Best 7950 in terms of price and cooling?

[Skott]

Yeah, that's pretty similar to the build I'm looking at.

Just out of curiosity, though, how is this card?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I have an Amazon gift card that I can put toward this, so I'm wondering if it's any good. Does only having a single fan basically ruin it? Based on reviews, it seems to not be too loud and overclocks well.

I'm wondering about that card too. I like that it's cooling is set up to push the heat out the back. This thing could end up in a mitx case I'm ordering and its best to have it blowing out the back.

 

[crashtech]

Just out of curiosity, though, how is this card?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I have an Amazon gift card that I can put toward this, so I'm wondering if it's any good. Does only having a single fan basically ruin it? Based on reviews, it seems to not be too loud and overclocks well.

The problem with HIS, and Powercolor too, seems to be one of quality control. If you get one that works, good for you. But more of them than average have problems, imo. It's your call as a calculated risk: Buy the cheapest 7950 on Amazon to save money, while increasing your chances of having a problem that will cost both time and money to correct, or spend more on a brand with a better track record to reduce your chances of having a problem.

 

[raghu78]

OP the HIS iceq can get loud with overclocking. also it does not have VRM heatsinks. the sapphire dual x is the one to get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202026

 

[Techhog]

The problem with HIS, and Powercolor too, seems to be one of quality control. If you get one that works, good for you. But more of them than average have problems, imo. It's your call as a calculated risk: Buy the cheapest 7950 on Amazon to save money, while increasing your chances of having a problem that will cost both time and money to correct, or spend more on a brand with a better track record to reduce your chances of having a problem.

OP the HIS iceq can get loud with overclocking. also it does not have VRM heatsinks. the sapphire dual x is the one to get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202026

Okay, point taken. Thanks guys! Also, are XFX cards good?

 

[nitromullet]

I'm curious, why no love for the Gigabyte 7950?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125414

I've never owned a Gigabyte card before, but this card looks decent, and the Gigabyte warranty is three years based on serial number. I assume this means it is transferable should you decide to sell the card. http://rma.gigabyte.us/

Sapphire warranty is only two years, and is explicitly non-transferable. http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/support/?cid=3&psn=000203&lid=1

PowerColor's warranty is also two years, non-transferable, and their warranty page just looks like a laundry list of reasons they can choose from to deny your warranty claim. http://www.powercolor.com/us/support_warranty.asp

HIS... I had to RMA an HIS card in the past, and I will never buy another HIS card again. They don't even do their own RMA, but rely on their North American distributor to handle them. Good look getting your card back in less than two months...

Not to derail and pick sides here (because I am genuinely interested in a 7950), but ever since XFX got rid of their awesome double lifetime warranty AMD cards have been a hard sell for me. Is there an AMD partner that rivals EVGA in terms of service/support?

 

[nitromullet]

Okay, point taken. Thanks guys! Also, are XFX cards good?

Some XFX cards are good, some are not. I bought a cheapy 6950 last gen like this:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/...aphicscards/atihd6900series/hd-695x-cnfc.html

The cooler was absolutely horrible. It was more of an insulator that a heat sink. it was like they put a jacket on the card to keep it warm. I ended up swapping it for an MSI Twin Frozr 6950, and got much better temps.

The GHOST coolers on the 7-series look high quality, although I think there were complaints initially about lackluster VRM cooling. http://www.hardware.fr/focus/59/xfx-radeon-hd-7970-overclocking.html (scroll to the middle of the page for some thermal images). This was back at the launch of the 7-series, so they may have addressed this since then.

 

[raghu78]

Okay, point taken. Thanks guys! Also, are XFX cards good?

the XFX DD cooler sucks. also XFX reputation has taken a beating. so i would recommend sapphire or msi .

 

[lehtv]

What do you mean their "reputation has taken a beating"?

 

[3DVagabond]

The problem with HIS, and Powercolor too, seems to be one of quality control. If you get one that works, good for you. But more of them than average have problems, imo. It's your call as a calculated risk: Buy the cheapest 7950 on Amazon to save money, while increasing your chances of having a problem that will cost both time and money to correct, or spend more on a brand with a better track record to reduce your chances of having a problem.

HIS has QC issues? Are you sure? This is the first time I've ever seen anyone post that.

OP the HIS iceq can get loud with overclocking. also it does not have VRM heatsinks. the sapphire dual x is the one to get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202026

The card pictured in the OP's link definitely has a heatsink over the VRMs

 

[nitromullet]

What do you mean their "reputation has taken a beating"?

When XFX switched from NVIDA to AMD they were widely considered the top tier AMD AIB. They had a lifetime warranty on pretty much every card, and you could transfer the warranty to a buyer. Their cards also usually came with reference coolers or better. Their cards were generally more expensive than the other AIBs, but people were willing to pay the premium.

Over time they started putting out cheaper and cheaper coolers on their cards (see my earlier post about the 6950), doing away with their lifetime warranty, and now they might as well be any other AMD AIB.

I don't think they are necessarily bad, but they are really just nothing special anymore.

 

[Techhog]

Here's my idea, based on your comments so far, food for thought perhaps when you post your build thread:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/crashtech/saved/2nCq

It includes a overclockable Sapphire 7950.

I think I'm gonna do this build with a larger HDD. However, I'm not sure if one case fan is enough...

 

[crashtech]

I think I'm gonna do this build with a larger HDD. However, I'm not sure if one case fan is enough...

Tight budgets necessitate sacrifices, and the smaller HDD was chosen to meet your budget requirements. Really 500GB is tons for an OS drive. More typically, if budget allows, an SSD is used for the OS, and a 1TB+ drive is used for file storage. You might want to choose a 120GB+ or so SSD for the OS and programs, and add a larger storage drive later.

