7950 - Trying to make up my mind / Worried about drivers

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dan415

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Nov 28, 2012
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I'm currently upgrading my system and am looking to buy a new graphics card. In the past, my 4870 has given me a lot of issues in about half of my games in terms of microstuttering and horrible screen tearing.

As of now, I'm leaning towards the 7950, specifically this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

Though I'm a bit weary of AMD's drivers from past experiences. Overall the price is the best for the 7950, and it comes with more / better games (in my opinion) than the other cards I was looking at. I was thinking of getting a 660 or 670, even if that would mean I was to lose more performance or pay a lot more... in hopes for better drivers. But I really don't know how much better or worse Nvidia drivers are, I've read that both have their issues at times.

So how are AMD's drivers lately and do you guys think I should just go with the 7950? Does anyone else with a 7950 experience stuttering or screen tearing in games lately? Also, is that card in the link I provided a good deal or should I wait for another one to go on sale?
 
I have a BE XFX 7950 and 12.11 fixed everything and runs awesome in any game I play. Skyrim,BF3, Crysis, PS2, Civ V, MOH, etc...

Card is a beast and runs super cool!
 
I don't have experience, but I have also read that many people report the 12.11 drivers are solid as a rock.
 
Do you play games with vsync off? Many times that will cause tearing, but I've not heard of microstutter being much of an issue on single card setups.

I can't say I have had issues with AMD drivers besides the mouse in the corner bug. What types of driver issues are you concerned with?

As far as card selection, that looks like a great card and should handle things pretty well while staying relatively cool. For less than 300 bucks after rebate, plus 3 free games, that's a hell of a value.

Edit: Here's a review for the HIS HD7950 X² Boost, which looks interesting: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/
 
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DoomDoomDoom said:
Do you play games with vsync off? Many times that will cause tearing, but I've not heard of microstutter being much of an issue on single card setups.

I can't say I have had issues with AMD drivers besides the mouse in the corner bug. What types of driver issues are you concerned with?

As far as card selection, that looks like a great card and should handle things pretty well while staying relatively cool. For less than 300 bucks after rebate, plus 3 free games, that's a hell of a value.

Edit: Here's a review for the HIS HD7950 X² Boost, which looks interesting: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_7950_X2_Boost/
Click to expand...

I play games with or without vsync, mostly without half of the time due to microstutter in certain games. I know tearing can be removed by enabling vsync, but sometimes vsync is a worse option with my 4870. I've even noticed some games after being updated, like TF2, stuttered when before they never did, so I'm thinking its software related on the end of developers (or drivers) more than anything. In general, I consider microstutter having frame hitching once ever 1 or 2 seconds even when I have 60 fps. I just don't want to encounter this problem again.

Thank you to everyone btw so far for responding.
 
I'm in the same boat as of right now. Do any new or recent games get majorly screwed for AMD people? I want to play AC3 soon, but I'm reading a little bit about AMD gpu users getting huge dips in FPS. Thanks.
 
I decided to go with the card I linked in my original post, thanks for all your advice guys :)

Also Havoc888, I'm kinda of wondering the same thing, even though I guess it doesn't matter as much though to me since I already bought the card.


I just have one more other quick question about Sapphire specifically. If I overclock my card, like change the voltage and boost it past the standard OC that catalyst gives you, does that void your warranty with Sapphire?
 
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