Which 7950 to buy? (Gigabyte WF3 or Sapphire 950 / Vapor-X)

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rufio

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It's time to upgrade my trusty 5850 to something with more umph at 2560x1600.

Having trouble deciding on which for the following 3 cards to purchase.

GIGABYTE GV-R795WF3-3GD - $309 AR
SAPPHIRE 100352OCSR 950mhz edition - $329
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100352VXSR - $329

I've never owned a Gigbyte or Sapphire product before, though I have heard good things about the Gigabyte card and generally positive things about past Sapphire Vapor-X cards. There is also a nice thread about the Sapphire 950mhz edition here on the amd flavor forum. Tough call for sure.

I guess it comes down to the fact that the Gigabyte has 1 yr extra warranty but both Sapphire cards are higher factory clocked. Do either companies cover overclocking in their warranty (negating the clock speed factor), and which has a better service reputation?

TL;DR - Pick a card for me :)
 
I would go with the Gigabyte but then again I'm biased. I had 2 Sapphire cards die on me and the rma process was beyond a pain in the ass and took over 6 months.
 
I believe the Gigabyte Windforce 7950 uses the same cooler as the GTX670 I just sold. If so, I'd get the Gigabyte 7950. It's a outstanding cooling design that was utterly silent on my GTX670. That's what I'm probably going to get myself, now that I can pick one up for ~$300, although I'm starting to be tempted by 2XGigabyte Windforce 7870 in crossfire... NO! Must ... get ... 3Gb ... video ... card(s) ... !
 
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I prefer the Sapphire choices as I have had good experiences with the brand and I like the designs of their cards.


The Sapphire HD7950 950mhz edition has worked great for me and if you plan on going water cooling it is a good choice because it is compatible with many reference HD7970 water blocks.


Don't know alot about the Sapphire Vapor X HD7950 since it is so new but the PCB is a custom HD7950 PCB design and it looks to have some nice electrical components on it with a very large 8 phase VRM design on the power input and has 8+6 power connectors so I think it has good potential for being a good over clocker if you get lucky with a decent GPU on it.

The Vapor X cooler is nice but I think the 950mhz edition has better PCB heat sinks on it.

Good photos of the new VApor X HD7950 here.
http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-hd7950-vapor-x-edition-review/3/
 
as sonda5 mentions if you ever intend to watercool the HD 7950 go for the Sapphire HD 7950 950 Mhz edition as it would be compatible with any HD 7970 compatible waterblock. otherwise get the sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-x. if you value the extra 1 yr warranty on the Gigabyte card that too is a very good card. you can't go wrong with any of these choices.
 
I won't be watercooling at all. As for overclocking, I would like to get to 1000/1300 if possible.
 
I'm in this same situation... no plans to watercool the GPU in the near future, had my heart set on the 950 Sapphire, but now the Vapor-X is getting really good reviews. I think I'll probably end up with the Vapor-X - still an excellent overclocker (if you get lucky), and it's the 'newest' version of the 7950.

-HD
 
rufio said:
I would like to get to 1000/1300 if possible.
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That sounds extremely easy to achieve for any of these cards.

If you don't plan on water cooling and are not interested in getting high over clocks I would just get the cheapest HD7950 you can find. 1000/1300 should be an easy over clock for any HD7950 with stock air cooling.
 
Is there actually anything different between the old and new 7950 design other than the bios AMD updated for "boost"
 
rufio said:
Is there actually anything different between the old and new 7950 design other than the bios AMD updated for "boost"
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Nope. Hypothetically, more recent chips will be based off of a "tweaked" manufacturing process that makes better chips, but the design is identical. Just better chips, ideally. In practice... nobody has any real proof of this.
 
rufio said:
Is there actually anything different between the old and new 7950 design other than the bios AMD updated for "boost"
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Actually, there is, if you are referring to the hardware. The old 7950 had 6+6 pcie, the new pcb's are 7970 hence 8+6 pcie connectors and the board has more headroom to clock higher than the old one. Also the binning now is much better, odds of landing a good overclocker are much better now. Higher ASIC rating doesn't auto equate to being a good OC card but it is the case for the majority. I have the MSI TF3, ASIC 87.2 and it will do 1.25GHz max and runs quite nicely @ 1100/1575 feeding the Catleap.

I went with the MSI because of the $304 deal but out of all 7950's, the Sapphire is the best one.
 
