Asus DirectCU II 7979 vs XFX R7970 Black Double Dissipation

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Olaipai

New member
Hello! I am going to get my self a new GPU with my new rig. I was about to buy the XFX Radeon Hd 7970 Black DD. But then I saw the Asus DirectCU II model of 7970. I will run the card single for a while until the prices drop and then do crossfire and then, later on I will do some water cooling (After a year or two). But wich one is the best card for mye requirements.

My thoughts are on the XFX Card. The Asus one looks like a brick with its tripple layer cooling. And might not suite crossfire very well. And I do not have any use for 6 monitor connections. I am going to use the card with one monitor, then two and then three.

XFX R7970 Black Double Dissipation Review

Asus DirectCU II 7970 Review

XFX - Slim, Cool, 1GHz, Silent, aesthetics, lifetime warranty (if registered). Suits Crossfire better?

Asus - Cool, 1GHz, Silent?, warranty (Lifetime?), Looks like a brick. Not so good for crossfire?

The card will go in a Xigmatek Elysium. On a ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 with 2500k, 800w CM Silent Pro PSU, 8GB Kingston HyperX RAM, Kingston HyperX 120GB SSD, WD Caviar Black 750 GB HDD.

- Thanks for all answers.
smile.gif


Btw, how do I change my topic title? Misspelled '7979' :/
 
lewwatt said:
I haven't heard great things about the DD :/

Look, it's the same temperatures as the reference card: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5314/...ouble-dissipation-the-first-semicustom-7970/2

The DCUII will be a proper non reference design and I'm sure it'll cool brilliant. It is a pretty big card though...
Click to expand...

What have you heard? I have only heard good things. Haha! That is the only problem with the Asus, it is so damn huge! (That's what she said)Probably great cooling as a single card. But how in the heck will I be able to crossfire it? xD
 
Olaipai said:
What have you heard? I have only heard good things. Haha! That is the only problem with the Asus, it is so damn huge! (That's what she said)Probably great cooling as a single card. But how in the heck will I be able to crossfire it? xD
Click to expand...

Well if you looked at the review I sent you can see that it doesn't do anything more than the reference design when it comes to cooling.

E: About crossfire I have no idea how you would manage that but you should manage with Twin Frozr II if you can wait that long - still check measurements first though. Anyway what are you doing that you must have a crossfire xD
 
lewwatt said:
Well if you looked at the review I sent you can see that it doesn't do anything more than the reference design when it comes to cooling.

E: About crossfire I have no idea how you would manage that but you should manage with Twin Frozr II if you can wait that long - still check measurements first though. Anyway what are you doing that you must have a crossfire xD
Click to expand...

Oh! I didn't notice it! Sorry :/ Some test say it is better some say not. But the looks of the card are soo tempting!Iæll wait a bit and check for what MSI are going to do.

I think I have the patience. Thank you!
smile.gif


Kudos to you my friend
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Hi Olaipai
wink.gif


If they let you open the Asus DCU box, check the copper pipes by lightly tapping on them with your finger nail. I was pretty disappointed when I heard how tinny my HD 6870 DCU sounded.

My other peeve is that the DCU is not so direct because of the aluminum spacers between the heatpipes.

Even if they improved the DCU II design, I would still go with the XFX card. They have a great warranty and customer service.

pEACe
 
Hippie Tech said:
Hi Olaipai
wink.gif


If they let you open the Asus DCU box, check the copper pipes by lightly tapping on them with your finger nail. I was pretty disappointed when I heard how tinny my HD 6870 DCU sounded.

My other peeve is that the DCU is not so direct because of the aluminum spacers between the heatpipes.

Even if they improved the DCU II design, I would still go with the XFX card. They have a great warranty and customer service.

pEACe
Click to expand...

Wow! That sounds like real crap! I have never had an asus or XFX card so it will be a new experience. Then I'll go with the XFX. Thanks!
smile.gif


Peace!
 
Hi!

I got my XFX 7970 black edition Yesterday (the one with ghost ect)

Upgraded from a 6870 Black edit.

The card so far is Very impressive!

If i remember correctly my 3d mark scores:

P: 8099

x: 2846 (or around that)

Il post links later when i get home to Back that up

Playing The Witcher 2 Maxed out i was getting 55fps, Temps never went over 80c and the fan never went over 39% And it was Very quiet too, Unlike the Damn noisy 6870 i had Before.

The Game was also offering Me a new Patch, but i didnt download it.

Downloading BF3 atm so il Test that too.

This is Just Straight out the Box, i havnt Changed anything on the Card at all.

Hope this Helps.
 
I only just yesterday, upgraded from a GTX580 Direct CUII to the XFX7970 Black Edition DD. So far I much prefer the cooling solution on the XFX. Though my priority I freely admit is acoustics.

Being a 3 slot card, the 580 ran very cool, staying mainly in the 60 to 70 area. However the 2 fans seemed to oscilate and create some whine at certain rpm's, such that I had to set up a dedicated fan profile to avoid the rpms. The XFX DD on the other hand runs 70 to 80, is only dual slot, but runs silent at all times. Infact I didnt even notice any noise whatsoever when testing Crysis. And so for me thats brilliant - I love having a silent rig! The quitest cooler to date for me.

