Are all reference cards made equal? \[SOLVED\]
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Hey guys. Once more, I have a question that I couldn’t get Google to answer for me, so I am bothering you again ;)
Does anyone know if the ASUS 7990 is exactly the same as the XFX 7990? They look identical on pictures and from what I understand, they are both “reference cards”. Does anyone know for sure?
And if they are, does this mean that the differences are purely in the stickers and not at all in the hardware/firmware?
I’m thinking of doing water cooling on the PC in my bedroom. That way, I could let it run during the night, and put the noisy ASUS 7990 in that one. Some might have seen me write that I was going to return it to the dealer. But I have another week to decide before it’s too late, so it’s still here.
The XFX 7990 is quite a bit cheaper than the ASUS, and if they are identical, I’m considering putting one of those in my bedroom computer along with the ASUS. This would give me a to pretty solid, quiet, water cooled miner to keep me warm at night during winter ;)
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Shot answer is no, some use AMD’s spec for the board and cooler, some put a different cooler and use the same board spec and then some improve upon the OEM spec board and HS/F. The big question is it worth paying more for custom board and cooler? Well yes/no, depends on price and what it does so much better then reference. I do not know what the difference is, you will have to research that. I would look up reviews on the specific cards and see if they talk about the cards in detail to see what the difference is. Also manufactures sites should at least tell you why its “so” great. Sorry, don’t want to do the research either!
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[quote name=“specter” post=“43405” timestamp=“1386848318”]
The big question is it worth paying more for custom board and cooler? [/quote]Actually, because I want to use water cooling, the big question is, is it a reference board model. Because for all the modified boards, the water cooling blocks won’t fit.
[quote author=specter link=topic=5866.msg43405#msg43405 date=1386848318]
Also manufactures sites should at least tell you why its “so” great. Sorry, don’t want to do the research either!
[/quote]I’m sorry if it seems like I don’t want to do the research. I’m actually researching everything mining related like crazy and just wanted to ask if anyone knew the answer to this. This is where miners hang out, so someone might have “gone down the same alley” as I am now.
However, I did find out from XFX’s website now, that the design of the card has changed, so that means that now there are non-reference boards out there. So that kinda answers the question… I have to get an old card, if I want to make sure it is a reference model.
Thanks for helping out :)