Sapphire 7970 vs GHz

[leoweisman]

So I'd almost completely decided on purchasing the SAPPHIRE 100351SR Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card OC with Boost http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008, but recently that card and the SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100351VXSR Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001 both went on sale, and are now both within my price range. I am wondering what differences I will really see with the GHz over the normal, and whether its worth that extra $30-40$... I will only be gaming at 1080p, but I will be trying to max out titles such as PlanetSide 2, BF3, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3, ect. Thank you!

Build:

CPU: i5-3570k
Cooler: Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: ASrock Z77 Extreme4
RAM: 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance
SSD: Samsung 840 Series 120GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
PSU: Corsair TX 650w v2

 

[TheBigTroll]

wouldnt bother with the gigahertz edition. the difference is made up by a few minutes of tweaking

as for the build, id get this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/OCbf

-better CPU cooler
-way better motherboard
-way better SSD
-cheaper and faster ram
-you dont need 650w
-hard drive has a bit more warranty but both choices are good

 

[leoweisman]

wouldnt bother with the gigahertz edition. the difference is made up by a few minutes of tweaking

as for the build, id get this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/OCbf

-better CPU cooler
-way better motherboard
-way better SSD
-cheaper and faster ram
-you dont need 650w
-hard drive has a bit more warranty but both choices are good

Thanks for the advice, I'll probably go with the normal 7970, don't want to spend money on something that I don't need. Unfortunately I've already ordered most of the parts for my build, I was just waiting on the GPU because it went on sale and I wanted a second opinion, but I appreciate the suggestions.

 

[TheBigTroll]

^ so tell me. why the heck would companies put a giant-ass heatsink on their card and market it above the reference design when they know that the reference diesgn cools sufficiently? there is a reason that companies PROMOTE overclocking

and the fact that you are going to pay 30-50 dollars more for a overclocked card just tells me that you are too lazy to download some software and change some settings. at that rate, it kinda leads back to why people buy a mac

 

[TheBigTroll]

mess around tweaking : what other things can you do other than overclocking

guaranteed performance and stability out of the box : the reason people buy a mac

you didnt read 😛

 

[TheBigTroll]

so, what is the difference between a 7970 and a 7970ghz? the only thing that seperates them is clock speed, which you just said is not worth it because its not much of a performance gain. you just helped me prove my point. thanks

 

[TheBigTroll]

so tell me the point of silicon binning when you are not overclocking. lifespan is out of the question because by the time these cards die, it will be 10 years from now. operating temps are out of the question as well since every one uses a different cooler and every card has different temps.

and as for the bios, the only thing different is that the card will boost 50mhz, which is basically overclocking which you just said is not going to help much

and as you state, there isnt a whole lot different from the 2 cards. now tell me the reasoning of getting a ghz edition card?

 

[smeezekitty]

Some low binned chips cannot handle even a small overclock without going unstable.

 

[TheBigTroll]

but you just said, overclocking is useless. also, the fact that just about every single 7970 hits 1100mhz with ease tells me that none of them are crap.

 

[TheBigTroll]

so, you still havent justified why he should get a ghz edition card.

 

[TheBigTroll]

noob, pulling out that the copy and paste eh and trying catch me off guard?

1) it doesnt void the warranty. i personally asked gigabyte and a couple of other companies and they encourage you to overclock their cards
2)run more stable? they are the same pieces of silicon
3)what is the point of binning and lower temperatures when you are not going to overclock?
4)if you say overclocking or running at a higher clockspeed is useless, why is it so important to get the higher clocked card?

do you have some legitmate points that go against mine? if not, you are wasting time trying win a lost argument

 

[smeezekitty]

I don't think overclocking voids the warranty.

 

[gloo69]

Ghz all the way dude, you don't need to bother with overclocking or anything. I have a sapphire vapor-x 7970 ghz and its amazing every game can be played maxed out at 1080p well except for crysis 3 but thats crysis haha Look at the His 7970 ghz iceqx2. Check out neweggs benchmarks on it on youtube.

 

[TheBigTroll]

^ you are doing it seriously wrong. no one buys a GPU with pretty much the best cooling you can possibly get and not overclock the card

 

[gloo69]

Ehh calm down bro don't get all worked up now! He can buy a ghz card and not need to overclock it to get good performance but if he wanted to go for it to get better performance in some demanding games.

 

[TheBigTroll]

I don't think overclocking voids the warranty.

It's does if you break the card from OCing.

would you like me to post my conversation with my gigabyte rep?

