Replace or Keep? MSI R7950

[MaxDepth]

I am rethinking my main household computer. Basically this is the last step of how I am re-imagining my computing infrastructure of the house. Once I have the gameplan of my main desktop computer, I'll will fill you all in on how I will restructure the whole house. (Possible blog or forum postings on the progress.)

So what I have in the desktop:
- SeaSonic M12II 520 (power)
- MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA (mobo)
- Intel Core i5-2500K (CPU)
- MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC (GPU)
- [2] G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB)
- AZZA Helios 910 (case)
- a bunch of HDDs

The plan is to build my own case, cannibalizing what I need along with machining or constructing the parts I cannot borrow. The card has not been the best for me and I don't mind exchanging it for something else. For instance, when I play Bioshock Infinite, the the card's fan spins up to the decibel level of the mid setting of my stove's vent fan. However, if there is no real reason to upgrade, I can hold off too.

My requirements:
- Better performance
(Note: my main monitor is the Monoprice 27" IPS LED CrystalPro Monitor WQHD 2560x1440. I would like to add a second monitor and have the games and applications use the full screen best quality settings, if possible)
- Lower power consumption
- Fan spin up that doesn't sound like a hovercraft
- Under $250 or $200?
- Small form factor? (not a deal breaker)

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.


Thank you.

 

[Rezist]

I am rethinking my main household computer. Basically this is the last step of how I am re-imagining my computing infrastructure of the house. Once I have the gameplan of my main desktop computer, I'll will fill you all in on how I will restructure the whole house. (Possible blog or forum postings on the progress.)

So what I have in the desktop:
- SeaSonic M12II 520 (power)
- MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA (mobo)
- Intel Core i5-2500K (CPU)
- MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC (GPU)
- [2] G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB)
- AZZA Helios 910 (case)
- a bunch of HDDs

The plan is to build my own case, cannibalizing what I need along with machining or constructing the parts I cannot borrow. The card has not been the best for me and I don't mind exchanging it for something else. For instance, when I play Bioshock Infinite, the the card's fan spins up to the decibel level of the mid setting of my stove's vent fan. However, if there is no real reason to upgrade, I can hold off too.

My requirements:
- Better performance
(Note: my main monitor is the Monoprice 27" IPS LED CrystalPro Monitor WQHD 2560x1440. I would like to add a second monitor and have the games and applications use the full screen best quality settings, if possible)
- Lower power consumption
- Fan spin up that doesn't sound like a hovercraft
- Under $250 or $200?
- Small form factor? (not a deal breaker)

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.


Thank you.

970 is the only option.
Early 960 leaks have a 2Gb 128bit bus. A downgrade and un-usable at 1440p

 

[Binky]

You should try lowering the voltage on the card. I had two 7950's and they both ran very well with far less voltage than stock. I think the stock voltage was in the 1.1-1.25v range, but they both ran pretty well with 1.03v or less at stock speeds. If the performance of the card is acceptable other than the noise, this might help extend the life of the card for your use.

 

[Termie]

Just to be clear, the 7950 (a.k.a. R9 280) still sells for $200 and above, making the following goals impossible to achieve:

(1) $200-$250
(2) smaller form factor
(3) lower power
(4) lower noise
(5) higher performance at 2560x1440

You either have to raise your budget considerably or lower your expectations. For $200-$250 today, you can buy...another HD7950, which won't solve your noise, power, or small form factor concerns. But it is in your budget and will perform well at 1440p.

Assuming you don't want to Crossfire your 7950 with an R9 280, your only serious option is the GTX 970, which uses less power, vastly outperforms the 7950, is available in a small form factor, and is very quiet. Your best option is Gigabyte ITX model, but Zotac's and EVGA's models are also relatively small. They all cost $330.

 

[KingFatty]

Hypothetically, would adding a 2nd 7950 actually *decrease* noise?

What I mean is that if you want a certain performance level with one card, you'll spin up the fan on it to achieve it.

But with two cards, each card carries half the load, so each card would get only half as warm, and spin the fans in 'silent' mode.

Also, you could underclock and undervolt each card to reduce fan speeds even further. I bet a pair of underclocked, undervolted 7950s would still get better performance than a single 7950.

But I can't help but ask the obvious question: why not get an aftermarket cooler for your 7950? Surely there are tons of closed-loop watercooling setups, or even a triple-fan giant air cooler would be quieter.

I just feel more comfortable attacking the source of the problem (noisy fan) first, because that's the cheapest and most direct way of eliminating noise, compared to buying another video card.

 

[TemjinGold]

Sell 7950. Add proceeds to your budget. Buy 970.

 

[RussianSensation]

I am rethinking my main household computer. Basically this is the last step of how I am re-imagining my computing infrastructure of the house. Once I have the gameplan of my main desktop computer, I'll will fill you all in on how I will restructure the whole house. (Possible blog or forum postings on the progress.)

So what I have in the desktop:
- SeaSonic M12II 520 (power)
- MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA (mobo)
- Intel Core i5-2500K (CPU)
- MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC (GPU)
- [2] G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB)
- AZZA Helios 910 (case)
- a bunch of HDDs

The plan is to build my own case, cannibalizing what I need along with machining or constructing the parts I cannot borrow. The card has not been the best for me and I don't mind exchanging it for something else. For instance, when I play Bioshock Infinite, the the card's fan spins up to the decibel level of the mid setting of my stove's vent fan. However, if there is no real reason to upgrade, I can hold off too.

My requirements:
- Better performance
(Note: my main monitor is the Monoprice 27" IPS LED CrystalPro Monitor WQHD 2560x1440. I would like to add a second monitor and have the games and applications use the full screen best quality settings, if possible)
- Lower power consumption
- Fan spin up that doesn't sound like a hovercraft
- Under $250 or $200?
- Small form factor? (not a deal breaker)

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.


Thank you.

The best card for 3/4 is an after-market R9 290. With your stock CPU, an after-market 290 and a 970 will perform more or less the same at your resolution. However, since you want lower power consumption too, I suggest you wait for a 960Ti that is supposed to launch this month. Otherwise, you either have to raise your budget to a 970 or live with higher power usage of cards like the Sapphire Tri-X 290. Nothing else is there that I'd recommend is worth upgrading from your 7950 at $200-250 besides an R9 290.

Since you are happy with the performace of your card, minus the noise, I suggest you replace the stock TIM with an after-market TIM from Noctua or Thermalright or Prolimatech or Tuniq. You can also clean all the dust in your case and the heatsink itself. Sometimes these small steps do wonders to temperatures. If your card is not running very hot, you can set up a custom fan curve in MSI Afterburner. I suggest doing all of these together.

 

[Jhatfie]

^ Agree with Russian's comments. Although based on early spec's, the 960 might be a rather minor upgrade outside the improved power consumption, but we should find out soon. For now, as long as temps are in check, use AB to change the fan profile to something more ear friendly, sometimes even 5-10% less fan can make a big difference in noise profile.