Decided on 7970, but which one?

[Eschbach]

SO, since the 680 is almost impossible to get my hands on and the difference is minimal, I have decided to go the 7970 route. I have narrowed it down to these 2. I have never heard anything about HIS, so I was looking for advice from those of you who have experience here.

HIS IceQ X² H797QM3G2M Radeon HD 7970 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161412

SAPPHIRE 11197-01-40G Radeon HD 7970 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102982

[inux94]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102982

Personally. =)

I've got more faith in Sapphire.

[Drunkenvalley]

I find the Sapphire are fairly lazy in their packaging, so I don't plan on purchasing from them in the future in fear of them being lazy elsewhere, while HIS had a really good presentation and good packaging.

This was with the exact same card, which were my first two reference HD 7970s. Ie there existed no actual quality difference aside from that, or shouldn't have any differences.

But this was a rather crude and limited insight into the companies, so I wouldn't exactly hold it against them.

[DarkBlade6]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125413

This one bro, the Windforce 3X is a great cooler and has a good reputation, very silent even at high RPM.

[ApocolypticTampon]

Loving my gigabyte 7970OC
1100/1450 with +20%

[Eschbach]

Split 3 ways, with the present winner being one that wasn't even on the list! Thanks for your input. Any others want to chime in before I place my order?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

The WindforceX3 cooler on my 7950 is effing silent and efficient. Can't imagine it being any different on the 7950's big brother, so seconding it

[Sithel]

Not sure if you have ordered yet or not, but here is a statistical comparision of the cards for Graphics clock, Memory Clock, Size, weight, noise level, ect. Might want to give it a look.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3186.html

[Deleted]

Not sure if you have ordered yet or not, but here is a statistical comparision of the cards for Graphics clock, Memory Clock, Size, weight, noise level, ect. Might want to give it a look.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3186.html

MSI turns out to be the quitest one in that test, while this test shows that it's over 51 decibels, which is unbearable.

[Evil Inside]

Personally I'd go with Sapphire. I've had good experiences with their cards.

[Sithel]

I personally am going to be ordering the Sapphire ones as well. Only thing about the is that they have a larger cooler than the other cards, and as such it actually takes up more than 2 slots due to it's bulk. You won't be able to fit more than one of them one some boards. Though not much would need more than one of these right now.

[Nerph-]

I'd go with the Gigabyte one... their cooling is freaking amazing.

[Eschbach]

Thanks, Sithel - that is a perfect article. More food for thought.

[Kivana]

My previous GPU was a Sapphire and it was very quiet with good cooling so they are a safe bet in my eyes.

Current GPU is a HiS Radeon HD 5670, not the most beastly of cards but it is also quiet with superb cooling.

Personally id go with the card you like the look of most, unless ofc you are a min/maxer who HAS to have an absofuckinglutely silent PC.

[Sykotic13]

MSI turns out to be the quitest one in that test, while this test shows that it's over 51 decibels, which is unbearable.

Honestly, that looks like they got a bad sample. There is no way it should be that loud. In the end I will trust Tom's Hardware over most other sites. Just saying.