Best 7950 card right now??

[crazyates]

Newegg has the SAPPHIRE 100352-4L 7950 for $270 with 3 free games. Worth it?

Well all of those cards, on Newegg and on Amazon, all comes with those games.
But its 290 + tax .... the Mail-in Rebate is 20 dollars back, but those suck lol

But yeah that's why I keep asking which card is better overall (quiet, cooling, Khasing, overclocking) cause Im down to this one and the Gigabyte which is only like 10-15 dollars more, for a better card I am willing to pay more money. The guy who said eh has like 7 Gigabyte cards, I think you've won me over. Straight outta the box clocking really nets that great of a hash rate? I hope so cause you cant change the voltage I heard

Ah ok. I noticed that card on the Newegg home page as a daily deal, so didn't know if the price or the games were special. Both look to be pretty common, so idk why it was advertised?

The Sapphire is $270, and the Gigabyte is $310. I love Gigabyte, but is $40 worth it? Also, what are the VRM temps on the Gigabyte? I have the Gigabyte 7970 GHz edition, and it has a heatsink on the VRM chips, but they still run hot. The stock cooler directly cools the VRM chips, but the aftermarket Giga one doesn't.

If the Sapphire one has a stock heatsink, and gets good hashrates, I'd say go with that one.

[kendog77]

Part of the reason I bought two sapphires was because of the rebate, but unfortunately it's limited to one rebate per household. Keep that in mind if you're buying more than one card.

[Chiz]

Sooo... Which one wins?

[Blank]

The gigabyte windforce is basically the best 7950 around.

Pro's
Reliable
Cool
Quiet
Can get high stable hashrate.

Cons:
Huge
Heat expelled everywhere(Filling a closed case with hot air)
Voltage Locked(if you start having trouble with heat in summer for example it nice to be able to undervolt the cards to keep them cooler)

The XFX has no advantages over the gigabyte so just ignore that one.

I personally would get the Gigabyte but not being able to undervolt is a concern, i know i will be undervolting my cards when the summer temps begin to ride.
I recently bought a  powercolor AX7950 3GBD5-2DHV5E and i am very happy as it is almost as good as a gigabyte windforce but was cheaper and is not voltage locked. Availability might be poor though

[dwaynep]

I have several rigs now and have been undervolting and whatnot with no real guidance.  Can anyone point me to a good guide or to a good thread about undervolting (7950s and one 7990 are the majority of my setups.)  I have looked, just haven't found anything other than stats about what people have cards at.  I am looking for the underlying methodology on it and heat in general.  Though I have several systems setup now I know my heat profile for these systems is only 10% above n00b level.  Thanks,

D

[firefop]

So I happened to pickup a couple of the gigabyte cards - imo the custom cooling in junky. The cards vent heat in all directions and in addition to that the back side of these boards become quite hot. No chance of running these on board without it overheating whatever's behind it.

IMO the ref. design with the canister is much better since it vents out the back of the case.
HIS-iceQ or Sapphire Vapor-X are the best options imo.

[Amph]

11196-09-40G this is the model right?

[middlemarkal]

I have an 6970 HIS stock cooler on it and it's warmer and louder then my 2 Gigabyte 3 fans 6970 even if the HIS is unlocked and undervolted. 

go with the 3 fans Gigabyte and open case or lots of fans over a stock cooler even if undervoled. 

but that's not with 7950 

[Bitsaurus]

Best would be dependent on the user's tolerance for noise, heat, undervolting, overclocking options.

Personally I prefer ref cards since I just lock my cards away at work 

[Quix]

I have 2x Sapphire 100352-4Ls

They are very loud and they run hot. They do overclock well, I've had them up to 1250 for short periods but normally run at 1000 for better temperatures. About 520MH/s each at that speed.

If I was buying more now I'd have no qualms about 7950s but I would get the Gigabyte cards for the better coolers.

P.S. They are not voltage locked, which I found odd.

[pekv2]

If I was buying more now I'd have no qualms about 7950s but I would get the Gigabyte cards for the better coolers.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

[Quix]

If I was buying more now I'd have no qualms about 7950s but I would get the Gigabyte cards for the better coolers.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

RTFP, not the model we're talking about.

[pekv2]

If I was buying more now I'd have no qualms about 7950s but I would get the Gigabyte cards for the better coolers.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

RTFP, not the model we're talking about.

2L is better than the gigabyte. Ignorant mofo.