HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 Graphics Card Review

1. Introduction2. HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X23. HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 (Super High Res Gallery)4. Testing Methodology5. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven Benchmark6. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage7. Synthetic: 3DMark 118. Image Quality: HQV Benchmark 2.09. Gaming: F1 2011 (1080p)10. Gaming: Alien V Predator (1080p)11. Gaming: Tom Clancy HAWX 2 (1080p)12. Gaming: Resident Evil 5 (1080p)13. Gaming: Far Cry 2 (1200p)14. Gaming: Total War Shogun 2 (1080p)15. Gaming: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (1600p)16. Gaming: Battlefield 3 (1080p)17. Gaming: Dirt Showdown (5760x1080)18. Gaming: Battlefield 3 (5760x1080)19. Gaming: Max Payne 3 (5760x1080) DX 10.120. Gaming: Max Payne 3 (5760x1080) DX 1121. Technical: Thermal Dynamics22. Technical: Acoustics Performance23. Technical: Power Consumption24. Technical: Overclocking25. Closing Thoughts26. View All Pages

Last month Sapphire released one of the finest video cards we have ever tested … their state of the art 6GB HD7970 Toxic Edition, with custom PCB design, proprietary cooler and ‘Lethal boost' overclocking feature. Today we look at the HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 which looks to be following the same design concept … to create a video card with no compromises.

Following the Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition is a tall order for HIS.

When Sapphire had finished modifying the reference AMD HD7970 it was barely recognisable. Noise levels and temperatures both dropped, clock speeds were massively increased, and performance was in a completely different ballpark. The 6GB Toxic Edition card could even give the overclocked GTX680's a run for their money … not something I would have imagined before I started the review.

The HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 features a two fan cooler spanning the full length of the PCB. Let us take a quick look at the specifications.

Product	AMD HD7970 GHZ Ed HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2	AMD HD7950	AMD HD7870	AMD HD7850
Core Clock speed	1050mhz (1180mhz)	800mhz	1000mhz	860mhz
Transistors	4.31 billion	4.31 billion	2.8 billion	2.8 billion
Stream Processors	2,048	1,792	1,280	1,024
Compute Performance	3.79 TFLOPS	2.87 TFLOPS	2.56 TFLOPS	1.76 TFLOPS
Texture Units	128	112	80	64
Texture Fillrate	134.4 GT/s 151 GT/s	89.6 GT/s	80 GT/s	55.0 GT/s
ROPs	32	32	32	32
Pixel Fillrate	33.6 GP/s 37.8 GP/s	25.6 GP/s	32.0 GP/s	27.52 GP/s
Z/Stencil	128	128	128	128
Memory Type	3GB GDDR5	3GB GDDR5	2GB GDDR5	2GB GDDR5
Memory Clock	1,500mhz	1,250mhz	1,200mhz	1,200mhz
Memory Data Rate	6 GBps	5.0 Gbps	4.8 Gbps	4.8 Gbps
Memory Bandwidth	288 GB/s	240 GB/s	153.6 GB/s	153.6 GB/s

HIS have overclocked the 7970 X Turbo to 1180mhz, which is just shy of the 1,200mhz set by the Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition. Unlike Sapphire however, HIS have decided to cut the cost a little by holding true to AMD's reference specifications, incorporating 3GB of GDDR5 memory, not 6GB.

This is the first HIS graphics card box that has appealed to me. The simple, dark colour scheme looks dramatic set against the product name.

The bundle is extensive, including video adapters, a Crossfire connector, software disc and literature on the product. HIS also include the ‘weight lifter' – a plastic support bridge which negates weight applied to the PCI e slot. This bundle also includes a download code for Dirt Showdown from Codemasters – a worthy addition.

The HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 is built around a blue PCB. The large cooler overhangs the PCB a little on one side.

This card is Crossfire capable in 2, 3 and 4 way configurations.

It requires power from two 8 pin PCI E power cables. In theory this card could demand up to 375W of power.

