First glimpse at the EK-FC7970

[Bestofbritish96]

I know a solution for broken overclocking! Use an unlocked CCC BIOS, it has limits set at 2000/2500 (core/mem respectively).

Cool, how do you control the voltage? as afterburner has been broken by the AMD Driver release.

Voltage control for GPU and RAM has been broken with latest 12.3/12.4 drivers.

[lowfat]

I know a solution for broken overclocking! Use an unlocked CCC BIOS, it has limits set at 2000/2500 (core/mem respectively).

The GPU will also never clock down and consume outrageous amounts of power while iding.

[tiborrr]

Another solution, worked for me:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=360641

Just a big FYI to those that are doing clean installs on 12.2 WHQL's.

Afterburner is broken in that it does not extend clocks without having 2 external files from old AMD drivers, but Asus GPU tweak will let you extend clocks without those 2 files.

Enable advanced mode, go to settings, click on extend overclocking range, reboot.

You do not need to do any registry edits or download any external files.

Anxiously awaiting for afterburner to follow suit, otherwise asus gpu tweak will replace msi afterburner as the overclocking tool of choice.

Download the latest version here:
http://usa.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/A...3GD5/#download

Also tried with Sapphire trixx and it works.

[Raul-7]

Will we see a full waterblock for this beast?

[The Jesus]

Will we see a full waterblock for this beast?

http://coolingconfigurator.com/step1...t?gpu_gpus=656

"Coming Soon
Release date to be announced on EK website."

[Bestofbritish96]

http://coolingconfigurator.com/step1...t?gpu_gpus=656

"Coming Soon
Release date to be announced on EK website."

2 x 8-Pin on that card??

Well sheesh guys, when you run out of power connectors on your 1.5KW Silverstone Strider you must have a problem right?

At least it prevents me from buying one.

[The Jesus]

http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/ek...o-bracket.html

dsc_0270_800_3.jpg

Oooo, shiny

[tiborrr]

Yeah!

Otherwise this is already an integral part of EK-FC7970 DCII water block, no need to purchase it separately. It's for all the EK-VGA Supreme HF users.

[The Jesus]

Yeah, I noticed that, really like that you include it for them Just in case someone didn't want to do the full cover block, figured I'd post it

[The Jesus]

Any updates on the 7970 Lightning by the way? I know quite a few people who are excited for it

[tiborrr]

Lightning is under construction, ETA 4-5 weeks!

[bundymania]

Up and running

[tiborrr]

Wroooooooooooom!

[Kenjiwing]

http://www.techpowerup.com/164555/KF...on-Listed.html

Are we going to see a block for this PCB? Its ing gold.

[The Jesus]

7950s anyone?

[tiborrr]

EK-FC7970 DCII review posted by overclex.net: http://www.overclex.net/articles/asu...k-fc7970-dcii/

[tijgert]

A while ago I became quite frustrated at EK's decision to put the ports on the bottom side of the block and not raise them and extend them through and through. I have since understood that the card is actually a lot higher than standard so I now see why it was done this way. Sorry for becoming angry, you were right.

Having said that, I did buy the block and it's currently mounted. But... I am having some visual incompatibility issues.
The memory phase regulator is only half covered by the copper cooling surface. The copper extends to the right (to the connectors side), hanging in mid air touching nothing while the other regulator chip is to the left and not covered by anything than the thermal pad.
(due to the picture's orientation: the copper extends downward and the chip is visible above the copper pad, untouched by it).



I've emailed EK about it, but the site says they're closed today and then there's the weekend and all this time I can't put it back in my machine because I'll have to totally redo the loops to get it in and I don't know if I should dismantle the block again or not...

Has anyone heard about this issue? Is it an issue? Did anyone else see this too when they were putting it together?

Edit:

Just to show that I'm not mad I lined the parts up and this is what it looks like on the waterblock. One of the regulators does not touch the copper and does not get cooled.



But does it need cooling then? You might ask, well, on the original heat sink/fan assembly it is air cooled, see below.



It was cooled by airflow before, now it's incapsulated by material with zero cooling... I think this is not without consequence. Could an EK rep respond to this please?

[tiborrr]

This is normal and intended this way. We decided to make some cleanarance as per ASUS advice. These are I/O VRMs and do not draw a lot of power at all.

[tijgert]

A blind man in Nairobi saw that answer coming...

It's more likely that you just copied Asus's holes and cutouts and totally missed that in this instance it used airflow.

Regardless of how much power it draws, it draws power. It even has a SMD heat sink built in to get rid of its heat so it's not that cool to the touch. Taking away the air cooling and encapsulating it could seriously hinder OC potential or cause other problems.
(Your installation instructions even show to apply the thermal pad to it, as if it would be cooled.)
It's a little hard to understand why Asus would tell you not to cool this chip when they cool it themselves.

But, this is not Xtremesystems for nothing so I took it on myself and my Dremel to fix it.



This 1.5mm copper plate (Dremeld down to 1.2 where needed) will be bonded with AS adhesive to any copper edges to let the heat transfer away into the waterblock, the rest will go into the copper plate itself (to a point) where airflow will take care of it.
Not ideal, but far better than letting it cook in the crevice of the block and seeing what happens.

[Jonik]

My Asus HD7970 DCII TOP

[um2802]

Tiborrr, please, do you think can add here some pics live for : EK-VGA Supreme HF HD7970 Cu Adapter ?
I have here 2 Gigabyte 7970TO and 2 supreme HF VGA block, and i must power up the system.
With you pictures of it i can send to my friend with CNC to build 2 spacers.
Thank you