Anyone pick up a 7970?

[Goku]

I am curious if anyone picked up a 7970 last night on Newegg or other stores. I didn't due to the card being out of my price range unfortunately. I do find these cards more interesting know. At first there wasn't a huge gap between the 580 and 7970, but once you get these overclocked they scream. One reviewer got a 7970 to 1.26 GHz (http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=356796) thats a 36% bump in clock speed and lets it almost attain 6990/GTX 590 performance.

[Coreldan]

How much was it?

[Goku]

Anywhere from $550 to $600. In the coming weeks these will likely go around $650 max due to price gouging on the retailers end.

[SKYeXile]

Soon my pretty, soon.

(wont really be buying one until PS2 is in beta, cant see myself needing a more boss computer until then) ...i like to run on max settings..i doubt my current one can, i have to run BF3 on med, but we'll see.

[TheBladeRoden]

Yeah, I'm not spending $600 on anything right now

[Coreldan]

Holy hell, thats like as much as my entire rig lol.

[BorisBlade]

I'm sittin on a 580 atm, honestly unless you just have to have a new card now, wait til closer to beta or game launch when we get to see nvidia's new stuff. At very least the competition should help with prices a bit.

[Zulthus]

Fuck that. I'll wait for the price to go down to $300. Anything over is a waste. PCi-E 3.0? Last I heard cards used 2.0... I'm not in the loop right now I guess...

[SKYeXile]

hrm 7990 in march yea?

[Goku]

Fuck that. I'll wait for the price to go down to $300. Anything over is a waste. PCi-E 3.0? Last I heard cards used 2.0... I'm not in the loop right now I guess...

If you want to be on the cutting edge and have money to blow that is the only way I ever see anyone spending that much. The most I spent was $300 on a 8800 GTS 512 G92 at about the release time thanks to BFG having a $100 promo code. That has been my most favorite card thus far.

@ Sky that is what I am hearing at the moment for the 7990. Now Nvidia's earliest launch date maybe June for their card. Not sure if we will see a midrange product from them prior to that either.

[Goku]

There is some in stock @ newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103201)

[Vancha]

I would honestly wait for third parties to put out their own versions (Sapphire, MSI and Asus especially). The only third-party cooler out so far is XFX's and already that can run with an overclock at lower temps, lower noise and lower idle power draw than the reference version.

Then of course you have the fact that the prices for these will be sky-high for at least a couple of months.

[SKYeXile]

would touch anything XFX again with a 10 foot pole.

[Goku]

would touch anything XFX again with a 10 foot pole.

I have been a XFX fan for awhile since the Nvidia 7900 series, but the company changed their warranty. XFX totally dropped the transferable warranty (good for reselling) and only a few of their cards now have a lifetime warranty. Like their Black Edition 7970 does, but their regular 7970 is now stuck with a 2 year one. I am not happy with this decesion as it was the major motivator for me to buy XFX. Now I will likely go with ASUS or MSI next if I am looking for a AMD card.

[SKYeXile]

Sapphire, never fails.

[Vancha]

I wasn't necessarily recommending it, I was just saying that the only third-party version that exists so far is already superior to the reference one, so waiting around for the others is probably a good idea.

[Oryon22]

Is PhysX worth getting an NVIDIA? I have never used NVIDIA before and really want to give it a go but this 7970 is making it very difficult.

[Goku]

PhysX onboard is only used in a few games. The only major game that made use of it last year was the new Batman game if I am not mistaken. We still do not know if it is CPU or GPU based PhysX being used in PS2 either.

[Vancha]

Considering the supposed system requirements of PS2 and the sort of CPU you'd be likely to have if you also bought a 7970, you'd probably have no problem with GPU PhysX regardless of the GPU brand.

[Ale]

Relevant in-game footage and opinions by SargEnigma. "who?" Someone who won't bullshit you, games as hard as you do and is one of the worlds best battlefield montage makers / players.

<3 (http://youtu.be/QIE0LuCxXyk)

Highlights: 60 fps battlefield 3 while recording on Ultra. Screen comparisons between his old 5870 / new 7970.

[Vancha]

If you love him so much, why don't you marry him!?

[TacKLed]

Damn, already in the 7000 series. I still have a 5770 and a good Quad Core from a year and a half ago and I can still max out most games.

Seeing all this makes me want to get one of those but I don't know how to make a computer and feel that I would fuck it up if I were to try. Can anybody post some easy to read and understand tutorials on how to make a computer?

[Zulthus]

If all you want to get is a video card it's just as simple as plug n' play. No prior knowledge required. You might need a good PSU though.

[SKYeXile]

If all you want to get is a video card it's just as simple as plug n' play. No prior knowledge required. You might need a good PSU though.

yea the newer cards require multiple plugs, old PSU's might not support a new card...or meet the cards power demands.

[SKYeXile]

Damn, already in the 7000 series. I still have a 5770 and a good Quad Core from a year and a half ago and I can still max out most games.

Seeing all this makes me want to get one of those but I don't know how to make a computer and feel that I would fuck it up if I were to try. Can anybody post some easy to read and understand tutorials on how to make a computer?

I select the parts i want and pay like $100 to get it built, not ever a problem with warranty's then...good when using XFX products.

[TacKLed]

I select the parts i want and pay like $100 to get it built, not ever a problem with warranty's then...good when using XFX products.

So just purchase all the parts then go to a local shop to have them assembled? Anything but Geek Squad because they overcharge up the ass and feel the need to act like you don't know shit. Plus they charge over a $100 for CONSOLE assembly....

[Goku]

It really is not that hard to assemble a computer. If you really want to do it I suggest looking up some video guides on youtube.

