what brand of used 7950 should I buy?

[soccerballtux]

I'm looking at selling my 7850 and getting a 7950. I don't know what brand is good / has a good cooler / is good for overclocking though.

 

[Piano Man]

Before I bought my 7950 back in the day I checked out Tom's article on a 6 card roundup:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7950-review-benchmark,3207.html

If you have 3 slots, the ASUS is the winner for best cooler, and best noise/temps. Otherwise, the Sapphire or PowerColor were good.

 

[soccerballtux]

gotta say I really timed the upgrade wrong, should have bought before the Fury came out and everyone started thinking about upgrading. Doh!

 

[Harrod]

I've been happy with the sapphire cards that I've been running, I don't know how well they overclock though.

 

[Greenlepricon]

I had a MSI Twin Frozr III for the longest time, and it overclocked like a champ. I can't remember the exact clocks, but I know it was around 1200MHz, and some go higher than that if you're lucky. If you can get one with a 7970 board like mine, those chips can really go above and beyond the others while staying relatively cool and reasonably quiet. I think Sapphire also had a 7950 with a 7970 PCB as well. Otherwise, the other cards will probably OC a tad lower, but for the most part do pretty well.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

Now is a good time to buy a 79xx card. With all the new cards that have come out in the past year, there are a lot of used cards on the market. Even in Canada, with our currently weak dollar, I see them selling at $120 or less.

I would avoid Sapphire. They have had a lot of problems with fan failure, especially in the 79xx cards. I'd go with MSI or Sapphire if you can get one, non-reference of course.