Which GPU would you keep - 7790 or 7850 ($23 difference in price)

eno

Senior member
Jan 29, 2002
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I already ordered both cards and the 7850 is arriving today. I originally leaned towards the 7850 for the obvious 2gb and overall better speed. But then I realized Cool and Quiet is my focus. The system is a much dated E8400 / 4gb DDR2 / SSD + HDD / AMD 6570 / Antec 900 case w/ newer Corsair 430watt. It is perfect minus the lack of 60fps on the 55" 1080p for titles like Sonic All Stars / F1 2012. I already have a 7970 on eyefinity for my gaming and a 6970 in the Surround Sound Media PC so this isn't critical I have the best for gaming here since it will lightly be used for games.

Between these two cards which would you recommend. Remember there is only a $23 difference to get the 7850 but I will lose the Bronze game card which I don't really need. Main factors now to me is noise and longevity of the coolers on both. If I hear the fans I will not be thrilled, overall performance is secondary to reliability and noise. Also I know there will be some peformance bottlenecking going on so just go cheaper 7790 route? $23 bucks more makes it hard to part with the 7850 but I have read some bad reviews about longevity of this card and fan coil noise. ASUS or MSI?

MSI 7850 2gb 130 TDP $93 AR & 5% coupon - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127663
More gaming performance , more watts/heat/noise

ASUS 7790 1GB 85 TDP $70 AR w/ 1 free game - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121727
Likely to be a perfect fit for heat/noise being a 85TDP w/ a nice cooler. Save the $23?
 
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Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
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7850 is quite a bit faster. Although the one you linked says not available.

As for noise, check reviews for the models you are looking at. Some 7790's are quite a bit louder than some 7850's.
 

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
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I had the ASUS 7790 you linked to... it was basically silent even when overclocked. Your case fans are likely louder than that cooler. The cooling solution on that is actually better than most 7850's cooling solutions, lol.

I also have that exact same MSI 7850 TF you linked to. It is NOT quiet when overclocked at all, maybe if you only run it at stock, and I will never buy another cooler with small fans again. The fans are just too freaking small, the heat pipes are small too. So the twin fans have to spin a lot faster to move the same amount of air as one big fan, for instance.

What kinda seals the deal is that it's a media PC, you already have a gaming rig with a 7970 elsewhere, and you prioritize cool and quiet, in which case that 7790 is definitely cooler and quieter. A 7790 can easily overclock to stock 7850 or stock GTX 570 speeds, so it's no slouch.The 1GB VRAM will eventually be a problem for next-gen console ports, but like you said, you already have a gaming rig in another room so you could just use that instead.
 
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Warsam71

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Jul 29, 2013
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I think going with the 7850 is the way to go as it's a newer generation card and should help in the long term; no need to upgrade sooner than if you were to purchase the 7790. Plus, as you have mentioned it delivers more gaming performance which could be a "nice-to-have". About the noise, I have a 7990 and it isn't noisy at all. True, the fans ramp up when gaming but the noise is minimal - it doesn't really bother me.
 

eno

Senior member
Jan 29, 2002
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I also have that exact same MSI 7850 TF you linked to. It is NOT quiet when overclocked at all, maybe if you only run it at stock,

Wow, excellent. Someone that has had both cards. Thank you for the reply. Are the Asus 7790 fans larger? I do not plan to Overclock it at all, I want cool n quiet. If you factor in the limiting system I will be running the card in I would think the 7790 would be a better fit anyway. The itch I have is the $23 difference in price, lose the 2gb RAM and overall performance. The deal breaker is if the 7850 can't run silent at idle/bluray movies and near silent during games.
 

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
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Wow, excellent. Someone that has had both cards. Thank you for the reply. Are the Asus 7790 fans larger? I do not plan to Overclock it at all, I want cool n quiet. If you factor in the limiting system I will be running the card in I would think the 7790 would be a better fit anyway. The itch I have is the $23 difference in price, lose the 2gb RAM and overall performance. The deal breaker is if the 7850 can't run silent at idle/bluray movies and near silent during games.

If quiet is a priority, then I'd get the 7790 and use the $23 on something else, like Blu-Rays, since you ALREADY have a 7970 in your other rig.

