Best 7950 Card?

[Lovett1991]

Hi Guys,

I'm a bit rusty on the gfx side of things, my machine still has my HD4870!

I've decided I want to get a 7950, as I don't mind OC'ing the card - my intentions are to play BF3 2560x1440, and SupCom2 mainly

However I would like to know what you guys think is the best version (Bare in mind I would like to WC this later on so full water block/reference pcb?); I have found these two as they're very cheap (cheaper than som 7870's)

http://www.ebuyer.com/399212-sapphire-hd-7950-3gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-pci-e-graphics-11196-16-20g
£239

http://www.ebuyer.com/413191-sapphire-hd-7950-3gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-pci-e-graphics-11196-00-20g
£208

I prefer the first card due to the cooler, however my plans are to WC the card later on but won't be until easterish when I get time.

Another quick question; I have an Asus P8P67 Pro does this have a x16 lane? I know I could google but if anyone here know offhand would help me out.

Thanks

 

[bigshootr8]

Honestly if you plan to watercool it no point on going with a nice air cooler card. I would go with the cheaper of the two cards honestly. The reference card will be cool enough for you and when you get the water cooling going it'll be easier for you. Also, keep in mind that with reference cards you will have a easier time finding waterblocks.

 

[Lovett1991]

Honestly if you plan to watercool it no point on going with a nice air cooler card. I would go with the cheaper of the two cards honestly. The reference card will be cool enough for you and when you get the water cooling going it'll be easier for you. Also, keep in mind that with reference cards you will have a easier time finding waterblocks.

Yeah I was thinking along those lines, and would definitely prefer reference PCB.

But I notice the default clocks on both are different, and when OC'ing my partners 5770 I had to flash the bios from another 5770 in order to OC above 860MHz I think (it runs at 980Mhz atm). Will I run into a similar issue on these cards? or do the 7950's all have the same OC capability/clock range? (Sorry if this is newbie question, my most recent OC was that 5770 in 2010!)

 

[bigshootr8]

Well you could have better vrms/power delivery on a higher end card so maybe the card you are looking at would have that. Maybe the Vapor-X does I'm not sure I'll do some research but other than that when you put water to it you can overclock it quite far beyond what the air cooled overclocked card has.

 

[bigshootr8]

As I thought the Vapor-X card has a difference in power Delivery
Black Diamond Choke & Full Solid Cap Design

Choke is an important component of the graphics card. By working with the component engineer, Sapphire’s patent pending choke is 10% cooler and offers 25% more power efficiency than a normal choke. The graphics card will be more reliable and save energy.

Improved reliability and better overclocking are possible by using only high-polymer, aluminum capacitors which posses far superior characteristics than regular aluminum capacitor for a longer product life. When operational temperatures drop by 20°C, the product life span is extended by a factor of ten, when the operational temperature increases by 20°C, the product life span only decreases by 10%.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1157&pid=1547&psn=&lid=1&leg=0

 

[Lovett1991]

For £225 I don't mind paying for the vapor-x
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0091MFBZC/ref=asc_df_B0091MFBZC11341244?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B0091MFBZC

Is it reference PCB?

Funnily enough my 4870 was also the Vapor -x toxic!

However for the same price I can get the xfx version
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Radeon-Graphics-Express-Mini-DisplayPort/dp/B00713RTQ2/ref=sr_1_103?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1357438354&sr=1-103

I prefer sapphire, but is there any difference between the two?

 

[bigshootr8]

I wouldn't get the xfx version I don't care to much for the shroud it has the Sapphire card has a bit more ventilation. No it isn't a reference design PCB although I was able to find a waterblock that supported it I don't know how good it is so I'd leave that to those who are more into watercooling to dictate.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2050/1/

http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/waterblock_genpdf?wb_id=564

 

[Lovett1991]

Ok thanks for your help, as you said I'll see what WC's have to say.

 

[bigshootr8]

Yea I'm to chicken for that And of course man you should send me a picture via forum message when you get your computer all water cooled up would be awesome to see