7970?

[tornadog]

Now that the 7970s have come down in price and the Egg is actually selling them for below MSRp, should I get this over the elusive and overpriced 680s? Not one retailer is selling the 680 for msrp, even Amazon has dipped its paws in the cookie jar. I also got a $20 off coupon from the Egg which gets it to below 450.

 

[blastingcap]

Now that the 7970s have come down in price and the Egg is actually selling them for below MSRp, should I get this over the elusive and overpriced 680s? Not one retailer is selling the 680 for msrp, even Amazon has dipped its paws in the cookie jar. I also got a $20 off coupon from the Egg which gets it to below 450.

EDIT: Actually I just canceled my order after looking at this: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...-oc-vs-6970-oc-review-shogun-2-total-war.html Man those oc'd 7950s are dynamite even 100MHz slower than the OC 7970.

One thing you can do if you do get the 7970 is to sell the mDP->DVI adapter to further lower the effective cost to you. I think with your coupon and getting maybe $15 for the adapter, that puts enough distance between the 7970 and 680 to make the 7970 the better buy.

I can't speak for your situation but for me, I need a DP->DVI adapter and it's hard to find them for cheap. Even used ones are going for near $20.

I verified that 7970s come with Eyefinity single link adapters for free, which makes me wonder why the used market isn't flooded with these (from owners who don't need Eyefinity but bought a 7970).

So it came down to these choices (factoring in a ~8% off discount I can get, and no I can't share it sorry):

1. wait for GTX 680 which is out of stock and not budging in price apparently; also not good for the distributed computing projects that I'm interested in, anyway, but for pure gaming it's better than a 7970
2. 7950 Sapphire OC edition for $368 (effective rate) + $15-20 for mDP->DVI adapter = about $385 total
3. 7970 HIS reference for $414 (effective rate) + free mDP->DVI adapter in the box
4. just buy a $15-20 mDP adapter for my 7850

I chose 3. The gap between $385 and $414 was small enough that I felt like it's worth it to me to step up to the 7970, even though it's unprecedented for me to buy the XT version rather than the Pro version of something. I will be giving my just-purchased 7850 to my gf, which will double her framerates since she's currently on a 5770... and more like 2.5x her current fps with a moderate overclock. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't get the 7850 at all and would go straight to a 7970 w/ free mDP adapter and be done.

 

[Subyman]

I'd wait for the game bundles to hit, you could sell the codes and subtract another 50 bucks off the price.

 

[tornadog]

Is there any truth to the HIS 7970 being louder and poor overclocker compared to the sapphire card because of it being a reference design. The sapphire has 2 fans and higher clocks but I like HIS as a brand, my current unlocked 6950 is a HIS.

 

[tornadog]

I'd wait for the game bundles to hit, you could sell the codes and subtract another 50 bucks off the price.

right now I see bundles with dirt 3 and a couple of cards with Deus Ex and BF3 but they ar ehigher priced.

 

[blastingcap]

I'd wait for the game bundles to hit, you could sell the codes and subtract another 50 bucks off the price.

That's another route but $50 is extremely optimistic. DE:HR w/ DLC has been sold for dirt cheap on Steam sales and elsewhere already. Nexiuz is also free or dirt cheap. That leaves the DiRT game which in my experience is difficult to sell for much. I think if he's lucky he can get $20 by selling all three games (net of fees if doing so on places like ebay).

 

[blastingcap]

Is there any truth to the HIS 7970 being louder and poor overclocker compared to the sapphire card because of it being a reference design. The sapphire has 2 fans and higher clocks but I like HIS as a brand, my current unlocked 6950 is a HIS.

Sapphire makes kickass coolers, though they are open-air so some of the air just winds up back in your case anyway. But they are good. A OC 7950 should be in the mid to upper 60's temperature-wise at load. But that's for the 7950 not the 7970.

Reference 7970 cooler is okay, it ejects air right out the back but gets noisy past 50%.. noiser than the Sapphire OC twin fans. People dislike noise. Both will be quiet when fan speeds are lower than 50%, though. Load temperatures should be in the mid to high 70's from what I can find on the web.

The quality of the chip matters more than the cooling, when it comes to OC'ing. I expect that at stock volts and cooling and auto fan speeds, both will clock up to about 1.125GHz max oc. So the stock 7970 should be about 10% faster than the 7950 when both are max oc'd. That's unimpressive but the mDP adapter sealed the deal for me.

 

[Arzachel]

Is there any truth to the HIS 7970 being louder and poor overclocker compared to the sapphire card because of it being a reference design. The sapphire has 2 fans and higher clocks but I like HIS as a brand, my current unlocked 6950 is a HIS.

Reference card has a blower type fan, that exausts air out the back. It's on the loud side and temperatures aren't stellar, but it's nice if your case isn't that well ventilated. If your case is well ventilated, then the sapphire would be a better buy, it'll run cooler and quieter. That doesn't mean it'll overclock better though.