Graphics Cards

[karvagear]

Hi all,

I’ve never owned an AMD GPU before, but I’ve decided that I’m upgrading my 3060ti to a new GPU. I think based on my gaming preferences, the 7900xt or 7900xtx would be the best fit.

However, I’m very unfamiliar with XFX Speedster or Sapphire Pulse. And there’s a price difference between these two brands.

What’s the difference between the two really? Is it just the coolers they use or something like that? Is any one brand better or best for AMD GPU’s?

I’m in the US, if that matters at all.

Thanks for the help.

[CaligoVereor]

It's mainly just the cooler that's different. With that there are some specs that might differ, like power consumption (not by too much) but mostly there isn't much difference between different models of the same card when it comes to performance.

I would suggest looking up videos on YouTube for models you're considering, there are usually channels that look at specifics of each and then you'll be able to compare noise levels of each card and so on. If you want to look deeper into it teardown videos might also be useful because they might tell you how "repairable" the card is. For example, I don't know much about XFX cards but many Sapphire models (especially their more premium Nitro+ ones) have really nice fans that are easy to replace in case one of them dies.

But honestly, most of the time you'll get more or less the same exact thing so my personal opinion when it comes to different models of the same card is to go with the one that's more convenient to get (whether it's cheaper or you can get it faster).

[Robotpotato]

Stay away from AMD for now. The 7000 series is experiencing issues, mostly random crashes.  There is no word from AMD if it's just software or hardware-related.