So I'm buying a new GPU to replace my dead 6870 and recently here in France, like in the states, prices have dropped on the 79** series cards. In any case I'm looking at two cards the first being this 7950 for 220 euros:
A few things to consider is that i will be using a 3rd party cooler, so I will not be using the stock cooler that comes with it and that I will be using the card with 2x22" 1080p monitors(I will be adding a 3rd monitor in the future). I will also be overclocking the card to the max. I will be keeping the card for the next few years before I upgrade. My question is the ~60 euros difference between the 2 cards worth it? Will I need the extra performance for multi-monitor use and gaming?
Personally, I don't think the 60euro price difference is worth it. You'll get a difference of 3FPS with both cards overclocked. The 7950 has the higher price/performance ratio.
I'd probably pick a 7950 with a better cooler, and clock up to the 7970's OC'ed performance. I hear mixed opinions about Sapphire.
When you say mixed, what do you mean? And I would assume other good brands would be MSI twin frozr and HIS IceQ?
Some people love Sapphire, other say they run quite loud and hot. I heard rumours of voltage locking, or bios problems. Don't let that put you off, I think Sapphire are good enough.
Not a lot of people realise that a good 7950 will actually beat a lesser 7970. Picking a good aftermarket cooler is important. The performance difference, after overclocking, is negligible between the two cards.
Video proof, with both cards overclocked to a pretty attainable overclock. Tests are completed at 1440p, so the better performing cards should really separate themselves. However, the 7950 and 7970 are near identical.
The HIS IceQ X2 Turbo 7950 (the dual fan cooler, not the single IceQ) will overclock to the same performance value as the 7970GHz.
Get that sapphire card. I have a thread on here where I overclocked it to Core 1180/Memory 1500. Th voltage IS locked, but I got a very decent overclock regardless. My temps never get above 60C, even with the OC.
Well they do not have the OC with Boost edition of the card and if mine is Voltage locked I'm going to return it without a single thought. But that's is still a really greta overclock you got on a voltage lock card!
It's great when I used it on my 6870 and I hear you will get even better results using it on an actual 79** series cards. I also watched the 1080p version of that video and saw that the difference on overclock was only 2-5 fps max on games, which is pretty surprising to me. And if that card is volatge locked I'm going to return it immidiatly to exchange it for a different brand card, I see that the:
The MSI Twin Frozr and HIS IceQ are only 30 euros more, do you think I should invest in getting one of thoughs if I'm just to replace the cooler for it, just to get a garranty that it's unlocked? Will the performance be any better between the GPUs with my third party cooler.
I'm unsure of third party coolers. The performance I have had with my cards has always been sufficient, I have never considered one. I haven't read into them much, I just view them as needless cost verus a more powerful and cooler GPU.
Many of these aftermarket coolers are fine. Especially the dual fan HIS. With the 7950 HIS, you're going to max most games. I'd rather spend 30 euros on the HIS, rather than spending an extra 60 on the Sapphire 7970. That's my personal choice. I would see what others have to say about that.
Alright thanks! I bought the cooler for $20 of ebay brand new. Just to try it out and for that price it was perfect. Also could you tell me without coolers are there any difference between a Sapphire, MSI, or HIS card, like on the card itself that would make it any better?
Use that tutorial to get yourself informed. If you get 2 7950s you can game with 1 and mine with 1 or game with both and when you're sleeping you can make some money with your 7950s. All you need to do is make sure you have a great non reference cooler and a 7950 model with very stable GDDR5. Ask around on bitcoin forums or just use their search options. This is a great pool I use for my 7870s: https://ltc.hashfaster.com
7950 will pay for itself in around half a year maybe more.
The HIS is the quietest and coolest of the above cards, which makes it a pleasure to overclock, in my understanding. Being voltage unlocked allows you to push it further and keep it stable. The MSI TF would be my next choice. So yeah, there is a difference between different coolers.
Without the differences in cooler performance, they do use different quality parts.
Thanks and I assume for the quality of parts you would put them in the same order. I will probably grab the HIS IceQ then, to make sure I get better quality for overclocking! Thank you!
And they are changing the bundle deals right now for AMD, do you think I should go with the NS reloaded or NS Forever bundle? I was going to sell Bioshock Infinite to a friend so I'm think of going with the Reloaded. Do the codes come seperatly?
I don't know too much about the bundles. I thought they switched to the bronze, silver, and gold packages. So you should get the choice of 3 games out of a possible 12. There are new AMD cards rumoured to appear at the end of the year. You might want to consider those. I believe BF4 will be bundled.
In france they haven't fully integrated the bundles into all the cards yet. So half get the choice of 3 games, the other gets Crysis 3, Bioshock infinite, Tomb Raider, and Far Cry 3: BD. Also my 6870 failed and I have been without a proper computer for about 4 months(from a computer I built in January of this year, it's a long story). Everything is just sitting there mocking me....... =(