HD5970 Reviews

[cowie]

well i'm sry if i dont shed no tears for you since the press guys dont have to buy them but that does suck dont it

and whats with the reviews(some really think and spew that) that say it uses less power at load than a 295...thats plain outright bs as you well know

[Monstru]

It does use less power then GTX 295, the meter is saying that, not the review. Now think about it and tell me why it does that since the TDP is higher. C'mon, it is not that hard...

[cowie]

If you say something do it right man. Show us screenies, OC report, all the package. Tis is the only way to build up a common knowledge base, not just saying "ah they clock like crap".

this is not the thread for that and i dont want to go into it here if you dont believe me thats ok
the only thing i'll say is that the one that works ok needs added volts to run staible 3d at stock speeds the other wont even do that its just an 2d queen.which is hard to get a furmark ss from if it dont last even 1 second lol
but i'm not going farther into it here in this thread
this is not the place i dont think right?
i cant afford a good metter to test all i can go by is software and thats not the best way.
i just did not do well with my two cards which sucks for me other are having a field day clocking and benching
i'll go grovel in my self pity now

[Monstru]

I think that you should back your negative opinions with proof. Show us screenshots, pics with the card, etc. Which manufacturer is it, where did you buy it from, etc, etc.

There are 2 situations here. One, you are a die hard Nvidia fan which really cannot accept that HD 5970 takes a big, nice pee on GTX 295 and simply mocks it. Well, it's hard to accept, but it does. It rapes it without lube so to speak Because of that, you make this allegations here. No problem with that, you would not be the only one, we know the type.

Two, you are not what I said above, and you are an honest buyer. You bought 2 HD 5970 and you have problems with both of them. One is DOA and the second is also defective, since it needs extra volts for stock clocks. Now, if this is the case, before you RMA you cards, you should really document this. Because you might not be the only one. And if ATI is having problems with HD 5970's, with TSMC yields or whatever, this is the best way to find out. You document your case here, with pics, screens and everything that is needed, and two days from now another guys will do the same, and 3 days later another one, and so on. That is called proof, and if that kind of proof will be posted here by a number of users, well, needless to say that any one of us that writes for a hardware site will pick up the story, and ATI is in big trouble. But we all need proof for that, not just a few words in a post.

[cowie]

i called off the photo shoot after rigging up both a pcp&c 1200w and a giga 1200w pro to still a beat card
this is my ss of quadfire 2d



[URL=http://g.imageshack.us/img136/iaintlying.jpg/1/]
as for being a nv fanboy hell yeah i am...but i am a vga fanboy before that i mean i did spend 1250 on thses just for 3d benches since i dont game much

[Monstru]

You said one was DOA...I see 4 cores enabled there...

[cowie]

no i said it came broke
oh in 2d it works fine any thing in 3d forgetabout and yes i'v tested it by itself
plz this is news section lets just move on ok? this has cuased me to take plenty of xannax the last few days lol

[Monstru]

Ok, as you wish, I don't see nothing wrong there, just somebody that really hates these cards. Anyway, If you have problems RMA them, that's why you have warranty.

[cowie]

no i dont hate the cards just diamond qc
you kidding i was hitting 130k 03 with one @950/1080 @1.28v cpu @4.2
it just sucks that i cant return the one for another brand just cus the gigabtye one i have does not clock that great on rams and core is by no means a reason to return it...hell parts cost us enuff already

[Monstru]

Diamond? Is that a brand? Oh Jesus this reminds me of the old days of Lucy Star K5 boards...

Well, you said one does not work (broke) and another one needs volts for stock speeds. Now how is it? Does it need volts for stock speeds? If yes, that is a reason to return it. Or it just does not clock well? And how did you get 950MHz core but you say it clocks like crap and it needs volts for clock speeds? I do not understand, sorry.

[cowie]

oh great now you tell me lol
no the diamond one wont work in 3d at all added volts or not,the giga needs 1.10 to run 775 1.13ish for 800 in 3d bench game or fumark.
1.30ish is not so good for 950 is it? thats crappy i think cus a fellow guru member can easy run 1000 at 1.25 ish but i aint worried about the giga one i'll add volts and dont run stock any way if it breaks i'll send it back but for now its keeping me busy tinkering
if the cards ran 03 05 06 and vantage i could care less about anything thing else i have fun clocking cards most of the time but come on dont lie you would be miffed a tad to.
i'm being good not bashing anything thanks to the xannax i'm usally over the top about this sorta stuff lol

[safan80]

Finally info that I've waited for..

the VRMs get hot as hell
according to AT the card is really only good for 775Mhz OC without water.
I'm glad to see somebody is finally looking at the VRM temps. my old 4870x2 VRMS go hot even with a full cover but stock cooling could not handle the VRMs.

Radeon 5970 Overclocking: The VRM Temperature Bottleneck

[Vienna]

i saw several 5970's reaching 1000 ghz so this conversation starts to bore me yawn

WTB: 5970 @ 1000GHz

[grimeleven]

I was curious about this VRM failures on 4800 series... so i just tested my 4870x2 (stock clocks) in Furmark even tho i do not like that, i was shocked .... even my Artic cooler Xtreme wasn't up to the job guys We are talking a cooler that keeps 2 GPUs idle 40 load 67 for hours.... that stock cooler on 5970 WILL fail at anything that puts huge 3D load that's for sure.

Ok this run goes fine... 1024x768 windowed Xtreme burn mode


Now 1920x1080 Fullscreen Xtreme burn mode... here comes doom
I cannot provide a screenshot since i did not have time (seconds) to take a screenshot as my computer just crashed.. big time hang.

