MSI R6970 Lightning Twin Frozr III Review (18 Phase PWM)

1. Introduction2. MSI R6970 Lightning Twin Frozr III3. Testing Methodology4. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven Benchmark5. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage6. Synthetic: 3DMark 117. Synthetic: Stone Giant8. Image Quality: HQV Benchmark V29. 1 screen gaming: Alien V Predator10. 1 screen gaming: Dead Space 211. 1 screen gaming: Far Cry 212. 1 screen gaming: Resident Evil 513. 1 screen gaming: Tom Clancy HAWX 214. 1 screen gaming: Mafia 215. 1 screen gaming: Lost Planet 216. 3 screen gaming: Battleforge17. 3 screen gaming: Medal Of Honor SP18. 3 screen gaming: Devil May Cry 419. 3 screen gaming: Metro 203320. 3 screen gaming: Colin McRae Dirt 221. 3 screen gaming: F1 201022. 3 screen gaming: Left4Dead 223. Technical: Thermal Dynamics24. Technical: Acoustics Performance25. Technical: Power Consumption26. Technical: Overclocking27. Closing Thoughts28. View All Pages

AMD's HD6970 has been a popular card since it was launched and some partners have been releasing modified versions based on the AMD reference design. Today we are looking at a rather spectacular design from MSI which features the latest update on their high performance Twin Frozr cooler.

KitGuru has looked at many of the Twin Frozr designs in the past, and we have found that they always deliver class leading cooling performance while emitting very little noise.

The MSI R6970 Lightning Twin Frozr III graphics card has the newest version of the cooler with improved heatpipe design and the world's first 18 Phase PWM design. With a generous overclock to 940mhz, is this the best HD6970 available on the market today?

Product	AMD HD6970	MSI R6970 Lightning TFIII
Core Clock speed	880mhz	940 mhz
Primitive Rate	2 prim/clk	2 prim/clk
Shader Architecture	VLIW4	VLIW4
Stream Processors	24 SIMD/1536 ALU	24 SIMD/1536 ALU
Texture Units	96	96
ROPs/Z-Stencil	32/128	32/128
Frame Buffer	2GB GDDR5	2GB GDDR5
Memory Width/Speed	256 bit, 5.5 Gbps	256 bit, 5.5 Gbps
Power Connectors	8 pin & 6 pin	8 pin & 8 pin
Display Outputs	2xDVI + 2x mDP + HDMI	2xDVI + 2x mDP + HDMI

The MSI R6970 Lightning Twin Frozr III arrives in a large, colourful box with a picture of a stealth fighter on the front.

It is a gatefold design with a wealth of information on the product detailed inside.

The bundle is extensive, with video and power converter cables, crossfire adapter and literature on the product.

Regular readers of KitGuru will have seen earlier versions of the Twin Frozr cooler which is a metal design with Twin fans. The newest version of the cooler features dual 9cm PWM fans which provide 40% more airflow than previous versions.

A close up of the fan, showing the angular blades, with the edges tapered for maximum airflow. There are also two fan modes on the PCB, one for performance and one for silence, we will look at this more later.

The PCB is a custom MSI design and it features one of the most substantial heatpipe implementations we have seen. These heatpipes are 8mm thick and one of them runs almost the full length of the PCB, pushing heat across the full width of the aluminum fins. These are a high density design to ensure that all of the fins act equally to dissipate the heat.

The MSI R6970 Lightning utilises the world's first 18 phase PWM design, which is meant to help improve overclocking capability and aid general stability under load.

The R6970 Lightning has a dualDVI, 2 mini displayport and an HDMI port output configuration.

The card demands two 8 pin power connectors. The reference board is a 6 + 8 pin design so MSI have redesigned the power intake, potentially to offer more overclocking capability. This board design also incorporates the world's first independent memory power system to help with overclocking.

Removing the cooler is a straightforward process and now we can get a better look at the formidable cooling design. The large copper base is coated with nickel to provide improved heat dissipation. MSI are using Super Ferrite Chokes again, which offer 10% greater power efficiency and 30% higher current capacity. The HI-C CAP design uses Tantalum cores to improve stability while giving 15 times less leakage, they are apparently used on Space shuttles and satellites.

