7850- Best OC?

[MeicoPotato]

I want to know which 7850 has the best OC ability. I've done some research, and found some wide variety of answers.

One person said that Powercolor has the best OC ability and provided a link: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_7850_PCS_Plus/31.html

Another person said that the HIS IceQ has a good OC ability, too.

Then, someone said that ASUS is the best, and Gigabyte is good too.


There is a lot of different opinions obviously, so I need a couple of people to guide me to the right way.
Budget is not an issue, as long as it does not exceed $210.

I am NOT going to downgrade to a 7770, and I will NOT upgrade to a 7870.

 

[amirp]

in my opinion....the difference in overclocking potential between them won't be very noticeable in the real world... what you should really consider since you are overclocking is buying the highest quality one with the best fan and cooling performance to keep the card cool and Quiet if that's important to you. And then I'm unsure if all, some, or none of the 7850's support voltage control, but I specifically bought my 6850 with voltage control so I could overclock it more, so that should be a feature to look for for sure.

Edit.... I would not buy the asus model with the 1 fan ... I have it but on a 6850 and it's very loud and doesnt have good cooling performance. Looks like this:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121704

 

[JJ1217]

If you want to get the best OC, go for a cooler that allows you to add more voltage. The Asus DCII (Although I find it ugly on the 7850 because it extends past the PCB), is probably the best one, although I'm not sure if its voltage locked. I've got two of my 7850's at 1.2 GHZ, one goes up to 1.4 GHZ but in crossfire its too hot to have one card at 1.4 and another at 1.2.

 

[MeicoPotato]

If you want to get the best OC, go for a cooler that allows you to add more voltage. The Asus DCII (Although I find it ugly on the 7850 because it extends past the PCB), is probably the best one, although I'm not sure if its voltage locked. I've got two of my 7850's at 1.2 GHZ, one goes up to 1.4 GHZ but in crossfire its too hot to have one card at 1.4 and another at 1.2.

How about this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161425&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA&gclid=CI7-pv_T1bQCFYZaMgodlRUASQ

I've heard good things from HIS and their cooling.

 

[JJ1217]

How about this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161425&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA&gclid=CI7-pv_T1bQCFYZaMgodlRUASQ

I've heard good things from HIS and their cooling.

From what I've seen on forums they seem to have the highest chance of having some sort of issue. Similar to how Sapphire's 7870 GHZ edition is a total bust.

Also, that is a 1GB card, at 1080p nowadays, this is no where near enough.

 

[MeicoPotato]

From what I've seen on forums they seem to have the highest chance of having some sort of issue. Similar to how Sapphire's 7870 GHZ edition is a total bust.

Also, that is a 1GB card, at 1080p nowadays, this is no where near enough.

I will agree with you on the card, but I completely disagree with you saying that 1GB isn't enough. It really depends on your resolution. If you're max is only 1920 X 1200, 1GB is more than enough. Only then the 2GB will be useful for only a few games, like Crysis 2. Even then, the FPS isn't that much different. BluRay is the same thing. People have the misconception that it uses a lot of memory, but the fact is that it barely uses any.

And my resolution is only 1680 x 1050. So 1GB is PLENTY, unless I plan on buying a higher resolution monitor.

EDIT: Here's a review of the HIS IceQ: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5103/his_radeon_hd_7850_2gb_iceq_turbo_video_card_review/index20.html

The charts show that temperature, noise level, and power consumption are all pretty low compared to the other cards, especially temperature level, where it sits on the very bottom. The reviewer said that the OC is great, too.

 

[JJ1217]

I will agree with you on the card, but I completely disagree with you saying that 1GB isn't enough. It really depends on your resolution. If you're max is only 1920 X 1200, 1GB is more than enough. Only then the 2GB will be useful for only a few games, like Crysis 2. Even then, the FPS isn't that much different. BluRay is the same thing. People have the misconception that it uses a lot of memory, but the fact is that it barely uses any.

And my resolution is only 1680 x 1050. So 1GB is PLENTY, unless I plan on buying a higher resolution monitor.

EDIT: Here's a review of the HIS IceQ: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5103/his_radeon_hd_7850_2gb_iceq_turbo_video_card_review/index20.html

The charts show that temperature, noise level, and power consumption are all pretty low compared to the other cards, especially temperature level, where it sits on the very bottom. The reviewer said that the OC is great, too.

Review cards are basically always cherry picked to make them look better. HIS also have the worst RMA service from what I've heard, such as sending you back the same card even if they found a fault.

 

[MeicoPotato]

Review cards are basically always cherry picked to make them look better. HIS also have the worst RMA service from what I've heard, such as sending you back the same card even if they found a fault.

Why would they be "cherry picked"? If the cards are reviewed professionally, then the reviewer would have to be unbiased, wouldn't they? This doesn't make sense to me.

 

[JJ1217]

Why would they be "cherry picked"? If the cards are reviewed professionally, then the reviewer would have to be unbiased, wouldn't they? This doesn't make sense to me.

Cherry picked means that the manufacturer of the card (HIS for example), will send a card that is perfect, and overclocks very highly to make the reviewer think that the card overclocks well, when in fact, its just that isolated card.

Its like the Club3D 7950. Tiny Tom Logan hit like 1200 mhz on the Core, but everyone else who got the card because of his review have barely been able to overclock at all.

 

[MeicoPotato]

Cherry picked means that the manufacturer of the card (HIS for example), will send a card that is perfect, and overclocks very highly to make the reviewer think that the card overclocks well, when in fact, its just that isolated card.

Its like the Club3D 7950. Tiny Tom Logan hit like 1200 mhz on the Core, but everyone else who got the card because of his review have barely been able to overclock at all.

Okay, sorry about that. Thanks for your help. I think I'm gonna get this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202004

 

[JJ1217]

Go for it, Sapphire make pretty good cards. I have two of their 7850's.

 

[MeicoPotato]

Okay, thanks for your help!

 

[MeicoPotato]

Best answer selected by MeicoPotato.