Hi all. I have to change my old Sapphire 4650 with a new series 7870, my question is between these two video cards: MSi R7870 Hawk - Sapphire 7870 OC Edition GHz 2GB GDDR5. I read some positive reviews and excellent qualities of overclocking on MSi but also the cooling system noise, I wanted to know if the noise is enough to cover the sound of video games, and if in normal operation as playing video editing etc. is evident. Thanks and sorry for my bad english. Below is my platform
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AMD Radeon 7870 - Sapphire or MSi
- Thread starter Kovack
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2012
- Location
- Los Angeles
If it's worth anything, I'm sending my Sapphire 7870 off today for RMA. There's a large issue with them causing screen locks/black screens/system locks when they get too warm (which, shouldn't happen, because "too warm" in this regard is like 50C).
I love Sapphire, have had a lot of their cards, but the 7870 series (and from other MFGs too) has been experiencing issues because of poorly made parts.
I love Sapphire, have had a lot of their cards, but the 7870 series (and from other MFGs too) has been experiencing issues because of poorly made parts.
- Thread Starter
- #6
This is strange problem I've heard very few people with such difficulties, perhaps the model in question is a very isolated case
I have read that because of the GPU reactor may need to use a motherboard with three PCi Express slot, in order to keep more distant between them
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2012
- Location
- Los Angeles
Unfortunately, it's not an isolated case. Since everything but my GPU was watercooled, there was very little ambient heat (even with a sidepanel off).
Here's an in-depth analysis of the situation.
http://www.behardware.com/news/12705/black-screens-and-radeon-hd7870-a-solution.html
Here's an in-depth analysis of the situation.
http://www.behardware.com/news/12705/black-screens-and-radeon-hd7870-a-solution.html
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2012
- Location
- Los Angeles
It seems MOST 7870's from MSI, Powercolor, and Sapphire are having the issue as far as I can tell. You can always go 7950, which is on sale right now for what I got my 7870 for, and it comes with 3 games.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2012
- Location
- Los Angeles
Which may be true, I don't want to misinform anyone, just wanted to ensure people are aware of a widespread, known issue. 
- Thread Starter
- #12
Perhaps it is more similar in their design and overclock the 7970 model MSi Lighting (R7970 Lightning), but the current price is still too high.
I was very impressed by the innovative project taken on MSi Hawk and Lightning series, even though I only read the reviews but I have not experienced it
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2012
- Location
- Malaysia, South East Asia.
Hey mate im too having that problem , which im still trying to confirm if it is my card / is it caused by Diablo3 , because it only happened in Diablo3 so far.
May i ask when did you bought your card ??
Also do you have the BIOS number of your card ?? Whether is your old card (The one you sent to RMA ) or new card ( The one after you RMA ) i don't mind , PM me if you do have it plz , tks.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2011
That might be true for Sapphire but my Asus 7870 is not having any issue so far. I run my card up to 70 C and even overclocked, it would probably even handle 100 C without black screen. "Too warm" usualy means 100C, nothing less. If it cant handle such temps its usualy a design flaw. Generaly, AMD was not very nice with the reference design of the 7870 because its underpowered and in term the vendor didnt intercept, it may cause problems. A OC 7870 may need same amount of juice such as a 6950.
MSI's most known 7870 is a special PCB design named "Hawk" and i can tell you that this card is not having such issues apart from the usual failure rate any card got. You could even OC the Hawk to 1300 Mhz and heat it up to 80 C, it may probably stay stable.
Besides: Not every crash or freeze is necessarely a GPU issue, other hardware parts can have equal behaviour. So, i recommend to send the card to a vendor, so they can test it on theyr machine to ensure that it truly is the card.
However, failure rate is pretty big nowadays. I would say 20% is realistic. My first GPU was causing artifacts, so i did RMA and my second 7870 was working properly. The quality nowadays surely is inferior and at critical condition. Its simply a cheap mass production with a sadly astounding failure rate. Although, thats what warranty is here for. Instead of crunching some fingers, just take it easy and ask for replacement. Thats how it works, quality simply is not granted. Sure, the Hawk got powerful electronic parts, but that doesnt mean that the failure rate is lesser and generally, as more parts as higher the risk of failure (more parts, higher risk). I use the Hawk because in term there is no failure, the expected endurance (lifetime) is higher. Failure rate and endurance are 2 different things, most cards which got a failure will be busted inside warranty time. In term it will exceed warranty time its one of those "shiny eggs" with higher than usual endurance. The Hawk is 3 year warranty, so nothing to worry (my Asus got 2 years only).
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I have a Sapphire OC 7870 and all I can really add to this conversation is that I feel it is extremely silent. A noisy fan from Coolermaster, that I will replace, makes the most noise in my case at idle. I have had no issues, but the card is being bottlenecked by my Core2Duo E8400 for right now. I believe I purchased my 7870 right when 660Ti was released.
I did a lot of reading of reviews as I am not very stuck on one brand and this was a good price/good feature card.
I did a lot of reading of reviews as I am not very stuck on one brand and this was a good price/good feature card.
