Bitcoin Forum

Heya all,

Can anyone please post what is best 7950 card for mining scrypt primaly? im trying to compare what is best to buy right now, i think this intest also others.
im thinking to get cards but there is alot manufactures and different clocks, here is alot, asus, shapire, msi they all almost same prize but clocks and manf. is different.

So, what is best card what can clock and get good hash speed, also im interest if there is 1 or 2 fan on card.

i have done small potential list here:
http://s23.postimg.org/5fdjoszzr/n_yttikset.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/5fdjoszzr/)

https://www.bitcoinstore.com/xfx-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-1-gpus-800-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/xfx-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-900-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16-1546803.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/asus-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-800-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/sapphire-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-850-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/msi-r7970-2pmd3gd5-radeon-hd-7970-graphic-card-925-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/xfx-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-900-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/msi-r7950-twinfrozr3gd5-oc-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-1-gpus-880-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/visiontek-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/xfx-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-900-mhz-core-3-gb-ddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html

I know the MSI are voltage unlocked. So overclocking is simple with msi afterburner.

I wouldn't get XFX, supposedly lots of problems.   Id recommend the MSI as well.

I have 1 x MSI Twin Frozr, 2 x Power Color and a 1 x Vision Tek.  The MSI is a much better card than the other two.  The default clock is much higher than the others (960 vs 925 and 800), and I was able to overclock to MSI to the point of getting over 600 MHash/sec, which is in the 7970 range for $100 less.  I have only had it for a couple weeks, but pretty happy so far...

I love the sapphires - esp for in case designs. Great fans, voltage unlocked, great to OC. Running 3 right now @1700 mh/s total just under 650W for the cards. Temps in closed case ~70C.

Oops, that's khps for litecoin.

Sapphire or ASUS for reliability.

GIGABYTE GV-R795WF3-3GD  - cool, quiet, mining ~602 mh/s

Aren't those voltage-locked?

So what? If they're cool, quiet, and pull good numbers, why do you want it unlocked?

https://forum.litecoin.net/index.php/topic,2641.0.html

I mounted it today and I'm getting barely 490 KH/s :| Help, thats not fair

yup they are, but still are able to get ~600-603 mh/s, stable 65C ~70% fan, milk crate rig so there is plenty of air to flow.

I just built a rig with 3x XFX 7950's and I concur with hem sucking... i have to push them pretty far on the OC to get ~520 ea and they run hot with the alum surrounding the heatsync.  My MSI 7870's hit 475 w/ barely overclocking and eve an HIS 7950 gets 550.

So from what i've read MSI hit 600+ easely...I thought about sapphires but MSI (also heard that HIS can hit 630KH) seams the way to go.

Sapphire 7950 pulling 645khs @79c (litecoin)

1120. E
1550 m
Threads 12288
Intensity 20
Powertune 15

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11196-16-20G/dp/B0098HW1HG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367975943&sr=8-1&keywords=sapphire+7950

With intensity 20 don't you get some HW errors?

i'm confused.
so RADEON makes the GPUS and the other companies provide the enclosures and fans and ram?
sorry - super newb

out of that list sapp and MSI TF are the best. for OC it's same as lottery. Your chip may not oc or do very well.
I have a MSI card running that can do over 1200 on core stable with small v bump mining btc and ltc. getting 640 kh on ltc atm.
air cooled, and doesn't go over 80C

Guys.. i need to decide between 7970 and 7950.

Going to get 12 of them to mine Scrypt coins..

Just can't decide which brand and model to get.

Opinions ?

buy a couple to test first? what are your options?

I went for 4x Giga-byte 7970 "TO" (1050 core, 6000 RAM) to test, as it might be possible to push them up to 750-800 KH/s. I'll break even in 4 months at 600KH/s (expensive rig), probably faster if difficulty spikes (less LTC but if BTC history serves, LTC/USD should also spike).

The "TO" core have "Boost" (up to 1100) which I don't like (will try to disable it) to keep a certain ratio between core and RAM fequency. I went with this one for the faster memory (6000 instead of 5500), hoping the better quality memory will be able to OC better if I need to push the core clock. (I don't think heat will be an issue, it'll be in a datacenter with a bunch of fans on it directly)

I'll probably make smaller rigs too, to max out my amps allocation per rack, probably looking for cheaper cards then (possibly even lower than 7950).

This might be of help:

https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin/wiki/Mining-hardware-comparison

gigabyte 7950 !

No, AMD (formerly ATI) make the GPU.  They sell the chips to MSI, Asus, Wang-tang China Industries, whoever, who solder the chip to a board.  It might be a board designed by AMD (IE a reference design), or some others like Asus design their own boards.

The MSI one looks like a reference design, as it has the old hair-drier fan design which is effective but loud.

