MSI R6970 Lightning

[sno.lcn]

The card just arrived, thank you so much to MSI for the opportunity to test this. In the meantime, how about some photos.

[sno.lcn]

Testing Components:
Intel Core i7 2600K
MSI P67-GD55
G.Skill Pi 2x2GB 2400mhz 9-11-9
MSI R6970 Lightning
CPU Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Silverstone Strider 1000w PSU


Testing everything at stock. Like the setup is being run for the first time out of the box, other than setting memory speed, timings, and voltage.

















Next, I bumped the CPU multiplier up to 42x to check for CPU scaling with stock card clocks. Obviously some benchmarks will scale more than others with only a CPU frequency increase. I was actually surprised to see such a gain in Heaven though, given how GPU-dependent the benchmark is. That would seem to indicate a bottleneck somewhere between the ~3.5ghz used in the first round of testing, and the ~4.2ghz used in this one.












Next I started testing some card clocks. Obviously, 1000mhz was a piece of cake with stock voltage. I still have the BIOS switch set to "Silent" and the card is exactly that. With the CPU still running on the 42x multiplier, I did some quick tests at 1000mhz core, 1500mhz memory.






And with the CPU on the 50x multiplier.

[sniper_sung]

The big grid of mosfet is terrifying. There is a huge difference between the PCB of this and the PCB of the 6950 Twin FrozR III. Can't wait to see the review.

[Splave]

rip it up bro

[hirsch]

No backplate

[Alex-Ro]

Give that card some juice and fire it Unless it does 1100 mhz on air it's pretty useless,since most reference 6970 will do 1050-1060 and their volterra vrm is damn good

[Olivon]

Give that card some juice and fire it Unless it does 1100 mhz on air it's pretty useless,since most reference 6970 will do 1050-1060 and their volterra vrm is damn good

All reference can't do 1050 MHz, I know people who can't reach 950 MHz even with 1.30V watercooled

[tom1]

very stylish and very good score

[chew*]

Give that card some juice and fire it Unless it does 1100 mhz on air it's pretty useless,since most reference 6970 will do 1050-1060 and their volterra vrm is damn good

You have much to learn my friend.

Ref cards are designed to do well on air, most ref cards will beat non ref under normal air conditions ( it's what the ref pwm is built for and how they are tuned ), it's when you toss them on ln2 that they fail in comparison to non refs.

I have some ref 5870's that pull almost 1100 on air while my non ref struggle at 900-1000. On ln2 they will kick the snot out of the ref cards though. Also kick the snot out of them longevity wise.

Looking forward to more results sno

[zalbard]

How's the cooler? Got to be pretty quiet and well performing at the same time!
Curious if its BIOS lets adjust vMem and VDDCI (vPLL) of reference cards. Should at very least allow for higher vGPU adjustment range. Wanna give it a try? You have dual BIOS switch if things go south, anyway.

[sno.lcn]

Someone else with this card mentioned that MSI may have forgotten to tell me this card is NDA until the 25th

[Alex-Ro]

How's the cooler? Got to be pretty quiet and well performing at the same time!
Curious if its BIOS lets adjust vMem and VDDCI (vPLL) of reference cards. Should at very least allow for higher vGPU adjustment range. Wanna give it a try? You have dual BIOS switch if things go south, anyway.

It has diffrent voltage controllers,it won't work

[zalbard]

5870 Lightning's BIOS works with reference 5870. Worth a try, IMO.

[fatherTime27]

I must see these results!

[fatherTime27]

Also what is the word on pricing?

[sno.lcn]

And NDA is done

Plenty of testing on the way shortly.

[sniper_sung]

Nice. Any more tests other than CPU marks like 3DMark06 though?

[sno.lcn]

I was able to bench this card at -198C last night, but due to some issue with setting voltage with Afterburner, that's as far as I got. I'll to some more testing and post back in a bit.

[Leeghoofd]

MSI going hard we got some new cards to test in the weekend too... BOT domination

[littleBoy]

How much gpu vcore ?

[sno.lcn]

Stock vcore so far.

[mak1skav]

Stock vcore so far.

In the last screen-shot of your review the GPU-z is reporting 1100MHz for GPU clock and 1500MHz for memory. You are getting that with stock vcore and stock cooler or with some other settings?

If you are still on stock then man this is a nice beast to play with.

[cesthree]

Sorry if I'm too noob for this graphics card and can't figure this out, but I'd really appreciate your help.

I have this same card. I purchased it because it was ~$30 more expensive (for me, where I shop) than a reference card, and it comes with a dope cooler. I recently stopped using liquid cooling and am back to all air cooling.

I have a question that maybe you can answer about the BIOS switch. I almost RMA'd my card because my system wouldn't POST, and it had to do with the switch position.

If you orient yourself with the switch so that you are looking at the back of the card, and the switch lever is pointing at you (I edited your PIC), the Left position will not let my system POST, the Middle and Right work just fine. What is the difference between the Middle and Right positions?



Is it like this:

1. Left = Not Used
2. Middle = Performance Fan Profile
3. Right = Quiet Fan Profile?

I wish I were an "expert user" so I could figure this out; I called MSI and they treated me like a dumbass instead of just helping me find the information.

As you can see, the information that came packaged with the R6970 Lightning is lacking. The position of the switch in this picture is the same position that won't let my system POST; the VGA_LED stays lit solid.

[chispy]

Great Review Jeremy.

[zalbard]

What's the stock memory voltage (VDDC) of 6970 Lightning? Could anyone measure that? Without +100mV in Afterburner, of course.
Thanks!