The I/O backplate is a custom design with a button positioned top left. There is a single DVI port, a single full sized HDMI connector and four mini DisplayPorts.

The rear I/O panel button switches between output configurations as shown above. This is not a ‘Turbo' button to enhance clock speeds.

The cooler is a substantial design with a copper base connected to four thick heatpipes which lead into two separate racks of aluminum fins on either side. The two large fans cover the complete length of the cooler ensuring air flow to the components underneath is maximised. HIS are using a separate black heatsink plate to cool the memory and VRM's.

An overview of the HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2, built around the 28nm Tahiti core. 1,180mhz core and 1,500mhz memory (6Gbps effective) speeds. The card has dual geometry engines, eight render back ends, 2048 unified shaders, 32 color ROPs per clock and 128 Z/stencil ROPs per clock.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

To test today we are using our long standing Core i7 970 system, which is overclocked. We have a variety of hardware benchmarked on this system this year which will make for an interesting market comparison.

Main Test System:

Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.6ghz
Graphics: HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 (1180mhz core/1500mhz memory)
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Memory: 6GB ADATA @ 2133mhz 9-10-9-32
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)
Monitor: Dell U3011.

We also change the system later in the review to test Eyefinity across three 24 inch screens.

Ultra High End System (For 3 screen testing):

Processor: Core i7 3960 X Extreme Edition @ 4.6ghz
Cooler: Antec 920 H20
Memory: 16GB G.Skill 2,400mhz @ 10-11-10-30
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Power Supply: Enermax Platimax 1200W
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive
Chassis: Lian Li PC-A77FR Aluminium Red Full Tower Case
Boot Drive: Patriot WildFire 120GB
Secondary Drive: 1TB Samsung
Monitors: Dell U2410 x 3.

Comparison Cards:
KFA2 GTX680 LTD OC
Asus GTX680
Asus GTX670 Direct CU II TOP
HD7970 GHZ Edition
HD7970
MSI R7950 Twin Frozr III 3GD5/OC
HD7950
Sapphire HD7870 Overclock Edition
HD7870
HD7850
HD6990 (880 core)
HD6970
HD6950
HD6870
Sapphire HD7770 Vapor X Overclock Edition
XFX HD7770 Black Edition S CFx
HD7770 CFx
HD7770
Sapphire HD7750 Ultimate Edition
HD6790
HD6770
GTX590 SLi
GTX590
GTX580 SLi
GTX580
GTX570

Software:

Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark

Games:

Alien V Predator
Tom Clancy HAWX 2
Resident Evil 5
Far Cry 2
F1 2011
Total War: Shogun 2
Battlefield 3
Elder Scrolls V: SkyRim
Dirt Showdown
Max Payne 3

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.

Some game descriptions are edited from Wikipedia.

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

We use the following settings: 1920×1080 resolution. Anti Aliasing off. Anisotrophy 4, Tessellation normal. Shaders High. Stereo 3D disabled. API: Direct X 11.

Performance is already promising, as the HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB manages to almost keep up with the KFA2 GTX680 LTD OC – only 0.3 fps slower, averaging 97.5 frames per second.

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 final score of 35,858 points is very healthy, slotting this card just in behind the KFA2 GTX680 LTD OC. The HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 posts a higher score than the AMD HD6990 dual GPU flagship from the last generation.

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.

Fast enough for you? A score of 9,559 points slots the card in just behind the Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition with the lethal boost enabled, which scores around 200 points more. The KFA2 GTX680 LTD OC leads this particular benchmark however, scoring 10,782 points.

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

	HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2
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

A score of 196 points is class leading right now, the ideal solution for high definition media playback on a big screen.

F1 2011 is the newest Direct X 11 racing game from industry pioneers CodeMasters. The 2011 Formula One season is the 62nd FIA Formula One season. The original calendar consisted of twenty rounds, including the inaugural running of the Indian Grand Prix before the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Pirelli returns to the sport as tyre supplier for all teams, taking over from Bridgestone. Red Bull Racing are the reigning Constructor’s Champions. Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel is the defending Drivers’ Champion, one of five World Champions appearing on the grid.

