Coolers

Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7970 GHz Edition

The graphics card has an original Vapor-X cooling system based on a vapor chamber enhanced by heatpipes for better heat distribution. The base is rather large so it cools down both GPU and memory. The power transistors have their own small heatsink. There are two fans above the heatsink, speeding up to 3000 rpm and making some noise. Overall, the graphics card occupies three slots, because the cover sticks out a little.

Sapphire HD 7870 GHz Flex Edition

This graphics card has a similar cooling system, though without a vapor chamber—the heatsink is enhanced by heatpipes only. The base cools down only the GPU; the memory chips and the power transistors have their own cooling. In our tests, the two fans rotated at 2700 rpm, making some noise, not critical though. The cooling system occupies 2 slots.

Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7770 GHz Edition OC

Here we have the same cooling system as on the other Vapor-X adapter, but with smaller heatsink and no memory cooling. However, in this case the cooling system is almost noiseless, with fans operating at 1400 rpm, occupying two, not three slots.

Sapphire HD 7750 Low Profile

A good old simple single-slot cooler that consists of a rectangular heatsink and a single fan, with no memory cooling. It's enough for a low-to-middle range graphics card, so the fans rotate at 1500 rpm, making the adapter a good choice for silent configurations.

Temperature monitoring results

We measured temperatures using the EVGA PrecisionX utility.

Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7970 GHz Edition

Sapphire HD 7870 GHz Flex Edition

Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7770 GHz Edition OC

Sapphire HD 7750 Low Profile

After working non-stop for 6 hours, the graphics adapters proved our previous conclusions. Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7970 GHz Edition reached 77°C—very good for a top adapter. The HD 7870 did the same—that's OK. The Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7770 GHz Edition OC heated up to the wonderfully low 64°C, just like the HD 7750.

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