HIS H797QMC3G2M Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Pros: cooling is reasonable. 27c @ idle
lots of mem works. it shows.

Cons: turning on overdrive gave me some sprinkles at stock speeds in Crysis with texturepack. about 53c. Turing it off immediately removes it. kinda seems crapshoot for good mem.

Pros: 1: High overclockability, have mine stable at 1250/1700.
2: reference pcb, compatable with most major waterblocks. Got a EK CSQ full cover block/backplate for mine.
3: extra pwm phases over reference design.
4: Stock cooler was very good, never went above 65c after overclocking and stress testing, if you dont plan on watercooling, the iceqx2 is a good cooler.
5: free crysis and bioshock so you can get this thing to work asap!

Cons: As others have mentioned, it does have some coilwhine on very high fps menus etc. Its only noticeable for me when i dont have my headphones on and the computer case side is removed. Dont let that deter you, there are ways to get rid of coil whine(not all 100% guarenteed to work though, results may vary:P)

Other Thoughts: If youre looking for a card that can overclock extremely well, has good stock cooling and is compatable with most major waterblocks, look no more. This thing is a beast and you dont have to pay the premium for the msi lightnings, which are now only available in europe from what ive seen, making this my #1 choice for 7970s.

Pros: -High Overclockability
-Stays Cool (sub 55C @ stock settings)
-Well Made and feels well made

Cons: -Coil Whine. Not sure if its AMDs fault or HIS but this card definitely gets loud when its pumping out frames. Its not the fans, just some odd buzzing sound.
-LOOOOOONG Make sure you have room(dimensions are under details)
-1 DVI I just prefer DVI over the other types

Other Thoughts: If it wasnt for the card being so loud under load (not from the fans btw) this would be a 5 star card easy. Im not gonna RMA. But probably will be my last HIS product, I usually go with XFX on AMD cards.

Pros: Fast & yet cool & quite I really dont here the two huge fans so far. but this thing is sweet.

Cons: look out this thing is long you need at least 13" of room if any less it wont fit. I got this for my son but it would not fit behind his hard drives so I had to swap him for my Sapphire.

Pros: This card is silent. Like really silent. Like oh-my-gosh-what's-that-sound-oh-its-the-case-fan-that's-noisy silent. Amazing overclocking potentiality. I got mine to 1200/1600 MHz from 1050/1500 MHz with no artifacting in the 1 hour Heaven DX11 Benchmark in max settings

Cons: Coil whine. Didn't get it while it was in stock clocks but it makes a really quiet but noticeable hissing sound ONLY when playing games. Doesn't bother me though, since I have a 5.1 Logitech speaker system.

Other Thoughts: Computer Build:
Intel i5 3570k CPU
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM
Corsair 600T Case
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD
HIS 7970 GHz GPU
Corsair 850W PSU

Pros: Great card. I upgraded from my already aging 560 standard. I could play everything out with medium/high settings, but it just wasn't cutting it. I did some research and decided I'd got 79xx this time around. I initially was drawn to the design on this card, but what sold me was the cooling and it's overclockability. I hit 1200MHz without touching the voltage. Every single thing I've thrown at it gets run at maximum settings and never goes below 60 FPS when playing at 1920x1080.

Cons: Had some problems installing the card at first. I think it could of been due to some sticking Geforce drivers, but who knows. The OS had to be reinstalled, but I don't mind since Steam is on a D:\ drive and I keep an external.

Other Thoughts: Not only do you get your $$$ worth, but you get a great looking card.

Pros: Looks cool right out of the box

Cons: Card defected
really heavy
big
Just unboxed and installed it yesterday right after delivery, but it coil whined at every game i played like BF3, planetside 2, farcy 3. Moreover, my screen also experienced some sort of static waves coming up and down while playing. Besides, I couldn't max out any game, ran planetside 2 and farcy 3 at 40 fps in medium setting at 1600x900 resolution. Paid $459 for this piece of trash! Big disappointment on HIS.

For reference, my specs:
i5 3570k
8gb g skill ram 1600
asrock z77 extreme6
OS window 7 64 bit
PSU Corsair TX 750 watts

Other Thoughts: will absolutely get a RMA.

Pros: 1. Quiet
2. Good cooling
3. Fast
5. Solid and well built

Cons: 1. Random artifacts

Other Thoughts: Overall this seems to be a great card. I am very picky about noise in my gaming rig, and this card is quiet. I keep the fans at 50% max and I cant hear it at all. I do have a full tower with sound insulating material though so YMMV. It also has not gotten past 72°C even with the fan speed capped at 50%.

It feels really solid. Even though there is no back plate there is great support along the top of the card, as well as on the front side of the PCB. I have not seen the PCB bend at all, which was a problem on the last large video card I had in my system.

The 8 + 8 pin connectors, as well as the 6+1+1 PWM will allow for a solid and stable overclock. I have not tried to overclock mine yet, but when I need to, it is nice to know it is there.

The only problem I have had is with random artifacts while doing non gaming stuff (i.e internet browsing). I don't know if this is with my card or with AMD's drivers. If I use my 580gtx in my machine I do not have a problem. I might have to return mine, but I will get another HIS IceQ card to replace it. This is my second HIS video card ( I also had a 6870 IceQ), and I would definitely recommend this card if you are looking for a 7970GHz. It definitely a top 7970Ghz card.