kris23

ill be using my card on a watercooling loop so i just need some blocks to fit on it

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Alex

make sure you get heatsinks for the memory too.

kris23

of course man....

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geok1ng

First post here. I found the site looking for a CF review of the 5970. Good job!

1- I found awful to compare single vs CF numbers, since these numbers are in diferent pages. So i would still spend sometime at Anandtech

2- The ideas for the heatsink are inoccent to say the least. It is impossible to dissipate soo much heat using a dual slot solution. The single blower AMD uses at least manages to vent some air outside the case.

Putting heatpipes to the back of the card would occupy space near the CPU on single card setups and make CF really difficult , not to mention that it would divert heta that otherwise wasgoing outside of the case to the inside. and it would make a 2 solt card larger than 2 slots.

Adding a second blower is even worst. Not only it messes with the airflow but also reduces the area of the vaporchamber/heatsink.

The "best"way to use a hot VGA on air is simply take off the plastic shroud and add 2-3x80-92mm fans directly above the heatsink/vaporchamber. it will be silent, cheap. but will take at least 3 slots and turn the case in a furnace.

Naturally watercooling comes to mind for space, silence and performance reasons.

Zardon

The review is mainly focusing on the CFx elements, hence the name of the review. We covered single 5970 results before in a dedicated launch review - it was merely there this time as an 'extra'. If it is a huge issue for you and you need to compare every figure, it is possible to have two browser windows open on different pages side by side.

Yes, simply 'adding a fan' is not the only thing that would be needed, this is why we mentioned that changes would need to be made to the vapor chamber - we don't profess to be cooling experts as there is a lot of R&D involved - but we would like to expect that AMD - a multi billion dollar company would at least make the effort to try other solutions, rather than simply slapping in one of those tiny red fans from a previous bulk order 4 years ago. The point was to make people realise that there are alternative options, if the money is invested. Sapphire do it, so I fail to see why AMD can't at least try.

Absolutely, but there was a conference earlier this year where a developer had a proposition for a very thin backplate which took up only a few mms, but was made of a very specialist material that could 'help' dissapate heat from the cores - the heatpipes were only 'fat' until they met this panel at the join to the rear so it took up very little physical space. You will notice in our mock up we didn't delve into an oversized cooler on the rear because the idea was not to use it as the sole cooling methodology but to help enhance the heat removal from the cores with the help of the vapor chamber.

Yes, if the vapor chamber was kept the same design... certainly, but once again there are patients pending from a few companies we know with a dual dispersal heatpipe based methodology which not only means that more heat gets expelled from a dual core solution but also that the fans do not have to create noise akin to an apache helicopter. Simply adding a second fan is not the solution - but with some engineering changes, there is no reason why a cooler on each core is not feasible. Not quite as simple as that obviously, but once again it was just a rough mockup to offer possible alternatives.

Watercooling is only an option for a select group of enthusiast user. There is still a huge audience, even on a site such as Driverheaven with a higher ratio of 'geek v ordinary person' who would not have a watercooling setup to deal with this. Self enclosed watercooling would be an option (and I know Coolit and Asetek were looking into it - but would probably once again mean dual cards could not be used due to the space needed), but we don't think it would be possible with such a high heat output board design.

SeraphicSorcerer

Honestly, and as I have stated before I will never understand why these companies don't flip their cards and have everything on top. So that the heat that's additionally on the board does not stagnate and flow across and is free to flow up, sure, it may get up near the cpu, but that's what exhaust fans are for. And it's only the excess heat not gotten to first by the exhaust fans.

However DH mock ups, were simply a design idea, and at least someone is willing to recognize that by the next generation of chips, things will be so hot because of the 2000 or whatever number stream processors going into these beast there will need to be a more thought inclusive idea on how to re-direct heat.

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blibbax

Nice review, insane performance.

I presume you mean GTX285 tri sli on page 18 btw, or have I missed something big here?

If I had limitless money, I still am not sure I'd buy this though. There's some shameful brand loyalty coming through here I fear, in the face of an obviously superior product (an essay for another day), but also they're just hugely overkill!

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Zardon

Yes that should be 285 GTXs in SLIx3, ill change the digit.

Chaos

Sounds like you prefer NVIDIA or am I mistaken

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SeraphicSorcerer

I use to be hugely a fan of nvidia, but their ego as of late is bigger then their framerates, and they are really shoving me off, I've chosen to give AMD/ATI my money and will be getting the 5970 for my birthday.

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BlueMak

Can you get one for my birthday too? Please? It's soon.

Seriously though, don't forget to take photos of it! But please, don't be naked with it.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

kris23

seems that the XFX variant of 5970 was stocked by the egg when i got home... but instead of checking on it... i put christmas lights up with my mom.....

yet another out of stock 5970.....

and i couldve gotten one on ebay for $720...... shoulda took that offer on ebay instead of trying to go the egg way...

this sucks.....

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blibbax

You're not mistaken, I have always preferred Nvidia products. Getting hard to justify right now though.

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Zardon

The 285GTX is still a great board - im fond of nVidia products myself and I still think they have the edge on the driver front.

That said, the 5 series from ATI really is in a class of its own right now. from the 5750 to the 5970 (and I have to mention the 5770 as one of my favourite video cards of all time, what a stunning overall product that is!).

kris23

i wonder if ATi will produce more multi-GPU cards in the future..... other than 5970 and 5950.... using mainstream GPUs for those with only 1 slot and cant afford the real high end....

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geok1ng

A Multi-GPU using mainstream parts sounds weird, like the 4850X2. The target of dual GPU cards are 30" owners, and at 2560x1600 DDR3 simply didn't offer the AA levels of DDR5. Since the 8800GTX the top single GPU cards have achieved playable frame rates at 1920x1200 with acceptable quality levels for the most common game engines.
Anyone playing at 1920x1200 would be better served by a top single GPU solutionthan by a dual mainstream offer- Crossfire and SLI do not scale perfectly in all games and it costs more to produce 2 mainstream GPUs than to produce a single high end one, most mainstream GPUs are just high end parts that have a few shaders disabled anyway.

Falstaff

Great Review as always, you saved me some loot.
Nvdia is sexy...
ATI?
nope...
I am not convinced, although I like the effort from ATI.
WHEN ATI be sexy or interesting anymore?
JMTC, but I will stick to Nvidia..
BTW...I CAN AFFORD THE CARDS....
but its like the difference between a Harley and Kawasaki...
just isnt the same.

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press

I love ATI 5970

RE III - Frankie

Very nice cards indeed.