Newegg just added free Sleeping Dogs to almost all of the 7950s. On top of that they have XFX active mini displayport to DVI adapters for $10, so I grabbed two of those and the Vapor-X. Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'll report back once everything gets here in a few days.
 
rufio said:
Newegg just added free Sleeping Dogs to almost all of the 7950s. On top of that they have XFX active mini displayport to DVI adapters for $10, so I grabbed two of those and the Vapor-X. Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'll report back once everything gets here in a few days.
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Good choice. Vapor-x may not make much of a difference idling but it is a few degrees cooler under load. I don't see the rest of your rig, mostly your case and cooling matter. Run HWInfo64 if you have a 64bit OS. Check out your vrm temps under load and add aditional fans if necessary to keep them under 90C. As long as load temps for vrm's are under 90C and core under 80C, you can pick a heft OC and run it 24/7.
 
RJA said:
Good choice. Vapor-x may not make much of a difference idling but it is a few degrees cooler under load. I don't see the rest of your rig, mostly your case and cooling matter. Run HWInfo64 if you have a 64bit OS. Check out your vrm temps under load and add aditional fans if necessary to keep them under 90C. As long as load temps for vrm's are under 90C and core under 80C, you can pick a heft OC and run it 24/7.
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Thanks for the tip :cool:. Case is an older Lian-Li with a few 120mm fans and decent flow. Internals are 2600K/P8P68, 16GB, SSD and a few HDDs.

PS, im honored that both of your only [H] posts so far were in my thread.
 
RJA said:
Actually, there is, if you are referring to the hardware. The old 7950 had 6+6 pcie, the new pcb's are 7970 hence 8+6 pcie connectors
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Not all of the newer HD 7950s that have the 8+6 power connector are built on a reference HD 7970 pcb. The Vapor X HD 7950 is not built on a reference HD 7970 PCB but it does has totally custom HD 7950 PCB with the 8+6 power connectors and other nice electronic components. Though it isn't built on the reference HD7970 PCB it does look like it is made very well and may be able to over clock as good as the Sapphire HD7950 950mhz edition. (not sure).

Vapor X seems to be designed more to be a quiet high performance HD7950 while the 950mhz edition seems to be designed for all out over clocking.
 
rufio said:
Thanks for the tip :cool:. Case is an older Lian-Li with a few 120mm fans and decent flow. Internals are 2600K/P8P68, 16GB, SSD and a few HDDs.

PS, im honored that both of your only [H] posts so far were in my thread.
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Thank you. I felt qualified to post right here considering how much time I spent researching the subject myself.

Not all of the newer HD 7950s that have the 8+6 power connector are built on a reference HD 7970 pcb. The Vapor X HD 7950 is not built on a reference HD 7970 PCB but it does has totally custom HD 7950 PCB with the 8+6 power connectors and other nice electronic components. Though it isn't built on the reference HD7970 PCB it does look like it is made very well and may be able to over clock as good as the Sapphire HD7950 950mhz edition. (not sure).

Vapor X seems to be designed more to be a quiet high performance HD7950 while the 950mhz edition seems to be designed for all out over clocking.
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That's true and I agree, Vapor X is not necessarily the best overclocker. Though I do feel that because of it's cooling ability and low noise profile, it likely allows the highest 24/7 OC, where good cooling and low noise matter. If other cards can consistently outclock the Vapor X, that higher max clock won't mean much because they can't be maintained for longer than few minutes. Another relevant thing is that the process for these GPU's has matured, binning is great now and drivers are miles ahead than they were when most of these cards were reviewed. Those early numbers stuck with me, I gauged the performance based on them, so I was shocked to see 1.1GHz card rock my Catleap with 40-50 FPS through almost every game.

OP, please keep updating here. I'm very curious what your card can do. If you don't mind, please post your ASIC results and build date from GPU-Z. My card was made beginning of June.
If I'm allowed to post links, I'll try to do so now:

Keep in mind that my computer costs less than $550 without the video card, it was meant to be a low budget HTPC. My i5 2400 and PCIE 2.0 (to a much lesser degree) are obvious bottlenecks.

Fully stock, 880/1250/1031v run 57C load:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4107388


2a6v6v9.jpg



+20 power control, 1000/1350/1031v 59C load:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4107415



n2d8ac.jpg



1100/1575/1075v 68C load:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4107460


hrlv91.jpg



1150/1850/1149v 77C load:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4107514


3500y7q.jpg




1200/1865/1162v 71C load, fans were set to 100% before and during load:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4107624


sfh1tw.jpg


1252/1851/1193v 74C load:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4108168

mrv9lx.jpg
 
rufio said:
I won't be watercooling at all. As for overclocking, I would like to get to 1000/1300 if possible.
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I'm running at 1100MHz core (1131mV)/1300Mhz memory (1600mV) right now with a Gigabyte Windforce 7950 I just picked up a couple of days ago for $319 Canadian. It has the 6+6 pin power connectors, and the GPU temp at absolute full load is 69 degrees. Fans are turning at 54% in auto mode at this load/temp level, and I'd say the card is very quiet at this speed.

All in all, I'd highly recommend the Windforce 7950 if you're looking for a good cooler, quiet fans and good value for money.
 
