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Vapor-X

V4nger

V4nger

V4nger

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Joined
2 Dec 2009
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663
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Im looking to get a sapphire hd 5870 vapor-x but is it really worth the extra £35-£40 to have the Vapor-x cooler and overclocks?
 
Thats just really up to you.

It wont give you that much ectra FPS in games and maybe ~10 degrees cooler or you could just gof ro the cheapest 5870 and buy an after market cooler and put soem MX-3 thermal compound on it for probably some better cooling.
 
V4nger said:
Im looking to get a sapphire hd 5870 vapor-x but is it really worth the extra £35-£40 to have the Vapor-x cooler and overclocks?
Click to expand...

I don't think it is!!
I tried version 1, and v2. (which is the one overclockers sell).
and v1 was better. you could overclock it better then v2, and up the voltage using msi afterburner. afterburner don't work with v2.
Not saying it's a bad card. just not worth the extra, as it's not like v1 :(

I would just get Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 for £219.98, which has the voltage tweak. clock it to or past the 5870 clocks :D and if you find it to hot, which it should be fine, then change the stock fan :)

Read some reviews on v1 and v2 ;)
 
oh i didnt know there were 2 different versions of it. im not going for a 5850 because i can afford a 5870 :p

ill see if i can get my hands on a v1 of the sapphire and overclock it with msi afterburner. though im thinking of getting the Asus version...

edit: dont have the money for watercooling! :(
 
I've bought one. (V2) I don't bother overclocking graphics cards, so I'm not looking to use it to eek that extra chunk of performance out. I find the stock coolers that ATi / nVidia provide are passable for cooling and are just too noisy.

Worth it? For me, yes, it's inaudible and efficient.
 
V4nger said:
oh i didnt know there were 2 different versions of it. im not going for a 5850 because i can afford a 5870 :p

ill see if i can get my hands on a v1 of the sapphire and overclock it with msi afterburner. though im thinking of getting the Asus version...

edit: dont have the money for watercooling! :(
Click to expand...

I think ya mad to spend all you're money on a 5870 :p when that Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 clocked @5870 speeds will do a exellent job. just think you will save loads :D
Read this.. Test 3 - Max OC 5850 vs Stock 5870


http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18112756&highlight=555BUK
 
The stock 5870 is pretty cool mine idle in crossfire 42 and 37deg with the over clock set to 900mhz with increased voltage (cos im a fool and havent changed it back)

And dont listen to people saying get a 5850 and clock it because it has less stream processors get a 5870 and clock that instead!
 
Ahhh good point I want to OC it to 1GHz core clock and 1300MHz Memory clock.

I will get the Asus 5870 and buy an after market cooler.

edit: can anyone recommend me a good high quality after market cooler I can onyl find cheap tacky things.
 
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shame you didnt buy one from the last shipment.. £329.99, they are up to £349.99 now :/ for that price i probably would have bought the cheapest stock 5870 i could find instead (<£300)
 
kerrgreg said:
And dont listen to people saying get a 5850 and clock it because it has less stream processors get a 5870 and clock that instead!
Click to expand...
Not sure what I'm going to buy I'm thinking of 5850 because . . .
  1. For anyone that does not overclock there is a large difference between both cards performance. The 5870 is >20% faster.
  2. At the same clock speeds the 5870 is about 5% faster overall. In shader intensive tests this increases to ~10%, which is to be expected because the 5850 has 10% less shader cores.
  3. When both cards are overclcoked to the max there remains a ~5% advantage to the 5870.
  4. For anyone who overclocks, the 5850 offers much better value. 5% more performance currently costs 50% more money, and unless you are either a hardcore bencher, or have money to throw away it is really not worth it.
  5. Core clocks on both cards reached similar levels although the 5850 required slightlly less volts. This may be due to the 5850 having 10% less shaders.
  6. The memory on the 5870 overclocked to 1300 vs 1200 for the 5850. This may be pure luck, but it may also be that ATI supply lower voltage to memory IC's, regulation is poorer, or the IC's themselves are not as good.
  7. An overclocked 5850 can easily beat a stock 5870
  8. Some cards will overclock different than others so mileage may vary.
Source
Click to expand...
Plus I'll save £130 buying the 5850 as opposed to the 5870 Vapor-X (V2) which hardly clocks anyway.

ASUS EAH 5850 TOP DirectCU - Link should cost about £10 more than the stock reference version & is quiet when overclocked according to the review.

asuseah5850topdirectcu.jpg
 
I was going to say get the vapor-x version because it is a lot quieter. But after the previous post i'd go with the 5850 and just get an aftermarket cooler as there dont seem to be any 5850 vapor-x's about. Actually i dont even know if there are any decent aftermarket coolers properly setup for these new gen cards.

This is of course is you care about noise, if you dont get the cheapest one in every range with a decent warranty :D
 
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