• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

7950 selection advice

Jenkinio

Jenkinio

Jenkinio

Associate
Joined
21 Feb 2011
Posts
128
I plan to upgrade my 7850 to a 7950 very shortly, but I see a lot of options covering a range of prices, so not sure which one to get.

My 7850 is a Sapphire and I've been pleased with it so far. It handles most things thrown at it and runs very quietly.

My question is whether a £280 7950 will outperform a £240 one, or is it more a matter of build quality?

Out of interest, in general terms how much more performance could I expect if I chose a 7970 instead? I didn't really want to spend the extra £70, but if it would be a large improvement then I'd consider it.

BTW - it's a gaming rig, all manner of games played on it from mmorpg to fps.

Ta
 
For selecting a 7950 then look on the web for reviews and check for temps and fan noise levels and you can get an idea on what you want
 
Aye laddie that would be about correct. 7950 @ stock will pretty much all perform the same. As you will see from the Ocuk selection prices do vary and you have correctly assumed this is for the most part down to, better cooling, some are overclocked out the box, some extras etc etc. Are they worth it is the question and this is where it gets difficult because ultimately its gaming performance you are looking for and that is where it becomes a lottery. That is purely down to the cards ability to overclock and there is no guarantee you will get a good one. Generally most 7950 will overclock to at least 1050 on the core and this is where the more expensive ones may gain an edge , with better cooling etc you may get better overclocks. A while back all 7950 were voltage unlocked as well but that is no longer the case so you need to do your homework. While we all have different views on which is the best cards you can pretty much bet on Gigabyte WF3, HIS IceQ Boost and Msi TF III, Iv being decent cards, remember to consider length of warranty, Rma procedures etc also. Difficult isn't it, good luck. :D
 
Jenkinio said:
That's helpful, thanks.

Q's quick q: what does the Rma acronym stand for?
Click to expand...

Yep, for instance Gigabyte have a UK based return procedure, so if you had to return a card it should be days rather than weeks, like for some of the other manufacturers in Asia. This was a major consideration for me when I purchased a card. :)
 
I find that strange nowadays, people seem to buy graphics card expecting them to break, and often the biggest decision when purchasing is the RMA. Not that i blame them, when you see threads in which people go through 2 or 3 broken cards to get a working one.
 
I have used 7 79's in total, 2-70's and 5-50's:

7970 WF, silent@idle, aggressive when it hits 60c, medium clocker@1150MHz but developed a fault and got returned.


His Ice-Q 7950 bought when it first launched, annoying grating noise@idle, not bad on the noise under load, rear venting too-tremendous clocker@1200MHz+ but was returned as I'm anal about noise.


MSI 7970 OC another tremendous clocker@1200MHz+/1850MHz+ on the memory but died out of the blue-gutted but full refund as OcUK don't stock them any more-seriously bad noise levels though but it was sat on top of the fantastic AC Extreme.


XFX 7950 running in CrossFireX with the above 7970, seriously cheap@£200 inc Never Settle bundle-Flawed cooler, poor clocker@1100MHz max voltage through Trixx(meant to be voltage locked), it found a new home with a friend.


Read that the grating noise was dealt with on the Ice-Q's so I got another, it's a monster clocker@1250MHz/1650MHz His iTurbo full core/vram voltage support-this one didn't have the grating problem, His has sorted it out.:)


MSI TFIII bought on the cheap here on offer, no diode issue, fan worked as it should, 1170MHz/1600MHz+(stopped pushing the vram as it doesn't need to go that far, could go further on the vram I imagine), but at the time, AB didn't apply voltage even though AB reports it as applied.

Trixx came to the rescue again, but no vram voltage option-yet(upcoming newer Trixx is supposed to have vram voltage adjustment support).

I wasn't happy with the TFIII/Ice-Q combination as it ended up having to rely on two seperate oc tools to apply voltage on both, so I caved in and went with my gut and took delivery of yet another Ice-Q and got another brute of a clocker.:D

That's three Iv'e had now that oc past 1200MHz on the core probably down to the high 1.25v boost bios(the vram needs a touch more to get it going past 1500MHz though), the 7950's don't all get to 1200MHz with such ease though.

Highest stable clocks in CrossFire are 1240/1650MHz, but it doesn't need that and happily sits @1100/1400MHz 24/7 on stock voltages(which was the same clocks my 7970/7950 CrossFireX were sitting with zero visible difference in gaming on 120Hz Frame Sequential 3D.

For gaming@1080p, although the 7970 was fantastic and I was very happy with it, the price difference you pay is only noticeable from your wallets pov.

If it runs on a 70, it runs just as good on a 50 when they are both oc'ed, the only way I would say go 70 is for high res gaming or bench marking-where the little extra oomph(the vram clocks considerably higher due to higher grade chips, so at least there's some justification) will see you good.

My recommendation can only be:

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) £239.99

 
I own a XFX 7950 its cheap with free games etc but its not much of an overclocker if i was buying today i would pay the extra and get a better card
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom