Need GPU adivice

[Scratx]

Hello All,

I'm looking at upgrading my AMD HD 5870 to a AMD 7970 and I see that Newegg has a Sapphire Vapor-x 7970 GHz Edition for $370 - $20 rebate.

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001

All the other 7970 GHz Edition cards Newegg sells are priced above $400. Is there a problem of reliability, overclocking, excess heat/noise, with the Sapphire card? Is Sapphire longer a good brand? I should add my HD 5870 is a Sapphire card and it's been running almost non-stop since getting it without any problems.

Thanks,
Scratx

[c303a]

Did you read the feedback for the card? It seems that only 61% love the card and people have had trouble with it. I can't talk about this brand since I only use Evga cards and all of mine are Nvidia based but here is a review of the card. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2058/1/

[Fire$torm]

Did you read the feedback for the card? It seems that only 61% love the card and people have had trouble with it. I can't talk about this brand since I only use Evga cards and all of mine are Nvidia based but here is a review of the card. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2058/1/

I concur. Although user reviews are never accurate of all units sold they are still an indicator.

Anyway take a look at these two comparison reviews of 7970 cards.

Tom's Hardware review (Link (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-overclock-review,3186.html))
Xbit Labs review (Link (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd-7970-crossfirex.html#sect0))

Both have the Sapphire Dual-X 7970 (no pre-OC). Compared to the Sapphire Ghz edition, this card has better user review rating on Newegg and is cheaper. Also this version can still be OC to +1Ghz

Newegg: Sapphire 100351SR Radeon HD 7970 (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008)) - $329.99 w/Free Shipping [Before $20.00 MIR]

[grathomp]

May i recommend this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008)instead? Seems to be a better deal.

[Scratx]

Did you read the feedback for the card? It seems that only 61% love the card and people have had trouble with it. I can't talk about this brand since I only use Evga cards and all of mine are Nvidia based but here is a review of the card. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2058/1/

Yeah, I read the feedback. That's why I was inquiring here. I was hoping a cruncher who's had to live with one of these could relate their experience with it. It seems none of the GHz cards reviewed on Newegg have more than 70% that loved it. Plus some of the sample sizes for the ratings are very small. If I was gaming only I'd go Nvidia in a heartbeat, but I want a GPU for Milkyway, Collatz, and gaming, in that order of priority.

I was wondering if someone could clarify something. Are the GHz edition cards capable of being over-clocked higher than the regular cards or are they merely preoverclocked at the factory?

Thanks for all the links guys!

[Al]

I can't speak to the quality of the Sapphire 7970, but I do have a Sapphire 570 that's been running overclocked for almost 2 years and I've never had a problem. I do have a Gigabyte HD7950 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125413) that has also received less than stellar reviews on Newegg, but the card has worked perfectly for my purposes, crunching 24/7 overclocked to 1150. I think very often it's easier to find negative responses because the people with a bad experience shout it at every chance they get. I was happy with mine and never took the time to write a positive review. I don't think I'm that out of the ordinary.

[Fire$torm]

I was wondering if someone could clarify something. Are the GHz edition cards capable of being over-clocked higher than the regular cards or are they merely preoverclocked at the factory?

Thanks for all the links guys!

Okay, the regular 7970 is based on the Tahiti XT GPU chip. The Ghz edition is based on the Tahiti XT2 GPU chip.

From TechPowerUP (Link (http://www.techpowerup.com/167711/amd-radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-tahiti-xt2-detailed.html))

We've known (http://www.techpowerup.com/165559/AMD-Readies-Radeon-HD-7970-GHz-Edition.html) since May, the existence of a new high-end single-GPU graphics card SKU in the works, at AMD. Called the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, the SKU is being designed to regain AMD's competitiveness against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680. We're hearing a few additional details about the SKU. To begin with, AMD has worked with TSMC to refine the chip design. The Tahiti XT2 will be able to facilitate significantly higher clock speeds, at significantly lower voltages, than the current breed of Tahiti XT chips.

Tahiti XT2, or Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, will ship with a core clock speed of 1100 MHz, 175 MHz faster than the HD 7970. The GPU core voltage of Tahiti XT2 will be lower, at 1.020V, compared to 1.175V of the Tahiti XT. It's unlikely that AMD will tinker with memory clock speed, since Tahiti already has a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, which gives it 264 GB/s memory bandwidth at 1375 MHz (5.50 GHz effective). According to the source, the new SKU enters mass-production next week. So best case, it should reach markets by late-June or early-July.

BTW, Newegg has a Promo Code discount on the Sapphire Vapor-X 100351VXSR Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition you originally linked to.

$347.79 with Promo Code EMCXPVM26 (Link (http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail/June-0-2013/july4thsale28/index-landing.html))
Promo Codes Exclusively for Subscribers! (Promo codes expire 07/04/2013)

So if you do not subscribe to Newegg's eBlast, you will need to do so before you can use the code.

[Scratx]

BTW, Newegg has a Promo Code discount on the Sapphire Vapor-X 100351VXSR Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition you originally linked to.

$347.79 with Promo Code EMCXPVM26 (Link)
Promo Codes Exclusively for Subscribers! (Promo codes expire 07/04/2013)

So if you do not subscribe to Newegg's eBlast, you will need to do so before you can use the code.

Thanks Fire$torm for reminding me to actually read my email instead of immediately deleting it. The combination of the special promo and rebate was too much to resist and I pulled the trigger on this. Although it feels like I'm at about a 50% success rate of receiving rebates. I should have a shiny toy to play with in a few days!

[John P. Myers]

Let us know how it works out.

[Fire$torm]

Thanks Fire$torm for reminding me to actually read my email instead of immediately deleting it. The combination of the special promo and rebate was too much to resist and I pulled the trigger on this. Although it feels like I'm at about a 50% success rate of receiving rebates. I should have a shiny toy to play with in a few days!

Glad I was able to help. Just remember not to shoot me if......


Let us know how it works out.

Ditto.

[Scratx]

Let us know how it works out.

It's Alive!

All I did was uninstall the existing driver, exchange cards, start-up and re-install the same driver. I don't know if it was necessary to remove the existing driver, but it was easy enough to let it do its thing so why not.

It's noticeably louder out the box than the 5870 was. The fan sounds like a beehive above 64%. That was a little surprising since the 5870 has a reference design cooling solution. The 7970 runs quite a bit cooler so maybe there's room to play with the settings?? I ran Trixx (Sapphire's overclocking utility) and lowered the voltage from 1.256 to 1.175 (suggested in a Newegg review), and made a custom fan profile. With those settings I ran primegrid PPS sieve all day today and never went above 64 deg. C. with the fan hitting 56%. The 5870 could easily get into the high 70's C.

Thanks for the help!

[Fire$torm]

Sweet. Congrats on getting it setup and running. Enjoy the new flow of credits! :D