SPCR

I'm considering these Sapphire cards from NewEgg. One of them has reviews, the other doesn't (as it just came out very recently). Does anyone have either of them? Has anyone seen reviews on the second?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102859

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102865

Just to end off the replies I received on another forum - I have made the decision to get an HD 5750. I am NOT looking for suggestions regarding a different series of cards.

Yeah I guess I saw your thread at AT. I think if some of those guys tried to consider the three-way balance between performance, price, and noise, instead of just the former two, their heads would explode.

The attractive blue 100284VXL one is the "Vapor-X" version of the card, and has the more advanced cooler. Vapor-X is a selling point, so I don't know why it's not included in the product title. It should be the quieter of the two, but until someone SPCR-minded gets their hands on one and posts a review, we won't know for sure.

Sometimes I get good advice over there, and other times I get variations of hectoring about why don't I get x, y or z product instead. At that point the thread generally turns into a debate between various proponents of competing products - usually none of which I am intereted in.

I am not familiar with the Vapor-X version of any of the Sapphire cards. Do you know anything about their overall performance versus the regular cards?

bump

Here's one:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3030/s ... index.html

This is another one to consider:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/ ... Cooler_IV/

So according to Tweaktown there was almost no difference in acoustic performance between the regular Sapphire 5750 and the Vapor-X? In addition, the Vapor-X used slightly more power?

Update:
This review here...
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... =firefox-a
although not reviewing the Vapor-X specifically, shows that even under full load the noise remained below 20 dBA. Temperatures were also very good, which you would expect with Vapor-X.

The tweaktown reviews do show only marginally quieter levels from the Vapor-X card, but remember it is factory overclocked. The overclocking would also account for the increased power consumption.

If you switched it back to stock speeds the power and noise levels would drop.

the vaporx uses higher quality components. If you are shopping for a 5750, it is a no brainer purchase. The mosfets are better made, it can withstand higher overclocks too, a LOT higher than "reference" boards. THis is due to cooling and the high quality, tested parts vs. crap.

I think the price difference is minimal. I duno when MSI or gigabyte will make a better quality 5770, none have so far. I bought the XFX one for its double lifetime warranty. I am assuming it might have been tested.

The best gear so far was from Visiontek, tested wise. they just dont make many models and are kinda dull.

One thing is for sure that site is bullshit they state the 5850 standard for a 18dba in idle thats tottaly NOT true as I have tested one myself and even in idle the cooler makes noise as hell

did you look at the powercolor fanless 5750?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131300

Looks very promising!

Even more can be expected from another model: The PowerColor Go! Green HD 5750:
http://www.guru3d.com/news/powercolor-g ... n-hd-5750/

It will be interesting to see how they take care of power consumtion at load. 85W is too much for cards without any extra power source. Let's wait till January ...

My review is the first one posted on NewEgg for the Vapor-X 5750. I like the card.

If you read the existing thread comparing PowerColor to Sapphire, the concern I grasped for PowerColor is it's another slapped-together budget card. Sapphire is using better components. See here:

viewtopic.php?t=56299

That Green card sounds interesting, I suspect they will be using chips that binned out as OK at lower default voltages.

both cards have the same two year warranty.

compare that with my gt260 superclocked, which has a lifetime warranty... in general, the best quality cards come with the longest warranties, why claim to have better components, and then not back it up?

Bit off topic: ... I had nvidia once ... but 2D picture was soo bad ... warranty is not everything... I still miss Matrox. It's very likely that you will change card after 2 years anyway.

What is important for silent PC users:
- sharp 2D image
- low idle running
- possible passive cooling
- etc.
- then warranty

This 5750 looks promising, maybe other manufacturers will follow.

Arctic Cooling S1 rev B is possible on a 5750 with a bit of modding.

XTX 5750 512MB:
http://img690.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=a ... rangle.jpg

Warning! This is what some people call ghetto-modding

Currently using a Slipstream running at 800rpm to cool it down. Hasn't so far exceeded 40C in full-load despite 100mhz core overclock. I'll probably change the fan to a 500rpm slipstream to make system even quieter.

Idle is btw from the wall about 20w lower than previous Gigabyte 4850 ZL card (which I'll give to my brother). No coil whining on 5750 either.

nice hack job on that cooler, lol!

Well, it works well so I cannot complain. There probably is no VGA cooler which is as good as AC S1.

Kaleid wrote:Well, it works well so I cannot complain. There probably is no VGA cooler which is as good as AC S1.

Well, there's the the AC Extreme 4870X2 which is one hell of a piece of engineering

Anyway, Prolimatech's first VGA cooler looks truly good, it may be the best fanned cooler ever made.

Parappaman wrote:

Kaleid wrote:Well, it works well so I cannot complain. There probably is no VGA cooler which is as good as AC S1.

Well, there's the the AC Extreme 4870X2 which is one hell of a piece of engineering

Anyway, Prolimatech's first VGA cooler looks truly good, it may be the best fanned cooler ever made.

Possible.. but it doesn't look cheap. And the fins might be too close to each other for low RPM fans. Plus only 92mm right? Shame..