That said, the MSI TFIII 7850 at stock will be quiet during Blu-Rays. Under gaming load the 7850 even at stock will be audible, and overclocked it may emit an audible high-pitched whine. The 7790 DCuII cooler is going to be deathly silent at anything other than extreme overclocks. Anandtech recently reviewed a larger version of the cooler for the R9 280X and said:

"... it doesn’t begin to compare to the Asus card under load. We have a card that’s channeling nearly 250W of heat out and away on a sustained basis, and yet for all of that work it generates just 41.5dB(A) of noise on our testbed. This is simply absurd in the most delightful fashion. Most of the cards in our data collection idle at just 2dB lower than this, never mind noise under load. As a result this is incredibly close to being functionally silent; in the case of our testbed the Asus card isn’t even the principle noise source when it’s under load." - www.anandtech.com/show/7400/the-radeon-r9-280x-review-feat-asus-xfx/20

That's for a R9 280X so it's a bigger cooler, but even the 7790's DirectCUII cooler is well-built. Everything about the 7790 DCuII ASUS's cooler is better than the MSI TF III 7850's cooler. Bigger fans (92mm vs 80mm which is 15% more surface area, but in reality it's even more of a difference because the fan hub takes up a lot of space), bigger heatpipes. The MSI Twin Frozr III fans and heatpipes are significantly smaller and that winds up causing those little fans to spin faster and noisier, than bigger coolers. Those beefy ASUS fans simply do not have to spin as fast and are quieter as a result. MSI is aware of this, which is why their Twin Frozr IV coolers on the R9 series use much bigger fans.
 

eno

Senior member
Jan 29, 2002
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If quiet is a priority, then I'd get the 7790 and use the $23 on something else, like Blu-Rays, since you ALREADY have a 7970 in your other rig.

That said, the MSI TFIII 7850 at stock will be quiet during Blu-Rays. Under gaming load the 7850 even at stock will be audible, and overclocked it may emit an audible high-pitched whine. The 7790 DCuII cooler is going to be deathly silent at anything other than extreme overclocks. Anandtech recently reviewed a larger version of the cooler for the R9 280X and said:

"... it doesn’t begin to compare to the Asus card under load. We have a card that’s channeling nearly 250W of heat out and away on a sustained basis, and yet for all of that work it generates just 41.5dB(A) of noise on our testbed. This is simply absurd in the most delightful fashion. Most of the cards in our data collection idle at just 2dB lower than this, never mind noise under load. As a result this is incredibly close to being functionally silent; in the case of our testbed the Asus card isn’t even the principle noise source when it’s under load." - www.anandtech.com/show/7400/the-radeon-r9-280x-review-feat-asus-xfx/20

That's for a R9 280X so it's a bigger cooler, but even the 7790's DirectCUII cooler is well-built. Everything about the 7790 DCuII ASUS's cooler is better than the MSI TF III 7850's cooler. Bigger fans (92mm vs 80mm which is 15% more surface area, but in reality it's even more of a difference because the fan hub takes up a lot of space), bigger heatpipes. The MSI Twin Frozr III fans and heatpipes are significantly smaller and that winds up causing those little fans to spin faster and noisier, than bigger coolers. Those beefy ASUS fans simply do not have to spin as fast and are quieter as a result. MSI is aware of this, which is why their Twin Frozr IV coolers on the R9 series use much bigger fans.

Seriously... you are the man. Thank you so much for the insite. I will stay with the slower , cheaper but quieter option. Again thank you SOOOO much for taking the time to help on this thread. Take care!!
 

Leyawiin

Diamond Member
Nov 11, 2008
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I own the MS Twin Frozr III HD 7850 2GB and at stock speeds the fans should not ramp up much at all. I can't hear mine, even with a somewhat mild 1000 Mhz OC, over the case and CPU fans (which are high quality Scythe 120mm case and a Thermalright 140mm CPU fan). Its exceedingly quiet. I have it in a ten year old midtower with only one intake and one exhaust fan. Even under those circumstances the fans never get over 55% and the temps never have gotten over 61C (with the fans on auto). That is either at stock or with the 1000 Mhz OC.

I also have an ASUS HD 7770 2GB Direct CU II which has the exact same fan shroud that the 7790 you linked does (the 7790 heatsink does have two large heatpipes my card lacks). I absolutely can hear it stock or overclocked while gaming. Basically, the complete opposite what blastingcap is telling you. /shrug

As far as "cool" goes, the Twin Frozr HD 7850 is the coolest running card I've ever owned. Also, the HD 7790 has almost the same power consumption as an HD 7850, so you get no savings benefit there for the lower performance.

Do yourself a favor - the MSI is a much better card and well worth the $23.
 
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eno

Senior member
Jan 29, 2002
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Wow, opposite information. It's just hard to tell which would be best. You would think 85 vs 130 TDP would make a difference in power savings , heat and noise but maybe not.

