Here is the first picture of a non-reference design Radeon HD 7970 graphics card. Made by Gigabyte, the GV-R797OC-3GD is a factory-overclocked graphics card, which makes use of a custom Ultra Durable VGA+ PCB by the company, and a custom-design triple-fan WindForce cooler. Its Ultra Durable VGA+ PCB makes use of 2 oz copper layer for better electrical stability and heat distribution, ferrite-core chokes, low RDS (on) MOSFETs, hand-picked high-performance GDDR5 memory chips, etc.The cooler makes use of a combination of heatsinks and aluminum fin arrays to which heat from the GPU, memory, and VRM is fed by copper heat-pipes, and ventilated by three fans. Gigabyte also has a reference-design graphics card, which uses a reference-design cooling assembly, and most likely also a reference design PCB, except that it's colored red. It's not likely that red color PCB will be standard among AIB-branded retail cards, because the HIS and MSI cards pictured by OCUK recently, were found to have black-colored ones. There's no word of the pricing or clock speeds.

17 Comments on Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 Custom-Design Graphics Card Pictured

#1 Sir B. Fannybottom

That is a butt ugly sticker... Also, ewwww red pcb:ohwell: I do like the look of the cooler it's self. Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 12:29 Reply

#2 djisas

Y ruin a good design with horrible stickers??

This i will never understand...

Edit: Red pcb is one thing, but blue?? seriously, they never learn... Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 12:31 Reply

#3 jalex3

I for one like blue more than red. Blue clothes, blue pcb and blue lights.



Must agree I'd rather have a card without a ugly sticker, but it comes down to quality/price when I buy things I cant really see. Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 13:14 Reply

#4 Aceman.au

I think it looks nice!



This might be the brand I'll buy. Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 14:26 Reply

#5 SteelSix

Damn this means custom pcb/coolers will be available at launch? I read somewhere AMD was allowing it for 7950. I've always wanted a Gigabyte with the Windforce cooler. Black pcb would be nice, but I like the blue. Must scour for PWM details. This or an MSI with a killer PWM array is what me wants.. Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 15:15 Reply

#6 Lionheart

Sticker looks nice to me, but I don't like red PCB, I'll take the triple fan card thanks ^_^ Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 16:25 Reply

#7 Widjaja

The colour scheme of the reference card could be a good match for the BIOstar enthusiast board which an article was recently released on. Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 16:33 Reply

#8 stefanels

Red PCBs are ugly... i rather go with the blue one, but the winner would be a black PCB... Nice Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 18:01 Reply

#9 Delta6326

Well the great thing about stickers they can come right off. Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 18:19 Reply

#10 GSquadron

I like the second one

I have had a palit 7600gt with red pcb and it was so hot!

Also have a palit 9500gt red pcb ^_^ Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 18:48 Reply

#11 Steven B

its a sticker, you can remove it.



I like hoe GB is actually offering a color other than blue for their GPus. Nice.



The blue PCB one is not a stock 7970 its is an OC version, so it will cost more. Posted on Dec 31st 2011, 23:48 Reply

#12 dj-electric

Uhm... not exactly. Sapphire for example, are making their own PCB to save costs and they sell alot of these PCB-based cards for a reference-card price-tag. So does Gigabyte Posted on Jan 1st 2012, 2:13 Reply

#13 qubit

Overclocked quantum bit If I was in the market for one of these, I'd get the one with the quiet triple cooler, as the stock one is noisy and excessive, irritating noise is a big no-no for me. Posted on Jan 1st 2012, 5:40 Reply

#14 wolf

Performance Enthusiast qubit If I was in the market for one of these, I'd get the one with the quiet triple cooler, as the stock ones is noisy and excessive, irritating noise is a big no-no for me. these Gigabyte variants are particularly good at delivering the cool and quiet experience. I should assume 1.1-1.2ghz overclock on the 7970 would still be very quiet with this setup. these Gigabyte variants are particularly good at delivering the cool and quiet experience. I should assume 1.1-1.2ghz overclock on the 7970 would still be very quiet with this setup. Posted on Jan 1st 2012, 5:54 Reply

#15 tomkaten

Prolly comes complete with coil noise as well, as most of Gigabyte's video boards do lately. Their QC seems to be fading away... Posted on Jan 1st 2012, 11:59 Reply

#16 djisas

tomkaten Prolly comes complete with coil noise as well, as most of Gigabyte's video boards do lately. Their QC seems to be fading away... As with anything made in china...

Dunno where the cards are made though... As with anything made in china...Dunno where the cards are made though... Posted on Jan 1st 2012, 21:59 Reply