Introduction

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AMD's Radeon HD 7970 has been on the market for a while now. The card introduced a new shader architecture and brought numerous improvements in power consumption. It met heavy opposition from NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 and 670, which has caused HD 7970's pricing to go down quite a bit.

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Sapphire's HD 7950 Vapor-X comes with a large dual-fan cooler that uses the company's famous vapor-chamber technology. On the Vapor-X you will also find a "Lethal Boost" button which switches to a second BIOS with higher clock speeds. With this BIOS, clocks are increased to 950 MHz GPU and 1250 MHz memory.

In our Sapphire's HD 7950 Vapor-X review, we will test both the normal and the boost BIOS (results marked as "Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X Boost 3072M").

Pricing of the Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X is 330 USD, which is a 10% premium, or $ 30 over the reference design.

<table class="tputbl hilight" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<caption>
HD 7950 Market Segment Analysis
</caption>
<tr>
<th scope="col"> </th>
<th scope="col">Radeon <br />
HD 7870</th>
<th scope="col">GeForce <br />
GTX 580</th>
<th scope="col">GeForce <br />
GTX 660 Ti</th>
<th scope="col">Radeon <br />
HD 7950</th>
<th scope="col">Sapphire HD <br />
7950 Vapor-X</th>
<th scope="col"> HD
7950 <br />
Vapor-X Boost</th>
<th scope="col">GeForce <br />
GTX 670</th>
<th scope="col">Radeon <br />
HD 7970</th>
<th scope="col"> HD 7970<br />
GHz Ed.</th>
<th scope="col">GeForce <br />
GTX 680</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Shader Units</th>
<td align="right">1280</td>
<td align="right">512</td>
<td align="right">1344</td>
<td align="right"><strong>1792</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>1792</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>1792</strong></td>
<td align="right">1344</td>
<td align="right">2048</td>
<td align="right">2048</td>
<td align="right">1536</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">ROPs</th>
<td align="right">32</td>
<td align="right">48</td>
<td align="right">24</td>
<td align="right"><strong>32</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>32</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>32</strong></td>
<td align="right">32</td>
<td align="right">32</td>
<td align="right">32</td>
<td align="right">32</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Graphics Processor</th>
<td align="right">Pitcairn</td>
<td align="right">GF110</td>
<td align="right">GK104</td>
<td align="right"><strong>Tahiti</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>Tahiti</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>Tahiti</strong></td>
<td align="right">GK104</td>
<td align="right">Tahiti</td>
<td align="right">Tahiti</td>
<td align="right">GK104</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Transistors</th>
<td align="right">2800M</td>
<td align="right">3000M</td>
<td align="right">3500M</td>
<td align="right"><strong>4310M</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>4310M</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>4310M</strong></td>
<td align="right">3500M</td>
<td align="right">4310M</td>
<td align="right">4310M</td>
<td align="right">3500M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory Size</th>
<td align="right">2048 MB</td>
<td align="right">1536 MB</td>
<td align="right">2048 MB</td>
<td align="right"><strong>3072 MB</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>3072 MB</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>3072 MB</strong></td>
<td align="right">2048 MB</td>
<td align="right">3072 MB</td>
<td align="right">3072 MB</td>
<td align="right">2048 MB</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Memory Bus Width</th>
<td align="right">256 bit</td>
<td align="right">384 bit</td>
<td align="right">192 bit</td>
<td align="right"><strong>384 bit</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>384 bit</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>384 bit</strong></td>
<td align="right">256 bit</td>
<td align="right">384 bit</td>
<td align="right">384 bit</td>
<td align="right">256 bit</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Core Clock</th>
<td align="right">1000 MHz</td>
<td align="right">772 MHz</td>
<td align="right">915 MHz+</td>
<td align="right"><strong>800 MHz</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>850 MHz</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>950 MHz</strong></td>
<td align="right">915 MHz+</td>
<td align="right">925 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1050 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1006 MHz+</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Memory Clock</th>
<td align="right">1200 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1002 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1502 MHz</td>
<td align="right"><strong>1250 MHz</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>1250 MHz</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>1250 MHz</strong></td>
<td align="right">1502 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1375 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1500 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1502 MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Price</th>
<td align="right">$250</td>
<td align="right">$430</td>
<td align="right">$300</td>
<td align="right"><strong>$300</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>$330</strong></td>
<td align="right"><strong>$330</strong></td>
<td align="right">$380</td>
<td align="right">$430</td>
<td align="right">$400</td>
<td align="right">$480</td>
</tr>
</table>

