[Uzmeyer]

So I'm going to finally replace my 5870 with something new and now with never settle reloaded seems a good time.
I could not decide between msi or sapphire at first, but then I stumbled upon powercolor cards with the v3 cooler. Their cards look nice, seem to have a decend cooler, are fairly cheap and have 2 dvi + hdmi like sapphire flex, wich would be ideal for me, because I#m going to upgrade to 3 monitors as well. But I was not able to find lot's of data on thoes cards, so maybe someone here knows something about them. I'm looking for something that runs cool, quiet and oc's well.
(Decision between 7950 and 7970 will be made based on how much money have at the time of buying

)

Here are the powercolor cards, the page is in german but the important stuff should be undersatndable.

7970: http://geizhals.at/756084
7950: http://geizhals.at/830660

 

[huzzug]

I would go with the HD 7950 but from Sapphire because they run really cool , overclock really well and are voltage unlocked. Here are the choice

http://geizhals.at/830654

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by huzzug

I would go with the HD 7950 but from Sapphire because they run really cool , overclock really well and are voltage unlocked. Here are the choice

http://geizhals.at/830654

Yeah thats a very good card. Sapphire HD 7950 boost with dual x cooler. get it with the game bundle. 29 cm long . should fit easily in your ANTEC 1100.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1157&pid=1713&psn=&lid=1&leg=0
http://www.mylemon.at/artikel,nr,426215,SAPPHIRE,HD7950_3072MB_DDR5_LRTL_384bit_PCI-E.htm

 

[Derpinheimer]

I have heard nothing but good things about PowerColor and their 7950 cooler, so if it had the add bonus of HDMI and whatnot, then yes.. Its perfect for you.

 

[Uzmeyer]

Thanks for the answers.
I finally managed to find some customer reviews on newweg, some saying that the vrm cooling is crappy, so it's difficult hitting over 1000 mhz core without it overheating, especially with the overclockingpotential of this card (I've read some prople hit 1300 core)

Well, sapphire would cost just a little more and also have2 dvi + hdmi. And I think they actually come with active dp to dvi adapters. Or a card from msi. I really like their design. Oh, I hate decisions

I'll wait, maybe someone has a game changeing argument, but if not I'll go with sapphire or msi

 

[raghu78]

OP i missed the triple monitor point. in that case the sapphire HD 7950 Flex OC with boost (925 mhz) is the best option

http://www.mylemon.at/artikel,nr,426208,SAPPHIRE,FLEX_HD7950_3072MB_GDDR5_RTL_PCI-E.htm

 

[Uzmeyer]

So I've done some more research and came across the sapphire vapor x card, wich, acording to this webiste and the manufacturer website seems to have a 7970 pcb with 8+6 pin power and what looks like 9 power phases instead of reference 7 I think, wich should theorethically make it a good overclocker. It also has 2 dvi + hdmi + dp port, but I could not find out if you still need the dp port for eyefinity. Maybe someone has an answer to this.

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uzmeyer

So I've done some more research and came across the sapphire vapor x card, wich, acording to this webiste and the manufacturer website seems to have a 7970 pcb with 8+6 pin power and what looks like 9 power phases instead of reference 7 I think, wich should theorethically make it a good overclocker. It also has 2 dvi + hdmi + dp port, but I could not find out if you still need the dp port for eyefinity. Maybe someone has an answer to this.

yeah you need dp with the vapor-x. only the sapphire hd 7950 flex allows connecting 3 monitors without needing dp connector.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/Flex/FleX_Eng_apply.html

 

[Hogwasher]

I just bought this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131478 and was able to get 1ghz just using catalyst control. It runs cool and there are full cover water blocks for it.

I myself say that powercolor is a good brand. But I haven't had any problems with them in the past so I don't know how their customer service is

 

[Uzmeyer]

Looks like I'll need dp anyway because no retailer in my country, that participates in the never settle reloaded promo sells the flex edition.

So it seems like I'm stuck between sapphire vapor x, dual x or msi tf3 (I really like the design on that one) Question is if the aditional power phases on the vapor x actually adds any benefits and wich one cools better (maybe I should start a new thread just on this)
@ Hogwasher I don't think that powercolor is a bad company, just the lack of vrm coolers is annoying. If I could go watercooling I would go for it, but the parts are hard to get and expensive over here in austria (especially thoes 200mm rads for my antec 1100

)

And thanks for the help

 

[raghu78]

go for the Sapphire HD 7950 boost with dual x cooler. get an active mini displayport to dvi adapter . this is ati eyefinity certified adapter

http://www.amazon.com/Accell-B087B-006B-DisplayPort-Single-Link-Certified/dp/B004071ZXA/

 

[huzzug]

Because the Vapor-X has more power phases, it would run cooler compared to the Dual-X.

 

[Derpinheimer]

What do you mean? The Dual-X cooler is only slightly worse for cooling the core, but has considerably better VRM cooling... unless the still unconfirmed reports that the 8+8pin V-X has improved VRM cooling.

 

[Uzmeyer]

Found some reviews with nice pictures for the Vapor X and dual X. It seems as if they use the same pcb, but the vapor x has a 8 pin instead of a 6 pin and has two more vrms mounted. As for vrm cooling, the vapor X looks bigger and the ram modules are cooled directly by the vapor chamber. It also overclocked better, but that is probaply just luck.

 

[jdc122]

going to go against the grain here, and state that i have a powercolor 7950, and its great, volt unlocked, currently hits 1280 under water at 1.3v, 1370 at 1.381v, although i did run it stable 1250 on air, just didnt like temps, noise is aboslutely fine.

 

[cainy1991]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdc122

going to go against the grain here, and state that i have a powercolor 7950, and its great, volt unlocked, currently hits 1280 under water at 1.3v, 1370 at 1.381v, although i did run it stable 1250 on air, just didnt like temps, noise is aboslutely fine.

+1 this..

 

[Uzmeyer]

Wich version do you have? In your signature it says you got the pcs version, wich is different than the v2 I was talking about, but does it come with vrm heatsinks?

 

[jdc122]

Its currently under water, but I have the old heatsink, ill find it for you later. The v2 definitely has heatsinks afaik the v3 doesn't...

 

[Uzmeyer]

Ok, thanks for the hassle

But I'll have to check with my retailer anyway, because the powercolor card is not listet to include the never settle bundle, if not I definately would go with something else. You don't get 120€ of free games every day