Help with choosing HD 7870 Brand

[Spooderman]

Okay guys, so recently with my new summer job I decided to bite the bullet and go for a graphics upgrade. I settled on the 7870, but I'm hung up on which company to choose from. I was originally going to choose Sapphire, but now I'm not so sure. XFX is almost out of the question. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know. Thanks for any help.

 

[luckiest charm]

Sapphire is by far the best brand if you want ATI Radeon cards.
After that there is PowerColor and Asus.

To be honest I would not recommend HD 7870, instead I would say go for 7870 MYST which uses the core of HD 7950 (Tahiti) -

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/powercolor-video-card-ax78702gbd52dhppv3e

Or

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-111992020g

In here I would suggest PowerColor version due to lower price but same performance.

 

[robnof]

Okay guys, so recently with my new summer job I decided to bite the bullet and go for a graphics upgrade. I settled on the 7870, but I'm hung up on which company to choose from. I was originally going to choose Sapphire, but now I'm not so sure. XFX is almost out of the question. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know. Thanks for any help.

Asus and HIS are the ones I have bought in recent years for Radeon. No complaints.

 

[Larry Bob]

In here I would suggest PowerColor version due to lower price but same performance.

Uh, the cooler absolutely sucks, especially for a Tahiti core. That cooler belongs on a 7770 or something.

 

[neieus]

Sapphire is by far the best brand if you want ATI Radeon cards.
After that there is PowerColor.

To be honest I would not recommend HD 7870, instead I would say go for 7870 MYST which uses the core of HD 7950 (Tahiti) -

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/powercolor-video-card-ax78702gbd52dhppv3e

Or

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-111992020g

In here I would suggest PowerColor version due to lower price but same performance.

I suggest as already mentioned find one that has the Tahiti GPU. I also want to point out that you should avoid the Sapphire 7870's entirely. I have nothing against any of their other cards but that series has a lot of problems. Go to the link below and look under "Black Screen Issues" but I should point out also that this known problem isn't tied to Sapphire alone. I've done some searching around the net and discovered that it seems to be the same for every 7870 based on the batch number. I currently have the Sapphire 7870 and working on my second RMA both for the same problem....

http://www.sapphireforum.com/forumdisplay.php?35-HD-7800-Series

 

[Spooderman]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I may end up going with a 7870 Myst, but I still have some time before it's time to buy.

 

[luckiest charm]

That is truly strange.

I have never heard of anything like that from Sapphire GPUs. I use one myself for over an year and it runs perfectly.

Well, that is sad to hear. So that makes PowerColor version an even better choice and if something bad happened the cards can be replaced hopefully.

 

[Spooderman]

If I can't get a Myst edition for whatever reason I'm inclined to go with the Sapphire, but I hope I can scrape together enough for the myst.

 

[luckiest charm]

MYST is the very best you can get out of 7870. That is a huge improvement over a stock 7870.

If HD 7950 is 10 then 7870 MYST is 9.5. And difference b/w 7870 and 7950 is also huge.

 

[Spooderman]

Alright, I'm probably going to pick up a myst edition, thanks for all your help.

 

[Larry Bob]

Get the XT instead. The Myst Edition cooler absolutely SUCKS.

They're both the same chip anyway.

 

[luckiest charm]

Get the XT instead. The Myst Edition cooler absolutely SUCKS.

They're both the same chip anyway.

What is the difference between the two mate?

Both are Tahiti GPUs. I don't see any problem with PowerColor HD 7870 MYST.
Its cooler is good enough too and there is no need to overclock the card too much for it to get smoking hot.

It would easily support mild OC.

 

[Larry Bob]

Why would you intentionally buy a bad cooler over a very good one when given the opportunity?

 

[Spooderman]

Maybe I can get the XT instead, but I'm not that worried about overclocking. Like I said, I still have some time to do more research, I just wanted to hear other's views on the subject.

 

[Larry Bob]

It'll run cooler in general though, and it's exactly the same chip, just the card's from a better manufacturer.

 

[luckiest charm]

Which GPU are you talking about?
I searched all over the internet for PowerColor HD 7870 XT and couldn't find it out.

It is just Myst.

Sapphire might have XT edition but as above guy said, it encounters black screens.

All in all PowerColor HD 7870 MYST. is a great option. At least there are minimal to no issues with that. OP would not be overclocking the card to its very extreme since it is already GHz Edition. The card is very successful for some reason.

Also, since the OP has selected the Solution, Tom's Hardware does not grant you the right to unselect OP's chosen solution and override it with your own.

 

[Larry Bob]

? to last paragraph. I just selected a good answer.

The XT does NOT encounter black screens, I have it and have never had such a problem.

 

[luckiest charm]

You did not selected a good answer but you un-selected previous good answer selected by OP and overrode that with your.

Oh, please get me a link of your card.

 

[Larry Bob]

Well, that's a bug in TH forums, if they only want OP picking.

Link to where I bought it?

 

[luckiest charm]

Link to what you bought.

Your video card's full name along with its prices.

 

[b737lvr]

I liked my XFX when I had it. But IMO Sapphire can't be beat. They are the master's of it all. The cooling is just amazing. I never go over 55c with my 7970