Supremely pleased with Sapphire 7950 OC!

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Jhatfie

Senior member
Jan 20, 2004
749
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Last Thursday I got my new Sapphire 7950 OC. Had about $200 in gift cards saved up so I figured I'd use them and see what all the fuss was about with the 79xx series cards. All I can say is WOW. What a fantastic card. Will not go as far as to say it is faster than my OC'd and unlocked 6950's were in crossfire (only have one 6950 now), but dang....it is not that far off and once overclocked it trounces my single unlocked and OC'd 6950 with some benches getting over 100% increase in frame rates and kills my GTX580 that was pretty heavily OC'd, both by large margins.

At 1.25v it clocked up to 1260/7000 and was perfectly stable for 3dMark11 or Heaven benches. Although I needed to drop the clocks a bit to be game stable in more gpu stressful games like Crysis2. So far it appears to be perfectly stable and artifact free at 1180/7000 @ 1.2v, which is the highest I want to go voltage wise for continuous use. I still need more time to validate see for sure where my max stable clocks are, but I think I am pretty close.

Cooler works very well. Nice and quiet at temps are generally in the low 60C range even at 1.25v all while using a moderate fan profile so it stays pretty quiet.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2792242
 
J

Jhatfie

Senior member
Jan 20, 2004
749
2
81
Yep on air. The OC model has the nice dual fan cooler and it works very well. My 6950 Dirt 3 Edition has a similar cooler that I was really pleased with, which lead to me going with this 7950 as opposed to the Asus, Powercolor or Gigabyte non reference variants.
 
Stuka87

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
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I LOVE mine. I have not gotten around to over clocking beyond 1000/1300, and on stock voltage. But at those speeds it runs at 46C playing BF3 without any stability issues.

This is the best video card I think I have ever owned. And not because it is the fastest, but its so quiet, very cool, and really does not draw much power at all. I have only hit 280W at the wall playing BF3.

I can't say enough good things about this card.

Here are a few photos I never got around to posting anywhere else:

Next to my old PowerColor AX5750:
6873655745_17da8d10f7_z.jpg


Mounted inside my Antec 300. Its an EXTREMELY tight fit, but it clears bu less than a 1/4" inch. And don't mind all the cables, they were all pulled out for installing:
6873656263_d0704edab8_z.jpg
 
K

kingsownall

Member
Mar 2, 2010
28
0
0
Jhatfie said:
Last Thursday I got my new Sapphire 7950 OC. Had about $200 in gift cards saved up so I figured I'd use them and see what all the fuss was about with the 79xx series cards. All I can say is WOW. What a fantastic card. Will not go as far as to say it is faster than my OC'd and unlocked 6950's were in crossfire (only have one 6950 now), but dang....it is not that far off and once overclocked it trounces my single unlocked and OC'd 6950 with some benches getting over 100% increase in frame rates and kills my GTX580 that was pretty heavily OC'd, both by large margins.

At 1.25v it clocked up to 1260/7000 and was perfectly stable for 3dMark11 or Heaven benches. Although I needed to drop the clocks a bit to be game stable in more gpu stressful games like Crysis2. So far it appears to be perfectly stable and artifact free at 1180/7000 @ 1.2v, which is the highest I want to go voltage wise for continuous use. I still need more time to validate see for sure where my max stable clocks are, but I think I am pretty close.

Cooler works very well. Nice and quiet at temps are generally in the low 60C range even at 1.25v all while using a moderate fan profile so it stays pretty quiet.

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2792242
Click to expand...


Hot damn that's a ridiculous OC you got there.
 
MrK6

MrK6

Diamond Member
Aug 9, 2004
4,458
4
81
Excellent results! All I've heard is fantastic things about this card, so far that I've recommended them over reference 7970's for air cooling users. It's good to see someone enjoying a new purchase.
 
T

Tempered81

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
6,374
1
81
How high can you get the memory to clock with increased memory voltage & auxiliary voltage? Click the arrow to the right of the core voltage slider in Afterburner to get these voltages.
 
J

Jhatfie

Senior member
Jan 20, 2004
749
2
81
Tempered81 said:
How high can you get the memory to clock with increased memory voltage & auxiliary voltage? Click the arrow to the right of the core voltage slider in Afterburner to get these voltages.
Click to expand...

Not sure, I have been using Trixx to OC. I'll take a look at afterburner tonight.
 
PClark99

PClark99

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2000
3,833
74
91
I ordered one of these cards on Friday, can't wait until I get it, especially after reading this thread.
 
D

DeeJayeS

Member
Dec 28, 2011
111
0
0
Yep yep, great to hear, mine should arrive later this week :cool:.

Price premium or not, this card just looks (and sounds) sexy as hell.
 
railven

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
126
MrK6 said:
Excellent results! All I've heard is fantastic things about this card, so far that I've recommended them over reference 7970's for air cooling users. It's good to see someone enjoying a new purchase.
Click to expand...

Some how I missed this post, can you elaborate on your suggestion?

I'm looking at 1080p for most games (probably the heavier demanding games) while 3x1080p for MMOs (like WoW/SW:TOR).

Would the 7950 provide better bang for buck versus the 7970? I'd be OCing on air.

If I can shave $100 off my build, and still have satisfying results - that is always a perk.
 
flopper

flopper

Senior member
Dec 16, 2005
739
19
76
railven said:
Some how I missed this post, can you elaborate on your suggestion?

