as low as some nVidia GTX 660ti's (not even including bonus games bundle value) but represents the top tier of single GPU performance surpassing it by a healthy margin. A much more expensive GTX 680 would be in the same league for performance. Amongst other AMD Radeon 7970s, Powercolor tends to be of the least expensive as well, despite using the same reference boards as everyone else.Overclocking the GPU was only limited to my courage; maxing out the sliders in Catalyst software was not a problem at all. On stock voltages and cooling, I still haven't found the stability limit for the GPU, but the GDDR5 RAM starts making artifacts under full load at ~1800MHz for me (well past what Catalyst allows ;).Kudos to Powercolor's *standard* fansink for keeping the unit cool under hours of full load and the only time the default automatic setting requires 100% is when it is ~30°C in the room. And at that level, the sound level is easily tolerable even without an enclosed case. Early in my ownership, I even ran the fans at that speed preemptively for longevity, extra reliability, but it was unnecessary as it operated no differently when it slowed itself to withstand over 90°C. Just be careful not to touch those exposed copper heatpipes when it does! (This product line is also available with 3-slot thick Vortex II fansink and liquid cooling block LCS)Ironically, I haven't taken advantage of all that high spec power nor more than 2 of available 6 outputs to play any games with this card. I've gone as far as benchmarking it to estimate how much it trounces my setup on SLI. If it means anything, I use it for more compute intense activity (OpenCL) on it such as foldingqhome, which are more torturous loads on the GPU and VRAM than gaming. 3D games were never its intended purpose. I've made the mistake of attempting to install this long card directly into a PCI-e slot and which was also mounted inside a *basic* ATX mid-tower as it doesn't really clear the drive cage. It was a mistake because that could reseat the fansink's base and TIM and/or bend the microfins. The only detrimental effects on it so far are some scuff marks on the shroud. I'll leave the card attached so its fans face the outside of that case for better ventilation. Since it appears to be designed not solely for rear expulsion, the best orientation for me was on a nude rig, card's bottom resting on the motherboard, such that all 4 sides are free to exhaust hot air. That might sound unusual but elaborating what I did here is outside the scope of this review. Maybe if NCIX starts selling some overclocker enthusiast products for those that need to install, safely/properly ventilate and power 4 to 7 GPU cards on a single mobo, then I might be buying and writing about them here. Who trips their circuit breaker because of too much GPU power? *raises hand* :) |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/18/13 |
Cons: Really none so far, can get kinda loud I guess But I dont hear anything With Headphones on.
Pros: Fast, Relatively Cheap, Did I say Fast? Comment:
Got this for about $380 With about 4 Free games, which can run all of them on max for a joke, although I find myself playing less demanding games lately :P. I would recommend this to anyone really, It will keep its value up with the next-gen systems so its a worry free upgrade thats the way I looked at it. |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/12/13 |
Cons: none so far
Pros: Perfect Card for its value! Comment:
easy to install, can run any games flawlessly! |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/12/13 |
Cons: could get hot and loud
Pros: Performs as advertised Comment:
$370 after MIR is a steal, if you can get this cheap, then get it because it'll be worth it. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/16/13 |
Cons: Takes a 8 and a 6 pin power connecter, but has an adapter in the box. Not a con, just for others to take note of.
Pros: Very quiet, amazing for Overclocking, and can handle any games that I have tested at full settings. Comment:
Just got this today, booted up right away. OC easily, and has voltage control, which is a huge pro. The dual fans run a bit loud at 100%, but with Crysis 3 at full settings, it never went above 60 degrees. Highly recommend this card. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/05/13 |
Cons: Very flimsy when compared to XFX brand gpus the open heatsink design removes a lot of rigidity to the card, Red PCB unlike the product picture.
Pros: Dual Bios switch, unlocked voltage, Overclocks well, keeps cool, rather quiet fan when on 100% fan speed Comment:
I bought this card to go with my current xfx 7970While this card is great, it overclocks a little less than my xfx (luck of the draw)The biggest problem is with the heatsink.It works well but puts too much weight on the PCB and isn't attached as well as the xfx heatsink.It freely hangs from the pcb reducing rigidity and causing it to slightly curve the pcb putting extra stress on the PCI port. It feels like I could damage the pci slot or the gpu just plugging in or removing the power cords. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/03/13 |
Cons: no
Pros: better than GTX 680 Comment:
nice card, miraculous one.Good video card really fast good for anything out right now pretty much. I got it on sale for $470. Will overclock to 1125mhz gpu without even touching stock voltage (will actually run under voltage). Card will go to 1300 using something other than catalyst. Runs relatively cool, but if you do manage to get to 100% fan speed it is quite noisy. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/23/13 |
Cons: PCB will pull down due to the weight of cooler...
