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.
Performance of this cooler is very impressive when idle, averaging 35c. When loaded, the temperatures rise to 70c when gaming, and 81c when under Furmark's intensive Stress test. These are higher load temperatures than the other highly overclocked HD7970 solutions we have tested in recent months and between 2-4c worse than the Sapphire HD7970 Toxic Edition with Lethal Boost enabled.
Thats another beautiful card for AMD. Quite a few really high end, loaded boards for 7970 lovers.
Good review thanks.
ASUS deserve a lot of credit for this – I love it when companies go nuts on the design for the high end audience. Im tempted to go for this later in the year, but I agree – the Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition looks to be a slightly better deal all round.
Zardon – top review bro. I still think the GTX680 is the best value for money high end card on the market however. you can pick up a killer one for £380
Im not a fan of triple slot coolers – I think in this case it has helped ASUS lower the noise levels which is welcomed, but they are huge cards and take up so much space in a case. I think Sapphire 6GB Toxic is still the best, but the extramemory really isn’t needed for most people/situations