Best brands for GPU?

So I'll be replacing my GPU soon with a 7950 as my 6870 died. So I was looking around the internet and Sapphire seems to be the cheapest around and I know their cards are unlocked, which what I'm really looking for in a card. I have a custom cooler which I will be throwing onto the card(Arctic Cooling Accelero 7970 Xtreme) so the cooler(Twin Frozr, IceQ, DC ll, etc)doesn't really matter to me. Past the cooler though, are the actual GPUs from let's say ASUS or Sapphire or MSI actually any different? I want to grab the best 7950 for overclocking and gaming, but past the coolers does it really matter?

I am the proud owner of a Asus 7950 which I overclocked waaaay past the 7970 stock performance. All I say is that it's a great video card and in this overclocked state it dosent go over 67c at 50% speed.

Asus HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP V2 3072MB, but it does take up 3 slots.

I'm asking if it really matters past the coolers for the GPU because I will just be replacing the cooler once i buy it.

If you are replaceing the cooler, then make sure it's a reference card. Other than that you don't need to mind who the manufacturer is. If it's not reference you'll have a hard time installing aftermarket cooler on it.

I think the Gigabyte and Asus cooler are the best, however the Asus are very expensive ( 25$ more than Gigabyte).

Exactly the answer I was looking for! Thanks!