I've been reading this and other excellent threads on SPCR due to interest in a quiet 5750 or possibly a 5770 to drive my new Samsung T260HD. Won't be doing any gaming except maybe an occasional flight sim. Like many here, low noise/heat/power consumption are more important for me than raw performance.

I'm wondering what the SPCR crowd thinks about the HIS HD 5750 iCooler. I just read a review on TechPowerUp which touts this as one of the quietest fan-cooled cards ever due to use of an Arctic Cooling solution. I have no experience with HIS, but this seems to be a quiet-friendly 5750.

After reading the TechPowerUp review, I came here to find discussions about it. The only reference I see on SPCR is the link to the same review earlier in this thread from b_rubenstein. (Strangely the SPCR search engine returned 0 results on "iCooler" even though it appears in the URL in b_rubenstein's post.)

I too have been wondering which version of the 5750 to get. I was put off the vapor-X and HIS icooler versions because neither of them seem to exhaust directly out of the case.
A couple of days ago I came across this version and after a bit of research on other cards with the same cooler, have ordered one this morning.

judge, I saw that HIS card as well, but was concerned about noise levels under load. I do like the idea of expelling heat outside the case. Please let us know how you like it!

Diamond makes a 5770 with the orginal ATI 5700 series cooling shroud that really looks nice. But I'm not confident about Diamond's customer service these days...

Unless I'm mistaken, the HIS 5750 (H575FN1GD) uses an Arctic Cooling L2 Pro. If so, this new Diamond 5750 (5750PE51G) and the PowerColor 5750 both seem to employ the same cooler but sport 2 DVI outputs instead of 1.

I was seconds away from pulling the trigger on that HIS Radeon when I read that PowerColor is coming up on December 18th with a Radeon 5770 that uses the same cooler as the HIS 5750. Better stock performance with hopefully similar noise floor!

In the same vein, this new PowerColor 5750 (SCS3 AX5750 1GBD5-S3DH) is actually fanless, using something that looks like a custom version of an Acceleso S1 Rev. 2 or Scythe VGA cooler? Anyways, sweet!

Wow, looks nice.

Nice indeed! I was a bit late to the boat though, other SPCRers had covered those models in this parallel thread. Oh well, more info the merrier!

I'd love such manufacturers to send those quiet video cards for review here. If the units fare well I imagine (hope) that showcasing a "SPCR-approved" logo on their boxes and their specs would help sales nicely in the niche yet lucrative HTPC market.

I really need a new card, so I'm following the market for a sillent gaming card closely.
I would prefer it being passive from the beginning.

I could obviously just buy the PowerColor, but I am very reluctant to do so, due to the reports of bad idle wattage on their cards.
Has someone seen any review of the specific passive 5750, where the idle power consumption is mentioned?

lechuck wrote:Bit off topic: ... I had nvidia once ... but 2D picture was soo bad ... warranty is not everything... I still miss Matrox. It's very likely that you will change card after 2 years anyway.

What is important for silent PC users:
- sharp 2D image

That is a non-issue once you stop using analog connections like VGA. The problems were strictly with varying quality of the conversion of image data to analog form and back.

With DVI-D, HDMI or DisplayPort, and using the native resolution of your panel, there should be no difference in the 2D image generated by different brand/model GPUs.

Except in some cases where a GPU has some effects processing specifically enabled that changes the picture.

And yes, I have personally experienced horrible 2D image from an old NVidia too, with VGA to my CRT, while a Matrox of the same era was just about perfect. But now, its not an issue anymore.

Ramses wrote: In the same vein, this new PowerColor 5750 (SCS3 AX5750 1GBD5-S3DH) is actually fanless, using something that looks like a custom version of an Acceleso S1 Rev. 2 or Scythe VGA cooler? Anyways, sweet!

I originally planned to get the Powercolor SCS3 HD 5750 once it was available in my area (which it is now), but after checking the size, I was able to determine that it will not fit in my fairly large HTPC case (Thermaltake Mozart).

I am now interested in the Powercolor PC3+ HD 5770 (which you mentioned).
http://www.powercolor.com/Global/produc ... uctID=6781
Noise with the OEM Accelero L2 Pro shouldn't be a problem, but I'm worried they will try to charge more for it since they have overclocked it by default.

Powercolor also lists the Play! HD5770 which also uses an OEM Accelero L2 Pro, but no one seems to sell it. =(
http://www.powercolor.com/Global/produc ... uctID=6686

steppinwolf wrote:judge, I saw that HIS card as well, but was concerned about noise levels under load. I do like the idea of expelling heat outside the case. Please let us know how you like it!

That card was only available from one supplier in the UK and now they are saying that they don't know when they will get a delivery. I've canceled the order and gone for the Sapphire Vapor-X version. I need to get the machine finished before Christmas so I can't wait any longer.

You can fit a high-quality passive cooler to a good card later. Or you can live with the OEM passive cooler fitted to a sub-standard card. Your choice.

I'd go with Sapphire, in fact I did.

It's a better card.

The way I see it I can fit some MASSIVE cooler array designed for a 58xx series card later, then my chassis which has minimal air flow may still do the job. Or maybe I'll need one very low-RPM fan to help out. The way I see it the heatsink array fitted by PowerColor will be "just enough" cooler and good enough for most situations but not for me.