VTX3D HD7970 PCIE2 vs PCIE3 Review

Up Close

The packaging is a lovely golden colour and we have to say it’s nice to see Ruby back again. Who doesn’t want a spandex-clad dual-wielding busty girl on their package?

      

Accessories are pretty much what you’d expect the bridge and power convertor, but it’s good to see that connectivity is covered with a DisplayPort to DVI and DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor, as well as a HDMI to DVI and DVI to VGA. No matter what screen you have to hand you’ll be able to connect it to the VTX3D HD7970.

      

As for the card itself it’s exactly what we’d expect a reference AMD card to look like. Lots of black plastic with some red go-faster stripes and the normal water-mill fan right up the end. Thankfully beneath that plastic shroud all is new with vapour-chambers and a redesigned heatsink. Hopefully the heat and noise issues that plagued the HD6970 have been solved.

      

Power is handled by 6 and 8pin PCIe connectors, so even as the high-end model this isn’t a complete power hog. Indeed ‘at the wall’ the HD7970 draws around 200W when under load. Impressive.

By dropping their output options and moving them to the adaptors seen above, the vent is now the full width of the card which should help expel the heat easier than the small gap on the HD6970.