7970 Ghz Edition worth over the 7970?

TheUnknownSources

Honorable
Apr 15, 2013
71
0
10,630
I decided to get a Gigabyte Radeon 7970, Ghz Edition is 50 bucks more, I heard that the 7970 can overclock to the ghz version levels, and ghz editions have a boost bios and that they could be binned for slightly higher overclock, so which one?
 
Normal version is perfectly fine, I have never heard of an HD7970 NOT reaching 1100MHz.

But yeah really should not get the Gigabyte as they are all voltage locked, making that huge silent cooler useless as OCing is more limited. Get a Sapphire Dual-X or HIS IceQ.
 

TheUnknownSources

Honorable
Apr 15, 2013
71
0
10,630


Hmmm...so if I'm not planning to overclock, would the ghz edition be a better choice?
 


Definitely at only 50$ more. Obviously this depends on how each one of us spends and earns.

But there really are better options than Gigabyte in my opinion despite the Voltage lock.
 

TheUnknownSources

Honorable
Apr 15, 2013
71
0
10,630


Dual-X quite expensive and discontinued on newegg , so here are the two...

HIS IceQ X²
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161412
SAPPHIRE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008

and I'm sure to overclock my GPU, since the 7970 can run almost anytime now a day.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008

That one is basically a Dual-X i was referring to, this one just has an added boost function.

Both those cards are awesome. I would toss a coin since they are also the same price.

BUT keep in mind the Sapphire has a 75 MHz higher boost clock. So yeah. Up to you.

Also look at the ports, the Sapphire has one extra DVI but one fewer DP port and the ICeQ has mini DP instead of normal DP.
Something to consider.
 
For any AMD/ATI card I would recommend Sapphire over any other manufacture. I have found there cards to be better for AMD/ATI and have used them from the 3850(AGP) all the way up to and including the 7970 and all of the cards are still running in PC's today. I can't say that for the few times I have got cards from others including Asus Gigabyte and MSI they have all died on me but all of the Sapphire cards are still going strong.

Strange but for Nvidia I seem to have better luck with Gigabyte.

As for the price difference I do not feel it is worth the extra $50 but that is because the 7970 is in my opinion fast enough the way it is.
 

TheUnknownSources

Honorable
Apr 15, 2013
71
0
10,630


Which one do you think runs more cooler and quieter?
 


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-overclock-review,3186-11.html

The Sapphire is SLIGHTLY better.