7970 Reference video cards

[bobni]

I am confused about the difference between AMD Radeon 7970 reference video cards. Except for differences in warrenties, bundled accessories and external stickers they all look the same. The pcb is from AMD , are there any differences in the components? Are all these reference cards manufactured by AMD and except for the external branding sticker exact clones? In general are reference cards all manufactured by either AMD or Nvidia and sold to rebranders?

 

[raghu78]

I am confused about the difference between AMD Radeon 7970 reference video cards. Except for differences in warrenties, bundled accessories and external stickers they all look the same. The pcb is from AMD , are there any differences in the components? Are all these reference cards manufactured by AMD and except for the external branding sticker exact clones? In general are reference cards all manufactured by either AMD or Nvidia and sold to rebranders?

Yes the reference AMD HD 7970 is the same no matter which company you buy from whether its Sapphire, MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, HIS, Visiontek. I can't say for sure whether its manufactured by AMD. I think its manufactured by AMD under contract with some company like Foxconn and sold to these add-in board (AIB) partners. same for Nvidia with the GTX 670 and GTX 680 reference designs.

 

[sze5003]

It should have a sticker with green text on the back of the PCB, meaning its from AMD.

 

[Despoiler]

It should have a sticker with green text on the back of the PCB, meaning its from AMD.

AMD doesn't make the reference cards. It just signifies it is the reference design. Sapphire is who makes cards for AMD if they need them built.

 

[bobni]

AMD doesn't make the reference cards. It just signifies it is the reference design. Sapphire is who makes cards for AMD if they need them built.

So are you saying that all amd reference cards are made by Sapphire?
Sapphire, MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, HIS, Visiontek 7970 are all Sapphire manufactured?

 

[blastingcap]

Reference designs are made by one company AFAIK. I've heard Foxconn but PC Partner (the parent of Sapphire) is more believable. The AIBs then slap stickers on them and resell them for low profit until they can come out with their custom designs.

 

[peonyu]

You didn't state if you plan on buying one but I take it you do. I have a ref 7970 and its a great card for sure, but if I were to buy one now I would spend the ~20$ more and get one with a aftermarket cooler installed already. The ref cooler imo is loud, and it doesn't cool well compared to a third party cooler...I know "noise" depends on the person but there is a world of difference in noise between a Accellero cooler and the stock HSF.