[Alexko]

ZeroCore doesn't seem to work with Eyefinity, and idle power ends up 30W over the GTX 680's for the HD 7970: http://techreport.com/articles.x/22890/9

That's pretty bad.

[CarstenS]

And 680 burns through 50 watts with 3 displays attached all by itself already.

[Dave Baumann]

Apparently the display used by Scott enumerates DP audio. ZeroCore will not enable if audio is enabled as this can still need to be on even if the display is blank.

[Malo]

Can DP Audio be disabled in Windows and ZeroCore then enable if you don't want the audio?

[Alexko]

Originally Posted by Malo

Can DP Audio be disabled in Windows and ZeroCore then enable if you don't want the audio?

And what about normal idle power? I.e. with displays on. The review shows a 36W advantage for the GTX 680 in this case.

[AnarchX]

It seems that the soon launching 7970 GHz Edition let prices of standard 7970 drop by 50-60€ in Europe:
http://geizhals.at/eu/?cat=gra16_512...f=1440_HD+7970
With the weak Euro this should be a ~$379 MSRP. Interesting if it just stock cleaning or a new price point for the standard 7970, which should influence prices of HD 7950 and 7870.

[Alexko]

Originally Posted by Alexko

And what about normal idle power? I.e. with displays on. The review shows a 36W advantage for the GTX 680 in this case.

Dave, where art thou?

36W is no trifle, what's wrong with Tahiti in this case?

[Kaotik]

Originally Posted by Alexko

Dave, where art thou?

36W is no trifle, what's wrong with Tahiti in this case?

At least TPU, which only measures card itself, got only 12W for Tahiti idle consumption (not ZeroCore!), so either it's some measuring error, some other random flaw or some such

[Alexko]

But they only have one display on, don't they?

[Kaotik]

Originally Posted by Alexko

But they only have one display on, don't they?

Yeah, multimonitor is 46W for the 7970 at TPU, 47W for 680 (older drivers) and 15W for 670.
Not quite sure how nVidia has managed to get it so down on new drivers though

[Alexko]

Originally Posted by Kaotik

Yeah, multimonitor is 46W for the 7970 at TPU, 47W for 680 (older drivers) and 15W for 670.
Not quite sure how nVidia has managed to get it so down on new drivers though

Well that's even more puzzling.

[UniversalTruth]

Originally Posted by Kaotik

Not quite sure how nVidia has managed to get it so down on new drivers though

You make it sound like all improvements are so hard to be achieved.
Is it so difficult to fix something that is far from being ideal?

[Kaotik]

Originally Posted by UniversalTruth

You make it sound like all improvements are so hard to be achieved.
Is it so difficult to fix something that is far from being ideal?

Considering that this issue has been around at least as long as GDDR5, yes, it definately has been hard to improve to practicly indetical level as single-monitor idle is, like nVidia now has done.

[Alexko]

There are still huge idle power issues on the HD 7970 with Eyefinity, even with audio disabled: http://techreport.com/articles.x/23217/10

I don't know what's going on, but it's seriously curbing my enthusiasm for a Tahiti upgrade.

[Kaotik]

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/482...iew/index.html

Sapphire 7970 GHz Edition TOXIC 6GB gets reviewed
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/482...iew/index.html

Though without eyefinity resolutions being tested, I don't really see much point in the review, the game selection is outdated too. Nevertheless, the card beats the competition (including 4GB and OC'd models) at 2560x1600 in all but HAWX2, where it scores 144 FPS which pretty much renders it moot if one is faster or not.
The card is clocked at impressive 1200/1600MHz

[Kaotik]

Has any site done tests with -20% powertune setting, ie does it ever hamper performance in reality (outside the usual suspects like furmark)

[Alexko]

Here you go: http://www.hardware.fr/articles/848-...formances.html

[lanek]

I have a serious doubt on their method ... Something have mess up.

On the TDP test they obtain 187W under Anno2070 at +0% and +20%, and in their Powertune test, with 225W and 200W set by the Powertune they have a decrease on performance. so we can imagine the card should be higher of 225W ?

[Alexko]

Originally Posted by lanek

I have a serious doubt on their method ... Something have mess up.

On the TDP test they obtain 187W under Anno2070 at +0% and +20%, and in their Powertune test, with 225W and 200W set by the Powertune they have a decrease on performance. so we can imagine the card should be higher of 225W ?

Remember that PowerTune doesn't actually measure power draw, it estimates it based on activity counters on the chip, assuming that every chip is the most power-hungry bin. So in effect, it often overestimates power draw.

That's apparently less true on the GHz Edition, though.

[lanek]

Originally Posted by Alexko

Remember that PowerTune doesn't actually measure power draw, it estimates it based on activity counters on the chip, assuming that every chip is the most power-hungry bin. So in effect, it often overestimates power draw.

That's apparently less true on the GHz Edition, though.

Ok, i see, you are right.

[Malo]

So will I notice the core drop in something like Afterburner if Powertune kicks in? I was playing with my MSI 7870 TF3 last night and I'm OC at 1150/1300. Running 99% GPU usage on Unigine I'm maxing out at 60c and 50% fan speed. Nothing changes whether I'm on 0% or +20% Powertune, I'm assuming I'm just not hitting any kind of wall where it comes into effect?

[Dave Baumann]

Afterburner will not show inferred states at present (i.e. the per-MHz clock changes) it will only show the major DPM jumps.