The card also is populated with Solid capacitors which give a 10 year life span with extremely low ESR and temperature output. The PCB design is called the ‘Lightning PCB Stack' which is formed around 10 individual layers. The inside four layers support GPU power, Memory and IO power and ground.

There are three V check points on the PCB, for C-GPU, V-MEM and V-PLL.

An overview of the card via GPU-Z, highlighting the core clock speed enhancements.

Today we are using one of KitGuru’s most powerful systems, a Core i7 970 based configuration – liquid cooled to 4.33ghz, with a Corsair AX1200 power supply – all built into a sexy Thermaltake Level 10 chassis.

Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.33ghz
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65 (MS-7522)
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10
Power Supply: Corsair Ax1200
Memory: 6GB GSkill Performance Gaming ram @ 902.9 MHz (2:10) @ 9-9-9-24
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)
Monitors: Hazro Ultra Sharp HZ230Wi, Dell Ultrasharp U2410 Rev A00 x3

Other graphics cards for comparisons:
AMD HD6970
AMD HD6950
AMD HD6870
AMD HD6850
AMD HD5870
AMD HD5850
nVidia GTX570
MSI N560GTX Twin Frozr II
nVidia GTX460 OC (715/900)

Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
Catalyst 11.4
Forceware 266.66 WHQL
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
TessMark
ShaderToy
HQV 2.0 Software

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Nikon D300S with R1C1 kit
Keithley Integra unit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter

Games:
Resident Evil 5
Colin McRae Dirt 2
Lost Planet 2
Dead Space 2
Far Cry 2
Alien V Predator
Mafia 2
BattleField: Bad Company
Tom Clancy H.A.W.X. 2
F1 2010
Crysis Warhead
Metro 2033
Left4Dead2
Battleforge
Medal Of Honor
Devil May Cry 4

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests all games across five closely matched runs and average out the results to get an accurate median figure.

Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.

Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:

• Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
• Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
• Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
• Multicore CPU support
• Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
• Powerful C++ API
• Comprehensive performance profiling system
• Flexible XML-based data structures

1080p is a standard resolution we use with the Heaven Benchmark on all graphics cards, this means all review results are comparable throughout previous months.

Shaders are set to high, Tessellation to normal, anistrophy to 4 and Anti Aliasing is disabled.

Very strong initial results from the R6970 Lightning, scoring 56.4 fps, falling in just behind two overclocked GTX460's in SLI.

Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7.  This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.

A score just shy of 23,000 points is incredible, by comparison the high performing GTX570 scores just under 21,500 points.

3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.

After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.

In the Direct X 11 benchmark – the R6970 Lightning scores over 5,700 points, putting it to the front of the pack today, ahead of the SLI'd GTX460 OC result.

Stone Giant is a benchmark tech demo that showcases and measures DirectX 11 performance using the BitSquid Engine. This is a very heavy tessellation dependant benchmark which runs very well on nVidia hardware.

nVidia cards always score well with this Tessellation heavy benchmark. The R6970 Lightning takes second place behind the overclocked MSI N560GTX TFII.

HQV Benchmark 2.0 is an updated version of the original tool and it consists of various video clips and test patterns which are designed to evalute motion correction, de-interlacing, decoding, noise reduction, detail enhancement and film cadence detection.

There are two versions of the program, standard definition on DVD and high definition on Bluray. As our audience will be concentrating on HD content so will we.

This has a total of 39 video tests which is increased from 23 in the original and the scoring is also up from a total of 130 to 210. As hardware and software gets more complicated, the software has been tuned to make sure we can thoroughly maximise our analysis.