Packaging

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You will receive:

Graphics card
Driver CD + Documentation
2x PCI-Express power cable
CrossFire bridge
HDMI cable
DVI adapter

The Card

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Sapphire's card looks very powerful thanks to the large cooler with its edgy design.

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The card requires two slots in your system.

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Display connectivity options include one full-size DisplayPort, one full-size HDMI port, and two dual-link DVI ports. You may use all outputs at the same time.

The GPU also includes an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 1.4a compatible which includes HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies support. The DisplayPort outputs are version 1.2, enabling the use of hubs and Multi-Stream Transport.

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You may combine up to four HD 7950 cards from any vendor in a multi-GPU CrossFire configuration for higher frame rates or better image-quality settings.

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Pictured above are the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (front, back). If you choose to use these images for voltmods, etc., please include a link back to this site or let us post your article.

A Closer Look

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Sapphire's cooler uses a large copper vapor-chamber to soak heat up from the GPU surface. You can also see the thermal pads that cool the memory chips on the front side of the GPU.

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Once we remove the main heatsink, you can see two smaller heatsinks that keep voltage-regulation circuitry cool.

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The card requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCI-Express power cable for operation. This power configuration is good for up to 300 W of power draw.

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The button located near the CrossFire connectors switches between two BIOSes on the card. On other HD 7900 Series cards, this dual BIOS feature only acts as a safeguard against problems during BIOS flashing. On the Sapphire Vapor-X, this feature has been extended to provide a BIOS that runs clocks beyond Sapphire's default clock for the HD 7950without any voltage changes, which will help keep power consumption in check.

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For voltage control, the card uses a CHiL CHL8228G, which is a common voltage controller nowadays. It offers software voltage control, comprehensive monitoring features, and is well supported by most overclocking software.

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The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Hynix and carry the model number H5GQ2H24MFR-T2C. They are specified to run at 1250 MHz (5000 MHz GDDR5 effective).

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AMD's Tahiti graphics processor introduced the GCN shader architecture. It is also the first GPU to be produced on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The transistor count is 4.31 billion.

Test System

<table class="tputbl">
<thead>
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Test System - VGA Rev. 17</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<th width="120" scope="row">Processor:</th>
<td align="center">Intel Core i7-3770K @ 4.7 GHz<br />(Ivy Bridge, 8192 KB Cache)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td align="center">ASUS Maximus V Gene<br />
Intel Z77</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td align="center">2x 4096 MB Corsair Vengeance PC3-12800 DDR3 <br />
@ 1600 MHz 9-9-9-24</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td align="center">WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500 GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td align="center">Antec HCP-1200 1200W</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Software:</th>
<td align="center">Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Drivers:</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">NVIDIA: 304.79 Beta<br />ATI: Catalyst 12.7 Beta</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Display:</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">
LG Flatron W3000H 30" 2560x1600<br />
3x Hanns.G HL225DBB 21.5" 1920x1080
</td>
</tr>
</table>
Benchmark scores in other reviews are only comparable when this exact same configuration is used.

All video card results were obtained on this exact system with exactly the same configuration.
All games were set to their highest quality setting unless indicated otherwise.
AA and AF are applied via in-game settings, not via the driver's control panel.