[SKYeXile]

So just purchase all the parts then go to a local shop to have them assembled? Anything but Geek Squad because they overcharge up the ass and feel the need to act like you don't know shit. Plus they charge over a $100 for CONSOLE assembly....

eh well i buy all my stuff from the one place...and im in Australia...so different market..goku would know best for you, but for the hastle of keeping up with current computer stuff and for peace of mind, i pay.

[Vancha]

There's so much wrong with that, but I need to go to sleep so I'll elaborate in the morning (if Goku hasn't already done it for me.)

[Goku]

There's so much wrong with that, but I need to go to sleep so I'll elaborate in the morning (if Goku hasn't already done it for me.)

You can take this one buddy. :D

[Vancha]

Building a computer is very easy as long as you do about an hour of reading.
Knowing what parts to buy, however...

First find a good motherboard you want, something quad or dual quad core.
Okay, I'm imagining I'm a computer newbie who needs help building a computer. First step you say? Find a motherboard, something quad core or dual quad core. Well, everyone's links seem to go to newegg in these forums, so I'll look there.

Hm, I can't find anything that tells me whether a motherboard has quad cores or not. One of them has "quad crossfire" though, should I go for that? That must be what you meant...

Find the memory size it takes, DDR3 / 6700 speed for instance. Get 12 Gigs.
12 gigs? Okay, I just bought 1x8 and 1x4 for my dual channel AMD motherboard.

Find a power supply that is 1000 wats, has two p4 connectors and you'll be fine.
"Wat" indeed. Okay, I just bought a $94 COOLMAX 1k Watt power supply. There were more expensive ones, but they all looked the same and I'm on a budget here...

Find a pci express 3.0 card of your preference
I searched that in Newegg, and ended up buying a SYBA USB 3.0 NEC

find a case of your preference that is ATX (all of them are really..)
Okay, I just bought a APEVIA MX-PLEASURE because I thought it looked cool. I didn't skimp, either. $120!

Invest in extra cooling, 120mm fans are good.
I just bought two 1ST PC CORP PFB1212UHE 120mm fans to replace the ones in my case. I hope you're proud.

Find a hard drive 512 gig to 1 terabyte, you'll be fine.
I just bought an external 1TB hard drive, because they looked more durable than the internal ones, utterly ignorant of the recent price rise due to the floods in thailand.

When assembling it, the only thing you really need to do is make sure you get thermal conductor paste on the heatsink to the CPU spread mildly thin and even, ensure the clips are pressed down good and hard and that is about it..... the rest is self explanitory, don't try to fit a circle into the triangle hole kinda self explanitory. If it doesn't fit, don't make it.
Well, you didn't even mention CPU when I followed your guide, but flicking through my mobo instruction booklet, I see there's something called a CPU socket, so I painted the heatsink on the motherboard beside the CPU socket with "thermal paste". There were no clips for it though.

Okay, so I put together my awesome new gaming computer, but it's not booting so I take it to this computer shop and tell them my new gaming computer has a problem. They open up my shiny new Apevia case and discover...

- An enthusiast motherboard with no GPUs and a lone NEC.
- No CPU
- An unreliable 1k watt power supply that would have been more than twice as powerful as I needed, if it hadn't already blown up.
- One stick of 8GB and one stick of 4GB RAM stuck in side-by-side.
- Their ear drums have now melted due to the ridiculous noise of the cooling solution I bought.
- No HDD (I left the external one at home by accident)

[SKYeXile]

Knowing what parts to buy, however...


Okay, I'm imagining I'm a computer newbie who needs help building a computer. First step you say? Find a motherboard, something quad core or dual quad core. Well, everyone's links seem to go to newegg in these forums, so I'll look there.

Hm, I can't find anything that tells me whether a motherboard has quad cores or not. One of them has "quad crossfire" though, should I go for that? That must be what you meant...


12 gigs? Okay, I just bought 1x8 and 1x4 for my dual channel AMD motherboard.


"Wat" indeed. Okay, I just bought a $94 COOLMAX 1k Watt power supply. There were more expensive ones, but they all looked the same and I'm on a budget here...


I searched that in Newegg, and ended up buying a SYBA USB 3.0 NEC


Okay, I just bought a APEVIA MX-PLEASURE because I thought it looked cool. I didn't skimp, either. $120!


I just bought two 1ST PC CORP PFB1212UHE 120mm fans to replace the ones in my case. I hope you're proud.


I just bought an external 1TB hard drive, because they looked more durable than the internal ones, utterly ignorant of the recent price rise due to the floods in thailand.


Well, you didn't even mention CPU when I followed your guide, but flicking through my mobo instruction booklet, I see there's something called a CPU socket, so I painted the heatsink on the motherboard beside the CPU socket with "thermal paste". There were no clips for it though.

Okay, so I put together my awesome new gaming computer, but it's not booting so I take it to this computer shop and tell them my new gaming computer has a problem. They open up my shiny new Apevia case and discover...

- An enthusiast motherboard with no GPUs and a lone NEC.
- No CPU
- An unreliable 1k watt power supply that would have been more than twice as powerful as I needed, if it hadn't already blown up.
- One stick of 8GB and one stick of 4GB RAM stuck in side-by-side.
- Their ear drums have now melted due to the ridiculous noise of the cooling solution I bought.
- No HDD (I left the external one at home by accident)

im loling, and its not one of those awkward lols where im typing lol with a straight face, im really loling...well not now...i stopped loling, but im still typing this with a large cheesy grin.

[Sirisian]

:lol: I like that you went through a whole sequence of steps. I would have stopped at choosing a motherboard before a CPU. Socket types aren't important anyway. Get some scissors and cut off the extra ones. It'll fit.

Suggesting a mechanic drive. I love steampunk. :)