Read our initial analysis over here

	MSI R6970 Lightning
Dial	4
Dial with static pattern	5
Gray Bars	5
Violin	5
Stadium 2:2	5
Stadium 3:2	5
Horizontal Text Scroll	5
Vertical Text Scroll	5
Transition to 3:2 Lock	5
Transition to 2:2 Lock	0
2:2:2:4 24 FPS DVCAM Video	5
2:3:3:2 24 FPS DVCam Video	5
3:2:3:2:2 24 FOS Vari-Speed	5
5:5 FPS Animation	5
6:4 12 FPS Animation	5
8:7 8 FPS Animation	5
Interlace Chroma Problem (ICP)	5
Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE)	5
Random Noise: Sailboat	5
Random Noise: Flower	5
Random Noise: Sunrise	5
Random Noise: Harbour Night	5
Scrolling Text	5
Roller Coaster	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Bridge Traffic	5
Text Pattern/ Scrolling Text	5
Roller Coaster	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Bridge Traffic	5
Luminance Frequency Bands	5
Chrominance Frequency Bands	5
Vanishing Text	5
Resolution Enhancement	15
Theme Park	5
Driftwood	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Skin Tones	7
Total	196

The newest drivers work very well with the R6970 graphics card, scoring 196 points out of a possible 210.

Aliens V Predator has proved to be a big seller since the release and Sega have taken the franchise into new territory after taking it from Sierra. AVP is a Direct X 11 supported title and delivers not only advanced shadow rendering but high quality tessellation for the cards on test today.

To test the cards we used a 1080p resolution with DX11, Texture Quality Very High, MSAA Samples 1, 16 af, ambient occulsion on, shadow complexity high, motion blur on. We use this with most of our graphics card testing so cards are comparible throughout reviews.

The overclocked R6970 Lightning almost catches the SLI'd GTX460 OC cards, scoring 64 frames per second. It does however maintain a higher ‘minimum' frame rate during the most intensive sections of the test.

Dead Space 2 is a survival horror third-person shooter. The player controls Isaac Clarke from a third-person point of view, looking over the character’s right shoulder. The game features no HUD elements, relying on holograms projected from the player character and his weapons to show information such as messages and ammunition count, respectively. Player health and stasis is shown by a visual indicators located on Isaac’s back. Isaac must fight an alien organism that infects and takes control of human corpses, turning them into “Necromorphs”, mutating their bodies.

Necromorphs must be dismembered as the alien organism controls host bodies via tentacles extending into their limbs. Other, larger types of Necromorphs that cannot be dismembered will often have yellow, glowing pustules, indicating weak spots. Occasionally, when an enemy gets close enough to Isaac, they will grab a hold of him, and the player must repeatedly press a key to fend off the enemy, with failure to do so leading to death of the player character.

Dead Space 2 is a firm favourite among KitGuru staff since it was released, however it isn't a particularly demanding engine test for any modern gaming hardware. The GTX570 is top of the performance chart by 4 fps, with the R6970 Lightning in second place. All solutions we are using today can easily power this game on a 30 inch screen at native resolution.

Far Cry 2 (commonly abbreviated as “FC2 or “fc2″) is an open-ended first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released on October 21, 2008 in North America and on October 23, 2008 in Europe and Australia. It was made available on Steam on October 22, 2008. Crytek, the developers of the original game, were not involved in the development of Far Cry 2.

Ubisoft has marketed Far Cry 2 as the true sequel to Far Cry, though the sequel has very few noticeable similarities to the original game. Instead, it features completely new characters and setting, as well as a new style of gameplay that allows the player greater freedom to explore different African landscapes such as deserts, jungles, and savannas. The game takes place in a modern-day East African nation in a state of anarchy and civil war. The player takes control of a mercenary on a lengthy journey to locate and assassinate “The Jackal,” a notorious arms dealer.

Far Cry 2 is still a popular game and the open world environment can be taxing on even the latest hardware available today.

Settings: 1920×1200, D3D10, Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(8x), VSync(No), Overall Quality(Ultra High), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)

The R6970 Lightning does a good job of closing the gap behind the GTX570 with this nVidia friendly engine. The overclock helps generate 4 extra frames per second when compared against the reference solution.

Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as Biohazard 5, is a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on March 5, 2009 in Japan and on March 13, 2009 in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A Windows version of the game was released on September 15, 2009 in North America, September 17 in Japan and September 18 in Europe. Resident Evil 5 revolves around Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional town in Africa.

Within its first three weeks of release, the game sold over 2 million units worldwide and became the best-selling game of the franchise in the United Kingdom. As of December, 2009, Resident Evil 5 has sold 5.3 million copies worldwide since launch, becoming the best selling Resident Evil game ever made.