Each benchmark was tested at the following settings and resolution:

1280 x 800, 2x Anti-aliasing. Common resolution for most smaller flatscreens today (17" - 19"). A bit of eye candy turned on in the drivers.
1680 x 1050, 4x Anti-aliasing. Most common widescreen resolution on larger displays (19" - 22"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
1920 x 1200, 4x Anti-aliasing. Typical widescreen resolution for large displays (22" - 26"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
2560 x 1600, 4x Anti-aliasing. Highest possible resolution for commonly available displays (30"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
5760 x 1080, 4x Anti-aliasing. Typical high-end gaming multi-monitor resolution. Very good looking driver graphics settings.

Alan Wake

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Alan Wake, released in 2012 for the PC, is a highly successful third-person horror shooter that revolves around the adventures of novelist Alan Wake who has to battle the "darkness" which takes over living and dead things. Alan's signature flashlight is used to strip the forces of darkness of their protection, making them vulnerable to conventional weapons.

The engine of Alan Wake uses DirectX 9, but features complex lighting effects that make it quite a demanding title. We benchmarked with the highest settings possible.

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Batman: Arkham City

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Batman is back on the LCD screen with Batman: Arkham City, a sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, by Rocksteady Games and WB. It was released on the PC platform in November. Batman is imprisoned in Arkham City, an infamous district of the DC Universe that contains the scum of Gotham, most of whom Batman helped put in there. In order to get out, he must go through scores of baddies and encounters many of the iconic supervillains along the way. He's not entirely alone.

Batman: Arkham City uses the same Unreal Engine by Epic as Batman: Arkham Asylum does, but thanks to the engine's modularity, it has been overhauled, being outfitted with the latest technologies, including a graphics engine that takes advantage of DirectX 11.

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Battlefield 3

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Arguably one of the most anticipated online shooters in recent times, Battlefield 3 is the latest addition to some of the most engaging online multiplayer shooter franchises. It combines infantry combat with mechanized warfare including transport vehicles, armored personnel carriers, main battle tanks, attack helicopters, and combat aircraft; pretty much everything that goes into today's battlefields. The infantry combat is coupled with role-playing elements, which makes the experience all the more engaging. It also has a single-player campaign which added a few gigabytes to its installer.

Behind all this is a spanking new game engine by EA-DICE, Frostbite 2. It makes use of every possible feature DirectX 11 has to offer, including hardware tessellation and new lighting effects, to deliver some of the most captivating visuals gamers have ever had access to. Not playing this game on the PC is a grave injustice to what's in store. Faster PCs are rewarded with better visuals.

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BattleForge

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BattleForge, a card-based RTS, is developed by the German EA Phenomic Studio. A few months after the launch, the game was transformed into a Play4Free branded game. That move, and the fact that it was included as a game bundle with a large number of ATI cards, made it one of the more well-known RTS games of 2009. You as a player assemble your deck before the game to select the units that will be available. Elemental force choices can come from the forces of Fire, Frost, Nature, and Shadow to complement each other.

The BattleForge engine has full support for DX9, DX10, and DX10.1. We used the internal benchmark tool in DirectX 11 mode with the highest settings possible to obtain our results.

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Civilization 5

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Sid Meier's Civilization V (or Civ 5 in common jargon) is the latest addition to the franchise of masterfully crafted turn-based strategy games that let you play God to a nascent civilization of your choice all the way up to the space age. Civilization V uses large 3D worlds that are procedurally generated and takes advantage of the hardware tessellation features offered by DirectX 11 to exponentially step up the complexity of cities, models, terrains, and objects. This generation of GPUs can also be expected to handle large texture loads that come with such eye candy.

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Crysis

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After the tremendous success of Far Cry, the German game studio Crytek released their shooter Crysis in 2007. The game was by far the most hyped and anticipated game in 2007, and forums were full of "Can my system run Crysis?" threads because of the high hardware requirements of this game. Just like in Far Cry, the plot evolves on a small island with a thick and richly detailed jungle world. A lot of attention has been given to small details like accurate physics. When you, for example, fire on a tree trunk, it will shatter and the tree will fall over and leave a stump behind. Enemies in a car can be stopped by shooting the tire of the car. The game graphics are, even today, top notch, yet the game still runs well on most computers.

