HD 7970 Choices

[Jeteroll]

Hey guys! I'm considering purchasing another 7970 for my Bitcoin mining rig (see my signature) and I am stuck at the infamous which card/brand should I get, although I am not considering a reference card. Sourcing from Newegg: the Gigabyte card (GV-R797OC-3GD) apparently runs hot and loud, and it looks unappealing with it's blue PCB. The Sapphire offering (100351SR) seems like a solid choice but some say the coil whine is bad and I have heard bad things about Sapphire's VRM cooling, in addition to its poorly colored green PCB. I've heard great things about ASUS and their DirectCU II coolers, although one third of the reviews on this particular card (HD7970-DC2-3GD5) are horror stories, and the three slot cooler is a bit of a turn-off, although I have not seen if those three slots are warranted by cooling performance. I must admit though, that ASUS has given their card quite the sexy back plate. I was mostly impressed by MSI's offering (R7970 TF 3GD5/OC BE) from the previous one I purchased, although its overclocking was limited to 1200 MHz with locked voltage, and the card ran both loud and a bit hot under load, although not the loudest, and temperatures were at a not too outrageous 80 degrees at load. The HIS offering (IceQ X² H797QM3G2M) looks overall pretty good except for the green PCB, and their cooler seems to work well. However, I am not very confident in HIS's build quality and I have previously owned their 7950 IceQ X² which promptly failed and smoked after five minutes at load. Finally, XFX's card (Double D FX-797A-TDBC Black Edition) has me scared away by the sheer number of DOA's, horror stories, and poor quality I have read about not only applicable to this card, but XFX in general these days. Anyway, sorry for the big rant but I can never seem to find the right card, and I was hoping you guys could help me out.

[OneGun]

I have been through a HIS 7850 and now i am on two HIS 7950s and i have never had an issue with any of them..Have you been on the 7950+ owners site and asked them?

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1196856/official-amd-radeon-hd-7950-7970-7990-owners-thread/25510#post_20017406

[sk8ermanblue]

I really like the ASUS Direct CU II card. they have excellent customer support as well i have personally used their RMA service for a mobo of mine and they are quite friendly. the ASUS card is very nice t ome.

[Nad]

I have the Sapphire 7970 (3GB OC with Boost) and it works fine for me. I do, however, wish that they included a backplate as it is a high end card.

[Jeteroll]

I have been through a HIS 7850 and now i am on two HIS 7950s and i have never had an issue with any of them..Have you been on the 7950+ owners site and asked them?

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1196856/official-amd-radeon-hd-7950-7970-7990-owners-thread/25510#post_20017406

I have not, only because I like this community and I believe I can get sufficient advice here,

[iSuzak]

it's between the Sapphire card and Asus. thoses cards are really good, as for the Vrm cooling problem from sapphire, it's only for the first models of Vapor X, so if you take the Dual X you won't have any problem.

The Asus is the most quiet card, because it is really big (take 3 slots). Either way you can't go wrong with these two, just take the one you prefer for the esthetics or the cheapest one

Also if you're interested by a lifetime waranty Xfx is the way to go, but yeah their cooler isn't the best, it can get pretty hot and loud so if you want to do heavy overclock, you might not be able to do this.

[Guest]

I  quite like the XFX cards myself, had two 7850s before and now have a single 7970 and they work pretty good and run pretty cool, also if you buy the right one the clock speeds are really good out the box.

[That Norwegian Guy]

HIS is my favourite on pure aesthetics (the IceQ x2)

 

Sapphire is probably the best value.

 

XFX supposedly produces many lemons and has the highest RMA rate, though I don't know if that has changed, it was some time ago.

 

Asus is kinda meh, cooler is too big and not really good enough to warrant occupying 3 slots.

[OneGun]

HIS is my favourite on pure aesthetics (the IceQ x2)

 

Sapphire is probably the best value.

 

XFX supposedly produces many lemons and has the highest RMA rate, though I don't know if that has changed, it was some time ago.

 

Asus is kinda meh, cooler is too big and not really good enough to warrant occupying 3 slots.

I agree as my two ICEQ X2 cards look amazing..I personally like the his X2 as the best looking card also

[Akula]

Personally when choosing a card, the first thing i go for is MSI.

Excellent overclocking ability is majority of their cards & their cooling is amazing.

[AustinTheIntern]

Vapor-X 7970 toxic 6gb

Bam. Go buy that.

[Nad]

Haha I don't think we're making things any easier for OP with all of our different recommendations!

[Jeteroll]

Vapor-X 7970 toxic 6gb

Bam. Go buy that.

I would have considered that card, but once again I've heard bad things about the VRM cooling on Vapor-X cards, also it has been discontinued along with the MSI Lighting and the ASUS Matrix, which would have been my first choices.

[TechFan@ic]

The best 3 7970s that I always recommend are the HIS 7970 IceQ X2, the Sapphire Dual-X & the MSI Twinfrozr III.
I usually recommend grabbing which ever is cheapest among those three, they overclock very well & have excellent coolers.
The HIS being the best overclocker & the coolest of the bunch but it's also the most expensive "usually", it's a dead tie between the Sapphire & the MSI in terms of overclocking, but the sapphire card is a tiny bit quieter.

The Gigabyte & the XFX are voltage locked & run either too hot or too loud.

Haven't seen enough Powercolor reviews to recommend one of their cards, but one thing I'm sure of about their cards is that they're the quietest 2 slot designs out there only out classed by the large 3-slot DCUII cards.

NOTE: the VRM issue on the vapor-x cooler designs have been addressed a few months ago, only older models are affected, but there is still a chance that you might receive an older design upon ordering online.

[Deleon.David]

no the gigabyte card does not run hot and loud... i'm currently using one. (gigabyte 7970)

 

and you hardly see the blue pcb. it doesn't look back in my rig

[TechFan@ic]

no the gigabyte card does not run hot and loud... i'm currently using one. (gigabyte 7970)

 

and you hardly see the blue pcb. it doesn't look back in my rig

It doesn't run hot, but it's voltage locked & it's the loudest when overclocked.

[AustinTheIntern]

Xfx is okay - its voltage locked, and may overheat, but it has lifetime warranty.

[Deleon.David]

It doesn't run hot, but it's voltage locked & it's the loudest when overclocked.

i put mine on 100% fan speed (in a case with the side panel on)

the noise is tolerable (in my opinion

[TechFan@ic]

i put mine on 100% fan speed (in a case with the side panel on)

the noise is tolerable (in my opinion

If you try an HIS IceQ X2 or a Sapphire Dual-X you'll be pleasantly surprised then, they're very quiet cards.

[Uberskills]

i have an xfx 7950 double D black edition it can get loud when a 100% fan speed but it rarely goes over 60-70% fan speed for me thats after about 1-2 hours of battle field and my case has the worst airflow i only have one fan in it so the gpu isn't really getting much air so keep that in mind