7fps more from the R6970 when compared directly to the reference solution. The GTX570 is around 10fps slower, but this engine has been known to run slightly better on AMD hardware.

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 is an arcade-style flight action game developed by Ubisoft Romania and published by Ubisoft. After the events of the first game, the H.A.W.X squadron is sent to Middle East, where a high level of violence is being registered, and the appearance of various insurgents leaders in various hotspots. The team also has to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Russian nuclear weapons. The player will be controlling three groups: one American (Hunter), one British (Munro) and one Russian (Sokov), each with its own pilots and supporting characters. There will also be references to other characters in the Tom Clancy universe.

We are testing in full DX11 mode with all settings to maximum.

HAWX 2 is dramatically skewed in favour of Nvidia hardware with the MSI R6970 Lightning struggling to get even close to the MSI N560GTX TFII. Still, every card on test today can handle this engine at these settings, even the HD5850 at the bottom of the list.

Mafia II is a gritty drama which chronicles the rise of World War II veteran Vito Scaletta, the son of Sicilian immigrants. As the game progresses, Vito will join the Falcone Crime Family and become a made man. There are 15 chapters in the game, connected into one storyline.

We tested at 2560×1600 with fullscreen: on, antialiasing:on , Anisotrophic filtering: 16x, Shadow Quality: High, Ambient Occlusion: on, Geometry Detail: High and APEX PhysX: medium.

With physX on, the nvidia solutions take all of the top positions. The R6970 Lightning manages to sneak in past the overclocked GTX460 into third place.

Lost Planet 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition which is also made by Capcom, taking place ten years after the events of the first game, on the same fictional planet. The story takes place back on E.D.N. III 10 years after the events of the first game. The snow has melted to reveal jungles and more tropical areas that have taken the place of more frozen regions. The plot begins with Mercenaries fighting against Jungle Pirates.

After destroying a mine, the Mercenaries continue on to evacuate the area, in which a Category-G Akrid appears and attacks them. After being rescued, they find out their evacuation point (Where the Category-G appeared) was a set-up and no pick up team awaited them. Lost Planet 2 runs on the MT-Framework 2.0, an updated version of the engine used in several Capcom-developed games.

We are testing in DX11 mode with all settings on the highest. Direct X 11 features are on high.

Another engine which runs particularly well on Nvidia hardware. It is a boring game, but the Direct X 11 engine is a good stress test of  modern gaming hardware. The R6970 Lightning generates 5 extra frames per second when compared against the reference solution, but it still isn't enough to outperform the N560GTX TFII

BattleForge is a video game developed by EA Phenomic and published by Electronic Arts. It was released on Windows in March 2009. A demo was released in the same month. BattleForge is a card based RTS. It revolves around trading, buying and winning through means of micro-transactions. Micro-transactions are not required for playing the game, only for buying new cards.

It supports DirectX 11 providing full support for hardware tesselation.

The extra core speed gives the R6970 Lightning an edge across three screens, generating a couple of frames extra in both average and minimum sections.

Medal of Honor’s single-player campaign uses a heavily-modified version of Unreal Engine 3, and its multiplayer uses the Frostbite Engine. The single player campaign takes place in 2002 in Afghanistan.

For half of the game, players assume the role of a DEVGRU operator codenamed “Rabbit”, of AFO Neptune. For the remainder, the player alternates between the roles of a Delta Force sniper code-named “Deuce”, of AFO Wolfpack, as well as Army Ranger Specialist Dante Adams of the 75th Ranger Regiment, and AH-64 Apache gunner Captain Brad “Hawk” Hawkins.

Again, thanks to the clock boost, the R6970 Lightning outperforms the reference solution by a couple of frames per second. It isn't really that noticeable however under ‘real world' conditions.

Devil May Cry 4 is an action game that was published and developed by Capcom in 2008 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows platforms. The game is the fourth installment to the Devil May Cry series.

In the game, the player controls both Nero and Dante, the game’s protagonist and the series’ title character as they fight enemies in close combat using firearms, swords, and other weapons. The characters Lady and Trish from previous games in the series makes an appearance, along with new characters Nero, Kyrie, Credo, Gloria, and Agnus. The game is set after Devil May Cry but before Devil May Cry 2.

