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Powercolour or Sapphire 3870XT?

I'm going for the Powercolor at the end of the month, although I do like sapphire's dual slot cooling....

Powercolor is cheaper and clocked higher - what's not to like?
 
As far as I recall both are Tier 1 ATI partners (i.e. they are the highest level and get good chips) so I'd go with the cheapest as I doubt it makes any real odds unless the cooling on one is significantly better and that matters to you.
 
Mmm powercolour redness, shiny..
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stays nice n cool, sounds like a hoover on full fan but keeps your feet warm
 
I had the overclocked powercolour with the zalman flower style cooler, and returned it for the sapphire as I couldn't stand the fan noise, as its permanently at 100%. Everything on the sapphire has been perfect so far.

Dunno about their standard powercolour one though?
 
I seem to be banging this drum recently but Sapphire = 6 week / 30 Working day RMA service, which is enough to prevent me from buying from them again regardless of how reliable they are
 
I've bought a powercolour extreme one and yeah the fan is always at 100% but its not that loud, and compaired to the pair of x1950xtx's i came from and.

Overclocks to 885core and 1275mem via CCC and runs crysis very nicely with my e2180 @ 3.5ghz.
 
Powercolor ones heatsink and fan is fab, I don't notice the noise but be careful that you dont push down on the copper cooler when fitting or you will bend it so that the fan touches the vanes of the cooler.

Can't get my memory to clock above 1170MHz but think that is a software problem.
 
Yeah standard for mem is 1170mhz not 1200mhz, as per powercolour's website, cooling for the mem chips is very poor as most of mine don't even make contact to the copper plate that is over them.

I'd think some extra ram sinks should have been added, so clocking the mem is very limited with this standard cooler.

jwilliams said:
Powercolor ones heatsink and fan is fab, I don't notice the noise but be careful that you dont push down on the copper cooler when fitting or you will bend it so that the fan touches the vanes of the cooler.

Can't get my memory to clock above 1170MHz but think that is a software problem.
Click to expand...
 
That's the standard 3870 from powercolor, not the Extreme Edition.

I've had both, and I can tell you there's about 800 3dmarks to be had extra from the extreme system at default clocks. (in my system anyway)

The extreme edition clocks very well for me. I have my core at 885 and ram at 1270.
 
RoachycaL said:
I just bought the sapphire literally 5 seconds ago :p Not sure if that's much help mind you :)
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It wont be a dual slot card m8, cos I ordered my sapphire 3870 expecting it to be dual slot, but when I got it, it was only a single slot card. Its cos sapphire has upgraded there card and apparntly its ment to run cooler then a dual sloted card. OCUK or where ever your buying it from, will not have updated the picture to the newer sapphire 3870 version. False Advertising, get them changed!!!
 
I read (I think on THG) that the memory on most if not all 3870's was capable of 1.2Ghz, so might be worth a risk on being able to overclock a slower version such as the Sapphire. However, personally I'd get the Powercolour, save £20 to take down the pub :)
 
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