Sapphire Vapor-X 5770 vs Vapor-X 5850?

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tom thumb
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 5:49 am
Location: Middle Earth

Sapphire Vapor-X 5770 vs Vapor-X 5850?

Post by tom thumb » Mon Sep 20, 2010 7:56 am

I am trying to chose between these two cards. To some it might look like an easy decision dependent on what my requirements are, but I also must consider noise and price.

1. How do these two cards compare in terms of noise at idle, at maximum and equal load (that is to say, how would the noise compare if both were loaded equally)? If no one knows, maybe you could link me to some benchmarks?

2. Should I wait to buy either card? (considering the brewing price war with Nvidia and the upcoming launch of Southern Islands)

3. Is sapphire planning on making a vapor-x 5830? Is there any news of quiet graphics solutions with Southern Islands?

4. How does 2x5770 in xfire compare, also in terms of noise and cost?

5. Both cards have 3-pin fans. Would I be able to swap-in one of Noctua's LNA or ULNAs?

Thanks in advance for your help. Hopefully there are many Vapor-x owners out there that can point me in the right direction.

Parappaman
Posts: 419
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:30 am
Location: Italy

Post by Parappaman » Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:15 am

1) Both essentially silent at idle, but the 5850 gets noisier under heavy load.
2) If you can delay the purchase for two months, then waiting is always a good choice. Otherwise, buy now what you need.
3) No, but the regular 5830 should be pretty quiet. NI is a big question mark for everyone, though surely Sapphire and other vendors will make some custom models.
4) Just a bit faster in a best case scenario, maybe a bit more expensive, surely noisier and warmer.
5) None of them has a 3 pin fan header, they both have a mini 4 pin header for PWM fan control. If you really want to lower fan speed, the only ways are BIOS modding or MSI Afterburner, though you must know what you're doing (temperatures will go up).

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