ATI coolers: any bad designs?

Neweggs pricing scheme kicks in on inventory at times. Especially when there is more than one brand of the same model. The reference cooler(the more expensive one) has software voltage control as well. The new version does not from what I've read.
http://www.overclock.net/ati/699737-new-sapphire-sku-sa...
The new model will definitely cool well.

ah, thanks for the help.

Found some more info:
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-3436610.php

http://www.overclock.net/ati/705075-how-tell-ati-5xxx-r...

I'm not sure that it's substantiated (aside from the lack of SW Voltage Control), but they really seem to favor the "reference" PCB vs the "non-reference" ones in that first link.

Also, does it seem to anyone else that the reference PCBs are being phased out by manufacturers?

Yeah, while I was doing some searching for a new GPU, I did notice quite a bit of difference between coolers, even across the same models, i.e. different manufacturers. I settled on the XFX 5830 mainly because the reviews of the stock cooler were excellent and I must agree. Compared to my 4850, it runs 20 degrees cooler at stock and idle- quite impressive. Overall, I don't think you'll run into any major cooling issues with any cards in the 5800 series (or 5900 series for that matter), regardless of manufacturer.

you should have gone with the flow and just saved a little bit more for the 5850 which is more complete and a great card bit for bit

AIBs are free to make their own PCB designs and leave the reference board behind, which most are. I chose my Gigabyte board because it has a nonreference cooler and custom PCB for overclocking (the super overclock 5870 is of the same design) and it runs cooler than reference. Of course, some custom designs can do worse than reference designs, so you just have to read reviews on the model you're interested in.

I learned a little more in the last day, and I'm sort of hedging the original query, but has anybody seen some benchmarks comparing the new PCBs to reference?
temps, noise, wattage, as well as performance would all be interesting to see head to head.

Since I was in the market for a PSU too, I took advantage of a newegg bundle deal, and got an XFX reference 5770 along with a 650 watt XFX PSU. That's means I got a reference 5770 for $145! And those XFX PSUs seem to be solid, and use all Japanese caps.

I almost pulled the trigger on a 2nd non-reference 5770 just for comparisons sake, but as I'm not equipped to run the benchmarks mentioned above, decided against it.

It should still be a big improvement over the 8800GT I'm currently running, and will be my first ATI card in about a decade.