mojunikey7 Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 SO I am down to two days until I order my replacement for my crossfire 5770's and I have narrowed it down to three cards Either of these HD 7850's: Sapphire http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127663 MSI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102984 Or one of the powercolor 6970's for sale in the marketplace http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=191180 I have sapphire cards now and I am pleased with them, I also have a MSI GTX 560TI that I love, but I have never had a powercolor card before, is it a decent brand or is it like buying a cheap biostar or foxconn motherboard? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandreadstriker Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 PowerColor is a very well known brand for AMD cards so don't worry about them. NVIDIA has EVGA, Zotac, Palit and Galaxy while AMD has Sapphire, PowerColor, XFX and HIS. In terms of pure performance, the 7850 is either on par with the 6970 or below by a few fps. The plus side is the 7850 consume less power, ZeroCore tech and other new features. But since it's a new card, you might be facing the notorious AMD driver issues.. Personally I'd get the Sapphire HD7850 non-oc for $10 less and overclock it myself, that way you'll have a better performance then stock 6970 for $10 less Or, you could gamble with the MSI TFIII cards since usually MSI binned the higher end cards for their TFIII line. (Or at least used too) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rofltroll Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 At first I was skeptical about vandreader's post. Last generation's best single gpu card from radeon falling short to a 7850? But then i checked it out and found out he's actually right The 7850 has the same performance as a 6970 with slight differences here and there. You can overclock the 7850 to have the exact performance of a 7870 even which beats the 6970 by a fair amount in pretty much each game tested. Here's an article on the 7850 to check out for yourself: http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7850-and-7870-review/1 Here's one of the 6970 PCS+ which is a out of the box 940 MHz card which is quite staggering: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/powercolor_hd6970_pcs_review/1 This guy at overclock3d has some great reviews on cooling fans and video cards on youtube. Highly recommended if you have the time to check it out. Overall I believe a 7850 is your best bet. About the same performance as a 6970, overclocks well and has less power consumption. Enjoy your new card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaporX Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 I have a 7850 I am using that replaced a 6950 because it was actually faster and with some overclocking I have pushed close to GTX 580 levels and still use less power. From a bargain perspective the 7850 is likely the best AMD has to offer this round as of right now. The 7850 you mentioned is the same one I reviewed and am using and I was able to max the overclock in AMD's drivers with no effort and it runs perfect. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojunikey7 Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 Are there any differences in the Coolers on the two sapphire cards? If not ill grab the non overclocked version tomorrow Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rofltroll Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 I think MSI has better cooling than Sapphire. MSI won awards with that Twin Frozr cooler while Sapphire won it with their Vapor-X model. I wonder why they don't make Vapor-X anymore ... Oh well, I suggest you go MSI. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MandoPatriot Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 I think MSI has better cooling than Sapphire. MSI won awards with that Twin Frozr cooler while Sapphire won it with their Vapor-X model. I wonder why they don't make Vapor-X anymore ... Oh well, I suggest you go MSI. They have the 6870 and the 6850 Vapor-X... But their high end is now the "Toxic HD" versions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandreadstriker Posted April 2, 2012 Posted April 2, 2012 Are there any differences in the Coolers on the two sapphire cards? If not ill grab the non overclocked version tomorrow They're Identical.. Although I've to agree the TFIII Coolers are supposed to be better performing. But nothing wrong with the Sapphire Coolers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Black gold saw. Posted April 2, 2012 Posted April 2, 2012 I say go with HD 7850. The 7850 oc'ed can keep up with a GTX 580. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rofltroll Posted April 2, 2012 Posted April 2, 2012 They're Identical.. Although I've to agree the TFIII Coolers are supposed to be better performing. But nothing wrong with the Sapphire Coolers I agree. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rofltroll Posted April 2, 2012 Posted April 2, 2012 They have the 6870 and the 6850 Vapor-X... But their high end is now the "Toxic HD" versions. I didn't know that - those are some of the best coolers out there - I've no idea how i missed that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MandoPatriot Posted April 2, 2012 Posted April 2, 2012 I say go with HD 7850. The 7850 oc'ed can keep up with a GTX 580. Hardly... The 7870 can, but not the 7850 if the 580 is OC'ed. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-7.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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