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

45454asasa said:
No way. The Vapor-X fans become audible ~45%.
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Well that's different card dude. This model is like 2x more silent then even DCII 680 which i had before, really silent.
Blkout said:
That's great that you don't hear it, I guess my hearing is far more sensitive to fan noise. Coming from a completely water cooled setup I'm spoiled on silence. If you can't hear your Sapphire 7950 running at 70% fan speed, you would think my PC isn't even running.
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Yea i guess.
 
Hi folks, I am in the market for a new card to replace my Sapphire 5770 Vapor-x. I have read the last 10 pages and the one thing that I got is to stay clear of the Sapphire 7950 Vapor-x but I was curious what was the verdict between the Gigabyte 7950 WF3 and the Sapphire 7950 ?
 
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I wouldn't get a Sapphire.. terrible warranty service and most people I know have issues with Coil Whine (including myself)
 
eculley said:
I wouldn't get a Sapphire.. terrible warranty service and most people I know have issues with Coil Whine (including myself)
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And just to be clear, this is regardless of the model right (Dual X, Vapor X, etc)?
Do all Sapphire models not properly cool the VRM's?
 
my room mate rma'd his dual x and they gave him a vapor x and it still whines. They just use poor quality caps I think.
 
I've got a Vapor-X and there is zero whine unless there is quadruple digit FPS. Considering they have special capacitors ["Black Diamond"] I dont see why they would whine under normal circumstances. Must be his PSU.

Dual-X probably whines like most other 7950s/7970s.
 
45454asasa said:
I've got a Vapor-X and there is zero whine unless there is quadruple digit FPS. Considering they have special capacitors ["Black Diamond"] I dont see why they would whine under normal circumstances. Must be his PSU.

Dual-X probably whines like most other 7950s/7970s.
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But shouldn't a good card not coil whine at all (has this always been an issue with video cards?)? I never heard either of my MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC's cool whine in the last year and a half of owning them (Now the fans on this model are a whole other story...lol. Both cards had a fan fin break-off or fan just die).

I've been looking up and down for a 7950 to replace my 6950's and I'm really surprised there's not a unanimous number one go to card to buy? They all seem to possibly suffer from at least something that is a headache.
 
It doesn't matter if the coils whine or not, while it may be a nuisance to some, its doesn't point to the card being inferior or somehow lacking in build quality, any of these coils on these cards will outlive the card's usefulness.
 
Blkout said:
It doesn't matter if the coils whine or not, while it may be a nuisance to some, its doesn't point to the card being inferior or somehow lacking in build quality, any of these coils on these cards will outlive the card's usefulness.
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Coil Whine is produced by lower quality capacitors.. on top of that, it's annoying. There is a reason why it's accepted as a reason to RMA. It's a defect, plain and simple.
 
MasonD said:
But shouldn't a good card not coil whine at all (has this always been an issue with video cards?)? I never heard either of my MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC's cool whine in the last year and a half of owning them (Now the fans on this model are a whole other story...lol. Both cards had a fan fin break-off or fan just die).

I've been looking up and down for a 7950 to replace my 6950's and I'm really surprised there's not a unanimous number one go to card to buy? They all seem to possibly suffer from at least something that is a headache.
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I thought coil whine was pretty common, especially on newer cards. My old GTX 260 whined with super high FPS. So this one not whining til stupid high FPS essentially makes it whine-less.


XTF said:
Doh. 45% of what (fan speed)? 45% of 5000rpm? Guess not. Quoting percentages is meaningless.
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45% would be 2000RPM. 100% is ~3700RPM
 
Sapphire 950mhz hasn't been seen in retail for awhile now.

I just got done carefully looking at the Vapor X and I found in reviews that some of them were different in design. The one that looks best has the red/pinkish capacitors and the high en chokes. I really like that card. I think I would have gotten it over the 950mhz edition if it were available back when I bought a HD7950.


Has 9 VRMs+1 10 total. Nice chokes an capacitors, 8+6 pin power connector, nice push button BIOS switch. Very tricked out custom PCB. Looks like a good deal for around $300 or less for a top end HD7950.

The VRMS are going to get hot on it but I would ditch the stock heat sink and water cool it.

Seems like many people haven't had luck over clocking them but I think its a good card and with some over clocking it could possibly be great.
 
eculley said:
Coil Whine is produced by lower quality capacitors.. on top of that, it's annoying. There is a reason why it's accepted as a reason to RMA. It's a defect, plain and simple.
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Its clear you know nothing about electronics. Did you even read what you posted or do you not know the difference between a coil and a cap? Coil whine comes from a coil/choke that vibrates, a capacitor is a compeletely different electronic component.

Its not a defect plain and simple.

For your education:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choke_(electronics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor
 
Well, in his defense,

Coils/chokes are commonly used in tuned-tank circuits (a coil and a cap in parallel).

So a crappy cap in that situation might cause the coil to vibrate, as the purpose of a tuned tank is to either generate an oscillating ferquency, or as a frequency pass/shunt filter.

Unlikley, but possible.
 
Blkout said:
Its not a defect plain and simple.
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Well it might not be to some people that know it all like yourself but if I buy a new card/TV/radio/car/woman/etc and it makes loud noises I'm sending it back and buying something that doesn't. Same thing I did when I bought a Samsung plasma a few years back that had a nasty loud noise (frequency) coming from it, I returned it.

I don't give a crap what it is, defect or not, I don't need more weird ass noises in my house and some are really loud and very noticeable.

I never heard either of my MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC's make a peep at any usage (besides the fans). Guess my next cards should be MSI too as to avoid this non-defect.
 
MasonD said:
Well it might not be to some people that know it all like yourself but if I buy a new card/TV/radio/car/woman/etc and it makes loud noises I'm sending it back and buying something that doesn't. Same thing I did when I bought a Samsung plasma a few years back that had a nasty loud noise (frequency) coming from it, I returned it.

I don't give a crap what it is, defect or not, I don't need more weird ass noises in my house and some are really loud and very noticeable.

I never heard either of my MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC's make a peep at any usage (besides the fans). Guess my next cards should be MSI too as to avoid this non-defect.
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Its not loud at all and greatly exaggerated by some people because they don't know any better and have been told its defective when it isn't. Its FUD, nothing more.
 
What happened to the Sapphire 950? Availability is 0 in the Netherlands.

Blkout said:
Its not a defect plain and simple.
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According to what definition? It's not listed as a feature anywhere and I can't classify it as anything besides bad / negative.
 
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On the topic of coil whines, I've a Sapphire 7950 and unlike some who say that it whines a lot, mine only whines when I'm getting like a 4 digit fps, typically menu screens and such.
Other than that, its silent, runs very cool and overclocks like a champion.
 
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