I'm looking at 1080p for most games (probably the heavier demanding games) while 3x1080p for MMOs (like WoW/SW:TOR).

Would the 7950 provide better bang for buck versus the 7970? I'd be OCing on air.

If I can shave $100 off my build, and still have satisfying results - that is always a perk.
Click to expand...


7950 bang buck with oc.
difference might be 5% so in practice hard to tell difference in fps.
 
railven

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
126
flopper said:
7950 bang buck with oc.
difference might be 5% so in practice hard to tell difference in fps.
Click to expand...

Wow, seriosuly? That is a huge perk. I need to look into this. Thanks for the heads up.

~20% price saving for 5% performance lost, hell yeah. I'd be fine with a 10% gap for the cost saving.
 
MrK6

MrK6

Diamond Member
Aug 9, 2004
4,458
4
81
railven said:
Some how I missed this post, can you elaborate on your suggestion?

I'm looking at 1080p for most games (probably the heavier demanding games) while 3x1080p for MMOs (like WoW/SW:TOR).

Would the 7950 provide better bang for buck versus the 7970? I'd be OCing on air.

If I can shave $100 off my build, and still have satisfying results - that is always a perk.
Click to expand...
The 7950 most definitely provides more bang-for-your-buck. As flopper pointed out, you'll see a minimum performance difference once the cards are at the same clocks. Now the 7970 will (statistically speaking) clock higher, but even then the performance difference should be <10%. Furthermore, to really crank the 7970, you'll have to increase the fan, which is noisy. Not as noisy as previous generations, but I'm spoiled by a near-silent water cooling system. This brings to light another great advantage of the 7950 - awesome AIB coolers. The Sapphire here has gotten rave reviews both professionally and by end user - http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Roundups/PowerColor_Sapphire_XFX_HD_7950/ , in a large part because its cooler is awesome. Therefore, you can crank this thing and it's still very quiet, but you'll have awesome cooling performance. If I was on air cooling, this is the card I'd get, without a doubt.
 
railven

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
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MrK6 said:
The 7950 most definitely provides more bang-for-your-buck. As flopper pointed out, you'll see a minimum performance difference once the cards are at the same clocks. Now the 7970 will (statistically speaking) clock higher, but even then the performance difference should be <10%. Furthermore, to really crank the 7970, you'll have to increase the fan, which is noisy. Not as noisy as previous generations, but I'm spoiled by a near-silent water cooling system. This brings to light another great advantage of the 7950 - awesome AIB coolers. The Sapphire here has gotten rave reviews both professionally and by end user - http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Roundups/PowerColor_Sapphire_XFX_HD_7950/ , in a large part because its cooler is awesome. Therefore, you can crank this thing and it's still very quiet, but you'll have awesome cooling performance. If I was on air cooling, this is the card I'd get, without a doubt.
Click to expand...

Sweet, will be reading that article after my next draw. Noise is definitely something I'd be concerned with. Glad I didn't impulse buy that GA-Windforce when I said I was going to haha.
 
railven

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
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So, reading this article, I don't see 7970 OC numbers to compare, but it seems with these OC the 7950 is about 5% faster than a stock 7970?

So a mild OC'ed 7970 would still outperform a heavily OC'ed 7950, correct?

I need to find where I'm happy, in terms of temps and noise - I can justify a little excess if I can squeeze more life from my card. In the end, whatever card I pick I'll be stuck with for 2 years haha. So I want to make sure I buy the best I can.
 
superjim

superjim

Senior member
Jan 3, 2012
293
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I just ordered mine yesterday after debating it for at least a week. Glad to hear it's getting glowing user reviews (as well as glowing site reviews). I've only read of one person who couldn't run their Sapphire OC card at stock let alone OC'd. 880mhz was the highest they could run the card at on their rig without freezing issues (no BSODs) however when they tried it on a buddy's rig it worked fine at stock. Has to be a power supply or driver issue in my book.

Forgot to mention, it's out-of-stock at Newegg, again, as of this morning. Barely beat the buzzer!
 
J

Jhatfie

Senior member
Jan 20, 2004
749
2
81
railven said:
So, reading this article, I don't see 7970 OC numbers to compare, but it seems with these OC the 7950 is about 5% faster than a stock 7970?

So a mild OC'ed 7970 would still outperform a heavily OC'ed 7950, correct?

I need to find where I'm happy, in terms of temps and noise - I can justify a little excess if I can squeeze more life from my card. In the end, whatever card I pick I'll be stuck with for 2 years haha. So I want to make sure I buy the best I can.
Click to expand...

Based on what I have read, a 7950 performs about 2-8% less than a 7970 at identical clocks. What this equates to is that a 7950 needs about another 75-100mhz more on the core or so in order for it to roughly equal a 7970's performance.
 
railven

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
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I guess, my question is - I'm reading a 1Ghz OC on the core for the 7970 isn't that much of an OC. I was expecting to hit anywhere from 1100-1200 before getting into super high power consumption/heat thresholds.

Are there any reviews of an HD 7950 hitting such clocks, or even thread stories about it?

It definitely is a contender in my options - frugal is the name of the game as of late. The 4 output limit would be an obstacle for my setup, but I can work that out one way or another.
 
OILFIELDTRASH

OILFIELDTRASH

Lifer
May 13, 2009
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