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Crysis 2

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Crysis 2 takes the player into an alien-infested New York City. The game adds a tactical options mode that allows several ways to attack a heavily infested enemy location. The new Nanosuit 2.0 that the player uses offers more freedom in ability use; multiple abilities can, for example, be used at the same time. To better accommodate a given play style, weapons can be customized with silencers, laser sights, or even a sniping scope.

For rendering, Crytek's CryEngine 3 is used. It comes with reduced system requirements compared to the first Crysis game. Since Crysis 2 is a multi-platform game with major development focus on the console, the graphics on launch day were only DirectX 9. DirectX 11 functionality was added later in a patch. We used the DX11 version and the high-res texture pack for our benchmarking.

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Diablo III

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Blizzard's Diablo 3 is the latest release in one of the most popular action RPG series of all time. You, the hero, will experience epic adventures on your journey to defeat Diablo, the master of Hell. Diablo 3 set the record for the fastest-selling PC game, selling over 3.5 million copies on the first day of its release. It was also the most pre-ordered game on Amazon.

Blizzard's DirectX 9 engine provides the player with an isometric view on the action. The game has been tuned to run well on most computer systems to let as many players as possible experience the game. We tested Diablo 3 running at the highest image quality settings.

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Dragon Age II

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Dragon Age II is the second game in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise and was released in March 2011. You will be able to pick your hero, named Hawke, from several classes and grow him over the course of the adventure. Gameplay takes you through a linearly narrated story of Hawke's rise to become the legendary "Champion of Kirkwall".

BioWare's Lycium Engine has support for DirectX 11, using tessellation, advanced dynamic lighting, and camera effects like depth of field. We benchmarked the DX11 version with the highest possible details setting.

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Hard Reset

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Developed by Flying Wild Hog, a studio that prides itself with the fact that its creation is PC exclusive (bless them), Hard Reset is a first-person shooter that's set in a future cyberpunk setting of a dystopian world. It reintroduces many of the gameplay mechanics that have made classics such as Quake wickedly fun to play and that are sorely lacking in today's tactical military shooter, creating a 'void' for Flying Wild Hog to fill.

The game uses the studio's in-house Road Hog Engine, which isn't particularly heavy on new-generation DirectX features, but can still be taxing for some GPUs.

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Max Payne 3

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Max is back! The long anticipated third release in the Max Payne series is the first game developed by Rockstar, which took over the title from Remedy Entertainment. In this first-person shooter, using an over-the-shoulder camera view, you battle the bad guys using game-changing features like Bullet Time or Last Stand. The maps have scenic locations taking the player to places like New York, Sao Paulo, and Panama.

The Max Payne 3 game engine uses DirectX 11 with tessellation and very detailed textures. We tested the game with details set to the maximum possible.

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Metro 2033

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Metro 2033 is a first-person shooter that is set in a post-apocalyptic Moscow - inside the metro system as the name suggests. You will fight mutants or other humans who want to take away your shelter. The game has many gameplay elements similar to STALKER; the engine also has similar features. This is because two STALKER engine programmers left GSC Game World and started their own company which made Metro 2033.

The engine has support for all the latest eye candy like DirectX 11 and tessellation. Unfortunately, it leaves a less than satisfactory impression, making it a candidate to surpass Crysis for the highest hardware requirements. We tested the game in DirectX 11 mode with details set to "Very High".

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Sniper Elite V2

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Sniper Elite V2 is a tactical shooter letting you play the Battle of Berlin during early May 1945. You are an American elite sharpshooter who is located behind enemy lines to stop the German V-2 rocket program. Gameplay does not only focus on full frontal assault, but also requires elements of stealth and patience to gain the upper hand. Sniper Elite V2 features a complex ballistics simulation, forcing players to account for factors including gravity, wind, velocity, bullet penetration, and aim stability.

