Bitcoin Forum

Hello,

I am going to buy some 7970's to do some bitcoin and litecoin mining. The hash rate per $ seems to match the 7850/7870 cards, so I figure I might as well just buy 7970's and get higher density and maybe better resale.

I know ASIC are coming. Someday... but I am going to jump in anyway because I can buy 7970's now and do litecoin if all else fails :)

Right now I am leaning toward the MSI 7970

Does anyone have any first hand experience with the different versions of the 7970? I am specifically trying to figure out which manufacturer and model of 7970.

I would welcome input from anyone who has mined them or who has other input about them.

Thank you,

Planman

I have no specific experience with the 7970 but in general I find sapphire non-reference to have really good cooling
Certain XFX video cards are the only ones where you can get a lifetime warranty.
I was personally looking at the Gigabyte OC model for a while. Apparently it runs really cool

VisionTek also offers lifetime warranty.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=152790.0

Not a single issue with either MSI, PowerColor, HIS or VisionTek. OC like champs and run cool. Only issues with Diamond were failed fans and lousy customer support.

I  :-* 7990
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131483&IsVirtualParent=1 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131483&IsVirtualParent=1)

Nice  ;D

That is the "Big Mac" version of the 7970 i think :)

I was hoping to make money, so I think I should look at the other ones....

I was thinking the MSI because I know I can get replacement fans for it...

The lifetime warranty on the other cards sounds pretty interesting.

How so? This could be a dangerous way of thinking, depending on your response.

My warranty experience with XFX was good. Had they not been out of replacement fans for my card at the time, they even would have sent me the fan instead of me having to send my card to them. That said, their cooling solutions are shitty, in my limited experience.
For the record, I was not aware of VisionTek's warranty, so that is something to look into.

Good question!

I usually divide hash rate / dollars.

I figure that cooling, replacement fan availability, and warranty are the next three important factors.

I prefer the squirrel cage style fans for mining because the blades seem better protected. I have also been thinking about water cooling...

Most of my existing mining equipment paid for itself a long time ago. I am hoping if I buy some good trouble free stuff and let it run that I will be able to at least break even, if not make a little money.

Resale value only figures into my exit strategy. And since I have never yet sold a card... I don't worry about it much.

Your thoughts?

It's a 2 x 7970. They have binned and used the best 7970 on this card.

ASICS are here and not coming. Just a suggestion, Buy BTC with the money. Store it cold, Open it a decade later. Live like a king.

I got this card a couple weeks ago, no regard for break-even, just want to mine w/least hassle. Runs very cool. Recommended. If I do anything else it'll prob be an FPGA on solar.

Also doing this.

I got a couple of GB 7850 OCs and I'm surprised how cool they run even after overOCing them, room temp is around 28C during the day and these GPUs won't go over 62C..

Any brand will do. They are more or less the same. You might get better cooling, better pcb components, higher frequencies, etc.
Get what ever is cheaper and overclock it a little bit.

If money it's not important  :o, Asus cards are great.

+1

Considering you will not be able to miner Bitcoin very much long, at least if you care about making more money then your paying your electric man for the power it eats....   You should be making sure that you are able to mine Litecoin with it well.  In order to that in the most efficient way, its highly advisable to make sure you do not purchase a 7970 that has a bios with locked voltage. 

Yes, some of them can be unlocked - but I wouldn't purchase a card on a "might be successfule".  Many of the newer XFX's are locked.  I have 7 of them that are earlier unlocked versions that all mine over 650 kh/s while undervolted and save a couple, I've had them up to 730 kh/s when I leave them at stock volts. 

Now if I were to start overvolting - who knows where I could end up.  I'll provide two links below that have settings that have been running for 24 hours.  I have recently played with them a little more and they are hashing a little faster now at the same volts.  The temperatures are awesome - but that is due to the fact they are all equipped with Arctic Accelero coolers.  Something else that I highly recommend when scrypt mining since you will find yourself overclocking the memory for max performance unlike bitcoin mining which is not dependent on the memory.

These 7970s in m mind are an unbeatable value in the mining world.  If scrypt mining continues as it should when ASICS take over the bitcoin world due to the difficulty hike, 7970s will be leading the way.

And if for some reason you find yourself getting out of mining all together.  You will have yourself one badass card(s) to game with, or will be extremely easy to sell on the forums, ebay, crigslist, etc.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0b9apmnawgrg7l0/miner1.jpg (https://www.dropbox.com/s/0b9apmnawgrg7l0/miner1.jpg)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4mqaftgbj8c6847/miner2.jpg (https://www.dropbox.com/s/4mqaftgbj8c6847/miner2.jpg)

Avoid Diamond.  Their customer service sucks.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

This is awesome!!!

I have to say that I love the temp of your card.
all my powercolor 7950 reference card are working around 66-68 with under clocking and mining at 520  :-\

today just saw some powercolor 7970 reference card on sale, 349.99 after 30 rebate, but the heat with single fan........

What site?

try Tigerdirect.com

They had  a few deals like that yesterday...

I found it on ncix.ca don't know about ncix.com

but I was wrong about one thing, the promotion is not a reference 7970, it's a dual fan 7970 and looks nice.
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=70111&vpn=AX7970%203GBD5-2DHV3&manufacture=PowerColor&promoid=1323

I may be wrong but I believe those powercolor units are indeed voltage locked.  Weather or not they can be unlocked I do not know.  But unless every single person you read about has been successful unlocking that exact model number, I wouldn't bother with the risk.  I know the $430 MSI card is indeed capable of being undervolted.  I'm sure there have to be some others.

I did a quick search and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103201 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103201) is the cheapest one I could find that I believe to be voltage unlocked.  I would however do some more research before purchasing the card because I haven't found it specifically stated yet.  But there was a comment of someone having it overclocked to like  1125/1500+  and I just can't picture that being stable on stock volts.  The thing is it may have a slightly higher then the normal stock volts and that would explain it.  I can't stress how important it is to have the ability to undervolt these cards when it comes to mining and efficiency.  Unless you dont pay the power bill, but if your parents do - do them a favor and undervolt it! lol

if a card can't be undervolted the temp will goes up quickly and the fan noise........

I have that card, it can defintiely be undervolted. But again I would avoid diamond and newegg is out of stock on it anyways.

I have this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125439 and it does run at a higher than stock voltage, but it runs at 1100/1500 out of the box.  :o Combined with the fact that it can be undervolted, it's pretty sweet.

+1 for either Sapphire or PowerColour (models with two fans)