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Hz so good
Gerbil Elite
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Radeon 7950

Sun Dec 29, 2013 4:41 pm

Would it be worth it to swap out the stock twin fan cooler on a Sapphire 7950 with a 3 fan, or even a waterblock solution? I normally don't overclock graphic cards, but it would be nice to be able to push it a little, when then new batch of games roll out in 2014/2015, to give it a little longevity. It doesn't run exactly hot now, but I'd love to be able to push it under a really heavy load without frying the chip. If Maya 2013, and any good renderers get OpenCL support, I'd like to throw as much work onto the GPU as possible.
 
Prestige Worldwide
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Re: Radeon 7950

Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:01 pm

I wouldn't bother putting custom cooling to get a boost out of a 7950. They don't run that hot and there is headroom to overclock.

Any money you would spend on aftermarket cooling for a 7950 would better be used to buy a non-reference R9-290, combined with any money you can make selling your 7950 second-hand. That will actually give you more performance than overclocking ever could.
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Hz so good
Gerbil Elite
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Re: Radeon 7950

Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:06 pm

Ah. Good point! Thanks!
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: Radeon 7950

Mon Dec 30, 2013 7:51 am

Hz so good wrote:
Would it be worth it to swap out the stock twin fan cooler on a Sapphire 7950 with a 3 fan, or even a waterblock solution?
Definitely not. Sapphire's Vapor-X cooler is an excellent performer. You wouldn't get much more from an aftermarket cooler.

That money would be better saved for a future GPU upgrade (like the R9-290 that Prestige Worldwide suggested - or waiting for significantly-upgraded GPUs to arrive with TSMC's new manufacturing process next summer).
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