- Oct 1, 2014
- 17
- 0
- 4,510
I'm building my first budget gaming PC, and I've decided on the Radeon HD 6970, but I don't know which brand is better, the Sapphire or the Power Color:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131578&cm_re=radeon_hd_6970-_-14-131-578-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202113&cm_re=radeon_hd_6970-_-14-202-113-_-Product
I've already asked around a little bit and people tend to tell me to go with the Sapphire, but when asked why, their reasoning is usually something like, "Oh, well everyone knows it's better" or "My friend has one and he says it's great."
Can someone please help me figure out which of these to choose with reasoning that isn't purely anecdotal? If there would be even the slightest difference in performance, I want to make sure I pick the best one.
Also, another thing that confuses me about these two choices is that their effective memory clocks are listed at different rates. The Sapphire's is listed at 5500Mhz and the Power Color's is listed as 1250Mhz. I understand that Power Color may have forgotten to account for quad pumping, but 1250Mhz x 4 still only equals 5000Mhz, not 5500Mhz. Do different companies sometimes make their cards with different memory clocks, or did one of these companies just mess up and list the incorrect effective memory clock? Thanks for any answers ahead of time.
Edit: Fixed links
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131578&cm_re=radeon_hd_6970-_-14-131-578-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202113&cm_re=radeon_hd_6970-_-14-202-113-_-Product
I've already asked around a little bit and people tend to tell me to go with the Sapphire, but when asked why, their reasoning is usually something like, "Oh, well everyone knows it's better" or "My friend has one and he says it's great."
Can someone please help me figure out which of these to choose with reasoning that isn't purely anecdotal? If there would be even the slightest difference in performance, I want to make sure I pick the best one.
Also, another thing that confuses me about these two choices is that their effective memory clocks are listed at different rates. The Sapphire's is listed at 5500Mhz and the Power Color's is listed as 1250Mhz. I understand that Power Color may have forgotten to account for quad pumping, but 1250Mhz x 4 still only equals 5000Mhz, not 5500Mhz. Do different companies sometimes make their cards with different memory clocks, or did one of these companies just mess up and list the incorrect effective memory clock? Thanks for any answers ahead of time.
Edit: Fixed links
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