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Choosing between reference 7970s

T

tonspike

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 24, 2008
Messages
255
Hey guys, I'm trying to decide between the XFX 7970 and the VisionTek 7970.

The XFX has a 2 year limited warranty, while the VisionTek has a lifetime warranty. Both are the same price.

I've never dealt with either of these companies in the past--any recommendations on which to choose?

Also, would you recommend that I wait for a non-reference design? I'm super antsy to get this as I'm upgrading from a 4870 512mb, but I'm wondering if I should wait it out... What do you think?

Thanks :)
 
with reference cards go by what company you like best and warranty. all the reference cards are pretty much identical when it comes to manufacturing.

as far as waiting for non reference cards it really depends on what you want. if cooling/noise is priority then wait. if overclocking is priority, then wait. if you plan on running eyefinity then i'd wait. if none of those are things that are specific reasons for buying a card for you then the reference card is perfectly fine and well worth the upgrade over that aging 4870.
 
I'd go so far as to say that customer service matters more than warranty at this point, unless you routinely keep cards for a long time. A two or three year warranty is going to be enough to cover you for most eventualities, and after three years you'll probably have a new card anyway. The one thing I would look for, rather than a lifetime warranty, is a warranty that is transferable (or verified by serial number) like MSIs. A lifetime warranty doesn't do much for re-sale, but a transferable warranty does. Too bad XFX canned their double-lifetime warranty.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
with reference cards go by what company you like best and warranty. all the reference cards are pretty much identical when it comes to manufacturing.

as far as waiting for non reference cards it really depends on what you want. if cooling/noise is priority then wait. if overclocking is priority, then wait. if you plan on running eyefinity then i'd wait. if none of those are things that are specific reasons for buying a card for you then the reference card is perfectly fine and well worth the upgrade over that aging 4870.
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You bring up valid points. I guess I always take noise/temperature into consideration, but I've been running a reference 4870 for the past three years so I don't think it can be much worse in terms of those two variables.

I am just hesitant as I ask myself if something such as the XFX Black Edition is worth the extra cash. Albeit I'm not factoring in my own overclocking potential.

I am slowly but surely upgrading my components, but as of right now I'm only gaming on a single monitor.
 
personally, i say wait but i'm biased because that's what i'm doing

i want to see what MSI can do with these things
and i don't want to regret refusing to wait
 
tonspike said:
1920x1080.
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shit at that resolution i'd highly recommend waiting for the 7950 which comes out in february unless you plan to go to 2560x1600 soon even though the 7950 would still kick ass at that resolution as well. it should be +/- 5% of the GTX 580 with less power usage then the 7970 and 85-100 dollars less.
 
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