So im very close to purchasing my first 7970. I’m very excited indeed. However, I’m just a bit hesitant to click the buy button. I've decided I don’t want to go above £315, Which leaves the XFX DD edition http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-...rmal-5500mhz-gddr5-925mhz-2048-cores-hdmi-mdp The MSI OC version http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-...z-2048-cores-2x-dp-dl-dvi-i-hdmi-plus-free-ga The Gigabyte Windforce version http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-...8nm-gpu-1000mhz-2048-cores-dvi-i-hdmi-2x-mdp- and the Sapphire Dual-X version http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-...pu-925mhz-2048-cores-dp-2x-dvi-hdmi-plusfree- What is the actual difference between them? Am i been stupid? They all seem the same apart from the coolers? Which makes me believe it’s just a visual preference? Sorry if this has been brought up before. Chris
Depends on whether you want a reference layout board or not (will you be looking to water cool or anything like that?) I seem to recall that the XFX is, the MSI is, not too sure about the Gigabyte, and that Sapphire one isn't. If ref layout is of concern, have a look at EK's http://www.coolingconfigurator.com
I've heard bad things about XFX's customer service. That also explains why their products are often cheap.
My pump just blew up on my current system and since decided i'd quite like to move away from water cooling for awhile. So watercooling isnt something im thinking about right now, but knowing me i go through phases, so i might come round to it again Possibly the most undecisive answer i could give.... I heard comments somewhere else that the XFX's fan can be quite noisey. Do you think this could be a common thing with them or specific cards? also i wonder if the noise of all 4 cards are roughly the same? Customer care is something people dont tend to not think about...me especially and if its that bad perhaps its not an option, the game bundles on the XFX cards are pretty good though
I had 2 windforce x3s arrive yesterday and they are amazing only problem is they are voltage locked. Ive managed to OC from 1000 to 1075 on the core and 1350 to 1500 on the memory, i get crashes if I go any higher on the core so need to unlock the voltage some how. Even at 100% GPU load these are silent and hitting 70C.
With AMD I have also preferred Sapphire. My old 4870 is still going strong after 4 or 5 years now, plus their coolers are amazing and very quiet.
Also regarding the 7970s i would suggest the windforce its got great reviews. I just hate the blue PCB! Apart from that they are great from what I gather. Just looking at your sig. Are you running 3 7970s on 850W PSU? I was wondering if my Crosair TX750 would take 2 670s! I can only assume it will be no bother!
I would go with XFX, my last 2 cards have been XFX and i really like the look and feel of them. Never had any problems even with high overclocks on air Currently have a 6970 XFX Jake
Well - if you might want to go for WC again in the future and can find a ref layout Sapphire board, that'd be my advice. I've always done Sapphire for the red team and I've presently got a 7950 ref layout boost card in my main rig. Quiet, fast, great clocker!
Of those, the Sapphire is the one I'd go with. Or perhaps the MSI XFX don't have great CS, plus the coolers aren't amazing. I didn't find the Gigabyte 7970 Windforce all that quiet, or cool, and felt it was quite flimsy. The MSI has the stock cooler (boo!) but is a reference layout, and will be the only one that isn't voltage locked (IE, none of them can be overvolted, apart from the MSI). The Sapphire has a good cooler, well made and quiet/cool.
My 7870 from msi had a warranty void if removed sticker on the cooler. Suffice to say I wouldn't get another MSI card
I got the xfx card which was fine for 2 weeks then stopped working. scan will not take back for return until u have a return code from xfx. took over a week to get. while I waited I googled the card and it uses cheep VRMs which overheat. I did get my money back in the end.
Well, xfx is certainly out of the running. Even with their incentive of all those games. I do like the look of the gigabyte one. I've had their x58 board for awhile and never had a problem. For some reason I always thought sapphire were the lower end manufacturer of cards. Clearly I was wrong.
At the moment, it really depends what's in stock (save for XFX - avoid) - there's a definite shortage of cards at the moment!
