Best OC 7870 Brand?

[aweswin]

If you want to vote for the PCS+, leave a comment.

Hi, there. I've recently asked a question about which graphics card I should get for my ~$250 budget, and although a graphics card was chosen (the Radeon 7870), the best brand was undecided. The discussion boiled down to the MSI R7870 Hawk, because it had the most features for overclocking, and the Gigabyte 7870 GHz edition, because it is supposed to be cooler and according to Newegg, this one has the better reviews and is far more popular. I can't come to a decision myself, due to the fact that I'm a noob when it comes to graphics cards, so I would like to see what you guys think (especially someone with firsthand experience with one of the cards). The other choice I'm going to include is XFX's 7870 because it's 10% off (doesn't include Sleeping Dogs, though). I'm mostly neutral as to which one I want, but MSI and Gigabyte seem better than XFX's. Please include the pros and cons of each, which you would buy, and why. If there's another good one that I didn't include, please suggest it. Here are some of the other suggestions: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition


Thanks!


PS. I accidentally reset the progress by adding another option through the poll. Here were the results, according to position taken by posts.
MSI: +3
Gigabyte: +1
XFX:+1
HIS: +1
Sapphire: +1

I'd rather not reset the poll again to include the PowerColor PCS+ HD7870, but if you want to vote for it, leave a comment and I'll count them up.
Current Standings for the PCS+: +2

 

[rdc85]

Not had experience of them, so cannot said much. but if u can get:

the best ones is "HIS 7870 IceQ X Turbo X" (H787QNX2G2M)

pros: best cooler, noise, performance..
cons: price, only available in selective country.........

 

[aweswin]

I can't seem to find any site that offers it; regardless, it looks like a good card. I'll just keep a lookout for it, unless you know where I could find one. I'll consider it, and put it up on the poll.

 

[andrewcarr]

Guess what I chose?

 

[rdc85]

Let me guess MSI ??

Well HIS only sold in asia and "maybe" some europe, but if u lucky to find one, it worth to consider..

 

[wanderer11]

I have a stock Sapphire 7870 and it runs in the low 60s under load. I don't know why you left Sapphire out of your little poll.

 

[deadlockedworld]

XFX is the best. All you need to do is look at the warranty and you can tell. Also note how much of the xfx card is metal, vs the plastic on the other cards.

I've recently owned HIS, Sapphire and XFX cards. HIS was crap. Sapphire was good too.

I submitted a rebate on the XFX card 3 weeks late and they still honored it. < great customer service.

 

[ffooby]

I see people mentioning XFX's lifetime warranty as a factor for them leaning towards getting that card, but is it really necessary? The other cards will have a 3-year warranty - would you really need your warranty to last much longer than that? I'm curious

So is there much that really sets these specific-brand cards apart? I'm racking my brain about which 7870 to buy too and there doesn't seem to be a general consensus

 

[blazorthon]

The best Radeon 7870 is the MSI Hawk. A few other models come close, especially some of HIS's and Sapphire's best, but the Hawk is the best 7870. I say that not as someone who owns it and no others, just as an unbiased fact by comparing it to any other 7870.

deadlockedworld's claim isn't very accurate. XFX has some very good cards, but they have some very bad cards too (especially their 7950 Ghost). They are very inconsistent.

HIS and Sapphire are generally some of the best. MSI and Asus are also usually up there. XFX has some models that are excellent, but again, the opposite is true too. Gigabyte also has some very good cards, but like XFX, they are less consistent.

Going by brand isn't the best way to go. Go by specific model. For example, the MSI Hawk is the best 7870, but MSI's other cards are not necessarily the best for their model.

 

[deadlockedworld]

I see people mentioning XFX's lifetime warranty as a factor for them leaning towards getting that card, but is it really necessary? The other cards will have a 3-year warranty - would you really need your warranty to last much longer than that? I'm curious

So is there much that really sets these specific-brand cards apart? I'm racking my brain about which 7870 to buy too and there doesn't seem to be a general consensus

In response to both of you - I'll admit that my knowledge is of brand and not model. XFX is known for good customer service/quality ... and I've been very happy in my experiences with the company and with the two-fan open air cooler.

 

[aweswin]

I have a stock Sapphire 7870 and it runs in the low 60s under load. I don't know why you left Sapphire out of your little poll.

Don't worry, it's now part of the list if you want to vote for it.

 

[aweswin]

Well, I didn't realize that adding an option to the poll reset the progress... results of the last one will be posted in the description.

 

[deadlockedworld]

Its cool we can re-vote.

 

[aweswin]

Just curious, does anyone here actually have one of these cards?

 

[amuffin]

Voting for Hawk because of it's cooling and power phases!

 

[dannyboy3210]

I have both a Gigabyte 7850 and 7870 running in crossfire (don't ask; price drops) and they are both dead silent 95% of the time (except when at almost 100% usage it gets a bit louder). The two are running admirably together.

 

[Pailin]

I was reading elsewhere earlier today about XFX's past reputation from the 4890 days...

They had some kinda problem with their non-reference design and it only performed like 4830 is many game and synthetic benchmarks
Sadly I read quite a few cases around about them being difficult about accepting RMA's... unless you made a really big fuss
They would try to claim the card works fine with no fault etc

A warrenty is only as good as the company's honour

You try getting Power Color to honour the 2nd year of a GFx cards warrenty outside North America for example lmao xD
No Chance!!!

 

[esrever]

the hawk is probably the best to OC there but the PCS+ I think is slightly better.

 

[aweswin]

Well, it seems as if the MSI R7870 is the winner. I was slightly leaning towards it, anyway. If anyone is still reading this thread, the PCI+ just might still be a contender, because it wasn't represented in the poll and some interest was shown later on, so I'm somewhat curious about it.

 

[andrewcarr]

BS that thing is better. Get the hawk and don't look back.

I refuse to buy a card from that brand.

 

[rdc85]

PCS+ card was good card but the brand... (not saying it bad, but their reputation somewhat unknown at least for me...)