MSI Frozr II vs Gigabyte Radeon 7950

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
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I'm not sure which one is actually better. The MSI though has a stellar rep as an O/C'er and is on the 7970 PCB, which likely contributes to it's O/C'ing ability.

IMO, the Vapor-X is about the best 7950, but it does use 2+ slots, if that's an issue.
 

raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
4,093
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I'm torn between these two versions of the Radeon HD 7950. I want to know hat is best in terms of performance, before and after overclocking, which has the best cooling, which runs the coolest, and which is overall better.

MSI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127667

GIGABTYE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

the gigabyte without a doubt has the better cooler and is capable of going above 1.2+ Ghz. the highest overclock for Gigabyte HD 7950 on ocn is 1280 Mhz. the MSI twin frozr cooler is going to restrict your ability to hit 1.2 Ghz, should you get a good chip.
 

zaydq

Senior member
Jul 8, 2012
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the gigabyte without a doubt has the better cooler and is capable of going above 1.2+ Ghz. the highest overclock for Gigabyte HD 7950 on ocn is 1280 Mhz. the MSI twin frozr cooler is going to restrict your ability to hit 1.2 Ghz, should you get a good chip.

I've seen more MSI TF3s hit 1200mhz on the core than I've seen Gigabyte WF3s hit 1200mhz...
 

rottencurry

Member
Oct 13, 2012
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So if I only have the fans that the Cooler Master 912 has and I don't get anymore additional cooling devices, do you think the MSI or Gigabyte is better overall. I'm thinking the MSI because it has a pretty good cooler. I also wouldn't overclock for a while after I got it of that helps. W/o overclocking, which one is the best out of the box? I'm guessing the MSI from what newegg says.
 
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zaydq

Senior member
Jul 8, 2012
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Gigabyte > MSI for cooling when OC'd, at stock the Gigabyte is quieter and cooler but the difference is drastically minimal compared to when you OC both cards.

MSI > Gigabyte for OC'ing clock speeds from my readings, but thats also never guaranteed.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
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Both are outstanding. If you are not going to be overclocking at all, you can save some $ and grab the Sapphire dual-x version for $270. It's also very quiet. Even that Sapphire card should be a decent OCer.

For overclocking, HD7950 MSI TF3 or Gigabyte Windforce 3x are both stellar. It's like choosing among Alessandra Ambroisio, Andriana Lima and Miranda Kerr.
 
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m3ta1head

Senior member
Aug 28, 2006
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I've had great results with the MSI.

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Greenlepricon

Senior member
Aug 1, 2012
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I'm running my msi at the factory oc of 880Mhz for 1080 and it does fine in everything except when I run the Witcher II with ubersampling, which nothing seems to really fix. Just for fun I overclocked it to 1050 before and the temps still didn't get past the 70's with the fans on around 60 or 70% (somewhere in there I forgot). I put it back down because at this resolution I don't need it yet. If you aren't overclocking I recommend the cheap one RussianSensation posted, unless you really just want a different card. Honestly you'll love either of the ones you're thinking about, but I'm still gonna scream about how awesome MSI did with this card :D
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
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I'm running my msi at the factory oc of 880Mhz for 1080 and it does fine in everything except when I run the Witcher II with ubersampling, which nothing seems to really fix.

You'd need HD7950 OCed in CF or GTX670 SLI to use Uber Sampling in Witcher 2. It's basically native Super-Sampling from the in-game control panel.

witcher_vhq_1920.jpg
 

Vesku

Diamond Member
Aug 25, 2005
3,743
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My Gigabyte 7950 is a perfectly fine card but it has a lowish GPUz quality rating and doesn't run stable past 1150 at the 1.2V or under I've kept myself at even with temperatures being fine. MSI may bin more aggressively but I don't know if any lists have been compiled in that regard.

Gigabyte WF3 cooler is excellent.
 

m3ta1head

Senior member
Aug 28, 2006
262
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m3ta1head, do you have Witcher 2? Or is there a D/L'able benchmark? I'd be curious to see what that monster 7950 would do.

I don't have the game, but I may pick it up as I want to play with ubersampling. Let me know if there are any other benchmarks you want to see run. This card basically tears through everything I throw at it, with the exception of X-Plane 10 which still drags it down to it's knees.
 

rottencurry

Member
Oct 13, 2012
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I'm probably not going to be overclocking so the Sapphire Dual x version is the best if I'm not going to overclock. What about the Sapphire vapor x version, or is that mostly for overclocking?
 
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Greenlepricon

Senior member
Aug 1, 2012
468
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You'd need HD7950 OCed in CF or GTX670 SLI to use Uber Sampling in Witcher 2. It's basically native Super-Sampling from the in-game control panel.

witcher_vhq_1920.jpg

Sorry I meant to say nothing seems to fix it as in there isn't any way anyone should expect to run it on a single card at that resolution. My fault for bad wording