[iCrap]

I'm going to get a new card and i've decided on a 7950 but i don't know which to get, i've narrowed it to these two (MSI and Sapphire)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

I'm mainly concerned about the performance, and which OC's better. is the MSI really worth almost $40 more?

 

[RedFox911]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iCrap

I'm going to get a new card and i've decided on a 7950 but i don't know which to get, i've narrowed it to these two (MSI and Sapphire)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

I'm mainly concerned about the performance, and which OC's better. is the MSI really worth almost $40 more?

I recently purchased the gigabyte version

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125414&Tpk=gigabyte%207950

Comes with crysis 3 and bioshock infinite also so you may want to give it consideration. It runs great

 

[iCrap]

I looked at that, but that card looks GIANT, and i might want to put this in an ITX.

 

[SonDa5]

For this class get the best deal you can find. Performance on HD79XX cards is hit or miss and you never know what you will get till you try the card out. Seems like only a small percentage over clock well these days.

Powercolor has hot deal right now at Newegg. ARound $250 after MIR right now.

If you want a shorter PCB design the new Sapphire HD7950 looks a little shorter that than others but it will be hard to water cool later on.

Good looking card right here for the money.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131478

Deal may be gone soon.

 

[raghu78]

OP the sapphire card you listed is 29 cm long. but your CM 690 II will easily fit the card. supports 304 mm length cards. its a very good choice. unlocked voltage with good cooler. amazing price. the powercolor card suggested above is 20 bucks cheaper. but the reference cooler design is not so good. with overclocking the fan gets loud and temps are higher. if you are watercooling or going to install custom air cooler then its ok otherwise go with sapphire.

 

[iCrap]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raghu78

OP the sapphire card you listed is 29 cm long. but your CM 690 II will easily fit the card. supports 304 mm length cards. its a very good choice. unlocked voltage with good cooler. amazing price. the powercolor card suggested above is 20 bucks cheaper. but the reference cooler design is not so good. with overclocking the fan gets loud and temps are higher. if you are watercooling or going to install custom air cooler then its ok otherwise go with sapphire.

Where does it say the sapphire has unlocked voltage?

 

[RavageTheEarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iCrap

Where does it say the sapphire has unlocked voltage?

I can second that the Sapphire isnt voltage locked. I own it. You wont find that info on the newegg page. Also, the MSI TFIII isnt vlotage locked, but I have to use Trixx to change the voltage for some reason. I still like it better than my Sapphire. It really is hit and miss with whether you get a decent chip. Luckily I hit twice. I love both my Sapphire Dual-x and my TFIII in crossfire. They play really well together, but in the end I do like the MSI a little better. It OC's better, The cooler is actually metal, unlike the Dual-x which is plastic, and the fans are smoother, but that is all IMO. Don't quote me on that. Also, how intense of an overclocker are you? I havent even touched the voltage on either of my cards and I'm up to 1175/1625. Just another thing to think about. Good luck! You will like whatever card you get.

BTW the Gigabyte and the Sapphire are the same size, I believe. I'd still go MSI > Sapphire > Gigabyte. Thats just my opinion though.

 

[eternal7trance]

Temp-wise the MSI runs cooler than the Sapphire. For overclocking it won't matter which one you get since that depends on the chip, but since the MSI runs cooler, I would say you'd get a better OC from it. They both have unlocked voltage as well.

But in the end, I'd go with the MSI. You can resell it easier since the warranty follows the card and theoretically it would OC better since it runs cooler.

 

[rdr09]

based on the top 30 Valley benchmark thread it seems that msi takes the helm. if you are after high scores in benches, then i suggest msi but which model idk. for games, you can pretty much keep the gpu at stock and oc the cpu to about 4.5GHz and max out most of them. most excluding metro and c3. so, long you avoid a voltage locked 7950, any brand will reach 1100/1575 easy for the games that need it.

in short, any brand with unlocked voltage will oc when needed for games that need them. benching - go for msi (the right one). ask the owners.

 

[iCrap]

I'll go with the Sapphire. It has unlocked voltage like the MSI, so i really don't feel like paying the $40 premium for a better looking cooler (i might end up watercooling it anyways..)

 

[rdr09]

good decision. 40 for a good rad someday.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iCrap

I'll go with the Sapphire. It has unlocked voltage like the MSI, so i really don't feel like paying the $40 premium for a better looking cooler (i might end up watercooling it anyways..)

keep in mind that you'll be limited to universal gpu blocks since there are no full cover blocks that are compatible for that card.

EDIT: Scratch that

 

[stickg1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iCrap

Where does it say the sapphire has unlocked voltage?

It's common knowledge on this site that that 2L version is one of the best Sapphire 7950's made.
Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainChaos

keep in mind that you'll be limited to universal gpu blocks since there are no full cover blocks that are compatible for that card.

The 2L the OP linked has a reference 7970 PCB so any 7970 waterblock will fit that card

The 3L is a little bit shorter than the 2L but it has a custom PCB so you will likely not find a full cover GPU block for it.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stickg1

It's common knowledge on this site that that 2L version is one of the best Sapphire 7950's made.
The 2L the OP linked has a reference 7970 PCB so any 7970 waterblock will fit that card

The 3L is a little bit shorter than the 2L but it has a custom PCB so you will likely not find a full cover GPU block for it.

oops, you're right about that, but it's a reference 7950 PCB not a 7970 PCB if I'm not mistaken.

 

[stickg1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainChaos

oops, you're right about that, but it's a reference 7950 PCB not a 7970 PCB if I'm not mistaken.

I'm almost certain that it's a 7970 PCB. But it might be that all reference 7950s ARE reference 7970 PCB's with a slightly crippled core on them. I'd have to search that one but I'm kind of lazy, lol.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Sadly there's actually a difference that makes that requires blocks to be compatible with 7950's specifically. I'd find it odd if it does have a 7970 PCB since there's a sizable thread for 7950's with 7970 PCB's and this particular card has never been mentioned.

I'll defer to raghu or SonDa5 on this one though lol

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stickg1

I'm almost certain that it's a 7970 PCB. But it might be that all reference 7950s ARE reference 7970 PCB's with a slightly crippled core on them. I'd have to search that one but I'm kind of lazy, lol.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0098HW1HG/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

this card with model no 11196-16-20G uses a AMD reference HD 7950 PCB design. newegg's internal naming is SAPPHIRE 100352-2L. you can confirm it by checking ekwb site. full cover waterblocks for reference HD 7950 cards will work with this card. i am not sure the physical layout of a reference HD 7970 and reference HD 7950 are identical because ekwb sells blocks for HD 7950 and HD 7970 separately.

http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/

 

[SonDa5]

V2 PCB IS what the pcb design is refered to and its not comptible with reference hd7970 pcb but full cover blocks are made for it.