Sniper Elite V2 uses DirectX 11, including tessellation, contact hardening shadows, and DirectCompute-based effects, including anti-aliasing.

For our testing, we used the Sniper Elite V2 benchmark tool in DX11 mode with highest settings and super sampling disabled.

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STALKER: Call of Pripyat

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STALKER: Call of Pripyat continues shortly after the events of the prequel STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. The player is one of many stalkers who are attracted by the Zone in hopes of finding fame, wealth, and artifacts. Over the course of the game you meet Strelok, the protagonist of the first STALKER game, and team up with him to progress through the Zone.

The game uses an updated X-Ray Engine 1.6 with support for DirectX 11 using DirectCompute Shaders to improve shadow rendering and tessellation to improve model quality.

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StarCraft II

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StarCraft II, released in July 2010, is a sequel to Blizzard's award-winning strategy game StarCraft. In the 26th century, three species, namely, Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg, are at war. The campaign takes you through many missions on different planets where you have to face various enemy factions or, sometimes, several of them at once. StarCraft II features a similar number of units - some of them new - as the original game. Due to the massive success of the first game, Blizzard chose to focus a large aspect of the game on multiplayer combat through Battle.net. The campaign serves as a good introduction to units and concepts – the real action is in competitive multiplayer combat.

The StarCraft II engine supports only DirectX 9, but several patches have improved rendering quality and available options considerably. We tested the game using a recorded 1 vs. 1 multiplayer replay in the late-game phase. Please note that StarCraft II is very CPU limited on high-end cards, especially on lower resolutions, so you may not see much scaling between some cards. StarCraft II does not support multi-monitor gaming, because it would provide an unfair advantage in competitive multiplayer as a larger portion of the map would be visible.
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Total War: Shogun 2

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Set in 16th century feudal Japan, Total War: Shogun 2 takes the player on a quest for domination to conquer and unite the warlords of Japan. Moving away from the European setting of previous Total War games, the game is now designed around the principles of the brilliant Chinese general Sun Tzu and his book The Art of War. Gameplay switches between real-time battles, during which units on the battlefield are controlled, and turn-based strategy, which focuses on diplomacy, economy, and production management. Taking control of a castle involves several different stages, adding more complexity to the warfare in Shogun 2.

We benchmarked using the highest settings possible in DirectX 11 mode, which was added via a patch after release.

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The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

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This isn't just a game, but a masterpiece. TES: Skyrim is a very large sandbox game that rejects the quality-quantity inverse proportionality. By genre, TES: Skyrim is a role-playing game. It combines some of the best elements of older titles in the franchise with some new sandbox elements to churn out an extremely engaging and addictive game. It makes use of Bethesda's Creation Engine which isn't visually intensive in that it doesn't use taxing graphics features; instead, the game's presentation itself, with large open worlds, ends up taxing your hardware. Faster GPUs result in smoother gameplay with most eye candy turned on.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

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World of Warcraft is the most successful massively multiplayer online game in the world with far over 12 million monthly subscribers. The game revolves around the epic battle between the Horde and Alliance factions with many other races getting involved in a long and complex story line. Although World of Warcraft was released in 2004, Blizzard has, especially with new expansions, always added incremental improvements to the graphics. One key success factor of World of Warcraft is that it will run on a large number of slower systems, while, at the same time, also delivering a decent graphics experience on high-end systems. We tested the game in DirectX 11 mode with details set to "Ultra".

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3DMark 11

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3DMark 11 is the very latest benchmark test from the house of Futuremark, which has given out some of the most comprehensive benchmark applications for PC enthusiasts and gamers. 3DMark 11, as the name might probably suggest, makes use of the Microsoft DirectX 11 API and puts every feature of it at its disposal to use, creating astonishingly realistic visuals. In the process, it evaluates DirectX 11-compliant GPUs and lets gamers know what to expect from upcoming games that make use of the API in terms of visual realism. The tessellation and depth-of-field tests are particularly of interest here. 3DMark 11 has no proper support for multi-monitor configurations.

