Jump to content


Photo

Powercolor 7970 LCS Review

Started by Bosco, Mar 11 2012 06:56 PM

  • Please log in to reply
32 replies to this topic

#1 Bosco

Bosco

    OCC Boss

  • Senior Admin
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 32871 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Canada

Posted 11 March 2012 - 06:56 PM

Mr cookeman takes the water cooled 7970 from Powercolor for a spin:

http://www.overclock...lor_lcs_hd7970/

Main Gaming Rig
Intel 3960X
MSI X79A-GD65 8D
16GB of Corsair Vengeance
2 X Titan X in SLI
Corsair Force 3 GT 240GB SSD
Coolermaster 932 Case
Noctua D14 CPU Cooler
Thermaltake Toughpower XT Platinum 1275 Watts
Asus 32" 4K Monitor
Donating to OCC :::: OCC Site Rules :::: OCC Reviews
RIP Verran and Nemo gone but never will be forgotten.

#2 MJCRO

MJCRO

    Certified Geek

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 1749 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 11 March 2012 - 07:36 PM

Awesome review, it's just crazy how little power the card uses at load and the OC ability is amazing! Posted Image

#3 Waco

Waco

    Lab Rat 2

  • Reviewer
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 16479 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Los Alamos, NM

Posted 11 March 2012 - 07:45 PM

Does the card actually use more power or is that the difference between the H100 pump and fans and your custom pump and fans?

Either way - that's one sexy card!
Tolerance is a sign of weakness.

#4 ccokeman

ccokeman

    ????????????

  • Reviewer
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 12347 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 11 March 2012 - 08:06 PM

Does the card actually use more power or is that the difference between the H100 pump and fans and your custom pump and fans?

Either way - that's one sexy card!

The difference in cooling alone.

Processor Intel Core I7 4690X  4.3Ghz
Memory G.Skill RipJaws  32GB 2400Mhz
Motherboard ASUS Rampage IV BE
Graphics  GTX TitanX x2
Power Corsair AX 1200,
Monitor ASUS PQ321Q
Cooling Liquid by comittee

Storage  OCZ RevoDrive 350 480GB  Seagate 8TB
Follow OCC on facebook.png

#5 Waco

Waco

    Lab Rat 2

  • Reviewer
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 16479 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Los Alamos, NM

Posted 11 March 2012 - 08:07 PM

Nice!
Tolerance is a sign of weakness.

#6 El_Capitan

El_Capitan

    Even the sun goes down

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 7174 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Somerville, MA

Posted 11 March 2012 - 08:17 PM

A shame I got my MSI reference 7970 for half the price + $115 for the waterblock. $799 and it can't overclock higher than mine? C'mon Powercolor!
My Blog ->> Computer Hardware Upgrades
My Stuff -> For sale | My System Builds
Guides -> Overclocking Phenom II x6 CPU's with PhenomMsrTweaker | Nvidia GPU BIOS voltage unlock and flashing | Overclocking the i5 2500k / i7 2600k | AMD Catalyst Un-install Utility
Other -> The Official Duel Thread | Recommended Cases List | TIM Roundups and Comparison List

#7 ccokeman

ccokeman

    ????????????

  • Reviewer
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 12347 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 11 March 2012 - 08:50 PM

A shame I got my MSI reference 7970 for half the price + $115 for the waterblock. $799 and it can't overclock higher than mine? C'mon Powercolor!


Every GPU is different just like CPU's. Some have better margins and clock higher than others and it is really just the luck of the draw.

Processor Intel Core I7 4690X  4.3Ghz
Memory G.Skill RipJaws  32GB 2400Mhz
Motherboard ASUS Rampage IV BE
Graphics  GTX TitanX x2
Power Corsair AX 1200,
Monitor ASUS PQ321Q
Cooling Liquid by comittee

Storage  OCZ RevoDrive 350 480GB  Seagate 8TB
Follow OCC on facebook.png

#8 ClayMeow

ClayMeow

    Member Title Exceeds Member Title Character Limit

  • Review Editor
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 19459 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:New York, NY

Posted 11 March 2012 - 08:51 PM

A shame I got my MSI reference 7970 for half the price + $115 for the waterblock. $799 and it can't overclock higher than mine? C'mon Powercolor!


Agreed....the premium is way too high, IMO. Under normal circumstances, you can get at 7970 for roughly $550 and the exact same waterblock PowerColor uses for $100-125. So you're basically paying a $100+ premium just to have it pre-installed. I don't care if it's the highest performing single-GPU card out of the box, it's still overpriced.

CMt.png
- Steam - Raptr - Xfire - GameSpot - Kongregate - IGN Blog -
- ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe - i7 3770k - NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti - 16GB DDR3-1866MHz - Acer Predator X34 -
::: Follow OCC on facebook.png ::: OCC Xfire Clan ::: OCC Steam Community Group ::: OCC Rules :::

::: OCC E3 2013 Awards ::: CES 2013 ::: COMPUTEX 2010 :::

::: NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Review ::: Acer Predator X34 Review :::

#9 El_Capitan

El_Capitan

    Even the sun goes down

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 7174 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Somerville, MA

Posted 11 March 2012 - 09:04 PM

Every GPU is different just like CPU's. Some have better margins and clock higher than others and it is really just the luck of the draw.

Yeah, I know it's luck of the draw, but you would think they'd at least cherry pick the good ones for something at the $800 price point.
My Blog ->> Computer Hardware Upgrades
My Stuff -> For sale | My System Builds
Guides -> Overclocking Phenom II x6 CPU's with PhenomMsrTweaker | Nvidia GPU BIOS voltage unlock and flashing | Overclocking the i5 2500k / i7 2600k | AMD Catalyst Un-install Utility
Other -> The Official Duel Thread | Recommended Cases List | TIM Roundups and Comparison List

#10 d6bmg

d6bmg

    BMG FTW!!

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 4152 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 11 March 2012 - 11:24 PM

Its nice to see more cards are coming out with waterblocks.
But the bad is the price.

boozei.gif

#11 d6bmg

d6bmg

    BMG FTW!!

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 4152 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 11 March 2012 - 11:25 PM

A shame I got my MSI reference 7970 for half the price + $115 for the waterblock. $799 and it can't overclock higher than mine? C'mon Powercolor!


~650-670 would have been a good price. Paying extra ~150 only to get max overclock out of a card sounds like a waste to me.
Just my 2 cents.

Edited by d6bmg, 11 March 2012 - 11:26 PM.

boozei.gif

#12 ccokeman

ccokeman

    ????????????

  • Reviewer
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 12347 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 12 March 2012 - 03:58 AM

~650-670 would have been a good price. Paying extra ~150 only to get max overclock out of a card sounds like a waste to me.
Just my 2 cents.


Factory overclocked cards go for $600+$145 Water block=$745 +No install issues+WARRANTY and it just about works out right.

Processor Intel Core I7 4690X  4.3Ghz
Memory G.Skill RipJaws  32GB 2400Mhz
Motherboard ASUS Rampage IV BE
Graphics  GTX TitanX x2
Power Corsair AX 1200,
Monitor ASUS PQ321Q
Cooling Liquid by comittee

Storage  OCZ RevoDrive 350 480GB  Seagate 8TB
Follow OCC on facebook.png

Back to OCC News & Announcements


  1. OverclockersClub Forums
  2. → OCC Command Central
  3. → OCC News & Announcements
  4. Privacy Policy
  5. Forum Rules ·