Great performance at these settings, averaging 92 frames per second, only a couple behind the Sapphire HD7970 Toxic Edition with Lethal Boost enabled.

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 comparable throughout reviews.

This is still a demanding Direct X 11 game, however the HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB delivers excellent frame rate results, averaging 115 at these settings.

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.

This engine favours Nvidia hardware, although these results are still excellent. Nvidia hardware might lead the charts, but no performance problems at these settings.

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.

Excellent frame rate results, averaging almost 180 frames per second, close to the top of the chart.

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).

An engine which favours Nvidia hardware, although the overall results are still very strong for the high end AMD video cards. The HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 scores 125 frames per second, close to the highest scoring single GPU solutions.

Shogun 2 is set in 16th-century feudal Japan, in the aftermath of the Ōnin War. The country is fractured into rival clans led by local warlords, each fighting for control. The player takes on the role of one of these warlords, with the goal of dominating other factions and claiming his rule over Japan. The standard edition of the game will feature a total of eight factions (plus a ninth faction for the tutorial), each with a unique starting position and different political and military strengths.

Fantastic results, only 2 frames behind the class leading Sapphire HD7970 Toxic 6GB solution.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing open world video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Skyrim‘s main story revolves around the player character’s efforts to defeat Alduin, a Dragon god who is prophesized to destroy the world. Set two hundred years after Oblivion, the game takes place in the fictional province of Skyrim, upon the continent of Tamriel, and the planet of Nirn. The open world gameplay of the Elder Scrolls series returns in Skyrim; the player can explore the land at will and ignore or postpone the main quest indefinitely. Skyrim has received universal acclaim from critics, selling more than 3.5 million copies within the first 48 hours of release.

Excellent results again, averaging 73 frames per second, just a couple behind the Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic with Lethal Boost enabled.

According to EA, Battlefield 3 garnered 3 million pre-orders by the day of its release. It is unknown at present whether these figures are worldwide or just for the US. The pre-order total makes it “the biggest first-person shooter launch in EA history”, according to the publisher. The engine is beautiful on the PC and very demanding of the partnering hardware.

A great looking game which runs fantastic on all the high end AMD graphics cards. The HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 has no problems maintaining a >100 fps average, right behind the Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition.

Dirt Showdown is the latest title in the franchise from Codemasters, based around the famous Colin McRae racing game series, although it no longer uses his name, since he passed away in 2007.

We enabled the game across three 24 inch screens at 5760×1080 resolution, with the settings shown above.

Good results across three screens, averaging 86 frames per second.

According to EA, Battlefield 3 garnered 3 million pre-orders by the day of its release. It is unknown at present whether these figures are worldwide or just for the US. The pre-order total makes it “the biggest first-person shooter launch in EA history”, according to the publisher. The engine is beautiful on the PC and very demanding of the partnering hardware.

We configured the game to run on three 24 inch monitors at 5760×1080. We also dropped the Texture quality from ultra to high.

An average of 80 frames per second is very impressive for 5760×1080 resolution, falling in around 3 frames per second behind the Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition with Lethal Boost enabled.

Max Payne 3 is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Max Payne 3 features a similar over-the-shoulder camera as its predecessors, with the addition of a cover mechanic, while also retaining much of the same run-and-gun style of gameplay. Max Payne 3 also marks the return of bullet-time in action sequences, for which the franchise is notable.

In bullet-time it is possible to see every bullet strike an enemy in detail. New to the series is a “Last Stand” mechanic, which gives the player a grace period after losing all health during which time the player may kill the enemy that wounded them in order to continue playing, however this mechanic is only usable if the player has one or more bottles of painkillers in their possession.

Max Payne 3 is a very intensive engine when running in Direct X 11, so for this page and comparison purposes we set to Direct X 10.1 and disabled Anti Aliasing. Our settings detailed above demanded 1344MB of graphics memory.

