Which 7900 OC GS

[jNive]

Trying to decide between the following 2, going to be upgrading from an XFX 6800GT which i have suspicions is failing a little. Speedfan reports SMBus errors/retries occasionally, and then now and again, it reports 10 retries , the NV Core temperature starts reading a minus temperature, the fan starts spinning maximum speed on it ( usually seems to stay at 50 % ) and everything pauses a bit every 1 second ( including video output, and audio ) requires a reboot to fix.

So, thought id upgrade.

Anyways, which one is better, is the BFG lifetime warranty and great support / brand / track record worth getting as opposed to the higher-clocked OcUK Galaxy, and does the OcUK one cool well / better with that cooler.

1. BFG GeForce 7900 GS OC 256MB £143
2. OcUK Galaxy GeForce 7900 GS OC SILENT 512MB £158

 

[mikeo]

Hi

I've got the OcUK Galaxy GeForce 7900 GS and am pretty happy with it. Though I did have to RMA the first one.

I'm assuming you're aware that there are a number of articles floating around on the WEB about the "supposed" high failure rate of the 7900 series? Specifically the Overclocked versions.

I bought the Galaxy because a) I think it's excellent value for money and b) I saw a post from Gibbo saying they had not had a single Galaxy card RMA'd. Until I had to send mine back I assume.

Having said all that, I had no hesitation in accepting another one, even though I could have had a re-fund. I'm sure this one will be OK.

Have fun...

PS. and "yes" the Galaxy runs cool. Currently reading 32C and Half Life Lost Coast stress test only puts the temp up to around 50C. And that's pretty cool to me.

PPS. The Galaxy also has the better quality and hence faster 1.2NS memory and it also has heat sinks fitted to the memory modules.

PPPS. Though if my second card should go "pop", then my opinion my change. Don't let my experience put you off, as I've read a couple of articles that specifically mention the failure rate on the BFG cards. So you pays your money and takes your chance. Overall, I would recommend the Galaxy card.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Go for the overclockers card, got one myself and they overclock like hell.
Runs cool and runs everything ive thrown at it at high details.
For the money you cant go wrong.bh

 

[jNive]

yup, went an ordered the OcUK Galaxy one yesteday so it will be arriving on wednesday, will let ye know how that goes.

My current XFX 6800GT with stock cooler runs at 65C idle, and 85 under load, in vista with aero and im pretty sure it used to run about 80'ish load before in XP lol.