Would you buy Radeon 7950 Boost or Sapphire 7950 Vapor-X?

[Axonn]

I was reading this rather old Anand review about the 7950 Boost. I was disappointed to see how its boost actually works, not consistent at all.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6152/amd-announces-new-radeon-hd-7950-with-boost/3

So I would rather buy the Vapor X from Sapphire which at least stays at 950 MHz, period.

Thoughts?

 

[Shmee]

I would simply get the one with the best cooler and OC it.

 

[Rikard]

I personally think boost is just a marketing gimmick. I went for the Vapor-X, which has 950 MHz by default, and I undervolt it and overclock it to 1175 MHz and set up my own ways to automatically switch between profiles. That is a lot of bang for buck.

 

[Axonn]

Shmee: and which is the one with the best cooler? . It appears to me that the VaporX has a pretty decent one, or am I wrong?

Rikard: maybe they "fixed" it with the new drivers (considering there is something to fix - and I *DO* consider that there is something to fix => just look at the chart in my first post, it's awful: I don't like how the GPU is throttled up and down, I would rather see a more consistent curve similar to Intel's speed boost, or, as far as I know, nVidia's own booster).

 

[Shmee]

I know that sapphire vapor X has a very good cooler, but some other 7950s do as well. If price isn't that important, go for whatever 7950 has good cooler + OV control. You may need to do some research to confirm that a given car has, or still has, OV control (could be locked out with a new bios revision)

O, I am not certain if the vapor X has voltage control, one more thing to check on if that matters to you

 

[lehtv]

I had two of the 7950 Vapor-X OC with Boost and they both had toasty VRM's. The idiotic part is that they're pretty low voltage, but when you crank up the power limit, volts go up too; other than that the voltage is locked. This increases load on the VRM's substantially when trying to OC. In terms of GPU temperatures it is extremely good but the VRM's went all the way up to 95C, too hot for me. The only way to cool them was to increase fan speed way above the stock curve which made the card sound like a jet engine.

I switched to a basic Sapphire 7950 boost, the GPU runs hotter but the VRMs are much cooler (75C) and while it's voltage locked, the stock voltage is high enough for a nice 1100MHz overclock. I love it.

However there are several Vapor-X's out there and it could be that the issues I described are not present in later revisions. My cards were 6+8pin, maybe the 8+8pin card is a different beast altogether.

 

[hodgenutts]

I looked at the vapor x, but ended up getting this HIS 7950 iceq x2 last week:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161429

I know that's not the one your looking at, but I just spent almost a month looking at 7950's and went with the HIS because of the cooler. I have its core O.C.ed to 1175 mhz, and the vram o.c.ed to 1500 mhz with no change in voltage. After running furmark for 20 minutes my temps never got above 63 degrees. One thing to note is that the HIS cooler works well it is very BIG! Alomst 12 inches long and it barely fit in my antec 900 case. Like I said, I know this want a card you were looking at, just thought I'd share since I just got thos card last week. Good luck in your quest to find a vid card

 

[Rvenger]

MSI Twinfrozr 7950 is a good option. Guaranteed to get one with an ASIC score above 80% it seems.

 

[Rikard]

O, I am not certain if the vapor X has voltage control, one more thing to check on if that matters to you

I have to voltage control from Trixx to make the changes take effect, and any of the RivaTuner derivates (MSI Afterburner, EVGA PrecisionX etc) have no effect on the measured voltage. I think the voltage lock as some people are reporting is very likely a bug or missing feature in the software used to modify it.

 

[Axonn]

Rikard: So what you're saying, is that if I use Sapphire's stuff, voltage control works, right?

lehtv & Shmee: what about this card? This is the one I'm tempted to get (see Specifikationer tab).

http://www.proshop.se/Grafikkort/Sa...risjakt&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pricesite

 

[lehtv]

lehtv & Shmee: what about this card? This is the one I'm tempted to get (see Specifikationer tab).

http://www.proshop.se/Grafikkort/Sa...risjakt&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pricesite

That is the same SKU number that I had but I'm not sure if the 8+8 is a different SKU. Maybe Rikard can clarify. If the 8+8pin card is not a different SKU, then check with proshop.se to figure out the pin configuration before you buy it. If it's 6+8, I don't recommend it

I'd recommend Sapphire 7950 OC with Boost 2571kr or Powercolor 7950 PCS+ Boost 2640kr

 

[Axonn]

lehtv: thanks for posting the links and prices man .

Why would you recommend the 8+8 pin but not the other? VRM stuff I suppose?

As I wrote in my initial post: I am very skeptical about "Boost" cards because of that graphic in the AnandTech review. And later I wrote that "I don't like how the GPU is throttled up and down, I would rather see a more consistent curve similar to Intel's speed boost, or, as far as I know, nVidia's own booster" (repeating what I said because I'm a bit stressed about it).

What I'm worried about is: isn't throtlling the GPU so often & non stop going to somehow damage it in the long run? Could I disable that feature and just let it be at 900 Mhz? That would also mean less power consumed & thus less noise.

 

[Rikard]

Hej Axonn, regarding noise and cooling you might be interested in this recording I did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdifmfCrtrY
I have a max temp of 54 C at 44 % speed, at which point the card is rather quiet, but you case fan setup will influence this.

lehtv: thanks for posting the links and prices man .