An excellent average frame rate result of 83 frames per second, falling in behind the Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition with Lethal Boost enabled.

For this Max Payne 3 test we lowered the anti aliasing to 2x and Tessellation to High, from Very high but enabled Direct X 11. At these settings, the game demanded 1813MB of memory.

The game is still playable with Direct X 11 enabled, although the minimum frame rate is borderline a couple of times, dropping to 27 fps. Still, good results.

The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 24c – 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.

The ICEQ X2 cooler performance seems much on par with the Sapphire Toxic Edition, which is very impressive – peaking at 76c under synthetic load. This drops to 68c when gaming. When idle the HIS ICEQ X2 cooler fans spin slightly faster, dropping the temperatures to 33c.

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. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with almost 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 closed 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.

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

The cooler isn't quite as quiet at the Sapphire HD7970 Toxic Edition twin fan implementation, idling at 39% … which would explain the lower idle temperatures on the previous page.

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. We measure results while gaming in Crysis Warhead and record the results.

In such an energy aware climate, AMD are making a big deal out of their new ‘ZeroCore Power’ technology. Many solutions today use power gating, clock gating and memory compression to reduce idle power requirements, but ZeroCore power technology can completely power down the core GPU while the rest of the system remains active.

HIS have clearly optimised this card for overclocking and performance, so power consumption has suffered. That said, we would imagine the audience considering this card won't really care that much.

For our overclocking tests today we are using AMD's Catalyst Control Center.

Even though this card is overclocked to such an extreme level we managed to push the core from 1180mhz to 1235mhz, translating to a 4.6 percent increase. The GDDR5 memory overclocked very well, from 1,500mhz to 1,680mhz (6.72Gbps effective), translating to a 12 percent increase. Excellent results, pushing the overall system score to just over 10,000 points in 3DMark 11.

There are certainly no shortage of options in the high end discrete graphics market today. The Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor X and Asus GTX680 Ti Direct CU II TOP are excellent choices if you have around £300 on hand to upgrade the frame rate prowess of your system.

We have reviewed several ultra high end boards recently which have worked the enthusiast audience into a frenzy. If your credit card can survive the hit, then the KFA2 GTX680 LTD OC and Sapphire's HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition are two of the most impressive cards that immediately spring to mind.

Both have an asking price of £550 or more in the United Kingdom, although they are extremely difficult to locate. When the limited stocks hit the etailer, they sell out almost immediately.

HIS have clearly been preparing the 7970 X Turbo 3GB Ice Q X2 for some time, however they were pipped to release by Sapphire with their HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition. In some ways Sapphire stole their thunder, however there is no doubt that the HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 is a fantastic high end graphics card, only slightly slower than the Toxic Edition.

After I reviewed Sapphire's Toxic Edition I was inundated with emails from people complaining that stock could not be found in the channel, and a handful of cards that were in stock sold out immediately.

The Turbo version of the card we reviewed today will only be available in strictly limited supply, so the same frustrating situation may apply. HIS have told us today that a non-turbo version of the card will be more widely available, for less money.

Pricing for the HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 has been confirmed at $599.99 which should realistically translate to around £500 inc vat in the UK, although there will only be a handful available on these shores. Overclockers have stock of the non turbo version online today reduced from £479.99 to £455.99 inc vat.

The HIS 7970 X Turbo 3GB IceQ X2 is a great looking graphics card with no shortage of performance, an ideal solution for powering games across three screens at 5760×1080 or higher in Eyefinity.

While the card consumes a lot of power at the socket, the twin fan cooling solution doesn't emit an excessive amount of noise, and temperatures are maintained below 70c when gaming.

Pros:

• Ultra high performing solution.
• Good noise control.
• looks great.
• still some headroom for manual overclocking.
• Free copy of the excellent Dirt Showdown.

Cons:

• Consumes a lot of power.
• Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition has stolen some of the thunder.
• Stock will be very limited.
• Expensive.

Kitguru says: Another fantastic HD7970 solution from an AMD partner. Well worth a purchase … if you can find one that is.

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