As to the fan, the PSU also moves some air out of the case. Honestly I have found a single 120mm to be adequate, though often I will replace the generic fan with something with more CFM and less noise.

 

[crashtech]

HIS has QC issues? Are you sure? This is the first time I've ever seen anyone post that.

I'll stipulate that this is strictly my own opinion, I have no empirical data to back it up.

 

[Techhog]

Tight budgets necessitate sacrifices, and the smaller HDD was chosen to meet your budget requirements. Really 500GB is tons for an OS drive. More typically, if budget allows, an SSD is used for the OS, and a 1TB+ drive is used for file storage. You might want to choose a 120GB+ or so SSD for the OS and programs, and add a larger storage drive later.

As to the fan, the PSU also moves some air out of the case. Honestly I have found a single 120mm to be adequate, though often I will replace the generic fan with something with more CFM and less noise.

Hm. I guess... So much to consider lol.

Okay, I've decided on the Sapphire. Thanks guys!

 

[nitromullet]

I would swap that Rosewill PSU out for this Seasonic PSU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151119

Same wattage and gold plus rating, but the Seasonic is modular.

 

[DDRGamer]

When XFX switched from NVIDA to AMD they were widely considered the top tier AMD AIB. They had a lifetime warranty on pretty much every card, and you could transfer the warranty to a buyer. Their cards also usually came with reference coolers or better. Their cards were generally more expensive than the other AIBs, but people were willing to pay the premium.

Over time they started putting out cheaper and cheaper coolers on their cards (see my earlier post about the 6950), doing away with their lifetime warranty, and now they might as well be any other AMD AIB.

I don't think they are necessarily bad, but they are really just nothing special anymore.

At the risk of sounding like an apologist, here's a section from XFX's website:

Which products are eligible for a limited lifetime hardware warranty?

The following Graphics Cards are eligible for an extension of the standard two-year limited hardware warranty:

1. XFX Radeon HD 7000 Series Dual Fan (Double Dissipation Edition) Graphics Cards with Ghost Technology; a floating cover design that maximizes airflow by creating exceptional venting throughout the card.

2. XFX Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics Cards with 10-digit model numbers ending in

 

[boboftw]

Or this PSU

Not as good as seasonic but $38 AR.

Also get this monitor instead at $120 AR.

 

[nitromullet]

At the risk of sounding like an apologist, here's a section from XFX's website:

Which products are eligible for a limited lifetime hardware warranty?

The following Graphics Cards are eligible for an extension of the standard two-year limited hardware warranty:

1. XFX Radeon HD 7000 Series Dual Fan (Double Dissipation Edition) Graphics Cards with Ghost Technology; a floating cover design that maximizes airflow by creating exceptional venting throughout the card.

2. XFX Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics Cards with 10-digit model numbers ending in

Sorry, I should have said transferable lifetime warranty. When you sold an XFX card you could request a code to give to your buyer, which they could use to register the card with XFX for a full lifetime warranty. It made the whole reselling of used cards very professional, and definitely made a difference in resale value.

 

[crashtech]

I would swap that Rosewill PSU out for this Seasonic PSU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151119

Same wattage and gold plus rating, but the Seasonic is modular.

I didn't see that one, Seasonics are nice!

 

[DDRGamer]

At the risk of sounding like an apologist, here's a section from XFX's website:



Sorry, I should have said transferable lifetime warranty. When you sold an XFX card you could request a code to give to your buyer, which they could use to register the card with XFX for a full lifetime warranty. It made the whole reselling of used cards very professional, and definitely made a difference in resale value.

Mm. I resold my 7900GS with that transferable warranty. Definitely made a difference.

Unfortunate that they've removed that advantage.

 

[nitromullet]

Back to the 7950s... I was doing some more research into this, and I found this thread about the SAPPHIRE 100352-3L

http://www.overclock.net/t/1367119/sapphire-100352-3l-hd7950-stripped-for-your-viewing-pleasure

...someone with sharper eyes than me noticed the RAM chip below the core is not in any way making contact with any sort of heatsink. It looks like this is by design too. The heatsink just doesn't cover that RAM chip at all. I ended up looking at the cheaper 7950s on newegg more closely, and it looks like a few of them completely overlook cooling at least one RAM chip.

Obviously the SAPPHIRE 100352-3L http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202026

PowerColor PCS+ AX7950 3GBD5-2DHPP http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131458

PowerColor AX7950 3GBD5-2DHV5E http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131499

MSI R7950 TF 3GD5 BE (this one isn't even a lower priced one) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127734

I'm probably going to steer clear of all these cards.

 

[rancherlee]

Ram cooling really isn't a BIG thing IMO. I've added ram cooling to cards that didn't have any or made shims so those that have a heatsink floating above them get cooled and only seen gains of 5-20mhz. If your going to squeeze 101% out of it might matter but the type of memory on the card is far more critical then the cooling of the VRAM . Some brands switch up the memory brand quite often during a production run so its a crapshoot on what you get.

 

[RussianSensation]

PowerColor PCS+ is the quietest 7950 out of the box
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/kurztest-3-x-amd-radeon-hd-7950/6/

For overclocking, MSI TwinFrozr 7950 with 7970 PCB is solid too. Right now for the price of $200, Gigabyte Windforce 3x, powercolor PCS+ and Sapphire DX seems like decent options. I wouldn't worry about memory cooling as the key is VRM and GPU cooling for 7950's overclocking. The card is barely memory bandwidth limited.

 

[Fastx]

Older Powercolor 7950 3gb boost cards were decent however the new 2 fan versions are very very Good. I have one and am extremely happy. I would say it depends on the deals available at your point of purchase.

XiandreX does your PC 7950 5E have VRM temp sensors?

TIA