Adore my new card, as I'm sure you will/do too
smile.gif
 
KingDazza said:
I only just yesterday, upgraded from a GTX580 Direct CUII to the XFX7970 Black Edition DD. So far I much prefer the cooling solution on the XFX. Though my priority I freely admit is acoustics.

Being a 3 slot card, the 580 ran very cool, staying mainly in the 60 to 70 area. However the 2 fans seemed to oscilate and create some whine at certain rpm's, such that I had to set up a dedicated fan profile to avoid the rpms. The XFX DD on the other hand runs 70 to 80, is only dual slot, but runs silent at all times. Infact I didnt even notice any noise whatsoever when testing Crysis. And so for me thats brilliant - I love having a silent rig! The quitest cooler to date for me.

Adore my new card, as I'm sure you will/do too
smile.gif
Click to expand...

What RPM's are we talking about since I really am trying to decide between a reference HD 7970 from sapphire or the asus CUII
 
If you can flash the XFX to an Asus BIOS I'd go down that path.

XFX aren't the best for customer service from what I've seen & heard, but their cards are reliable and cooling solutions always a little bit better than reference with enough headroom on the fans to kick out a hurricane should you want to max them out. Asus usually tune their cards to work a bit more harmoniously but their cooling solutions are about as innovative as a bread sandwich and usually overpriced, however slightly more overclockable. Make sure whichever card you buy has the voltage control chip present, my XFX 5870s diddled me of a good overclock.
 
The_Protocol said:
If you can flash the XFX to an Asus BIOS I'd go down that path.

XFX aren't the best for customer service from what I've seen & heard, but their cards are reliable and cooling solutions always a little bit better than reference with enough headroom on the fans to kick out a hurricane should you want to max them out. Asus usually tune their cards to work a bit more harmoniously but their cooling solutions are about as innovative as a bread sandwich and usually overpriced, however slightly more overclockable. Make sure whichever card you buy has the voltage control chip present, my XFX 5870s diddled me of a good overclock.
Click to expand...

the funny story for me is that the HD 7970 from Asus with the DCUII is CHEAPER then the reference HD 7970 from XFX... like seriously wtf? makes no sense to me :S

Prices for the cards are all over the place lol

Anyway I just really want my card to be quiet xD
 
TheOneHalf said:
What RPM's are we talking about since I really am trying to decide between a reference HD 7970 from sapphire or the asus CUII
Click to expand...

Dont recall the rpms, but the spots of oscillation noise were at points spread across the fan percentage usage. It wasnt loud as such, but enough that I noticed it anyway. The XFX double D, for my rig, is silent across the whole rpm range. Infact I only heard it when doing a burn test.

For me I wont be ever going back to CUII cooling.
 
Sits around 1300-1400 idle If i remember, Never seen it go over 1900 Playing BF3 on Ultra. And Max is 3000 odd, Il get Proper Numbers Tonight.
 
The_Protocol said:
If you can flash the XFX to an Asus BIOS I'd go down that path.

XFX aren't the best for customer service from what I've seen & heard, but their cards are reliable and cooling solutions always a little bit better than reference with enough headroom on the fans to kick out a hurricane should you want to max them out. Asus usually tune their cards to work a bit more harmoniously but their cooling solutions are about as innovative as a bread sandwich and usually overpriced, however slightly more overclockable. Make sure whichever card you buy has the voltage control chip present, my XFX 5870s diddled me of a good overclock.
Click to expand...

XFX's customer service/ tech support freakin rocks.
tongue.gif
Knowing that I was not the original owner, they RMA'd the 9800gt's cooler twice. Then months later they gave me a HD 5750 to replace it.

Whats there not to like ?
smile.gif


TheOneHalf said:
the funny story for me is that the HD 7970 from Asus with the DCUII is CHEAPER then the reference HD 7970 from XFX... like seriously wtf? makes no sense to me :S

Prices for the cards are all over the place lol

Anyway I just really want my card to be quiet xD
Click to expand...

How much cheaper ?

Whatever it is, the double lifetime warranty is well worth the cost and it makes for a great selling point when it comes to upgrade again.

pEACe
 
Hippie Tech said:
XFX's customer service/ tech support freakin rocks.
tongue.gif
Knowing that I was not the original owner, they RMA'd the 9800gt's cooler twice. Then months later they gave me a HD 5750 to replace it.

Whats there not to like ?
smile.gif


How much cheaper ?

Whatever it is, the double lifetime warranty is well worth the cost and it makes for a great selling point when it comes to upgrade again.

pEACe
Click to expand...

About 29 euro cheaper. Anyway i went with a reference design, since I decided I might as well go watercooling when I get my bigger case
smile.gif
That will make sure it's totally quiet haha.

Should be fun trying that for the first time ^^ when ivy bridge comes i'll make the jump to an I7 a new board and watercooling
smile.gif
should be great
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TheOneHalf said:
About 29 euro cheaper. Anyway i went with a reference design, since I decided I might as well go watercooling when I get my bigger case
smile.gif
That will make sure it's totally quiet haha.

Should be fun trying that for the first time ^^ when ivy bridge comes i'll make the jump to an I7 a new board and watercooling
smile.gif
should be great
biggrin.gif
Click to expand...

Congrats on that sweet upgrade !
smile.gif


Btw.. you'll never catch me looping liquids inside my rig. I'm an easy breazey cautious overclocker.
tongue.gif


pEACe
 
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