7950 OC: PowerColor vs Sapphire

[Stuka87]

So I am looking at getting one of these two cards in their dual fan configurations. They both get good reviews, and are the two quietest 7950's on the market from what I have seen. And noise level does matter to me.

The only real difference between them that I can see is the Saphire cards has a heat spreader for the memory

Which can be seen here: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Roundups/PowerColor_Sapphire_XFX_HD_7950/3.html

Its not connected to the main heat sink. But still would absorb heat from the chips under it. But when overclocking past the stock speeds, would it actually make much of a difference? It seems as though there is not quite enough material there to really make a difference. But I have never compared the two.

My question is, how much of a difference would this make? I am inclined to go with the PowerColor as I have owned many, and never had a single issue. Although I have had a few saphires and they have been trouble free as well. But currently Saphire's OC card is sold out everywhere. While the PowerColor is not. And its not that I have to buy right this moment, but the HD7750 that I am using is starting to really show its age.

 

[3DVagabond]

TechPowerUp shows the Power Color model being ridiculously quiet under load. Less than 30db!

 

[RavenSEAL]

But its PowerColor! Unless you want an RMA to take 6 months, Sapphire is a better brand.

 

[dust]

^ What load was that? Freecell?

 

[Stuka87]

But its PowerColor! Unless you want an RMA to take 6 months, Sapphire is a better brand.

Have you RMA'ed anything with either company before?

 

[RavenSEAL]

Have you RMA'ed anything with either company before?

With Sapphire, they upgraded my HD 6850 to an HD6870 when I filed my RMA, I think I had it within two weeks of shipping off the 6850.

 

[Stuka87]

With Sapphire, they upgraded my HD 6850 to an HD6870 when I filed my RMA, I think I had it within two weeks of shipping off the 6850.

Ahh ok, good to hear. I have never had the displeasure of having to RMA a video card (known on wood).

From reading around, some people had good RMA experiences with PowerColor, some were bad. I think I will hold out a while to see if the Saphire comes back into stock.

 

[superjim]

I've owned both brands, no problems with either. Sapphire seems to get more love. I was eye-balling those same 2 cards but then reality hit me and I saw the $480+ price. Newegg had the Powercolor for $490 with an 880mhz clock and the Sapphire for $480 with an even 900mhz core. Easy choice for me.

 

[Jhatfie]

I have owned several powercolor and sapphire cards, all have been problem free. For me it would be a toss up as they seem to both be pretty quiet and have excellent OC headroom. I would just go with what was in stock and/or had the better price.

 

[Stuka87]

Ok, so back to one of the original questions...

Does anybody know if that heat spreader makes that much of a difference?

 

[superjim]

For these 2 cards they are virtually the same. Both cards reviewed well by reputable websites.

 

[Hubb1e]

I get 1025 core and 1400 on the memory with my Saphire 7950 at stock voltage which is 1.05V. i could probably do better but 1050 and 1425 gave me errors so just backed off to 1025 and 1400. It is very quiet. I don't hear the fans at all even when I stop the other fans in my system. At load it never ramps up, but I have Vsync on and the GPU is loafing along most of the time because my CPU is only a 3ghz Core 2 Quad. I would recommend the card but the Powercolor looks great as well.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

But its PowerColor! Unless you want an RMA to take 6 months, Sapphire is a better brand.

I know this is off-topic [Sorry to the OP in advance]; but there doesn't seem to be a Sticky thread for brand comparisons.
I think there should be one for video cards - it's nice to know what cards are worth paying more money for [if they do - compared to others of the same model]. Even if there are comparisons or discussions regarding brands, most of them are bound to be out of date.

Perhaps we should as a mod. to make a Sticky... hmmh...

 

[Stuka87]

I know this is off-topic [Sorry to the OP in advance]; but there doesn't seem to be a Sticky thread for brand comparisons.
I think there should be one for video cards - it's nice to know what cards are worth paying more money for [if they do - compared to others of the same model]. Even if there are comparisons or discussions regarding brands, most of them are bound to be out of date.

Perhaps we should as a mod. to make a Sticky... hmmh...

No, I agree. It would be a nice thing to have.

As for PowerColor, like I said above I have never had any issues with them. They are not new to the world of GPU's. They have been making ATI/AMD cards since '97. FoxConn does all their manufacturing, which is a plenty reputable company. They build just about everything for everybody. From Dell to Apple.

 

[Dankk]

PowerColors are fine.

 

[superjim]

FYI, Sapphire OC version is back in stock at newegg.

 

[Stuka87]

FYI, Sapphire OC version is back in stock at newegg.

Yeah I had it on auto notify. Just bought it along with some new memory. Main reason i went for it was due to the extra heat spreader. I would have gone for the PC if it had not come into stock.

So now I just have to wait three days

 

[superjim]

I'm jealous :'(

Enjoy!

 

[Zanovar]

I think the saphire OC is the only 7950 released atm with a heatspreader for the mem/vrms,looks like the MSI 7950 Twin Frozr 3 will have one also.