New card advice 7870 vs 7950

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by shimyns, Apr 11, 2013.

  1. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    Hey guys,

    Well, as you can see my card is pretty darn aged. 4870x2.

    It still works great but I'd like to finally upgrade, especially for DX11 (and also to totally max out settings and still enjoy a butter smooth game).

    I'm not really up to date with the 7000 series.

    And I'm not gonna wait for the 8000 series release.

    I'm thinking 7950 or 7870. Something off newegg.com

    Could any of you comment on which of these in general is more worth it and more importantly, which specific model would be the best choice. I'm usually a sapphire fan, myself. There are a bunch of options on newegg

    ps- I don't foresee a 3d setup, multi-screen, and I'm also not going to CFX or upgrade any other components but the card. My screen is 1920x1200. And I'm a graphics whore.


    Thanks for your advice!
     
  2. eclap

    eclap Banned

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    some kind of sapphire hd 7950. ideally vapor-x. or HIS IceQ x2 hd 7950.
     
  3. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    ^ well the vapor is sold out but it looks like they have the HIS. Any reason why you suggest these models above the others?
     
  4. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    The best thing about the HD7950 series is the overclocking potential, it's absolutely fantastic. The Sapphire Vapor X and HIS IceQ X2 are two of the better clockers on the market.

    [​IMG]

    I'd say most people get a card that will do 1100/1500 at the very least. Rarely lower, and often a bit higher.
     

  5. UZ7

    UZ7 Ancient Guru

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    The 7870 is a good card and its sometimes dubbed as 7930 but in terms of price/performance the 7950 takes it as well as overclocking capability.

    The extra ram will also help with those resolutions on higher settings and it plays Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider pretty smooth on max settings.

    Benchmarking purposes I get about 1200/1700 on the accelero. Gaming I usually set it to 1100/1600 as I don't need that much power. (though you don't need to oc ram as much, they're just hynix and want the abuse :) )
     
  6. Deathchild

    Deathchild Ancient Guru

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    Yeah, coming from a 4870x2, 7950 at least.

    Vapor-X or IceQ X2, seeing as the Vapor is sold out go for the IceQ X2. :)
     
  7. deejayfowler

    deejayfowler Guest

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    i had the same issue as the op i ended up getting the 7950 vapor x double 8 pin slot 1 and all i can is its running like a dream running games full loads with the worst case cooling ever max ive seen it at so far is 52c not tried clocking it yet but here is were i bought mine quite cheap aswell but i am in the uk not sure were u are from tho http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0091MFBZC/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 thats the 1 i bought recently and am well chuffed was gonna grab a 7870 my self but had to rma 2 of them due to been doa from xfx stay away :p
     
  8. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    Wow, that's a huge difference!! Are those benches at stock clocks or OC'ed?

    How's the cooling on these two cards? Super important factor.

    Thanks


     
  9. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    Thanks for your reply. Yeah, I def want to play Bioshock (and Crysis 3) at max settings! I have an Accelero Xtreme on my 4870x2. It's a great cooler but had some VRM problems which I solved. Also, two of the fans conked out; one permanently and one temporarily. How's the AcceleroX fairing on your card?
     
  10. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    The blue bar is the boost clock (A sort of self overclock that AMD cards with the 'Boost' tag do). You might as well consider that the stock value for the HIS X2. Green is overclocked. Both the Sapphire Vapor X and HIS X2 have fantastic cooling, although the Vapor-X is probably the better of the two.
     

  11. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    Well, when you say "at least", what other options do I have? As far as I know, only the 7970 is faster than the 7950.. I don't want to pay THAT much though.



    BTW, has anyone ever come across a benchmark comparison of the 4000 series vs the 7000 series? I don't suppose there is such a thing but it'd be interesting to know how much faster a 7950 is, compared to a 4870x2...
     
  12. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    I actually haven't taken a look at the power connectors on these cards! My PSU has one 6-pin connector and one 8-pin connector. I'm sure as far as power consumption it can handle these newer (and more efficient cards, cuz the 4870x2 is a power beast!), but I need to make sure I can connect it properly.

    Any input on this?

    Thanks
     
  13. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/645?vs=513

    The above link should also list power draw.
     
  14. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    Oh yeah, got it, my bad. Didn't look closely enough.

    Thanks

     
  15. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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  16. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    Par comparing seperate reviews it's the best comparison you're going to get. I'd say it's a fairly hefty upgrade over a 4870x2 even without factoring an overclock. The 7900 series has a hell of a lot of kick, and oc's like mad. As I'm sure you've noticed, the 7950's are very popular around here, and for good reason.
     
  17. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    Yeah, I'd say 30% more performance. The 4870x2 is comparable to the 5870 or 6950.
     
  18. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    Sans the potential crossfire issues and memory limitations. I say go for it. You get a solid games bundle also.
     
  19. eclap

    eclap Banned

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    hd 7950 will perform roughly as well as hd 5870 cfx. so there you go. :)
     
  20. shimyns

    shimyns Guest

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    Yeah. Now I just need to get my hands on a Vapor-X with a game bundle. Do you guys think it'll remain outta stock at newegg?
     

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