We used Super high settings with HDR on high and 8aa and 16af to improve the image quality as much as possible.

Devil May Cry 4 isn't that taxing, even with high anti aliasing and HDR enabled. Both cards can power the engine without noticeable problems, with the MSI Lightning generating a couple of frames per second more performance throughout.

Metro 2033 is an action-oriented video game with a combination of survival horror and first-person shooter elements. The game is based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. It was developed by 4A Games in Ukraine and released in March 2010 for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

The game utilizes multi-platform 4A Engine, running on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows. There is some contention regarding whether the engine is based on the pre-release X-Ray engine (as claimed by Sergiy Grygorovych, the founder of GSC Game World, as well as users who have seen the 4A Engine SDK screenshots, citing visual similarities, shared resources, and technical evaluation of the pre-release 4A Engine demo conducted at the request of GSC Game World), or whether the engine is an original development (as claimed by 4A Games and Oles’ Shiskovtsov in particular) who claims it would have been impractical to retrofit the X-ray engine with console support). The PC version includes exclusive features such as DirectX 11 support and has been described as “a love letter to PC gamers” because of the developers’ choice “to make the PC version [especially] phenomenal”.

Metro 2033 is a taxing game which demands a lot from the hardware involved. The overclocked card makes a noticeable difference in these results, helping to increase all important minimum frame rates to 25. The overclocked core in this instance helps smooth out the more intensive game sections.

Colin McRae: Dirt 2 (known as Dirt 2 outside Europe and stylised, DiRT) is a racing game released in September 2009, and is the sequel to Colin McRae: Dirt. This is the first game in the McRae series since McRae’s death in 2007. It was announced on 19 November 2008 and features Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust, and Dave Mirra. The game includes many new race-events, including stadium events. Along with the player, an RV travels from one event to another, and serves as ‘headquarters’ for the player. It features a roster of contemporary off-road events, taking players to diverse and challenging real-world environments. The game takes place across four continents: Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. The game includes five different event types: Rally, Rallycross, ‘Trailblazer,’ ‘Land Rush’ and ‘Raid.’ The World Tour mode sees players competing in multi-car and solo races at new locations, and also includes a new multiplayer mode.

We are testing across three screens in Direct X 11 mode with 4aa and 16af enabled. All settings are switched to high.

Colin McRae Dirt 2 looks great across 3 screens with the reference HD6970 able to generate enough frames for a smooth gaming experience. The overclocked speeds of the MSI R6970 Lightning ensure that the performance is a little better throughout.

F1 2010 is a video game based on the 2010 season of the Formula One world championship. It is the sequel to the 2009 video game based on the same series. It was released in September 2010 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms. The game was confirmed by Codemasters on 23 April 2009. The game engine is based on the new EGO 1.5 engine, an unofficially titled evolution of the EGO 1.0 engine that was created specially for the title.

We are testing across three screens with 4aa and 8af enabled and ultra quality settings in DX11 mode

F1 2010 is another great looking title which runs well at these settings. The MSI R6970 Lightning yet again helps to smooth out the frame rates, increasing the minimum figures from 26 fps to 29 fps.

Left 4 Dead 2 is a cooperative first-person shooter game. It is the sequel to Valve Corporation’s award-winning Left 4 Dead.

Like the original, Left 4 Dead 2 is set during the aftermath of an apocalyptic pandemic, and focuses on four survivors fighting against hordes of the infected. The survivors must fight their way through levels, interspersed with safe houses that act as checkpoints, with the goal of reaching a rescue vehicle at the campaign’s finale. The gameplay is procedurally altered by an artificial intelligence engine dubbed the “Director” that monitors the players’ performance and adjust the scenario to provide a dynamic challenge. Several new features have been introduced: new types of infected, melee weapons, and a story-arc that connects the game’s five campaigns together.

The ageing Valve Source engine doesn't prove a problem for the high end AMD HD6970. The overclocked card gives a little extra performance, but its impossible to tell with the naked eye.

The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 25c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.

Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.

We are using the higher performance fan setting available via the switch on the PCB.

