1000 MHz vs 1050 MHz

[azeem40]

I am currently looking at two Sapphire Radeon 7870s on newegg. Is $10 more for 50 more MHz worth it?

 

[Orlean]

Just save the $10 and overclock it yourself, as far as I can tell there the same exact cards.

 

[azeem40]

So it isn't worth it then?

 

[wurkfur]

Very simple answer:

Some cards come with a factory overclock. You can usually overclock them yourself. not a big deal.

The difference is if the card has a unique pcb (chip setup) and/or cooling solution that would allow you to overclock above and beyond the original factory reference design. If you provide the community the opportunity to see the two cards you are comparing, you may get better feedback.

 

[azeem40]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006662&isNodeId=1&Description=sapphire+7870&x=0&y=0

 

[gary1]

I think he's talking about the Sapphire (I have it) and I think it's worth it. One of the reasons is because when the card is not in "performance" mode, it will use only stock clocks, so it will run at 1050/1250 normal instead of 1000/1250. You can overclock it, but it will only run at whatever overclock you put in overdrive when it is being run hard. Such as a benchmark.

 

[spp85]

So it isn't worth it then?

No its not worth because you can overclock that 50MHz by yourself don't you ?

 

[mouse24]

I think he's talking about the Sapphire (I have it) and I think it's worth it. One of the reasons is because when the card is not in "performance" mode, it will use only stock clocks, so it will run at 1050/1250 normal instead of 1000/1250. You can overclock it, but it will only run at whatever overclock you put in overdrive when it is being run hard. Such as a benchmark.

You are referring to the card down clocking to save on power/heat/noise I highly doubt a company would give up those just for a 50Mhz overclock. its the same thing that C&C/IST does for cpus.

As for the OPs question, nope not worth it at all, to over clock its a simple matter of sliding a slider over 1 notch and thats it, done and done.

 

[azeem40]

I decided to give the Sapphire a try since I read a TH member talk about experiences with Sapphire. I was considering other reference 7870s, such as GIGABYTE, MSI Twin Frozr, and ASUS DirectCU.

 

[gary1]

You are referring to the card down clocking to save on power/heat/noise I highly doubt a company would give up those just for a 50Mhz overclock. its the same thing that C&C/IST does for cpus.

As for the OPs question, nope not worth it at all, to over clock its a simple matter of sliding a slider over 1 notch and thats it, done and done.

No, I'm saying overclock only kicks in when in "high performance" mode, for everything else, it sits at 300/150 or 1050/1250 instead of 1000/1200.

 

[mouse24]

Out of those choices the ASUS DirectCU has the best cooler with the Twin Frozr being a close second.

if your worried about it being quiet grab the Twin Frozr model.

 

[azeem40]

I am used to my ceiling fan's noise, but I don't want it too loud either.

 

[azeem40]

I have no use for the $10, so I think I will get the 1050MHz version.