Radeon 7950 - Best Version?

[Splatoon]

I'm currently building a new gaming rig and I've decided to go with the Radeon 7950 as my GPU, but I'm not sure which manufacturer/version to go with. I'm initially planning to go with a single card setup, with the possibility of Crossfire in a year or two once prices go down. Right now I have the following components:

Fractal Design Define R3
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
BIOSTAR TZ77XE3

and the power supply is most likely going to be the Thermaltake Black Widow W0319RU 850W.

I've heard good things about the Sapphire OC, but I also like the lifetime warranty of the Visiontek. Does anyone have a particular affinity/distaste for certain brands, or should I just go by price? And (dumb new guy question incoming), is it worth it to go for a pre-overclocked card or would I be better of doing it myself?

 

[gary1]

I'm currently building a new gaming rig and I've decided to go with the Radeon 7950 as my GPU, but I'm not sure which manufacturer/version to go with. I'm initially planning to go with a single card setup, with the possibility of Crossfire in a year or two once prices go down. Right now I have the following components:

Fractal Design Define R3
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
BIOSTAR TZ77XE3

and the power supply is most likely going to be the Thermaltake Black Widow W0319RU 850W.

I've heard good things about the Sapphire OC, but I also like the lifetime warranty of the Visiontek. Does anyone have a particular affinity/distaste for certain brands, or should I just go by price? And (dumb new guy question incoming), is it worth it to go for a pre-overclocked card or would I be better of doing it myself?

Why 850W? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020 will be sufficient.

Get one with a double cooler, such as the XFX DD or Sapphire or Gigabyte. Doesn't matter about factory OC, you can always OC it by yourself.

 

[Guest]

Do not look past the His IceQ 7950 Turbo its a great card with crazy overclocking potential.Probably the best overclocking potential of the bunch.I cant really reccomend the xfx DD those cards are pretty loud and actually throw off more heat then the rest of the ones named above.

 

[Guest]

Why 850W? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020 will be sufficient.

Get one with a double cooler, such as the XFX DD or Sapphire or Gigabyte. Doesn't matter about factory OC, you can always OC it by yourself.

Ya but hes talking about eventually crossfiring in a year 650 watt wont cut it.850 will be solid thP i would steer clear of that power supply though its garbage.I boght one from bestbuy thinking i would crossfire with it.I only bought it cause it looked cool usually i research before buying.I got the psu read reviews on it and returned it.Way to many horror stories.look into this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139022

 

[sunnk]

for psu get this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207011

it is an xfx psu which is an seasonic unit it is an power built psu and it has an easy rail tech.

you canget one of this two gpus with good cooling and overclocking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125414

it is an gigabyte one it has better cooling and overclocks very well.

review

http://www.techspot.com/review/496-amd-radeon-7950/page4.html


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161407

good cooling plus overclocking as well and even low noise.


http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=906&Itemid=72&limit=1&limitstart=9

 

[Guest]

All good choices sunnk

 

[vrumor]

If ever in doubt on a PSU use www.jonnyguru.com for reviews on a ton of PSUs.

 

[Splatoon]

Thanks for the replies everyone. At the moment I think I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte, if only because the HIS IceQ might be too big for my case (Fractal recommends a max of 290mm and even though it's only 294mm I'm not sure how much leeway there is).

Disappointed to hear about the PSU (though I'm glad you caught it). I actually work at Best Buy and was hoping to pick it up on the cheap, but I'd much rather have something reliable. Too bad the PC supply is so slim there (most of our stuff is third party vendors).