• 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.

What 7970 model?

I thought about the 770 but I really like the extra GB of available memory and also since the PS4 and XBone are running AMD games might be a bit more optimised for them which appeals to me. Plus I've had my 5870's for years, and before that a 4870, and my first ever real card was a 9800 pro, so I have a bit of brand loyalty :P

EDIT: Sorry I really don't mean for this to turn into a 770vs7970 discussion, that wasn't my intention at all, I would just really appreciate input on my best option for 7970 or 7950 if that's better overall.
 
Revolve said:
I thought about the 770 but I really like the extra GB of available memory and also since the PS4 and XBone are running AMD games might be a bit more optimised for them which appeals to me. Plus I've had my 5870's for years, and before that a 4870, and my first ever real card was a 9800 pro, so I have a bit of brand loyalty :P

EDIT: Sorry I really don't mean for this to turn into a 770vs7970 discussion, that wasn't my intention at all, I would just really appreciate input on my best option for 7970 or 7950 if that's better overall.
Click to expand...

Fair do's. Imo though the extra memory is all marketing nonsense. It's been covered many times in here.

Good luck with your 7950 or 7970. :cool:
 
I wouldn't spend over £400 now on a 7970 when there are new cards coming up later in the year. The 7950 overclocked is pretty much as good, and for the games where you struggle a bit, you're still likely to struggle on any single card.

The game deal ends tomorrow, at the moment it's very attractive if you want those games.
 
Well this card: HIS HD 7970 IceQ X² comes with the game deal and is already reduced (Thanks Suarez7 for that suggestion) which is the one I'm leaning for atm, despite originally linking the Ghz edition in my OP.

On the 7950 front, both the MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost and HIS HD 7950 IceQ X² BOOST are in the game deal and the former is in the weekly deal too.

What's the performance difference in say, Bioshock: Infinite between these 7950's and the 7970?

I'm honestly not sure whether I'd be better off saving £50-£80 and going with the 7950 or not. I'd like to go with longevity ideally but I could upgrade in a year or two possibly which might swing the vote in favour of the 7950.
 
hmmm, that benchmark is interesting. Do you know, whats the average overclock that 7950's and 7970's can reach? I assume 7950's are basically like 1000 or 1050ish? and 7970's are 1150ish?
 
I've seen reviews of 7950s that get to 1200MHz stable.

Obviously a 7970 at 1200MHz is going to perform far better - but 1200MHz should be doable without a voltage lock too.

e.g. techpowerup's HIS 7950 review has 1210MHz, giving high settings BF3 performance 67fps at stock, 83fps OCd (with the 7970 GE at stock 79fps).
 
Revolve said:
For what reason do you recommend this? Better price/performance or something?
Click to expand...

Because of the amount of 7970's and 7950's I've used:

tommybhoy said:
I have had 6 79's, 2-70's and 4-50's:

7970 WF, ok silent@idle, aggressive when it hits 60c, medium clocker@1150MHz but developed a fault within days-returned.


His Ice-Q 7950, annoying grating noise@idle, not bad on the noise under load, rear venting too-tremendous clocker@1200MHz-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 they are hard to get now-seriously bad noise levels but it was sat on top of the fantastic AC Extreme.


XFX 7950 seriously cheap@£200 inc Never Settle bundle-Flawed cooler, poor clocker@1100MHz max voltage through Trixx(meant to be voltage locked), it's now getting passed on to a friend.


Another Ice-Q, monster clocker@1250MHz+/1650MHz His iTurbo full core/vram voltage support-this one doesn't have the grating problem-guessing His sorted it out.


MSI TFIII bought the other day, no diode issue, fan works as it should, 1170MHz/1600MHz+(stopped pushing as it doesn't need to go that far could go further on the vram), but AB doesn't apply voltage even though AB reports it as applied, so Trixx to the rescue again, but no vram voltage option-yet(upcoming newer Trixx is supposed to have vram voltage adjustment support).

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.

So what ones my overall best recommendation?

It can only be this one:

1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99


Click to expand...

tommybhoy said:
Contrary to what I wrote, 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 yesterday of another Ice-Q and got another brute of a clocker.:D

The Never Settle bundle was included too and just checked that it's still on the store page:

686657d29cce672a01a50f6205586d71.jpg


I can't recommend this card enough and it will probably be back up to £276 tomorrow, if your thinking about one, well stop pondering and get through that checkout as it is a fantastic piece of kit.

That's three Iv'e had now that oc past 1200MHz on the core without adding voltage(the vram needs a touch more to get it going past 1500MHz though), they don't all get to 1200MHz with such ease.:D
Click to expand...
 
Hmm, I'm tempted by the 7950's still to be sure, mainly because £240/£270 is much easier to swallow than £320.

How big is the difference between the Twin Frozr III and that IceQ Boost? Also, what is the difference between that Boost and the X2 boost which is £270?
 
The TFIII is considerably louder under load then the Ice-Q but is a little shorter and strictly a two slot cooler.

The Ice-Q rear vents, but the X2 has better vram chips and is built on a 7970 PCB(6+8pin) iirc.
 
So is the X2 worth the extra £10 or is the normal version fine? I only mention the TFIII because it's £20 cheaper than the Ice-Q and £30 cheaper than the X2 currently with the weekly deal. I use headphones so noise isn't a huge deal so long as it isn't really, really loud.
 
Yeah I think I'm gonna go with one of the HIS 7950's, I'm just not sure whether to go with the X2 or the blower. What exactly is the difference? I assume it has a better cooler and clocks higher or what?
 
I'd get the non-blower HIS as I'd expect it to be quieter and run a bit cooler, but people have been saying good things about the blower too.
 
My motherboard doesn't have room to crossfire the blower in the future if I decided to go that route as an alternative to single card (Despite wanting to go single card only from now on) so I'm leaning a little bit towards that x2, just not sure if it'll be worse temperature wise.
 
Righto, ordered this. Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it!

I'm sure I'll go read some threads and instantly regret my purchase, but that always happens :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom