High End 7950 vs. Low End 7970

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PomuM

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May 18, 2013
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Sapphire Vapor-X or the PowerColor 7970?

It's to my understanding that the Vapor-X is one of the better 7950s. I don't know much about this specific 7970, but it is much cheaper than most of them. They both include 4 free games w/ purchase.

However, the 7970 is 40$ more expensive. I can fit it in my budget, but would the money be better spent elsewhere?

 
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cookybiscuit
High end 7950 every time. The AMD cards run hot and you really do not want a reference/crappy cooler on one.

I'd suggest a look at the HIS 7950, either one, both are excellent, there is a reference one but avoid that. A 7950 with a good cooler should end up faster than a 7970 with a bad cooler, assuming you overclock. Likelihood is you'll get annoyed with the noise from a crap cooler and not want to overclock it very far.
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cookybiscuit

cookybiscuit

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High end 7950 every time. The AMD cards run hot and you really do not want a reference/crappy cooler on one.

I'd suggest a look at the HIS 7950, either one, both are excellent, there is a reference one but avoid that. A 7950 with a good cooler should end up faster than a 7970 with a bad cooler, assuming you overclock. Likelihood is you'll get annoyed with the noise from a crap cooler and not want to overclock it very far.
 
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PomuM

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I figured as much. Can you explain to me what a reference GPU or cooler is? I see that often, but I don't know what it means.
 
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leoweisman

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The reference model of a card is the version of that card designed by either NVidia or AMD. For example, this is a reference 7970 (sold by Sapphire, but still reference design)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102961
and here are two of Sapphire's non-reference cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001
 
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PomuM

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How do you know when it is a reference design?
 
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PomuM

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I believe this is the HIS 7950 you were talking about. If it is, I'll probably be going with this one.
 
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leoweisman

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From my experiences the reference designs are cheaper, and if multiple resellers are selling identical cards, it is a reference card. I'm not as certain about how the Nvidia cards look, but most of the Radeon reference cards (at least the 7000 series) look something like this http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image//skymtl/GPU/HD7870/HD7870-8.jpg . The non-reference cards usually have better cooling and stock OC, but the reference cards are better if you want to include your GPU in a water loop.
 
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PomuM

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Yeah I thought it was those. Alright, thank you very much!
 
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