 

[TheBigTroll]

^ you are doing it seriously wrong. no one buys a GPU with pretty much the best cooling you can possibly get and not overclock the card

The new cards don't even need better cooling they run cool to begin with. My new Gigabyte Windforce HD 7850 has never went "Warmer" than 52c and the fan has never went above idle.

wow. thanks again. so why buy a ghz edition when the regular stuff doesnt go hot as you just stated

 

[TheBigTroll]

so you bought a card with very good cooling but you are not to overclock? what is the point of that? running cooler wont make your card last longer as long as its under 80c. the card is still going to last 10 years at the least, by then you have already replaced it so whats the point of making it run cool when you arent going to overclock?

and the windforce is not silent at max operation. i have a windforce 3x 670 myself. if you run it at max (100% fan speed), they are jet engines

 

[2wenty]

I don't think I'm quite catching the argument here. Ghz edition cards use higher binned silicon, which are usually more efficient, and so produce less heat at higher stock clocks. If you get a Ghz edition card, you should generally overclock since the chips (usually) offer some headroom. The non-reference coolers can usually handle extra load, and so you can pull out some higher clocks quite easily.
That said, reference 7970s 'can' also handle overclocks, but since the silicon isn't binned as well, the consumer is relying more on the luck of the draw for a better overclocking chip. Buying a Ghz edition card guarantees higher stock clock speeds, and usually have even more headroom above them, but reference 7970s with non-reference coolers can also get pretty good overclocks, just that you need to be a bit luckier to get a decent overclocking chip.

 

[TheBigTroll]

I don't think I'm quite catching the argument here. Ghz edition cards use higher binned silicon, which are usually more efficient, and so produce less heat at higher stock clocks. If you get a Ghz edition card, you should generally overclock since the chips (usually) offer some headroom. The non-reference coolers can usually handle extra load, and so you can pull out some higher clocks quite easily.
That said, reference 7970s 'can' also handle overclocks, but since the silicon isn't binned as well, the consumer is relying more on the luck of the draw for a better overclocking chip. Buying a Ghz edition card guarantees higher stock clock speeds, and usually have even more headroom above them, but reference 7970s with non-reference coolers can also get pretty good overclocks, just that you need to be a bit luckier to get a decent overclocking chip.

each card has different mileages. for example, a gigabyte 7970 oc reached 1305mhz reviewed by hardocp. but then you look at a ghz matrix 7970 from asus and it was only 5mhz faster.

the silicon is the same. the binning is the same. its up to the manufacturer to decide whether they want to slap a bios to a certain card or not. its a known fact that every card can do 1000mhz. therefore to have a ghz edition card, it doesnt mean its binned seperately

 

[TheBigTroll]

so you bought a card with very good cooling but you are not to overclock? what is the point of that?

Silence on the desktop and silence while gaming. Also it just so happened that the card with the best cooler was also the cheapest deal I could find on the Internet. For many people performance is as important as low sound levels.

and the windforce is not silent at max operation. i have a windforce 3x 670 myself. if you run it at max (100% fan speed), they are jet engines

Funny cause the fan never goes above idle on my card when under max gaming load. Every card sounds loud on 100% fan speed but every card does not need it @ 100%. The fan on my card never moves from 40% which is idle.

you just said its quiet at max speed, therefore referencing 100% fan speed. no card is quiet. so how does a ghz edition card become noticeably quieter than a regular edition card? you still havent justified why a ghz edition is a lot better than a regular card

 

[ko888]

each card has different mileages. for example, a gigabyte 7970 oc reached 1305mhz reviewed by hardocp. but then you look at a ghz matrix 7970 from asus and it was only 5mhz faster.

the silicon is the same. the binning is the same. its up to the manufacturer to decide whether they want to slap a bios to a certain card or not. its a known fact that every card can do 1000mhz. therefore to have a ghz edition card, it doesnt mean its binned seperately

Where did you get the idea that the silicon is the same?

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition uses the Tahiti XT2 GPU.

The Radeon HD 7970 uses the Tahiti XT GPU.

The Tahiti XT2 has been refined to facilitate significantly higher clock speeds, at significantly lower voltages, than the original Tahiti XT chips.

 

[TheBigTroll]

from anandtech
As far as performance and functionality goes, the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970GE) is a rather straightforward upgrade to the existing Radeon HD 7970. In fact the hardware is absolutely identical right down to the GPU – there have been no changes to the PCB, the cooling, or the VRMs, and even the Tahiti GPU is the same revision that has been shipping in the 7970 since the beginning.

 

[smeezekitty]

But they need to be binned differently because not all GPUs can handle the higher clocks.

7970 may or may not overclock well. 7970GHz is already known to be a good OCer

 

[TheBigTroll]

^ did i not already show you that every 7970 overclocks well?