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what's the scoop on Powercolor cards? - Page 2

Poll Results: What brand of graphics card are you using?

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post #11 of 24
11/8/12 at 12:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by xNovax View Post

I have overclocked my refernece powercolour 7970s to over 1 GHz. They run fine for me.
You might want to reread my post.
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post #12 of 24
11/8/12 at 3:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gr0ve View Post

It depends on which PowerColor card you're talking about. I've read some worrying things about at least one of their 7970s. "Cost effective" VRMs are a very worrying thing, especially on a $500 card.
Assuming it uses a reference PCB though the only question would be how do you feel about their RMA process(which you can find on their site) and experiences people have had with their customer service.
Also note that all the 78XX and 79XX series cards I've seen from PowerColor using a non-reference cooler have literally NO VRM/VRAM cooling.
And if noise is a big issue for you, the AX7950 3GBD5-2DHPP seems to be the quietest 79XX series card.

Now that's what I'm talking about! No offense to anyone but someone finally gets it!applaud.gif This is exactly what I wanted to know. So stay away from non ref PCB unless you plan on cooling the VRM/VRAM w/ aftermarket cooling?! Does that about sum it up? If not continue. If yes, thank you!thumb.gif Seriously people don't take any offense. I know it's hard to convey meaning through text w/o turning it into an essay. Anyone who even responded to this post is trying to help out a fellow member and I thank you. Just proving once again that OCN is da bomb! Keep 'em coming.
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post #13 of 24
11/8/12 at 4:11pm
I have a Powercolor HD 4650 1GB DDR3 model, that I bought brand new off Newegg a year ago for $50. Works fine, and fan is still running silent and strong. I can bump it from 600/400 to 700/500 easily. So they are decent cards, they don't seem to be cheaply made to the extreme (if quality is what your asking).
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post #14 of 24
11/8/12 at 6:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ro-sham-bo View Post

Now that's what I'm talking about! No offense to anyone but someone finally gets it!applaud.gif This is exactly what I wanted to know. So stay away from non ref PCB unless you plan on cooling the VRM/VRAM w/ aftermarket cooling?! Does that about sum it up? If not continue. If yes, thank you!thumb.gif Seriously people don't take any offense. I know it's hard to convey meaning through text w/o turning it into an essay. Anyone who even responded to this post is trying to help out a fellow member and I thank you. Just proving once again that OCN is da bomb! Keep 'em coming.
Epeen +1000
Back on topic: Not exactly. I think you mixed it up a little tongue.gif
Their non reference PCB specifically on the Vortex II 7970, I think the Vortex II 7870 uses similar components so it may apply to that card as well, use what PowerColor call "cost effective" VRMs which essentially means they're cheap garbage. I've also heard something is up with their capacitor design as well on that 7970 but don't quote me on that.
Their non-ref coolers (which are sometimes on reference PCBs) don't have any VRM/VRAM cooling so yeah, if you get one of those, I'd strongly recommend throwing some heatsinks on 'em.
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post #15 of 24
11/8/12 at 6:30pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks. That makes more sense. Watch out for VRM quality on said series, and no VRAM/ VRM cooling used with non ref coolers which may apply to non ref PCB's as well. If school was this cool I would've paid more attention. lol Great now I know what to look for. As long as we're here, does XFX have any known cards where cheap or bad batch of components were used? The "stay away from" cards.
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post #16 of 24
11/8/12 at 6:33pm
  • Schmuckley
  • No keyboard detected! Press F1 to continue..
Powercolor isn't bad..I have a sapphire..I like sapphire/msi/asus then evga/powercolor in that order
XFX is sturdy...but they gimp overclocking.
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post #17 of 24
11/8/12 at 10:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ro-sham-bo View Post

Thanks. That makes more sense. Watch out for VRM quality on said series, and no VRAM/ VRM cooling used with non ref coolers which may apply to non ref PCB's as well. If school was this cool I would've paid more attention. lol Great now I know what to look for. As long as we're here, does XFX have any known cards where cheap or bad batch of components were used? The "stay away from" cards.
I know very little about XFX cards which is a little strange given that I'm using an XFX card...

I don't think their coolers are very good and I know they really love pissing off watercoolers by changing their PCB slightly so full cover blocks won't fit without telling anyone. Which, I'm going to get off on a slight tangent here but that is just utterly retarded. The huge plus about XFX is their warranty which lets you throw an aftermarket cooler/block on the thing while keeping your lifetime/double lifetime warranty. But then they silently change their PCB so only air coolers or people with universal blocks (which I think is a minority of watercoolers) put aftermarket cooling on their cards.

Anyways, as I mentioned, their warranty is quite nice. From what I see on their 7XXX series cards, they only do a single lifetime warranty which is disappointing. It used to be a double lifetime warranty so you could sell it/get it secondhand and it would still be covered. In any event, as far as I'm aware they still cover putting aftermarket heatsinks on it as I also mentioned earlier and the one time I've talked to their customer service everything went quite well. My 6850 died, RMAed it and in roughly a week or so they sent me a super short 6870.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schmuckley View Post

Powercolor isn't bad..I have a sapphire..I like sapphire/msi/asus then evga/powercolor in that order
XFX is sturdy...but they gimp overclocking.
Funny thing is, I actually plan on buying a PowerColor card. Just one that should be a reference board, hopefully they don't pull an XFX.
What makes you say XFX gimps overclocking?
Edited by Gr0ve - 11/8/12 at 10:25pm
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post #18 of 24
11/9/12 at 1:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gr0ve View Post

Also note that all the 78XX and 79XX series cards I've seen from PowerColor using a non-reference cooler have literally NO VRM/VRAM cooling.

Yes that is true.
I wonder if there is anything I can add to it without voiding warranty.

On my non-ref powercolor 7850 there is a ~1.5cm gap between the row of VRM and the heatsink fins which I can jam something in without taking off the heatsink and voiding warranty..
I do have a 4mm heatpipe scavenged off a broken laptop.
Makes me really curious if this is really limiting my core overclock..... 33% is not enough !
Edited by krabs - 11/9/12 at 1:40am
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post #19 of 24
11/9/12 at 6:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by krabs View Post

Yes that is true.
I wonder if there is anything I can add to it without voiding warranty.
On my non-ref powercolor 7850 there is a ~1.5cm gap between the row of VRM and the heatsink fins which I can jam something in without taking off the heatsink and voiding warranty..
I do have a 4mm heatpipe scavenged off a broken laptop.
Makes me really curious if this is really limiting my core overclock..... 33% is not enough !
A heat pipe is useless without a fin stack.
At best you could probably throw a couple small heatsinks on a couple of the VRMs but it would be pointless because I can guarantee you won't get all of them without voiding your warranty.
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post #20 of 24
11/9/12 at 11:06am
Thread Starter 
Alright, with all the above being said, is there any reason not to get a 6xxx series card from PC or XFX? I could probably get a great deal on one.
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Fun for the Whole Fam Damnily
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Rotten Apple
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AMD Phenom II X2 555 unlocked to x3 M4A89TD PRO USB3 XFX Radeon HD 4850 CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM D... 
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WD Caviar Blue 1TB TSST DVDRW Silenx Effizo 120HA4 Modded Coolit ECO p/p 
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Winows 7 Ultimate 64bit VIEWSONIC 21" stock hp Corsair silent 500w 
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