Got my 6970s today - Mixed bag so far...

[Grall]

So as of now the only 2-slot cooler I've found is the Scythe

Do you mean the entire card along with attached cooler occupies 2 slots (like the reference design), or that the cooler itself needs two slots? Looking at the setsugen base I see it's very tall. I assume that is to give room for RAM and VRM heatsinks, but it does raise the entire cooler quite substantially as well.. Hrmh.

except it's manual fan speed control (which I detest).

Yeah that's crap! PWM is life. I just wish my noctua fans supported that as well, grr. I sure paid enough for them to include the feature, that's for sure.

If you don't like the Scythe for that reason, maybe you should take a look at Zalman's after-market cooler which needs 2 slots for itself. HOCP ran a test of it the other day (together with Thermalright's ridiculous three-slot cooler - with a fan attached), and it scored pretty good. Not as good as the Thermalright, and the fans made a bit of a racket on high mode, but it's better than the reference even on low.

 

[Mize]

The Setsugen-2 fits in the reference design space except that it extends nearly 5 cm toward the case side (they say intentionally to keep from just stirring the same air around). That fan is 12mm thick. There are NO 120x12mm PWM fans anyway on earth either.

Here's a photo of it mounted:

It really does fit within the reference cooler + card space.

 

[almighty]

A few things :

1. Like most people you don't know how to install AMD drivers properly and then scream and shout and blame AMD

2. All reviews give measurements on the cards and to top it off they look big in pictures so gain, Not AMD's fault you're not happy with there size.

3. You put them on a uATX mother board and then get pissy when they run hot? They are high end cards and require a high end case with good air flow.

People need to learn to design and buy there components properly.

What CPU are you running and at what speed?

What's your monitors resolution?

 

[Grall]

1: I don't "scream and shout", and I've well versed in the procedures of driver installation. Regardless, if you have a right way and a wrong way, then you've failed as a manufacturer. That's just the way it is.

2 and onwards: tripe. Not gonna bother.

 

[Davros]

They are high end cards and require a high end car with good air flow.

Like a veyron ?

 

[Mize]

AFAIK almighty, he's got them humming along nicely.

 

[homerdog]

Now I'm curious, what is the right way to install AMD drivers?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Now I'm curious, what is the right way to install AMD drivers?

At the strike of midnight immediately after a Voodoo Witch sacrifices a chicken to Cthulhu.

If you are even 1 second too early or too late, you become a meal for the old ones.

Regards,
SB

 

[swaaye]

Yeah that or you should really just reinstall your whole OS every month. It's the only way to be sure. Nuke it from orbit, as it goes. Like they should have done in Avatar.

And never never ever install more than one driver per reboot. Bad luck. Black cat under ladder kind of thing.

BTW the way the 6900 blower spins up and down just doing things at the desktop is going to make be lose my mind sooner than I predicted.... Probably worsened by having dual monitors and the card clocking itself way higher than otherwise.

 

[Mize]

I hadn't notice the blower spinning in the desktop. What kind of temps do you have in your case?
I haven't had an issue with ATI/AMD drivers since I can't remember when and that was because I left some nV drivers lying around (so that puts it about 9700 Pro era. Likewise nV drivers have been good to me with one or two exceptions. With W7 I have had both sets of drivers (so I could PhysX my NV card with AMD primary) and no issues.

Now, all that said, I do always uninstall, driversweep and then reinstall whichever product I'm using.

 

[swaaye]

I hadn't notice the blower spinning in the desktop. What kind of temps do you have in your case?

The blower speeds are between 25-29% but I can hear the thing changing speed and that's the worst part. The card seems to be under 60C during this.

I don't think it's warm in my case. It is a silent wind tunnel essentially lol.
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2710
2x 120mm output on top/back, 1x120mm in front. The side has two large 120mm fan grills too. The 6950 is the loudest thing in there.

 

[almighty]

Now I'm curious, what is the right way to install AMD drivers?

Directly over the old ones, Even ATI say to do it that way.

Driver sweeper is a big no no for ATI drivers..

The blower speeds are between 25-29% but I can hear the thing changing speed and that's the worst part. The card seems to be under 60C during this.

I don't think it's warm in my case. It is a silent wind tunnel essentially lol.
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2710
2x 120mm output on top/back, 1x120mm in front. The side has two large 120mm fan grills too. The 6950 is the loudest thing in there.

Remove the stock heat sinks and replace the TIM with some decent stuff if you haven't already.

Set the fan speed to manual and adjust it until you're happy with the volume it produces

With regards to your case..

1. Have the front case fan blowing in
2. Have the fan on bottom the blowing blowing air in
3. The 2 fans on the side panel blowing air in
4. Every other fan sucking air out

That should help

 

[Mize]

The blower speeds are between 25-29% but I can hear the thing changing speed and that's the worst part. The card seems to be under 60C during this.

I don't think it's warm in my case. It is a silent wind tunnel essentially lol.
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2710
2x 120mm output on top/back, 1x120mm in front. The side has two large 120mm fan grills too. The 6950 is the loudest thing in there.

you're at 60 C on the desktop?!
Wow.

I don't think I break 64 C even running benchmarks with my modified fan profile and I certainly don't get near 60 in 2D. Make sure your cooler screws are tight.

 

[Mize]

Directly over the old ones, Even ATI say to do it that way.

Driver sweeper is a big no no for ATI.

Wha...Fu...? Citation? I have never had issues using driver sweeper. Where does AMD say not to uninstall old drivers?

 

[Sinistar]

Just got a Cool Master 922 HAF case, and two HD6970's. Will be transferring system to new case this weekend.

 

[Mize]

Just got a Cool Master 922 HAF case, and two HD6970's. Will be transferring system to new case this weekend.

That's my case and I have 1x6950-flashed-to-6970 and 1x6970 in CFX
Right now I'm at 36 C on the upper (6970) and 33 C on the lower...I just topped out at 52 playing Just Cause 2 for about 5 minutes as a quick test. I use MSI's Afterburner to set a custom fan profile, but they're silent in 2D and I wear headphones for gaming, but I don't think they're terribly loud.

 

[almighty]

That's my case and I have 1x6950-flashed-to-6970 and 1x6970 in CFX
Right now I'm at 36 C on the upper (6970) and 33 C on the lower...I just topped out at 52 playing Just Cause 2 for about 5 minutes as a quick test. I use MSI's Afterburner to set a custom fan profile, but they're silent in 2D and I wear headphones for gaming, but I don't think they're terribly loud.

My 5850's load cooler then yours idle

 

[Mize]

My 5850's load cooler then yours idle

Probably has nothing to do with those water blocks, eh?
I can hit the high eighties with Furmark

 

[Mize]

my idle temps are significantly better than reviews:
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/12/14/amd_radeon_hd_6970_6950_video_card_review/8

The stock cooler is just very poor.

 

[Mize]

Directly over the old ones, Even ATI say to do it that way.

Driver sweeper is a big no no for ATI drivers..

almighty: did you miss my question about this?
Why is Driver sweeper a big no no for ATI?