I was about to get XFX FX797GTDFC which has the same 1050gpu/6000ram. But I've read a bad review about XFX FX797GTDFC temperature.. so I'm not really sure which one to get.   Did you get your 7970 already or still waiting for it ? Would be nice to know if those 7970 can make 750kh/s... if not, then ill probably choose 7950.

Ive got 2x 6990 hashing 850kh/s each and 2x 5970 hashing 650kh/s each...

Where did you ordered those 7970 ?

Which one you got ?(specific model)
How are them performing on scrypt mining ?(hash)

From Amazon. The local distributors were all out except for the 6GB Sapphire. I think the markup was about 1% over the wholesale price but shipping was free, so in the end it was slightly cheaper (less than 1%).

Difficulty has nearly nothing to do with price.

I beg to differ. Look at the charts for mining difficulty and BTC/LTC/USD exchange rates.

http://ltc.block-explorer.com/charts

Occasionally...1-3 in 24hrs. Sometimes i will back it down to 19 on hot days.  I also have big fan cooling cards.

I would say Sapphire da best...

Pulling around 650 kHash/s

My maggic numbers: 1100/1500MH
Thread concurrency: 21712
worksize 256
intesitz 20

https://forum.litecoin.net/index.php/topic,2641.0.html (https://forum.litecoin.net/index.php/topic,2641.0.html)

Apparently the Gigabyte Windforce's do well, the guy who started that thread also mentioned in a different thread that he was able to get up to about 670 or 680 with his and that someone else on a different forum had broken 700 KHash/s.  Even though they are voltage locked apparently you can flash a different bios to unlock them.

The Sapphires are definitely up there as best value for litecoin mining. They are rock solid stable and easy to overclock for maximum performance. I couldn't decide on the 7970 vs 7950 question either, so I ended up buying both types of cards and built 2 rigs to run 'em.

Here's a detailed build list: http://www.coinminingrigs.com/quad-7970-mining-rig/

Even though I wrote the article initially featuring the 7970, demand has driven up prices significantly, making the 7950 a better deal overall for scrypt based mining (if you can get 'em for under $320 ea). The 7950's are a great choice if you're looking to buy parts and build a rig (or two or three) today. The 7970's definitely have a higher hashrate, but at over $100 more than the 7950's and with higher power use, they might not be the best value.

I spent more than I should have on the motherboards in my rigs ($180/ea), but the build list linked above has what I would consider the best motherboard for mining litecoin at this point ($99/ea). I learned a lot during this process and enjoy passing along what I learned to others.

Your numbers show the 7970 as being the better deal:

7970: cost per GH/s = 2200 USD / 2800 GH/s = 0.7857 USD/GH/s
7950: cost per GH/s = 1800 USD / 2200 GH/s = 0.8182 USD/GH/s

Power consumption grows +/- in line with hashrate for the radeons but CPU power consumption will play a smaller percentage in the 7970 setup so that setup is also marginally more power efficient than the 7950 one. (and you might want to invest in a 80+ Platinum PSU, Enermax Platimax 1200 is only 50 USD more - payback time is really fast unless you get free electricity).

Sapphire 7950 or 7970 ?

Thanks for sharing your experience :-)

If  you don't mind, i have some questions:

- Have you tried to attach 5 gpus on that motherboard ?
- Any need to short pins to use those x1 slots ?
- The power supply is 1250, is it enough to support 4x 7970 ? I may be wrong, but my understanding is that each 7970 demand around 300w.

7970 consume 250W at stock clock. You can also OC with undervolt but it's hard to say where you will land. 1250W is a bit close for OC'ing..

I use 1500W platinum PSUs to stay on the safe side (it's an investment, the GPUs come and go...) and the 7970 OC'ed can fetch up to approx. 315W each. Add a bit for CPU, Mobo, RAM etc and you're easily at 1300W.

Well.. 7970 is really giving me headache. I got some 6990 and 5970 and they just do what they are supposed to do.. smooth.
Ive found lots of bad/good reviews about 7970s, some of them says that they are stuck on 500mh/s, some at 600 and just a few at 700-750mhs.

I would like to buy those to hash around 700-750 but i really dont want to play/reinstall ATI BIOS.. it just scares me.

Would be really nice if you guys post the exact model, if there were any ATI BIOS update and the current hash rate.


The ones im considering to buy:

This one seems to be very common to LTC mining...
GIGABYTE GV-R797OC-3GD Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card   399usd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125413

This one seems to perform better then the OC version: (not really sure)
GIGABYTE GV-R797TO-3GD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card   449
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125439

Would be nice to hear about this one.
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100351VXSR Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card 459USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001

https://forum.litecoin.net/index.php/topic,2870.0.html (https://forum.litecoin.net/index.php/topic,2870.0.html)

I put this together to compare different cards. It's taken from the Github user reported stats.  Personally from what I've read and calculated the only 2 cards to even consider are the 7850 and 7950, no way the 7970. It has a decent KHash/s to cost ratio but one of the worst KHash/s to watt ratios.  Also as has been mentioned in this thread, the 7970's seem to have more issues as compared to the 7950's which plug and play better.  I would go for the 7950's instead of the 7850's simply because they have the better efficiency ratios per dollar and watt.  The only exception is the 7850's KHash/s per watt in 5-7 card setups but considering most people don't seem to go above 4 card setups and we're talking between .02-.08 watts per KHash/s difference.  When you factor in the fact that with 7950's you get more total hashing power from one physical setup ie more density it is a no-brainer. Just my 2 cents.

