To 7990 or not to 7990?

[Darren]

So I've got an interesting predicament ahead of me. To start off with, I had some issues with my 7970 that I believe to be the result of a fan bug with some beta drivers from AMD that fried my card. Read this thread if you're thoroughly interested.

http://www.computerforum.com/threads/video-corrupt-flickering-upon-reboot.236997/

Anyway, after several back and forths with AMD support over the past few weeks (they're quite slow), I got a response back today.

Thank you for your patience with us. We have verified that your graphics card was designed with a fail-safe mechanism. This safety mechanism should have shut down the device to prevent heat damage in the event that the operating temperature has reached the maximum threshold.

That being said, we have considered your claim and based on the circumstances we are offering a one-time replacement as a matter of good will. We will send you a refurbished Radeon HD 7990 in exchange for your graphics card. In order to qualify for the replacement you must first ship your graphics card to our facility in Canada.

So essentially they want to replace my 7970 with a 7990. The problem with that is I don't think my CX600M would be able to power a 7990 and I don't really have much desire to chuck my perfectly good CX600M to upgrade. Also I'm pretty broke. Furthermore I know that the 7990 is just two 7970 chips on one board and that Crossfire is notorious for being a lot of hassle in terms of compatibility. And since it's just one GPU I don't think I can disable Crossfire to get around that. I think, correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, since I've switched my 7970 back to the stock clocks and vBIOS (it has two BIOS' on board with a toggle switch), I have yet to have any problems. I have tried switching it back to my factory overclocks and it starts giving me issues again, so the card isn't cured. From what I can tell though it runs alright but I don't trust it.

My options that I see.

1. Keep the 7970 and hope it survives long enough until I replace it (probably going to do within the next year either way).

2. Accept 7990 and try it on my CX600M (possibly upgrade it).

3. Accept 7990, sell it on Ebay, and buy a new replacement. Most likely a R9 390 or R9 380X. I'm leaning for this option. I have a friends GTX 760 I can use during the transition period. Looking on Ebay I might be able to get around $300 for it.

What do?

 

[beers]

4. Accept 7990, trade with beers for a fine 6 pack of lager.

That probably sounds like your best bet.

 

[voyagerfan99]

Quick Google says minimum PSU is 750W.

GTX 970 FTW

 

[Darren]

Quick Google says minimum PSU is 750W.

GTX 970 FTW

This is not helpful. 7990 would crush a 970.

That probably sounds like your best bet.

You'd be providing alcohol to a minor (not that I have a problem with that).

 

[johnb35]

You should have at least a 700 watt psu for the 7990. I would say sell it and get the R9 series.

 

[voyagerfan99]

This is not helpful. 7990 would crush a 970.

Er....come again?

Not only would a GTX 970 perform better, but it requires and uses less power too.

 

[beers]

How is the scaling for G3D Mark ? I don't think I've ever actually seen that used.

7990 is basically 2x 7970s in CF (as you know), but are significantly faster than 970/290 in CF supported games.

 

[Darren]

I'll revise my statement to "beat" rather than "crush".

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1074?vs=1354

But yeah, 7990 would beat it for sure. And I literally don't care about uses less power. I don't understand that argument almost ever. It's a Crossfire card, of course it uses more power.

 

[spirit]

Option 3 all the way. Your 7970 is clearly toast, there's no denying it. They're offering you a 7990, take it, flog it for like 250-300 bucks and grab a brand new card. If you sell it as an AMD refurb you'll get more for it.

The 7990s did consume a lot of power and generate a lot of heat. Best to have one GPU too for the reasons you said.

 

[Darren]

I've opted for option number 3. I saw a 7990 go on Ebay just a few mins ago for $280 at auction. Now just waiting for an address to ship my 7970 to.

I'll get a 390. And before all you naysayers tell me to get a 970. 390 is noticeably faster at 1440p than the 970 in most games. And cheaper.

 

[Darren]

Just got a text from DHL saying my package from ATI (lol) will be here in two days. They ship quick if that's going from Ontario to Kansas.

 

[Okedokey]

Did you try and up the voltage on the core of that 7970 during stock OC? Sounds like a voltage issue.

Also, a system with a 7990 will draw less than 500W, so your 620W Corsair would be fine IMHO.

 

[Darren]

Did you try and up the voltage on the core of that 7970 during stock OC? Sounds like a voltage issue.

Also, a system with a 7990 will draw less than 500W, so your 620W Corsair would be fine IMHO.

I don't want to deal with Crossfire, particularly on a dual GPU card. I wouldn't trust my CX600 to Crossfire either, particularly since I've got an 8320 overclocked.

7990 is already on ebay anyway.

 

[Okedokey]

Understood. However in regards to power, even a 3960X doesn't pull more than 500W with that card and it runs 50W more on stock than a 8320 at 4.4GHz. The CX600 is fine.