MSI R7970 Lightning Boost Edition vs. Asus Matrix 7970 Platinum

[SimRacer92]

Hello guys!
I have a triple screen setup with a slightly oced i5 3570K, 8 gb ram and want to buy the best single gpu card on the market..
I saw that the MSI R7970 Lightning Boost Edition and the Asus Matrix 7970 Platinum cards are very powerful, the Asus has higher memory clock and the MSI has higher core clock.. so which of these clocks is more important for me and so which card should I buy?
I mostly play SimRacing games like Project Cars and in the future Assetto corsa, which need good graphics cards to play them on triplw screen.. I also play some Crysis and SW:TOR..

Hope you can help me to find the best card for me

best regards,
SimRacer

 

[SieB]

Lightning >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Matrix

Watch Tom's review of the Matrix, it's no better than a reference 7970 and £200 more expensive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLRr2FP1uME

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

Lightning all the way !

I want this card so hard but cant afford it....

 

[SimRacer92]

oh okay, Lightning seems to be more accepted by the users here.. I think the lightning won the match and I will buy that sweet card
thank you!

 

[tinytomlogan]

Both are utterly pointless for you.

 

[SimRacer92]

Both are utterly pointless for you.

why..?

 

[ObscureParadox]

Seems like a lot of money for one card if your not going to be doing any serious overclocking. Something like the Gigabyte triple fan one would do you good. It's pretty cheap as custom graphics cards go and it's a really good performer. I don't know what crossfire eyefinity drivers are like for those games but 7950 crossfire might be a good solution for around the price of a 7970 lightning???

 

[tinytomlogan]

Because if youre not overclocking it to within an inch of its life theres no point.

Just get a reference one.

 

[SimRacer92]

mhm, crossfire 7950 would also be a nice move.. no experience with crossfire, does it perform that much better than a single 7970 with an upgrade option in the future for a second 7970 to go crossfire?

 

[tinytomlogan]

mhm, crossfire 7950 would also be a nice move.. no experience with crossfire, does it perform that much better than a single 7970 with an upgrade option in the future for a second 7970 to go crossfire?

You realise this is a review site right and the fact that the front page is FULL of articles that could quite possibly answer your questions and maybe even some that youve not thought of yet? :huh:

 

[SimRacer92]

mhm, decided to go for a Lightning Boost Edition and slightly overclocked it to 1173/1600 with standard voltages etc.. nice card!

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

I just got the same card yesterday! It's a beast!

What is your stock voltage cause mine is 1256mv which is too high for my taste, im actually clocked at 1250/1600 with 1210mv on the core and stock on mem. I'm actually waiting on my waterblock to push it waaaaaay further!

Did you understand the function of each bios?

 

[SimRacer92]

I just got the same card yesterday! It's a beast!

What is your stock voltage cause mine is 1256mv which is too high for my taste, im actually clocked at 1250/1600 with 1210mv on the core and stock on mem. I'm actually waiting on my waterblock to push it waaaaaay further!

Did you understand the function of each bios?

yep, 1256mv is also my stock voltage.. with that stock voltage my card is unstable even at 1200 on the core so how the hell did you managed to go with 1250?

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

Sorry i mistyped its 1240mv instead off 1210mv. On which bios are you running?
Im running the card on the 2nd bios (switch towards the back of the card).
It can also be silicon lottery related.

 

[SimRacer92]

Sorry i mistyped its 1220mv instead off 1210mv. On which bios are you running?
Im running the card on the 2nd bios (switch towards the back of the card).
It can also be silicon lottery related.

mhm, gpu-z says 015.22.000.001.000000 (113-xxx-xxx)..

I am no expert in overclocking so I dont want to change the voltages.. I want a stable card, only with higer clocks and with standard voltages... memory 1600 mhz is enough for me, now I search for a good clock core..^^

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

No i mean on the card there is a bios switch. If you run the card like it came out of the box (switch towards the front of the card) its clocked @ 1050MHz. Flip the switch towards the back of the card, this is where the magic happens !
If your not comfortable playing with voltage, leave voltage @ stock setting and just fool around with the core clock and do some stability testing. And of course dont forget to monitor your temps !

 

[SimRacer92]

I have the Bios switcher on position 1.. I read somewhere that position 2 is for extreme overclockers with water cooling system.. I am no hardcore extreme overclocker and I am using normal fan cooling..

It seems that 1160/1600 is a nice stable clock with standard voltages for me..
set power target in GPU tweak to 120 % and all my favourite games running good on three screens..

in Furmark 15 minutes Benchmark I get up to 85 ° C and some artefacts.. It is not crashing but the artefacts are there.. Does it mean it is clocked to high?