Who Snagged a HD 7970 Last Night?

[Dark Shroud]

What is the prefered brand by users on here? Sapphire? I tend to avoid Diamond and XFX due to poor reviews

For reference cards you want Sapphire, if anything they give you the most stuff in the box. I've bought about 8 different Sapphire cards in the last 10 years and all of them are still running.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I'm sure I'm going to get some debate, but Sapphire is the best for a number of reasons.

1)They sell the most AMD cards in the world
2)Have made AMD cards since the dawn of AMD time
3)They have an R&D role with AMD
4)They are the only manufacturer of the FirePro cards
5)Regardless of branding they are the only manufacturer of the dual chip cards.

sums it all up

 

[3DVagabond]

I'm sure I'm going to get some debate, but Sapphire is the best for a number of reasons.

1)They sell the most AMD cards in the world
2)Have made AMD cards since the dawn of AMD time
3)They have an R&D role with AMD
4)They are the only manufacturer of the FirePro cards
5)Regardless of branding they are the only manufacturer of the dual chip cards.

#5's not true. The XFX 5970 black edition and Asus Ares cards come to mind.

No argument though that Sapphire is an excellent company to buy from.

 

[Sailindawg]

How is the MSI 7970? My two choices are Saphire & MSI. I've used MSI cards in the past and have had no problems. Each seem to give a similar box of items. I guess my other question is Saphire's compatibility with Afterburner.

For those with Saphire cards that are using Afterburner, have you used the command line switch to extend clock frequencies?

 

[3DVagabond]

How is the MSI 7970? My two choices are Saphire & MSI. I've used MSI cards in the past and have had no problems. Each seem to give a similar box of items. I guess my other question is Saphire's compatibility with Afterburner.

For those with Saphire cards that are using Afterburner, have you used the command line switch to extend clock frequencies?

If you are comparing reference cards they will be identical. The only reasons to choose between the 2 are price, warranty, service from vendor where you are, and bundles.

 

[Sailindawg]

I was also kind of thinking of compatibility with AB. I like the utility, but I guess there's always full blown Riva Tuner. In reading some posts, some of the 7970 users running Saphire cards with AB and not getting clocks beyond AMD's overdrive, hence the question regarding the use of the command switch.

 

[Larnz]

Sapphire have trixx software kinda like AB sorta.

 

[SlowSpyder]

What is the preferred software for overclocking and adding a bit of voltage? Trixx? Afterburner?

 

[nOOky]

I didn't snag a card on launch day, but the more I thought about the more I wish I would have. They just came back in stock, so I should have my Sapphire by the end of the week.
I wanted to see what the 7950 brought to the table, but why not buy the best for once in my life?

 

[byteman99]

Got mine on on Friday but I didn't have time to play with it until yesterday. It was very nice to finally be able to turn up all the eye candy on my games. Haven't tried over-clocking yet.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Bah. Went to newegg and the 7970 page didn't show sapphire's out of stock. I lost my willpower and decided to buy one and when I add it to the cart it says there are none.

Kinda bummed, but maybe some good custom cards will come out before I can get a reference card in the cart.

Well, MSi's came back in stock so I snagged one of them. Can't wait for it to get here.