Best 7950?

[thefogo]

I've had my MSI 7950 for just under a week now, and while it's nice and quiet at stock, the card becomes very loud and hot once I start clocking it.

Therefore I'm looking at returning it under DSR and trying out a different one - which would you guys recommend?

I'm interested in the HIS one as a few guys have said it's the best one - however I'm scared of that blower fan going crazy once the card is OC'd.

 

[thefogo]

I have a 932 Advanced so I should be fine for airflow I don't plan on using crossfire either as I've had bad experiences with it in the past.
Are there any significant differences between the Sapphire 7950 OC and the Vapour-X?

 

[thefogo]

^ That sure does look nice.
Not sure how long I'd have to wait for them to be in stock though. Apparently they're overdue, hmmm.

 

[thefogo]

OK that's great, thanks for the info
I'll have a look into getting one when/if I sort my DSR out

Does anyone here have the HIS 7950? If so how does it sound under load when clocked?

 

[thefogo]

Well if the OP does RMA a perfectly good card (raising the price for the rest of us) go for a VTX3D HD 7950 X-Edition. I have one here sitting at 1,200Mhz Core and 1,700Mhz mem @ 1.15v and is quiet and cool. Mind you a good 50%, mine included, suffer from coil whine so he'll probably RMA it again...

My card was hitting 85% fan speed at those clocks and was loud as hell - this is something that I didn't want and I've returned it under DSR (I haven't RMA'd it).
Keep crying if you want though, I don't really care.

 

[thefogo]

I'm flip-flopping between the HIS and Sapphire, plan to get one now and a 2nd for CF later - any further input appreciated!

Will be OCing
Quieter the better

(They're going in a Cool Master HAF X)

I got the 7950 Vapor-X from Sapphire this morning - it's a great card

The fan barely spins up when gaming and I can't hear it over my case fans. Temperatures are great too - mine was hitting about 55C in the overclocked 950Mhz mode.

The only problem is that it doesn't seem to have voltage control
I have it stable at 1115Mhz on stock voltage and it just creeps over 60C in Heaven

 

[thefogo]

Can't you move the voltage sliders in TRIXX?

Only one version of Trixx shows GPU Voltage (4.1.0), and even then it detects the voltage as 1250mV and moving the sliders does nothing. It's strange as I've read reviews of the card and the reviewers managed to overvolt it with Trixx.

 

[thefogo]

Try 4.3.0 https://www.sapphireselectclub.com/ssc/TriXX/TriXX.aspx its what i use, it works perfectly.

The voltage stays dead straight at 1.056

 

[thefogo]

Yeah it seems the 7950 Vapor-X is voltage locked - at least the one I have is.
So anyone who buys one should be wary of this.

I asked Sapphire about it and got this as a reply:
"Dear Sir:
We recommend you use CCC of power control function."

 

[thefogo]

Are you going to RMA/DSR it like the last one then?

Nope; it's still far better than the last one I had.

 

[thefogo]

How is it far better if it is voltage locked because your max oc is limited now, or do you mean it is quieter?

It's silent even at 1115Mhz
Well, of course it isn't silent But I can't hear it over my case fans.

 

[thefogo]

Lol I like quiet too.

Slight disappointment for me as I noticed last night that Afterburner max core setting is 1100 with my TF3.
Real shame because I think it would hit 1200 with a touch more voltage (although I suppose I don't really need that).

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18431335

Try this - it lets me go to 1200
I got it wrong, it actually increases my max clock to 1710