7970 or 7950?!

jamesriley94

New member
Ordering tonight, cant decide :/

Buying from ebuyer cause it's cheapest:

http://www.ebuyer.com/352623-his-hd-7970-fan-3gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-pci-e-h797f3g2m

or

http://www.ebuyer.com/352617-his-hd-7950-fan-3gb-gddr5-dvi-hdmi-dual-mini-displayport-pci-e-h795f3g2m

Reference design as I will be watercooling, but those prices say to me that the 7950 is a bargain at that price...but the 7970 is even more of a bargin
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Used for gaming on one screen
 
Up to you man, I'm considering the 7950, it can OC to its bigger brother in terms of FPS in most games, obviously you're using one screen so it should be plenty. The 7970 has more OC room especially under water, but as you say, only one screen so theres no worries there. If you are only at 1080 go for the 7950.
 
Up to you man, I'm considering the 7950, it can OC to its bigger brother in terms of FPS in most games, obviously you're using one screen so it should be plenty. The 7970 has more OC room especially under water, but as you say, only one screen so theres no worries there. If you are only at 1080 go for the 7950.

I'm thinking the same really, probably just trying to find ways to spend more money
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If the 7970 used 2, 6pin connectors i'd be going for that without question. Just cant be bothered to have to order an 8 pin pcie extension from somewhere else as I bought 2 6pin alchemy ones last week

Just dont really know if the 7970 is wort the extra 70 quid :/
 
Personally I don't think it is! Just like the 670 is a better buy than the 680, its just e-peen IMO!
 
Thanks for the help, i'll go with the 7950 then!

What brand would you recommend?

HIS, Powercolour, or for £5 more the MSI OC?

I'd rather go with MSI as I trust them more, but I know they are really the same underneath
 
I had the same decision to make and went with the 7950 - truth is that if you overclock them they are the same performance as the 70s. Since you are watercooling the choice of manufacturer is negligable - you need to buy a reference design so the waterblock fits and by definition a reference design is unaltered from the AMD design so just get the cheapest.

Having said that I paid about £5 more for mine to get a sapphire reference 7950 over a vtx3d - not because they perform differently (because they don't) but because I think the Sapphire brand is better known and will therefore sell on better second hand.
 
I had the same decision to make and went with the 7950 - truth is that if you overclock them they are the same performance as the 70s. Since you are watercooling the choice of manufacturer is negligable - you need to buy a reference design so the waterblock fits and by definition a reference design is unaltered from the AMD design so just get the cheapest.

Having said that I paid about £5 more for mine to get a sapphire reference 7950 over a vtx3d - not because they perform differently (because they don't) but because I think the Sapphire brand is better known and will therefore sell on better second hand.

I know the first bit completely yeh, although I dont think there are any 7950s out yet that dont use the reference pcb, even if they do use a different cooler?

The second part is also what I'm thinking, I know there wont be any performance gains, but would I benefit from accessories, software, 'perks' or better customer support when dealing with HIS, MSI or Powercolour? I've only used XFX cards in the past so have no experience dealing with any of these other's support lines. I do know that warranty will be voided with all companies after removing the cooler, so warranty is irrelevant
 
I know the first bit completely yeh, although I dont think there are any 7950s out yet that dont use the reference pcb, even if they do use a different cooler?

The second part is also what I'm thinking, I know there wont be any performance gains, but would I benefit from accessories, software, 'perks' or better customer support when dealing with HIS, MSI or Powercolour? I've only used XFX cards in the past so have no experience dealing with any of these other's support lines. I do know that warranty will be voided with all companies after removing the cooler, so warranty is irrelevant

You could well be right - I've only looked for reference designs but I haven't actually come across any non reference pcbs (even if they don't have the
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logo)

Personally I just use MSI afterburner for overclocking which is available for all gpus but others like trixx are good too. Not sure the customer service will make much difference once you take it apart - as you say all AMD manufacturers void the warranty doing this type of thing.
 
Thanks guys, ordered the MSI one in the end. Never had a problem with anything MSI in the past so went for that
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I'm gunna save the overclocking till after i go water. Just testing for a week to make sure it works fine
 

Why? I'm watercooling so have no need spending another £35 on a card just for a better cooler that i wont be using anyway.

Honestly mate, since you think the 7970 is a bargin go for it mate you will be future proofed for another 4-5 years! lol

Already bought the 7950 now, but they're bother future proofed really, the performance isnt that great between them so it really wont make much of a difference, and i can always add another one later
 
Why? I'm watercooling so have no need spending another £35 on a card just for a better cooler that i wont be using anyway.

Already bought the 7950 now, but they're bother future proofed really, the performance isnt that great between them so it really wont make much of a difference, and i can always add another one later

Which 7950 did you get in the end? ;]
 
Nice 3d mark score improvement! be sure to post it in rig gallery when you get the water cooling on it setup!
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