Question Which 6600 XT? Sapphire Nitro+ . . or . . MSI Mech 2x . . BUT, there's a $50 price gap

[King_V]

Basically what the subject line says. The card will be going into a Phanteks P360A case. Gaming will be at 2560x1080, and FreeSync will be capped at 75Hz.

Pricing, before tax - $389.99 for the Nitro+ vs $339.99 for the Mech 2x. I know the obvious that the Nitro+ is going to have the much better cooler. But, being a 160W card, and in a case with what (I believe) has competent cooling, will the Mech 2x create noticeably more noise?

EDIT: and, what if the Sapphire Pulse version were thrown into the mix? Hypothetically at halfway between the two in terms of price?

 

[Metal Messiah.]

I would say that if you can afford the Nitro+ Model from Sapphire then go for this instead. Slightly better build quality than Mech 2x. Though, I don't think the Mech 2x series of cards are loud either.

I have read really good and positive feedback for the Mech 2x series. So get the Mech 2x model instead, at least you can save 50 bucks. Speaking of Sapphire Pulse version/model, these are I think slightly lower clocked SKUs than the Nitro+ series. Apart from this, there is not a huge difference. Nitro+ model would be better though, if you can afford it. Though, we always OC the PULSE GPU to match Nitro+'s clock speeds, if need be.

Get the Sapphire Pulse version ONLY if there is a reasonable and big price difference between this model and Nitro+.

Sapphire actually makes some good and solid build quality cards though, as I have myself used quite a few models. Actually, when it comes to AMD cards, the general consensus is to go for the Sapphire brand instead. And in your case it's also an AMD GPU.

 

[rolli59]

The cards will last as long, have nearly the same performance and all come with good cooling solutions. Why not select on price.

 

[erminnz]

I have tried both cards and mech x2 is much louder. I'm happy with Sapphire now. Also don't get mech if you have gigabyte board.