This is an incredible set of results, and one of the few times when we have seen the new version of Furmark fail to push a card to 70c. When gaming the core never exceeded 57c, and the fans never peaked past 2,000 rpm. The reference card hits 75c when gaming and 83c under Furmark load ! With the fan switch toggled to the silent mode, the temperatures rose by 3c.

Return to ambient is a feature we have recently added to our reviews … we measure the time it takes for a solution to return to idle temperatures, immediately after full load. The faster the time, the better the cooler – for example a Noctua NH D14 cooler will return an Intel processor to idle temperatures much faster than a reference cooler. This is a good indication of how quickly a heatsink can dissipate heat.

It is not often a card can break the 20 second barrier, but the Twin Frozr III cooler manages to return the card to ambient in 16 seconds, one of the best results we have seen to date.

Recently we have changed our method of measuring noise levels. We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. We are using a heatpipe based passive power supply and an Intel SSD to keep noise levels to a minimum. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests. Ambient noise in the room is around 20-25dBa. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation.

Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

We load the card with FurMark.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

Well we weren't expecting this, even better results than the stunning Asus HD6970 Direct CU II, which we reviewed in February. The high performance setting on the MSI R6970 is that quiet we never found a need to toggle it down lower. Those gamers who hate noise will find this card an ideal partner for their new system.

To test power consumption today we are using a Keithley Integra unit and we measure power consumption from the VGA card inputs, not the system wide drain. The best way to get maximum load results is by using Furmark, and even though it is not indicative of a real world situation it shows the limits the card can theoretically demand. The ‘gaming’ results are measured when playing Crysis Warhead and is a more valuable result to take from this.

19 Watts at idle is an incredible result, and lower than any overclocked HD6970 we have tested to date. Under load the power demands are very similar to the Asus HD6970 Direct CU II which we reviewed last month.

To overclock the MSI R6970 Lightning Twin Frozr III graphics card we are using MSI Afterburner software. This allows us to adjust three seperate voltage settings to push the card even further than normal.

This additional manual overclock manages to produce another 3 frames per second, scoring an average of almost 60 fps. Incredible results when you factor in that the reference clocked GTX570 is averaging under 52fps.

This isn't the highest overclock we achieved however, as the Asus HD6970 Direct CU II managed to reach 1100mhz.

There have been some incredible HD6970's released to market recently, most noticeably the Asus HD6970 Direct CU II which was an overclocking ‘tour de force'. The MSI R6970 Lightning Twin Frozr III didn't quite overclock to the same heady heights, but it is supplied with higher ‘out of the box' clocks and runs even cooler than the Asus variant.

It is incredible to think how much effort companies such as MSI put into their graphics card development. The reference HD6970 can hit close to 80c when gaming, but the Twin Frozr III design keeps the GPU core running at under 60c at all times. A reduction of 20c is nothing short of an engineering miracle and the MSI engineers really do deserve a pat on the back for coming up with such a monumental design.

The card is supplied with a core speed of 940mhz, and in our case this could be increased to 1040mhz with some voltage increases. Results will vary from card to card, but there is clearly still quite a bit of headroom if you experiment with the Afterburner software settings, just be sure to unlock the voltage options as highlighted on our overclocking page.

The Twin Frozr III cooler is one of the most proficient coolers we have tested, but it is also one of the quietest. The angular blade design ensure that all of the components receive air flow, but the noise levels peak around 32 dBa, which is a record for a flagship, high end graphics card.

Gaming performance is as good as we would expect, and like all AMD HD6970's, the MSI R6970 Lightning can deliver great frame rates in many of the modern gaming engines across three 24 inch screens. If you are looking for a new HD6970 then we suggest you shortlist the Asus HD6970 Direct CU II and the MSI R6970 Lightning Twin Frozr III, they are without a doubt two of the finest AMD solutions on the market.

This card will be available from Overclockers UK for £339.99.

Pros

• Class leading cooler
• low noise levels
• efficient power consumption for the performance
• great build quality
• two fan settings
• overclocking is easy with Afterburner

Cons

• more expensive than reference card

KitGuru says: High clock speeds, low noise, great temperatures, excellent performance.

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