I already told OnTrac ( not so much on track) to refuse delivery. They are pretty terrible so I bet it's still in the back of their drivers van sitting in his driveway. Don't get me started on OnTrac... sheesh.
 

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
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I can assure you that the two cards have different power draws. Any 7790 review will show you that the 80W TDP on the 7790 is for real. The 7850 has a significantly higher TDP of 130W, though in real life usage it'll be more like 7790@69W vs. 7850@87W:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7790_Dual-X/24.html

Maybe my MSI was a dud? And the ASUS directCUII 7770 is a single-fan card based on what I'm seeing at newegg. (Edit: sorry I read that too fast, you said you have the 2GB version, I have edited my post accordingly).

This is the directCUII ASUS 7770 2GB's cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121642
OP's linked 7790 cooler: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121727

They look different to me.. 7790 has fat heatpipes sticking out.

By the way I am not saying the 7850 Twin Frozr is loud, I said it's audible. When highly overclocked it emits an audible high-pitched whine. Not loud, audible from a few feet away.

I also said nothing about temperature before, but let me say that the TFIII is a relatively cool-running card, but the ASUS DCuII is as well. Maybe what you can do is to manually set the fan profile on the TFIII to prioritize noise over heat, and get the best of both worlds--quiet when you need it (via manual fan profile), 2GB VRAM, and coolness when you need it (by switching the fan profile again).

Anyway I think it's hard to make a wrong choice in this situation, you will be fine either way.


I own the MS Twin Frozr III HD 7850 2GB and at stock speeds the fans should not ramp up much at all. I can't hear mine, even with a somewhat mild 1000 Mhz OC, over the case and CPU fans (which are high quality Scythe 120mm case and a Thermalright 140mm CPU fan). Its exceedingly quiet. I have it in a ten year old midtower with only one intake and one exhaust fan. Even under those circumstances the fans never get over 55% and the temps never have gotten over 61C (with the fans on auto). That is either at stock or with the 1000 Mhz OC.

I also have an ASUS HD 7770 2GB Direct CU II which has the exact same fan shroud that the 7790 you linked does (the 7790 heatsink does have two large heatpipes my card lacks). I absolutely can hear it stock or overclocked while gaming. Basically, the complete opposite what blastingcap is telling you. /shrug

As far as "cool" goes, the Twin Frozr HD 7850 is the coolest running card I've ever owned. Also, the HD 7790 has almost the same power consumption as an HD 7850, so you get no savings benefit there for the lower performance.

Do yourself a favor - the MSI is a much better card and well worth the $23.
 
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eno

Senior member
Jan 29, 2002
864
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Decided to try the 7850 and if it's too noisy for what I need I will just send it back or sell it on CL. The 7790 won't show up till early next week most likely so I have sometime to see how the 7850 will do. The extra muscle will be nice when turning up in game detail levels but only if those fans don't buzz to loud. Thanks for the help and opinions, I'll update later with what I find out just in case there is a future reader.
 

KingFatty

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2010
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It just strikes me as the 7850 is capable of achieving both ideals, either make it high performance but with noise, or silent with reduced performance. You could even underclock and undervolt it and perhaps still be ahead of the 7790 performance-wise, but just as silent.

But the 7790 would have no choice, you are just stuck with the 2nd option of silent with reduced performance.
 

eno

Senior member
Jan 29, 2002
864
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Well 7850 was finally delivered at 930 "PM". OnTrac didn't even knock and the package sat on the porch in 19 degree weather till 330am when I woke up. Lets just say OnTrac has proven to be my least favorite delivery company after about 10 deliveries in the last 6months. DHL/Smartmail seems like a dream in comparison even though slower. I took it out of the packaging and let it sit for an hour or so before installing it so it would warm up a bit.

Well after some CCC issues, did a clean install of the beta drivers and my kids can now play at 60fps in Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed with it all cranked. Sure it is being heavily bottlenecked but it works. Also I haven't noticed it while idle and gaming I think I can hear it but not much. This is with the case open since I wanted to listen for any failing fan noises before closing it up.

I'll keep the 7790 sealed in the shipping box and if the 7850 doesn't show any surprises in the next week I will drop the 7790 back off at FedEx.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your opinions. I guess my quiet case fans were the loudest part since I cannot hear the TF3 cooler over them. Haven't tried any other games but I'm happy with the results of quiet and performance. THANKS again especially to blastingcap & Leyawiin!
 
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