Pros: Great card and awesome features (selected power kit and dual swirl cooling fan)over 1GHz overclocking >> NO PROBLEM!!! Comment:
That picture (above) shows that the pcb color is black... but mine is red... it is ok becuase my build is black and red theme. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/20/13 |
Cons: can't get stable CC recommended max OC without a voltage boost
Pros: price to performance ratioleast expensive 7970 at the timeruns very cool (40C idle, 65C load using kombuster burn in test) Comment:
This was a great deal for the $400-ish price after taxes, shipping, and rebates. Compared to the much higher nvidia prices at the moment, I opted for this card instead as I planned to OC it a bit. It runs much cooler than I expected. On a cool summer night, it idles at 40C, and maxed out at 65C with the fan at 65% when running kombuster burn in test for ten minutes. This is with all of the CC overdrive settings set to max and a voltage increase from 1.175 to 1.2 in MSI afterburner, which it doesn't appear to ever use, however, the voltage increase seems to be what cured the stability issues otherwise. The card would pass all of the tests I would throw at it (Heaven, 3DMark11, Kombuster, etc) on default voltage with the CC settings maxed out (1125MHz core, 1575MHz memory, +20 power), however, it would lock up in Far Cry 3 or have occasional artifacts. I have left all the CC settings at max and used MSI Afterburner to increase the MAX voltage from 1.175 to 1.2. I have been using the card for two weeks at these settings and played hours of Far Cry 3 and 18 hours of Bioshock Infinite as well as a few other games and there hasn't been any issues. I briefly tried using MSI Afterburner to go past the CC recommended settings, but I quickly ran into problems so I decided to keep my stable OC settings that I just mentioned. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/20/13 |
Cons: MIR
Pros: fastgame bundle of Bioshock Infiniteon sale Comment:
At this moment the cheapest 7970 on sale here, a great improvement over my 6970. and the game bundle is nice too. |
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Rating: Review Date: 10/17/12 |
Cons: Sticker almost fell out when I got the card out of the plastic bag.$15 MIR process is from hellHardware(card itself) feels weak compare to MSI 670 GTX
Pros: Works well with AMD APU 5800k compare to 670 GTX. Design (2 fans!) Similar graphic quality compared to 670 GTX but I prefer 7970 (looks more clear) Comment:
I have I7 2600k with 670 GTX but I am giving this to my gf so she can do her 3D graphics work with better processor. (She is currently using first gen quad cpu with 670 GTX) For having a limited budget, I resorted myself to AMD 5800k with 670 GTX but for some reason, the performance of 670 GTX wasn't the same. (probably CPU bottleneck/compatability issue) I got this card which is the cheapest 7970 atm & 3D Mark test def gave me better score (CPU/Graphic combine score). Sure, I could've waited for BIOS/Utilities update but my gf can now SLI 670 GTX! |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/07/12 |
Cons: Catalyst is limiting, can be loud
Pros: Fast, Runs pretty cool Comment:
Good video card really fast good for anything out right now pretty much. I got it on sale for $470. Will overclock to 1125mhz gpu without even touching stock voltage (will actually run under voltage). Card will go to 1300 using something other than catalyst. Runs relatively cool, but if you do manage to get to 100% fan speed it is quite noisy. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/04/12 |
Cons: MSI Afterburner voltage tweak doesnt work. no free games
Pros: overclocks to CCC max 1125GPU 1575MEM easily and stays cool, 5 outputs. really good cooling solution. Comment:
Bought it just befor AMD was giving away Dirt Showdown, Deus EX: HR and Nuiz, but the price went up and there was a mail in rebate offer.. So I'm happy. Since its not voltage modding, I take its not a reference card... It quite literally is the same speed as my 1GB 6950 crossfire setup except it likes AA and AF at 5760x1020, the main reason i went to a 3GB card.. really impressed how well she overclocks. quiet, stable and cool in a HAF922 case. |
Bought this card when it was on sale for 275 dollars!I jammed this card in a Corsair 350D with an i5-4570. Using H87m-Plus mobo.In BF3 it can do a steady 60FPS no problemo. Ultra settings. I think it can do about 120 fps when V-sinc is turned off, but I get graphical glitches. So I keep V-sinc on. Framerate drops about 20-40 fps when recording (fraps) BF3 could probably do about 80fps with fraps.The PCB is red. It doesn't stand out to much. Would be nicer black but red is fine.The card does bend, a lot. I think that's normal though for these cards. Be careful that cables aren't bending it more by sitting on top of it.The fans and the card make no noise. None! I heard a little bit of 'electrical whine' when using windows exp index. I wear steel series headphones and wouldn't hear any noise from my pc anyway. (if it were making any noise)Compared to XFX's 7950 (which is louder than a nuke going off) Powercolors 7970 is super quiet.I have not and probably won't be overclocking this card. So I can't say anything about that. (I have no need to oc this card) (unless some program is auto clocking it)So far this card meets my expectations. It runs really well.