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Unigine Heaven 2.0

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Unigine Heaven was one of the first demos that supported DirectX 11. Heaven is a technology demonstration for the Unigine engine which supports DirectX 9 through 11 and OpenGL. Version 2.0 adds more scenes and, optionally, more complex tessellation features. Although there is some controversy surrounding the benchmark and as to whether it is an accurate representation of what to expect from future games in regard to DirectX 11, we still decided to use this test to get an insight into the potential of future gaming.

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Power Consumption

Cooling modern video cards is becoming more and more difficult, especially with users asking for quiet cooling solutions, which is why engineers are now paying much more attention to the power consumption of new video card designs. An optimized fan profile is also one of the few things that board vendors can do to impress with reference designs where they are prohibited from making changes to the thermal solution or components on the card.

For this test, we measured the power consumption of the graphics card only, via the PCI-Express power connector(s) and PCI-Express bus slot. A Keithley Integra 2700 digital multimeter with 6.5-digit resolution was used for all measurements. Again, the values here reflect only the power consumption of the card measured at DC VGA card inputs, not of the whole system.

We chose Crysis 2 as a standard test representing typical 3D gaming usage because it offers the following: very high power draw; high repeatability; is a current game that is supported on all cards because of its DirectX 9 roots; drivers are actively tested and optimized for it; supports all multi-GPU configurations; test runs in a relatively short time and renders a non-static scene with variable complexity.

Our results were based on the following tests:

Idle: Windows 7 Aero sitting at the desktop (1280x1024, 32-bit) with all windows closed and drivers installed. Card left to warm up in idle mode until power draw was stable.
Multi-monitor: Two monitors connected to the tested card, both using different display timings. Windows 7 Aero sitting at the desktop (1280x1024 32-bit) with all windows closed and drivers installed. Card left to warm up in idle mode until power draw was stable.
Average: Crysis 2 at 1920x1200, Extreme profile, representing a typical gaming power draw. Average of all readings (12 per second) while the benchmark was rendering (no title/loading screen).
Peak: Crysis 2 at 1920x1200, Extreme profile, representing a typical gaming power draw. Highest single reading during the test.
Maximum: Furmark Stability Test at 1280x1024, 0xAA. This results in a very high none-game power consumption that can typically be reached only with stress-testing applications. Card left running the stress test until power draw converged to a stable value. On cards with power-limiting systems, we disabled the power-limiting system or configured it to the highest available setting - if possible. We also used the highest single reading from a Furmark run that was obtained by measuring faster than the power limit could kick in.
Blu-ray Playback: Power DVD 9 Ultra was used at a resolution of 1920x1200 to play back the Batman: The Dark Knight disc with GPU acceleration turned on. Playback started around timecode 1:19 which has the highest data rates on the BD with up to 40 Mb/s. Playback left running until power draw converged to a stable value.

Power consumption in non-gaming states is quite high when compared to the AMD HD 7950 reference design. One explanation is that Sapphire's card goes to 0.95 V in idle, whereas AMD's original design uses 0.85 V, which helps reduce power consumption. With 80 W during media playback, the Vapor-X has the highest power consumption of our test group.

During gaming, power consumption is reasonable and where we expected it to be given the Tahiti GPU used on the card. One important difference to the HD 7970 GHz Edition is that the GHz Edition increases voltages in Boost to keep the card stable, resulting in much higher power consumption, heat, and noise. Sapphire does not use that trick, so power consumption with the boost BIOS is only slightly higher.

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Fan Noise

In past years, users would accept everything for a little bit more performance. Nowadays, users are more aware of the fan noise and the power consumption of their graphic cards.

In order to properly test the fan noise that a card emits, we use the Bruel & Kjaer 2236 sound level meter (~$4,000), which has the measurement range and accuracy we are looking for.

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The tested graphics card was installed in a system that was completely passively cooled. That is, passive PSU, passive CPU cooler, passive cooling on the motherboard, and on a solid state drive.