Hi guys, regarding 7950s, I just got my bonus, and thought about adding another card to my existing 7870 (which draws around 150watts, and pulls around 520mh/s avg (490-550)) for BTC.

I can grab a GV-R795WF3-3GD for $299 if I pick it up from the store directly, but I'm not sure if that is a good deal or not for a 7950.  Any comments?


PS I can get another GV-R787OC-2GD for $225 as a comparison, and GV-R797OC-3GD are $397

i've got powercolor, sapphire, and gigabyte cards.


Sapphire > Gigabyte > powercolor.


My sapphires at full load run 60-79C in a closed case with other GPU cards...it don't get much better than that.

my power colors hit 73-94C in closed case with multiple cards and gpus.


after all my good and bad experiences i'd go with sapphire.

Thanks for sharing information!

i think winning card is shappire 7950 :) also there was msi is ok, and i understand all other cards need to be avoided if don't wanna flash firmware:)

this card i mean:
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/sapphire-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-850-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html

OUT OF STOCK, i think need contact them asking when this product will be available, when they get shipment from manufacturer..  also might need wait abit for bitcoin rise up to around 140~ then its abit cheaper xD

Do NOT get an XFX.. The cards i got from them have given me SO many problems.. its just not worth it..

got some updates on this,
the Sapphire cards are very difficult to get they out of stock, so i try get other

what about MSI?
https://www.bitcoinstore.com/msi-r7950-twinfrozr3gd5-oc-radeon-hd-7950-graphic-card-1-gpus-880-mhz-core-3-gb-gddr5-sdram-pci-express-3-0-x16.html
MSI R7950-TwinFrozr3GD5/OC Radeon HD 7950 Graphic Card - 1 GPUs - 880 MHz Core - 3 GB GDDR5 SDRAM - PCI-Express 3.0 x16
they are abit more expensive i think because higher stock clock?

Question is:
Does this MSI have voltage unlocked and what about hash-rates can it do same as sapphire 750Kh/s? does it work ok on linux?
Please share your info :)


so many said XFX is out of question, so im not going for that, also gigabyte is complicated (need firmware change). so lets talk about MSI
thanks alerady for infos:)

I tested almost every 7950 card.

I can say Asus 7950 Direct CU2 TOP V2 is the best 7950 on the market. Ultra quiet, ultra cold, ultra stable card. So you can overclock it easily to 1200 Mhz GPU and over. Sapphire 7950 Vapor-X are also pretty good card. Almost the same like Asus. Sapphire Dual-X are very good, but not good like other two above. MSI has TF3 and TF4 cooler witch is excellent, but for me it hasn't show as a good card. Very high VRM temperature, not quite like Asus and Sapphire... XFX is crap, dont buy this sh*t. Has thermal problems even on default clocks. Gigabyte is good, but lamost every model has locked Voltage, so i would bypass it.

7970:

1. Asus Matrix
2. MSI Lightning
3. Sapphire Vapor-X
and others...

Personally, i would go to 4X Sapphire 7950 Vapor-X. 7950 can hit ~670~680 kh/s in reaper, that's very close to 7970 witch can hit about ~720 kh/s max!

I run 16 PowerColor AX7950 3GBD5-2DHV4 7950's

I also have run another 4 SAPPHIRE 100352-4L Radeon 7950's

I picked up the PowerColors because at the time of purchase they were the only card available in that quantity. I can happily say however I didn't have a single DOA or sub-par functioning card out of the whole lot.

The Sapphires were for my first mining/gaming rig and didn't have a DOA with them either.

In a direct head to head comparison with identical cgminer settings(ran off the same batch file in the same rig actually), the cards average the following:

Temps: Sapphire 71C / Powercolor 79C
KH/S: Sapphire 595 / Powercolor 625

All card have the same settings in MSI Afterburner @ 1025/1500, 1035mv, Powertune +20.

The Sapphires definitely run cooler. Substantially cooler actually. But are MUCH louder. The also were about 20 kh/s short of what the Powercolors topped out at. Not a big deal for a single card, but almost hits 100 kh/s less per 4 card rig. I have them all in identical rigs: Open air case, 990fxa-GD65, Athlon II x4, single 8gb stick, 1200W seasonic.

If I were to purchase again however, I would get the Sapphires for no other reason than the temps. Unfortunately newegg had a 2 card limit at the time of purchase.

http://forum.litebonk.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27.0;attach=91;image