Lack of Reviews for the ASUS 7970 DirectCU II

[daDonn]

Bizarrely, there seems to be a distinct lack of reviews for the ASUS 7970 card which sports their custom PCB and DirectCU II cooler. The only one I can find from a regular review site seems to be on a site easily googled (no linking, I understand it isn't permitted

).

I am seriously considering a purchase of this card for my REDBOX build, but am concerned about quite a few comments that have sprung up on a few forums regarding the high VRM temperatures the card is purported to suffer.

It is my understanding that most professional reviewers (like TTL) receive their hardware either on loan or for free from manufacturers or distributors. My fear is that ASUS have internally recognised that there may be an issue with the VRM heat dispersal on this card and haven't supplied any review samples for perusal - they have simply relied on the super-sweet looks of the card to make sales on it.

My question is thus: has anybody on this forum had any experience with this card, who may be able to allay my fears? Additionally, does anybody know in fact why there are so few reviews available for this card?

I really like how this card looks, but a high VRM temperature doesn't bode well for the longevity of it, or for overclocking headroom. With the release of Kepler happening practically now, I'm considering simply waiting until somebody releases an aftermarket black-and-red design card incorporating it - which will probably be ASUS again, no doubt.

 

[simon d]

Bizarrely, there seems to be a distinct lack of reviews for the ASUS 7970 card which sports their custom PCB and DirectCU II cooler. The only one I can find from a regular review site seems to be on a site easily googled (no linking, I understand it isn't permitted

).

I am seriously considering a purchase of this card for my REDBOX build, but am concerned about quite a few comments that have sprung up on a few forums regarding the high VRM temperatures the card is purported to suffer.

It is my understanding that most professional reviewers (like TTL) receive their hardware either on loan or for free from manufacturers or distributors. My fear is that ASUS have internally recognised that there may be an issue with the VRM heat dispersal on this card and haven't supplied any review samples for perusal - they have simply relied on the super-sweet looks of the card to make sales on it.

My question is thus: has anybody on this forum had any experience with this card, who may be able to allay my fears? Additionally, does anybody know in fact why there are so few reviews available for this card?

I really like how this card looks, but a high VRM temperature doesn't bode well for the longevity of it, or for overclocking headroom. With the release of Kepler happening practically now, I'm considering simply waiting until somebody releases an aftermarket black-and-red design card incorporating it - which will probably be ASUS again, no doubt.

I have just brought Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP waiting for it to be delivered next week.

I did find two reviews of the Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP

I hope the cooling is good!!

 

[simon d]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I have the card now I do see high VRM temperatures (98C) reported in the Asus GPU Tweak software. But the GPU only reads 64C running with GPU clock 1125, Memory 1575 @ 1100mv with 40% fan setting when running Heaven DX11 benchmark 3.0.[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]My card seems to be cool to touch and does not indicated that VRM are running that hot as indicated by the software.[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I was reading on another forum that someone else contacted Asus about this problem as he was review the card and was informed that the readings are incorrect.[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]This is a direct quote from Asus he had back from them[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"After our internal testing, the temperature of VRM is normal but the software reading doesn’t reflect the real temperature within a specific range. This phenomenon happens because the resistance of the related resistor holds a non-linear relationship with the real temperature."[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Asus also provided the thermal images as proof.[/font]

 

[daDonn]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I have the card now I do see high VRM temperatures (98C) reported in the Asus GPU Tweak software. But the GPU only reads 64C running with GPU clock 1125, Memory 1575 @ 1100mv with 40% fan setting when running Heaven DX11 benchmark 3.0.[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]My card seems to be cool to touch and does not indicated that VRM are running that hot as indicated by the software.[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I was reading on another forum that someone else contacted Asus about this problem as he was review the card and was informed that the readings are incorrect.[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]This is a direct quote from Asus he had back from them[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"After our internal testing, the temperature of VRM is normal but the software reading doesn’t reflect the real temperature within a specific range. This phenomenon happens because the resistance of the related resistor holds a non-linear relationship with the real temperature."[/font]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Asus also provided the thermal images as proof.[/font]

That certainly sounds promising.

How's the overclocking going? With a cooler that effective, it should be able to offset a higher temp, right?

And at stock I hear it's almost silent, which is another reason I am seriously considering this card.

I'm still a bit confused as to the lack of review sites who have covered this card though - there was plenty of hype around it prior to launch!

 

[simon d]

I have been played with the Asus GPU Tweak software that allows you to over clocker higher on the GPU clock and Memory but you need more volts up on the GPU and you need to increase the fan speed to a much higher speeds. Therefore more noise.

If you want to push the card to it limits I would say that you are better to go to water cooling system.



I tried on my card but I need the volts up 1300mv to get to 1225 stable



Due to the cost of the card I am happy to stay at with GPU clock of 1125, Memory 1575 @ 1100mv with 40% fan or less

I now pushed the memory up to 1675 with the same volts using MSI Afterburner found how to unlock to go to a higher overclock left cooling on default auto setting very quiet compared to the normal reference coolers.



More reviews of the Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II are coming out; I picked up the TOP version for the same price as the standard one paid just over £400.



I am running on 30” Dell at full settings in games now, very happy with the card