Results 300 seconds = 70c max shown into the Furmark window that stabilized over 100 seconds BUT my SS allowed me to see the VRM temps while in Fullscreen... zomg 144celcius... wow that cooler is really good but still isn't able to cool these mofo VRM's! imagine what a 5970 cooler can achieve! AMD must really release 2-3 fans coolers before claiming "overclock headroom". Too bad it failed, i'll try later and provide a SS.

[onethreehill]

Asus HD 5970 Voltage Tweak Edition Review
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1741

[eric66]

I was curious about this VRM failures on 4800 series... so i just tested my 4870x2 (stock clocks) in Furmark even tho i do not like that, i was shocked .... even my Artic cooler Xtreme wasn't up to the job guys We are talking a cooler that keeps 2 GPUs idle 40 load 67 for hours.... that stock cooler on 5970 WILL fail at anything that puts huge 3D load that's for sure.

Ok this run goes fine... 1024x768 windowed Xtreme burn mode


Now 1920x1080 Fullscreen Xtreme burn mode... here comes doom
I cannot provide a screenshot since i did not have time (seconds) to take a screenshot as my computer just crashed.. big time hang.

Results 300 seconds = 70c max shown into the Furmark window that stabilized over 100 seconds BUT my SS allowed me to see the VRM temps while in Fullscreen... zomg 144celcius... wow that cooler is really good but still isn't able to cool these mofo VRM's! imagine what a 5970 cooler can achieve! AMD must really release 2-3 fans coolers before claiming "overclock headroom". Too bad it failed, i'll try later and provide a SS.

why ppl insist on benching with furmark tahts what i don't understand lol

[Manicdan]

Ok this run goes fine... 1024x768 windowed Xtreme burn mode

in windowed mode you running 2d clocks and voltages, which is why your FPS are only 20 and the temps are so low.

[gumballguy]

What are the vrms like on 5870, rather than 5970? Theres a very large difference in temps between gpu1 vrm's and gpu2 vrm's on anand.

Needs a full cooler replacement to cool them. The 3rd party coolers often didnt do vrm's (properly, or at all) on the 4000's so I hope the ones this round are better (but tbh I'm expecting rehashes)

[XS2K]

The VRM's are extremely fuc*ed up since 4'th series and unfortunately the trend continues,the VRM's on my 4890 @ 1030/1150 with 1.4125 volts reach 114 degrees with no problem and after that temp the card just locks up,I tried to cool them with a fan placed above them but with no succes,smth like the Thermalright Vrm cooler solutions would solve the problem but it's kinda expensive...
I haven't had a Nvidia card for some time now,is the same problem present on the GT2XX series?

[LordEC911]

What are the vrms like on 5870, rather than 5970? Theres a very large difference in temps between gpu1 vrm's and gpu2 vrm's on anand.

Needs a full cooler replacement to cool them. The 3rd party coolers often didnt do vrm's (properly, or at all) on the 4000's so I hope the ones this round are better (but tbh I'm expecting rehashes)

Not 100% sure since I don't have a 5970 to play with but reading anandtech's review/disection, they can to the conclusion that GPU1 VRMs are only cooled by the metal plate and GPU2's are actually under the vapor chamber.

[Diverge]

The VRM's are extremely fuc*ed up since 4'th series and unfortunately the trend continues,the VRM's on my 4890 @ 1030/1150 with 1.4125 volts reach 114 degrees with no problem and after that temp the card just locks up,I tried to cool them with a fan placed above them but with no succes,smth like the Thermalright Vrm cooler solutions would solve the problem but it's kinda expensive...
I haven't had a Nvidia card for some time now,is the same problem present on the GT2XX series?

VRM temps have been an issue when pushing cards of both ati and nvidia. It's often a limiting factor overclocking them. I think EK water blocks was designing a water block for the 5970 that actually put water channels over the vrms... it's about time aftermarket cooling companies addressed this problem.

If I up the volts on my 280 GTX and go for high clocks, my vrms will get close to or over 100deg, depending what I am using to stress it.

[Sly Fox]

VRM temps have been an issue when pushing cards of both ati and nvidia. It's often a limiting factor overclocking them. I think EK water blocks was designing a water block for the 5970 that actually put water channels over the vrms... it's about time aftermarket cooling companies addressed this problem.

If I up the volts on my 280 GTX and go for high clocks, my vrms will get close to or over 100deg, depending what I am using to stress it.

Yup, similar situation here. If I really get going in Furmark those VRM's just cook. Luckily, they're designed for those kind of heat stresses.

[STEvil]

Yup, similar situation here. If I really get going in Furmark those VRM's just cook. Luckily, they're designed for those kind of heat stresses.

No, not really. Sustained 100c isnt so bad but there will be peaks and if the ambient temps go up.. well there's a reason some quality things actually get put into a hot box for 50c ambient testing.

ATi

[Monstru]

oh great now you tell me lol
no the diamond one wont work in 3d at all added volts or not,the giga needs 1.10 to run 775 1.13ish for 800 in 3d bench game or fumark.
1.30ish is not so good for 950 is it? thats crappy i think cus a fellow guru member can easy run 1000 at 1.25 ish but i aint worried about the giga one i'll add volts and dont run stock any way if it breaks i'll send it back but for now its keeping me busy tinkering
if the cards ran 03 05 06 and vantage i could care less about anything thing else i have fun clocking cards most of the time but come on dont lie you would be miffed a tad to.
i'm being good not bashing anything thanks to the xannax i'm usally over the top about this sorta stuff lol

So it's noy like you initialy stated, one is brocken and the other one needs extra volts for stock. So you actually get 950MHz GPU. So you are just trying to make them look bad. Shees, I guess now I know which category you fall under

[Jowy Atreides]

Cards not overclocking as good as you want = broke?

Definition, lacking.