Best HD 7950 for OC'ing and Xfire under $300

[ibjeepr]

Hi All,
Pretty much what the title says. I think I've narrowed it down to the HD 7950 so now I want the best one to OC and for Xfire and under $300 (or very close if there is a very good reason to spend a little more). I'll only be buying one at this time and next Christmas I'll pick up a second, unless the next gen of cards is just amazing or drops the price of the current gen by a lot.

Thanks for the help everyone!

Edit: I forgot to say, it's strictly for playing games, WoW, Civ5, Borderland 2, new SimCity, and some FPS (not sure yet) on a single 120 mhz refresh rate monitor @ 1920 x 1080p

 

[Vxshifter]

Well I guess your from USA so I'll use Newegg as a referance site. The MSI 7950 Twin-Frozr (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667), its slightly over your budget but if you want powerful overclock this is a card which'll suit your needs.

 

[andrewcarr]

Since you plan on running CF cards this is the only card that's a 7950 that gets a full recommendation.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161420

Article on it is here.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7950-review-benchmark,3207.html
And the conclusion was that it was the best (the new version has the same cooler but not the lower clock so you can disregard that).
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7950-review-benchmark,3207-14.html

 

[Vxshifter]

Dang, forgot about the IceQ! They are without a doubt the best non-reference 7950's on the market today. So if you don't mind spending the extra money follow Andew's advice and go with the IceQ.

 

[ibjeepr]

Excellent, thanks for the help guys. Only problem now is the article got me thinking maybe I should be looking at the 660 ti.... Just can't seem to decide.

 

[andrewcarr]

I wouldn't. It's not nearly as good. I'd just stick with a 7870 then if you want to take a step down. The 660 is more comparable to the 7850 which is two steps down from a 7950.

 

[Vxshifter]

Exactly what Andrew said, the 660ti is not a good card for the amount you pay. Look around for a nicely priced 7950 non-reference card. ASUS (DirectCU II), MSI (Twin-Frozr), Gigabyte and HIS (IceQ) are great examples of good after-market cards.

 

[ibjeepr]

Best answer selected by ibjeepr.