Why would you recommend the 8+8 pin but not the other?

If you check the 7950 Owners thread you see that I have the 8+8 pin version which is great, and lehtv had the 8+6 pin version which was a lemon. Not much statistics to base any conclusion on, but go with the 8+8 pin if you have the option. In fact, it seems like that is what you would get from that store:

Systemkrav
Operativsystem erfordras
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Microsoft Windows Vista (32/64 bits), Microsoft Windows 7 (32/64 bits), Microsoft Windows XP (32/64 bits)
Min RAM-storlek
4 GB
Erforderligt nätaggregat
500 W
Kringutrustning/gränssnittsenheter
CD-ROM, två 8-stifts strömkontakter

As I wrote in my initial post: I am very skeptical about "Boost" cards because of that graphic in the AnandTech review. And later I wrote that "I don't like how the GPU is throttled up and down, I would rather see a more consistent curve similar to Intel's speed boost, or, as far as I know, nVidia's own booster" (repeating what I said because I'm a bit stressed about it).

What I'm worried about is: isn't throtlling the GPU so often & non stop going to somehow damage it in the long run? Could I disable that feature and just let it be at 900 Mhz? That would also mean less power consumed & thus less noise.

The Vapor-X has a bios button for alternative bios. Push it, and overclock as you want, and never worry about Boost.

Rikard: So what you're saying, is that if I use Sapphire's stuff, voltage control works, right?

Yes. At least if you get the same version as I have. I wish there was a piece of software that had both the features of the RivaTuner clones and Sapphire Trixx, but I guess that is a topic for another thread.

 

[Axonn]

Unfortunately, the BIOS button is *inside* the case (at least I don't see it in the back of the video card in any of the pictures). I can't go opening my case every time I want to play a game.

One more question guys: can you actually *prevent* the Boost feature from being used? What if I under-clock it to 850?

 

[MTDEW]

Unfortunately, the BIOS button is *inside* the case (at least I don't see it in the back of the video card in any of the pictures). I can't go opening my case every time I want to play a game.

One more question guys: can you actually *prevent* the Boost feature from being used? What if I under-clock it to 850?

1: The bios is a switch, once you set it, it stays there.

2: Once you set the 3d speeds and pwr tune at +20 manually, the card automatically runs at that set speed during gaming and doesn't "jump around".
So manually setting 3d speeds essentially disables boost.

3: The real advantage to buying a boost card is they have higher default voltages so there is less need to do voltage adjustments for overclocking.

4: Also note that since boost cards come with higher default voltages, the ASIC score will be lower than a non-boost card, since ASIC is based on a combo of stock voltage/clockspeed.
So a lower ASIC score on a boost card doesnt necessarily mean a lower quality card.

 

[lehtv]

One more question guys: can you actually *prevent* the Boost feature from being used? What if I under-clock it to 850?

You can certainly underclock it but why would you? Either make no changes i.e. let it boost when it can, that's how it's designed to work... or overclock it properly, i.e. set power limit +20 and start turning up the clock speed.

 

[Axonn]

MTDEW: Hi, thanks for jumping in.

Yes, I understand it is a switch, but it's cumbersome to open the case to *switch* it ::- D.

The Vapor-X with Boost I linked has a clock rated at 950 MHz. So you're saying that I can actually force it to stay at 950 *constantly*, right? Provided I have good cooling, of course.

Rikard: thank you for pointing out that it's 8+8!

lehtv: so now that we know that the Vapor-X with Boost I linked is 8+8, would you recommend it (as opposed to the 2 alternatives you linked above)? ::- )

 

[lehtv]

The Vapor-X with Boost I linked has a clock rated at 950 MHz. So you're saying that I can actually force it to stay at 950 *constantly*, right? Provided I have good cooling, of course.

Just by setting the power limit to +20 you will force the card to use the highest clock speed when in 3D mode. The boost clock speed will be stable unless the card is faulty. But usually you can push the card to somewhere around 1.1ghz

lehtv: so now that we know that the Vapor-X with Boost I linked is 8+8, would you recommend it (as opposed to the 2 alternatives you linked above)? ::- )

I know Rikard has had a pretty good experience with his Vapor-X, so I'm inclined to say yes, go for it. It might be a good idea to ask him how his VRM temps are and what his highest OC at stock voltages is, so that you know what to expect.

 

[raghu78]

the vapor-x with 8 + 8 pin has been praised by users on overclock.net too. its a fantastic card. 1.1 ghz on stock voltage is easy to hit. with a bit of voltage tweaking 1.2 ghz is quite common. :thumbsup:

 

[Axonn]

Awesome. Thanks for the confirmation guys! Yeap, I went ahead and ordered the 8+8.

I won't be doing much overclocking, mind you, but the advantage is having a good, stable card with rather silent operation.

Big THANK YOU to everybody.

 

[MrK6]

Awesome, make sure to post back with your impressions when you get it. :thumbsup:

 

[Axonn]

Got it some two weeks ago. It's awesome ::- D. I can't say more than that because I haven't run benchmarks or stuff. It handles anything I throw at it at 1920 x 1200 max details and that's what I wanted ::- D. What I can say is that indeed I got the 8 + 8 pin variant and it's one big card. Luckily I got the HAF-X chassis so it fit in just fine ::- ).