Radeon HD 5970 Offers Massive Overclocking Headroom

Robert-The-Rambler · Nov 17, 2009

As Far As Clock Speed Goes

I think it is a way to save a whole bunch of money and avoid unnecessary warranty claims. The card already has 3200 shaders and whether or not AMD/ATI clocked the chip higher would not offer significant gains to almost any gamer at any resolution. I believe it is a logical business decision based on simple math. The card is so damn fast that if they underclock it a bit to avoid almost any cooling issues and power consumption issues then offer headroom for tweakers who realize they can't RMA it if it explodes then it is a win situation for everybody. :toast:

Romir · Nov 17, 2009

The GTX 295 has a tdp of 289w and uses a 6 + 8 pin connector as well. It obviously doesn't have just 11w of head room as people have been overclocking it just fine all year.

Tom20 · Nov 17, 2009

Seems cool!

OneCool · Nov 18, 2009

TAViX said:
Nice! I'm curious about nVIDIA response. When it will come... Next year, or next millennium...

Dont worry...big green is lurking and you better believe their soaking it ALL up.

I can only imagine what they are conjuring up. :shadedshu

Ati has its day now but we ALL know what this means....

btarunr · Nov 18, 2009

OneCool said:
Ati has its day now but we ALL know what this means....

That ATI is having its day

80 minutes for the reviews.

Steevo · Nov 18, 2009

TheMailMan78 said:
You know what would be more awesome than this?! If there were actual 58XX series cards on the F*#KING market to be bought!

Zipzoomfly had them for about the same prices and deals at the egg.

A Cheese Danish · Nov 18, 2009

Damn I need to grab one of these!

mastrdrver · Nov 18, 2009

btarunr said:
That ATI is having its day

80 minutes for the reviews.

80 minutes? Psh!

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5970-review-test/

W1zzard · Nov 18, 2009

sideeffect said:
You can draw 150w from a single 6 pin no problem? Evidence please because from what I have seen with my ATI 4850 which had 1 x 6 pin this was not the case and it was power starved. I was using a 1KW OCZ ProXtreme to power it as well.

there is your proof. 13.29 A @ 12V = ~160W. hd 5970 running gputool stresstest. cable's not even getting warm to the touch

sorry for censoring out the box, it's not relevant for this, it's just convenient because it lets me connect 1 or 2 6 or 8-pin to 2x6 and 1x8pin.

sideeffect · Nov 19, 2009

W1zzard said:
there is your proof. 13.29 A @ 12V = ~160W. hd 5970 running gputool stresstest. cable's not even getting warm to the touch
http://img.techpowerup.org/091118/Capture250.jpg
sorry for censoring out the box, it's not relevant for this, it's just convenient because it lets me connect 1 or 2 6 or 8-pin to 2x6 and 1x8pin.

Thanks for running that test. It is not typical of a 6 pin PCI-e connector though and the greater power draw was something that was allowed for in the design.

"The PCI Express specification calls for a maximum provision of 300W for graphics, both HD 4870 X2 and HD 5970 max this specification out. With the Cypress GPU, though, we knew it would be require more power than RV770 becuase it was designed as a bigger chip; when designing the HF 5970 we had two options - keep within the specification and the standard infrastructure that exists (and tune the voltages and speeds accordingly) or break the infrascturcture and go beyond the specification. In the end we chose a hybrid - the default speeds are designed to fit within the spec and the default infrastucture, but we designed the board to facilitate higher current draws and allow users with higher quality power supplies to tweak the performance more. Can we guarantee OC specs? No, we can't, but we can say that the GPU's on those boards are screened to be high speed capable. "

Dave Baumann ATI

TheMailMan78 said:
Yeah I know what your talking about. I also know W1zz is the owner of the website and has a vast amount of experience and wouldn't be talking out of his ass. I am far more inclined to take his word over yours.

Saying his "analogy sucks" isnt the smartest thing to do.

I never asked you to take my word for it try some independent research and thought. A lot of people have experience that doesn't mean you should never question their information or results or ask for evidence. I have a lot of respect for W1zzard and this website I didn't say he sucked but I still think the analogy was inappropriate.

pantherx12 · Nov 19, 2009

My 3870 Pulls about 270-280 when I've got it over clocked, it only has a single 6 pin connector and the power coming from the PCI-E slot.

How can it draw so much power, 150+75 doesn't = 270-280.

Sorry for slightly off topic but it is sort of relevant to the PCI-E power cable discussion.

W1zzard · Nov 19, 2009

sideeffect said:
Thanks for running that test. It is not typical of a 6 pin PCI-e connector though and the greater power draw was something that was allowed for in the design.

sigh ... it has nothing to do with the board .. you want me to run this with a 4870 x2 ? or anything else?

W1zzard · Nov 19, 2009

pantherx12 said:
My 3870 Pulls about 270-280 when I've got it over clocked, it only has a single 6 pin connector and the power coming from the PCI-E slot.

How can it draw so much power, 150+75 doesn't = 270-280.

Sorry for slightly off topic but it is sort of relevant to the PCI-E power cable discussion.

let's try another analogy (why is water so popular to explain electronics?).. take a garden hose .. run water through it at 100 psi .. works fine ... please note your garden hose is rated for 100 psi max. .. now run water through it at 150 psi... omg more water! and it doesn't explode. how is that possible?

pantherx12 · Nov 19, 2009

Yes you can run more if you turn the tap higher, but I thought it was standardised so it COULDN'T allow more for safety reasons.

That's why I was asking how can it be possible.

Not because I don't understand how current works.

W1zzard · Nov 19, 2009

your hose is standardized to 100 psi too but nothing stops you from running it higher, and nothing will happen if you run it at a reasonable amount out of spec

TheMailMan78 · Nov 19, 2009

W1zzard said:
let's try another analogy (why is water so popular to explain electronics?).. take a garden hose .. run water through it at 100 psi .. works fine ... please note your garden hose is rated for 100 psi max. .. now run water through it at 150 psi... omg more water! and it doesn't explode. how is that possible?

Thats funny because my father was a weapons avionics expert and instructor during the Vietnam era for the U.S. Army. All his notes and lectures were based off of water analogies. I guess its something everyone can relate to. Water.

Anyway back to topic

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Radeon HD 5970 Offers Massive Overclocking Headroom

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