New Gpu

[zpwslayer]

Ok, so im shopping for a new gpu soon and i've got it narrowed down to these two cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161412


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008

Which brand do you think would be the better choice? Ive had a couple sapphire cards and never had a problem out of them, but those were old (4xxx). I've never purchased a H.I.S brand before and I dont know anything about this company or there products. Any help on this would be much appriciated!!

 

[xXmjzXx]

Well Like you said you have had sapphire cards and never had a problem with them. So i would go with the sapphire since you have had there products before. And looking at the specs of these cards the sapphire card seems to just be a bit better..

 

[bigshootr8]

I would say that most seem to really like the product that sapphire puts out. HIS does good stuff as well however the better AMD cards are through Sapphire with there Vapor-X line.

However I would advise that you make a informed decision based on the model of the card as different cards bring different features.

 

[zpwslayer]

I think ill go with the sapphire. Its 379 after a rebate, and it should run a lot quieter and cooler than a reference which is what I was oringinaly looking at. I live about an hour away from Microcenter and they have a diamond 7970 reference card I was goin to buy, but after watching some reviews on how loud and hot they run I want to go with something a little more efficient.

 

[bigshootr8]

Yea its a good way to look at it because heat will cause you to eat through my power most certainly. And I have a hard time with reference cards myself the aftermarket coolers are that much better. On the Nvidia side you can justify EVGA because of what you get with the company but otherwise aftermarket all the way.

 

[zpwslayer]

What about 2 660's sli? I could get two of these for a little bit more than one 7970. Would they perform as well as a single 7970?

 

[bigshootr8]

General rule of thumb is to get 1 really good GPU. I feel you would be better off with a single 7970 honestly.

 

[zpwslayer]

I thought that also, I guess I just need to be more sure about my decisions. Plus I would have to buy a the asrock extreme board, and I dont want to to that because I love the board I have and Im tired of reloading windows and all that crap lol Hopefully the 7970 will be a good contender for a while, because I dont want to have to upgrade 6 months after I buy this card.

 

[bigshootr8]

Well normally the higher end cards have a tendency of being longer lasting cards then your mid/low end cards. What are you currently running.

CPU:
RAM:
Motherboard:
GPU: (WIP)
PSU:
WIP:

 

[zpwslayer]

Asrock pro4
i5 3570 @4ghz
8 gigs corsair vengance
1000 kingwin psu
windows 7 ult.

 

[bigshootr8]

do you know the chipset of the pro4 z68, z77? Either way thought it looks like you are just fine slipping in a 7970 and off you go.

 

[zpwslayer]

z77 sorry bout that lol

 

[bigshootr8]

It's all good I should of guessed with your processor being a 3570k. I get what you were saying now because the pro boards aren't really centered around sli, and crossfire.

 

[zpwslayer]

Yea, theres 1 16x and one 4x, I would need at least 2 8x for sli, and another 150+for the extreme 4 board, so ill just stick with the single gpu.

 

[bigshootr8]

Yea, I would say for most people a single gpu is the way to go when you can if all possible.

-More Stability
-Better Scaling
-less heat
-less power

 

[zpwslayer]

Best answer selected by zpwslayer.