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ASUS 7950 DirectCU II V2 - Is the "TOP" worth it?

Engram

Engram

Engram

Associate
Joined
6 Jul 2004
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995
Location
England
Well.. yes. And presumably the best quality silicon goes in the "TOP" and gets run at 900MHz.

But aren't most people easily surpassing a 100MHz overclock?
 
Engram said:
Well.. yes. And presumably the best quality silicon goes in the "TOP" and gets run at 900MHz.

But aren't most people easily surpassing a 100MHz overclock?
Click to expand...

Apart from the ASUS Matrix and possibly the MSI Lightning there's no real evidence to show that you can get better overclocks out of a certain model.

You've got as much chance to get a good clocker with a standard reference model as you have any other model.

Where the custom models become worth it is keeping the GPU cool while overclocked.

1150-1200 should be manageable (heat/noise) on most custom cooled cards but you'll need additional volts.
 
I believe one of these models or both are perhaps voltage locked but I'll let someone who knows more specifically about these cards to answer that point.

I wouldn't say the TOP is worth anything extra but that's just me.
 
It is common that you can overclock a card to the same speed as a pre-overclocked card. However that pre-overclocked card will have been binned (selected because it was more stable) and therefore it will overclock much further than the other card.
 
Glad i got mine on a today only deal!

Its bloody quiet and cool. Ive note overclocked it yet but the cooler should allow me a decent clock!
 
Got the mark 1 version running @ 900.

Very pleased with the card and it's not voltage locked (took a bit of finding the voltage adjustment in asus tweak but got there in the end). Wether the new cards are locked ????

Have not felt the need to clock it yet , so cannot comment upon its overclocking potential. It is nice and quiet and I would assume that whichever of the models you choose will have the same quality.(if you want to get an idea as to noise level have a look/listen at Tom's hardware 6 7950's comparison review)- possibly better than mine if the improved cooler does its job.

Overall I would probably go for the standard clock and expect that it would clock the extra 100mhz without touching voltage. It saves a bit & you get the excellent cooler (I'm assuming that the coolers are the same and I'm not missing something e.g. more pipes/bigger fans on the top etc).

Would agree that probably it is just pure luck wether you get a good clocker or not and getting the Top does not guarantee anything EXCEPT that it will run happily @ 900.

When I bought my choice of the Top was a little simpler - they did not afaik produce the standard clocked one with that cooler at the time AND the price I paid was no more than the standard clocked ones that were available at the time. Now it is a little muddier!

Whichever you get - Enjoy:D
 
Anyone know if the V2 is better or worse than the V1, all things considered?

The V2 has a shorter cooler which doesn't extend over the edge of the PCB, and apparently has denser fins on the heatsink. Beyond this I don't know what difference there is.
 
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