VTX3D (Cheap brand from Powercolour)

[MisterMac]

Hi,

I'm currently waiting for stock on my favorite site to order a 7850, hope for a good chip.. and then OC like fuck.

However, a friend who often orders from germany linked me to a special offer on a VTX3D card.

The 7950 card in question, is a nonreference VTX3D.
Its 105 E/165 US dollars cheaper than the 7950 price in my market(scandinavia average).


I realize VTX3D is not a big brand, neither is powercolour known for their amazing build quality but...nearly 200 USD cheaper?


Does anyone have ANY experience with VTX3D? in terms of RMA or bad build quality, bad custom cooler design for non reference cards?

This offer won't last and i'm tempted to say fuck it, its not the best brand but it's so crazy cheap.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

175 US Dollars???? The price in USA is USD 400 for a 7950 and $250 for a 7850.

 

[Rast]

link the german site

 

[bononos]

Probably a cut-down version to be that cheap.

 

[MisterMac]

Doubtful.

So any in case people post nothing about VTX3D, but instead just random stuff.


How awesome today.



No one has ANY experience with VTX3D? at all?

 

[Topweasel]

Doubtful.

So any in case people post nothing about VTX3D, but instead just random stuff.


How awesome today.



No one has ANY experience with VTX3D? at all?

Powercolor is a big brand not a popular one but big enough. I was just looking at the site for VTX3D. They only sell in 3 markets, none of them German. So this is either A.) Not completely legal, maybe even a stolen (like a shipment got diverted in Russia), or at least one that doesn't have its correct tarrifs paid for. Might just be that someone was able to take the exchange rate and value and pricing of the Russian version to sell it ridiculously cheap in Germany. B.) It's a scam site.

Outside that you should be fine. Powercolor/what they are offering is the reference design for that card. Which means that its from the same line as most of the early 7950's and half of the 7970's are. If you get an actual 7950, you would be fine.

 

[MisterMac]

http://www.caseking.de/shop/catalog...B-DDR5-PCIe-30-miniDP::18674.html?language=en

And no, Caseking is their disitributor for germany, please recheck they're official website topweasel
Can't believe no one checks anything these days.

It's currently out of stock, but im considering ordering for this price now.


ALSO, this happens to be there NON reference version, dunno how well they're custom cooler is - but has to be better than reference no?


325 Euro's - 426 USD.

vs

420 Euro - 556 USD

in my local loved hardware netstore.

Id get great RMA from my local store, but also paying 100 E more while getting... "less reputable" brand.
Normally in Scandinavia, we get RMA not from the manufacturers but stores - and i' know caseking is very professional in this manner.
Which is going against my principles here....

 

[Topweasel]

http://www.caseking.de/shop/catalog...B-DDR5-PCIe-30-miniDP::18674.html?language=en

And no, Caseking is their disitributor for germany, please recheck they're official website topweasel

Can't believe no one checks anything these days.

I did. I just missed the big Fracking large "Global" link.

Still. No matter what you shouldn't be able to a NIB 7950 from any manufacturer legally and certainly in Europe with your VAT no way every single computer electronic part is priced at almost 50% but you found a legal seller of a 2 months new video card that is selling it at a third of the price.

Edit: read that it was non-reference HSF. Looking at it, its also not a reference PCB, That would make reliability spotty.

Edit: You need to be clearer in your OP, you have things cut off in the middle of the sentence. I am now reading that it is ~425 USDish right? That actually is about right. What you are probably seeing is the price drop hit Europe. You should see it in your location as stock is replenished. So the question is, is Powercolor a brand you want to jump into just to get an early deal.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Including VAT it is nearly E400 or $550+. For a 7950 Custom that is a decent price outside the States but nothing spectacular. Other brands would probably be less than 10-15% price difference apart.

 

[MisterMac]

I did. I just missed the big Fracking large "Global" link.

Still. No matter what you shouldn't be able to a NIB 7950 from any manufacturer legally and certainly in Europe with your VAT no way every single computer electronic part is priced at almost 50% but you found a legal seller of a 2 months new video card that is selling it at a third of the price.

Edit: read that it was non-reference HSF. Looking at it, its also not a reference PCB, That would make reliability spotty.

Edit: You need to be clearer in your OP, you have things cut off in the middle of the sentence. I am now reading that it is ~425 USDish right? That actually is about right. What you are probably seeing is the price drop hit Europe. You should see it in your location as stock is replenished. So the question is, is Powercolor a brand you want to jump into just to get an early deal.

If you look at caseking it's 325E INCLUDING VAT.
Non Reference VTX3D X Edition.
Normal Price: 400E.

(Reference is ironicly 10E more - this makes me question build quality)

It's possibly? a special offer - and currently not in stock sadly(duh, if the offer is genuine).
What i'm worried about is build quality as you say.
Caseking RMA is pretty legendary - and being a distributor of said VTX3D i'd feel comfortable - but id rather not buy something I KNOW will break after 6 months.
Downtime is annoying no matter what.

And if reference is 10E more expensive than a nonreference doesn't that point to bad build quality?
(And epic bad at that).


Ive got an eye/ear inside the "newegg of scandinavia" store - they don't carry VTX3D and have asked for the 7900 price drops, and all distributors say "Nothing new under the sun" and have been so for a long time.

I'm geussing VTX3D could be one of the few that are doing the pricecut in EU (unlike everyone else)
The Gigabyte Windforce HD 7950, has actually also dropped on caseking... so perhaps it's just pricedrops.

Either way - i'll have to wait stock before being able to do anything anyhow.
If anyone from northern EU is noticing pricedrops in their stores, let everyone know.


Asaksheytalwar:
Just stop posting, really.
-_-

 

[KompuKare]

Wait. Just using google.de>shopping I see a bunch at that kind of price

http://www.google.de/search?q=radeo...on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=ec1ca4f3d1c35986

The Sapphire is €325 too for instance. So the original price doesn't seem that special unless it includes Europe-wide postage or something. Or even using guenstiger or preistrend:

http://www.guenstiger.de/Katalog/Preis.pl?suche=hd_7950&sort=preis
http://www.preistrend.de/kategoriefilter/04c2246-20694.html?s=1
(No experience of VTX but I'd rather Sapphire..)

 

[MisterMac]

Oh praise the lord, EU is getting pricedrops

Atleast germany seems to be... now for the rest of eu

 

[blastingcap]

Reference usually means good build quality. Not the best, but pretty good. You can get better at a higher price. You can also often get WORSE quality with a non-reference cooler (e.g., the XFX 5850's--the reference was best, and the two non-reference were worst).

However, the 7950 seems to have TWO reference boards, the A board and B board. The A board is the good one and looks like a 7970; the B board is the cheaper one with a fan mounted in the middle: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/01/31/amd-radeon-hd-7950-3gb-review/2

Here are closer looks at the "B" board:

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/graphic-cards/142384-amd-hd-7000-series-13.html#post1571303

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/graphic-cards/142384-amd-hd-7000-series-13.html#post1571760

HWC did a review of both:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...eon-hd-7950-review-tahiti-pro-arrives-22.html

Given that the "B" board weighs 400 grams less with no aluminum fins all over the place like on the "A" board, the "B" board probably does a worse job cooling memory and VRMs, even though the HWC test shows that it does a better job of cooling the GPU. It's probably also cheaper to make, which is why you can get it for a lower price than the "A" board variant.

 

[MisterMac]

Reference usually means good build quality. Not the best, but pretty good. You can get better at a higher price. You can also often get WORSE quality with a non-reference cooler (e.g., the XFX 5850's--the reference was best, and the two non-reference were worst).

However, the 7950 seems to have TWO reference boards, the A board and B board. The A board is the good one and looks like a 7970; the B board is the cheaper one with a fan mounted in the middle: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/01/31/amd-radeon-hd-7950-3gb-review/2

Here are closer looks at the "B" board:

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/graphic-cards/142384-amd-hd-7000-series-13.html#post1571303

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/graphic-cards/142384-amd-hd-7000-series-13.html#post1571760

HWC did a review of both:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...eon-hd-7950-review-tahiti-pro-arrives-22.html

Given that the "B" board weighs 400 grams less with no aluminum fins all over the place like on the "A" board, the "B" board probably does a worse job cooling memory and VRMs, even though the HWC test shows that it does a better job of cooling the GPU. It's probably also cheaper to make, which is why you can get it for a lower price than the "A" board variant.

Thanks for the info

The curious part is tho, of the VTX 3D models.
the NONREFERENCE custom cooler version is 15E cheaper than their Reference 7950. (which is of.. B variant).

This makes me think the custom one is ...well badly craply designed.
No info about it anywhere tho.

A new question arises:

Can a partner design a PCB board with shittier capacitors and components?
And would they if they were trying to save a buck?

325 E for a Nonreference custom cooled 7950 is mighty cheap for northern europe.... (Cheaper than any 7870 ironicly).

 

[blastingcap]

Can a partner design a PCB board with shittier capacitors and components?
And would they if they were trying to save a buck?

Are you serious? Partners often cut corners to save costs on their custom boards. Sometimes it's obvious, like with fans and heatsink arrays, but sometimes it's less obvious, like using worse VRMs or skimping on packaging and accessories.

 

[MisterMac]

Are you serious? Partners often cut corners to save costs on their custom boards. Sometimes it's obvious, like with fans and heatsink arrays, but sometimes it's less obvious, like using worse VRMs or skimping on packaging and accessories.

Well, i geuss that's the answer there.



Hence back to the original post... ANYONE have ANY experience with VTX3D reference and nonreference?


Else ive found some sapphires in german shops @ same price but still waiting on delivery costs for that.

Hoping it would be too much and same as caseking.

 

[3DVagabond]

Well, i geuss that's the answer there.



Hence back to the original post... ANYONE have ANY experience with VTX3D reference and nonreference?


Else ive found some sapphires in german shops @ same price but still waiting on delivery costs for that.

Hoping it would be too much and same as caseking.

Well, reference is reference. except for warranty support, there's no difference. KitGuru did a review of the HD7970X O/C'd dual fan version, and it actually performed really well. Comes at 1050/1425 (O/C'd to 1160/1500 on stock volts) and runs quieter and cooler than the reference.

 

[MisterMac]

Well, reference is reference. except for warranty support, there's no difference. KitGuru did a review of the HD7970X O/C'd dual fan version, and it actually performed really well. Comes at 1050/1425 (O/C'd to 1160/1500 on stock volts) and runs quieter and cooler than the reference.

Doesn't detail for RMA support... but it does receive praises.

this impresses me alot acutally.


hope it restocks soon

 

[Topweasel]

Well, i geuss that's the answer there.



Hence back to the original post... ANYONE have ANY experience with VTX3D reference and nonreference?


Else ive found some sapphires in german shops @ same price but still waiting on delivery costs for that.

Hoping it would be too much and same as caseking.

VTX3D in the sense of a manufacturer doesn't exist. Little to no chance that Powercolor has a seperate even cheaper line for VTX3D. So really you are just looking at a Powercolor branded non-reference card.

Look for issues with this.

http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_features.asp?id=389

This review likes it. You can tell from the HSF and the PCB that this is nearly the same card (they give the copper a coating on the Powercolor to keep it shinny).

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7950_PCS_Plus/1.html