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anubis44 said:
I'm running at 1100MHz core (1131mV)/1300Mhz memory (1600mV) right now with a Gigabyte Windforce 7950 I just picked up a couple of days ago for $319 Canadian. It has the 6+6 pin power connectors, and the GPU temp at absolute full load is 69 degrees. Fans are turning at 54% in auto mode at this load/temp level, and I'd say the card is very quiet at this speed.

All in all, I'd highly recommend the Windforce 7950 if you're looking for a good cooler, quiet fans and good value for money.
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That card and the Powercolor one are good ones. Kinda disappointed with the Asus one.
 
I was looking for a 7950 too. Thanks to this thread, I just got the Shaphire 7950 950MHz.
 
RJA said:
OP, please keep updating here. I'm very curious what your card can do. If you don't mind, please post your ASIC results and build date from GPU-Z. My card was made beginning of June.
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Here are the initial screen caps from GPUZ on bios 2 (950MHZ default).

7909421062_55f1018bd8.jpg


7909421010_c550fc3812.jpg


off to run initial 3d mark 11 and heaven benches
 
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Default 3d mark 11 bench
7909538292_0f027e663c.jpg

up from 3939 on my old 5850

Default heaven bench (ran this at the same settings i ran on my 5850 for personal comparison/reference)
7909538142_2caf02406e_z.jpg

up from 432 on my 5850

at the end of the heaven bench the gpu temp was at 65C w/42% fan and the vrms were at 76/74C. Ambient temp is ~26F (Arizona)
i know benches are not indicative of actual gameplay, but so far i'm calling this a great upgrade.

now i'm going to play some actual games for a bit, feel free to ask me any info you might want and i'll get back to you. i'll also post info once i start overclocking the card.
 
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Thanks. Your ASIC quality is nearly identical to mine but your temps seem better as I expected. Those fans must be inaudible under 55% yet they stay under even under load temps, that's amazing.
I can see you breaking 10k on 3dmark11.

But what I really want to know is what kind of fan load, noise and temps you get at 1100/1575. I'm positive you can run that 24/7, the only question is how hot and how fast (or rather how slow) the fans will spin to keep it at target temp.

If your card is anything like mine, I would advise against giving it too much juice. I hit 1250 core at 1.187v, moderate OC should be doable with meager 1.100v.
 
Heads up to anyone thinking about getting the vaporx card.

I was having problems getting photoshop to recognize the card for hardware acceleration and decided to do a clean install of the cat 12.8s. Now the card is having voltage issues and is throttling its self in any 3d program. I'm getting a max of ~5000 in 3d mark and ~675 in heaven. Did a lot of reading about this, and because of this thread, I am going to RMA the card. The card is currently 'discontinued' status on newegg's site, so I'll be replacing it with the 950mhz edition with reference 7970 PCB instead.
 
rufio said:
Heads up to anyone thinking about getting the vaporx card.

I was having problems getting photoshop to recognize the card for hardware acceleration and decided to do a clean install of the cat 12.8s. Now the card is having voltage issues and is throttling its self in any 3d program. I'm getting a max of ~5000 in 3d mark and ~675 in heaven. Did a lot of reading about this, and because of this thread, I am going to RMA the card. The card is currently 'discontinued' status on newegg's site, so I'll be replacing it with the 950mhz edition with reference 7970 PCB instead.
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I'm glad I happened upon this thread because that's the card I was looking at buying...I'm gonna do the same and pick up the 950 Mhz edition.
 
Wasn't the card released a couple months ago? And it's already pulled?

Also, Sapphire has made like 12 different versions of this card.
11196-00-40G through 11196-10-40G
and 100352SR, OCSR, VXSR, FLEX

How can you guys tolerate this from Sapphire?
 
It's their money so let them make all the different kind of ipods they want.
 
I just picked up a Gigabyte 7950 and I am REALLY impressed about how quiet and cool it runs. I really can't say enough about how quiet this thing is under full load.
 
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Nothing but problems for me with 3 Sapphire cards, all had some weird issues.I would go Gigabyte. My Gigabyte WF3 670's have been awesome.
 
I would definitely get the Windforce. They have an amazing cooler that's super quiet and efficient and they also overclock very well.
 
Better PCB and likely better overclocking, or better cooling and warranty.

Personally, I'd get the Sapphire. I've never had a GPU die on me, and if you can get the Vapor-X, it's supposed to be pretty quiet.
 
45454asasa said:
Better PCB and likely better overclocking, or better cooling and warranty.

Personally, I'd get the Sapphire. I've never had a GPU die on me, and if you can get the Vapor-X, it's supposed to be pretty quiet.
Click to expand...

Do not get the Vapor-X. Do not. Get the 950mhz one.
 
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