First timer

[Ghost]

*Over three years, almost 24/7.

They are physically the same object. In every single way. Swiftech even sell D5 pumps with the original Laing Sticker. It depends what ends up in the box.

[WunderWuffle]

They are physically the same object. In every single way. Swiftech even sell D5 pumps with the original Laing Sticker. It depends what ends up in the box.

Yup.

[TheDigitalRealm]

Do you guys think I could get the same performance with a  water cooled HD 7970 as an air cooled Ghz edition HD 7970?

[WunderWuffle]

If you put your 7970 (not Ghz) underwater, you could get way better performance by overclocking it.

[TheDigitalRealm]

If you put your 7970 (not Ghz) underwater, you could get way better performance by overclocking it.

So a water cooled 7970 (not Ghz) would beat an air cooled Ghz edition card? *Overclocked of course

[WunderWuffle]

So a water cooled 7970 (not Ghz) would beat an air cooled Ghz edition card?

If you overclock it, it would beat the Ghz edition, which is just a 7970 running at 1 Ghz.

[TheDigitalRealm]

Just realized that by the time I upgrade I'll be getting new Graphics cards anyway.

[WunderWuffle]

Just realized that by the time I upgrade I'll be getting new Graphics cards anyway.

What do you have right now? What do plan on getting?

[TheDigitalRealm]

What do you have right now? What do plan on getting?

I don't, I'm building my first system, but by the time I upgrade this upcoming system (next christmas or later) I'll be getting new video cards anyway, so these 7970's wont need to be water cooling compatible.

[TheDigitalRealm]

I've just looked at some 7950 reviews and benchmarks in crossfire...it's actually really good! You can overclock a sapphire vapor x 7950 to 7970 performance and beyond via overvolting.

[RaphYkun]

yeah, that's why they say the 7950 is such a good value. Also, your 6GB 7970 doesn't fit like anyone's waterblocks  (and really, 6 GB isn't needed unless you got multiple 4K monitors or crazy eyefinity set-up)...

Obviously, it still sort of depends on the silicon lottery. You are guaranteed Ghz performance on an Ghz card. You can be assured that a reference 7970 should perform like any other 7970 and you better hope your 7950 performs at least as good as a stock reference 7950.  But by all reason and anecdotal experience, overclcocking a 7950 will get you similar performance for less up front cost.

Also a note, if you plan on putting your GPU in the loop, you may as well get a reference card since you won't have to pay for the huge cooler you won't use.

[TheDigitalRealm]

yeah, that's why they say the 7950 is such a good value. Also, your 6GB 7970 doesn't fit like anyone's waterblocks  (and really, 6 GB isn't needed unless you got multiple 4K monitors or crazy eyefinity set-up)...

Obviously, it still sort of depends on the silicon lottery. You are guaranteed Ghz performance on an Ghz card. You can be assured that a reference 7970 should perform like any other 7970 and you better hope your 7950 performs at least as good as a stock reference 7950.  But by all reason and anecdotal experience, overclcocking a 7950 will get you similar performance for less up front cost.

Also a note, if you plan on putting your GPU in the loop, you may as well get a reference card since you won't have to pay for the huge cooler you won't use.

Don't worry about water cooling. I won't be jumping into that until it's time to upgrade, or maybe just later down the line a bit. Waterblock compatibility isn't that much of an issue.