This setup allows us to eliminate secondary noise sources and test only the video card. To be more compliant with standards like DIN 45635 (we are not claiming to be fully DIN 45635 certified), the measurement was conducted at 100 cm of distance and at 160 cm over the floor. The ambient background noise level in the room was well below 20 dBA for all measurements. Please note that the dBA scale is not linear but logarithmic. 40 dBA is not twice as loud as 20 dBA. A 3 dBA increase results in double the sound pressure. The human hearing perception is a bit different and it is generally accepted that a 10 dBA increase doubles the perceived sound level. The 3D load noise levels were tested with a stressful game, not with Furmark.

The Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X is reasonably quiet in both idle and load, much quieter than the AMD reference design. Temperatures are very low with below 70°C under load. There is some additional potential to quiet down the fan to match those super quiet custom GTX 670s.

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Performance Summary

The graphs on this page show a combined performance summary of all tests and resolutions from previous pages. Each graph shows the tested card as 100% and all other cards' performance as relative to it. A sixth graph summarizes all tests in all resolutions to calculate the total relative performance of the review sample.

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Performance per Watt

The following graphs show the efficiency of the cards in our test group using the relative performance scores from the previous page, and the typical gaming power consumption result.

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Performance per Dollar

If you are looking for the best bang for the buck, you will love this graph. We looked up the current USD price of each card on the popular online shop Newegg and used that value with all relative performance numbers to calculate the Performance per Dollar Index.

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Overclocking

The overclocking results listed in this section were achieved with the default fan and voltage settings as defined in the VGA BIOS. Please note that every single sample overclocks differently, which is why our results here can only serve as a guideline for what you can expect from your card.

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The maximum stable clocks of our card are 1135 MHz core (34% overclock) and 1635 MHz memory (31% overclock).

<table class="tputbl" width="425px">
<thead>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">Maximum Overclock Comparison</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<th width="210" scope="col"></th>
<th align="center" scope="col">Max. GPU Clock</th>
<th align="center" scope="col">Max. Memory Clock</th>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">1135 MHz</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1635 MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Sapphire HD 7950 Flex</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">1025 MHz</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1865 MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">MSI HD 7950 TF III</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">1020 MHz</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1650 MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">PowerColor HD 7950 PCS+</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">1075 MHz</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1775 MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">AMD HD 7950</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">1085 MHz</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">1785 MHz</td>
</tr>
</table>
Important: Each GPU (including each GPU of the same make and model)
will overclock slightly differently based on random production variances.
This table just serves to provide a list of typical overclocks for similar cards,
determined during TPU review.

Overclocked Performance

Using these clock frequencies, we ran a quick test of Battlefield 3 to evaluate the gains from overclocking.

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Actual 3D performance gained from overclocking is 31.5% (vs. stock) and 25.7% (vs. Boost BIOS).

Temperatures

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Good temperatures, even with Boost mode enabled.

<table class="tputbl" width="404px">
<thead>
<tr>
<th colspan="3">GPU Temperature Comparison</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<th width="210" scope="col"></th>
<th align="center" scope="col">Idle</th>
<th align="center" scope="col">Load</th>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">45°C</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">67°C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Sapphire HD 7950 Flex</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">38°C</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">67°C</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">MSI HD 7950 TF III</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">32°C</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">59°C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">PowerColor HD 7950 PCS+</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">37°C</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">70°C</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">AMD HD 7950</th>
<td valign="top" align="center">43°C</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">75°C</td>
</tr>
</table>
Important: GPU temperature will vary depending on clock speed, voltage settings,
cooler design, and production variances. This table just serves to provide
a list of typical temperatures for similar cards, determined during TPU review.

Clock Profiles

Modern graphics cards have several clock profiles that are selected to balance power draw and performance requirements.

The following table lists the clock settings for important performance scenarios, and the GPU voltage that we measured. We performed the measurement on the pins of a coil or a capacitor near the GPU voltage regulator.

Normal BIOS:
<table class="tputbl">
<tr>
<th scope="col"></th>
<th align="center" scope="col">Core <br />
Clock</th>
<th align="center" scope="col">Memory <br />
Clock</th>
<th align="center" scope="col">GPU Voltage <br />
(measured)</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Desktop</th>
<td align="right">300 MHz</td>
<td align="right">150 MHz</td>
<td align="right">0.95 V</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Multi-Monitor</th>
<td align="right">500 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1250 MHz</td>
<td align="right">0.95 V</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Blu-ray Playback</th>
<td align="right">501 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1250 MHz</td>
<td align="right">0.96 V</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">3D Load</th>
<td align="right">850 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1250 MHz</td>
<td align="right">0.98 V</td>
</tr>
</table>

Boost BIOS:
<table class="tputbl">
<tr>
<th scope="col"></th>
<th align="center" scope="col">Core <br />
Clock</th>
<th align="center" scope="col">Memory <br />
Clock</th>
<th align="center" scope="col">GPU Voltage <br />
(measured)</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Desktop</th>
<td align="right">300 MHz</td>
<td align="right">150 MHz</td>
<td align="right">0.96 V</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Multi-Monitor</th>
<td align="right">500 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1250 MHz</td>
<td align="right">0.96 V</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Blu-ray Playback</th>
<td align="right">501 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1250 MHz</td>
<td align="right">0.95 V</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">3D Load</th>
<td align="right">950 MHz</td>
<td align="right">1250 MHz</td>
<td align="right">0.97 V</td>
</tr>
</table>

<table class="tputbl">
<thead>
<tr>
<th colspan="2">CCC Overdrive Limits</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Core</th>
<td align="right">1200 MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory</th>
<td align="right">1575 MHz</td>
</tr>
</table>

Value and Conclusion

<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>

The Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X is available online for $330.

</td></tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>

Overclocked out of the box
Fantastic overclocking potential
Dual BIOS feature adds "Lethal Boost" for higher performance
Native full-size HDMI & DisplayPort output
Good bundle
Low temperatures
Support for PCI-Express 3.0 and DirectX 11.1
AMD ZeroCore power

</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>

High non-gaming power consumption
Memory not overclocked
CCC Overdrive limits too low

</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.1</th>
<td>Sapphire's HD 7950 Vapor-X is a well-rounded custom design HD 7950. It comes with an overclock out of the box that gives it a 4% performance lead over the reference design HD 7950. Sapphire used AMD's dual BIOS feature to put a second BIOS on the card that runs the card at even higher clocks of 950 MHz, resulting in another 3% improvement. What makes this mode much more appealing is the fact that Sapphire did not increase the GPU voltage to achieve stability. As a result, power, noise, and heat are not significantly higher than in normal mode, which is why I recommend all users activate Boost mode as default. This leaves normal mode without a real benefit. It would have been nice if Sapphire had optimized the normal BIOS for super-low noise-levels, easy given the low temperatures. I also miss an overclock on the memory.<br />
The card's Vapor-Chamber cooler does a great job keeping the card cool and improves noise levels greatly compared to the AMD reference design. I still see some headroom for improvement, which would come in handy against competing low-noise GTX 670 / 660 Ti cards like the ASUS DC II, one of the best choices for low-noise high-end gaming on the market.<br />
Overclocking on our sample worked amazingly well, reaching over a 30% real-life performance improvement. In our testing at maximum clocks, the card ended up faster than GTX 680 or HD 7970 GHz Edition - at a fraction of the price. Of course overclocking varies from sample to sample, so your mileage may vary.<br />
In terms of pricing, Sapphire is asking a not unreasonable $330, which is $30 higher than the currently cheapest HD 7950 card available; the GTX 660 Ti does offer a better price/performance ratio though. Overall, you should definitely consider the Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X if you are in the market for a HD 7950.<tr><th></th><td>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/recommended.gif</td></tr>
</table>