I have 24 of the MSI 470s and they are my favorites, I actually prefer them over the Sapphire 480/8GB variants which I have as well.
My latest batch of MSI 470s (4GB) have Samsung memory. You didn't take the 1500 strap and copy it up and expect it to clock at 2k on Samsung memory did you?
On my MSI 470s with Samsung VRAM I copied the 1750 strap to the 2000 range and I am running them at 1150/2100 and I am getting 29.3Mh/s out of them rock stable.
hmm i messed up then. have a powercolor 470 4 gb red
devil dragon single fan 470 with samsung mem. copied the 1500 strap up (oops) and run it at 1300/1850 for 26.5 mhs. mining eth.
gonna redo it with the 1750 strap and run the mem up to 2000 or so and see what happens.
Dont waste your time. You wont be happy with the performance if you copy 1750 straps on a 470 4gb.... I've tried it... gives like 24mhs. Only 1750 straps if you have 480s and overclocking like 2250+.
Read the entire post, which you just quoted.....
You can't treat Hynix memory and Samsung memory the same. RX 470s 4GB are available with both, I actually own MSI RX 470 4GBs with both. You cannot use 1500 straps on Samsung memory and expect to run at 2000+ as the factory timings are much tighter on Samsung memory. My MSI RX 470/4GB with Samsung memory easily achieve 29.3Mh/s at 1150/2100.
For Hynix based cards, use the 1500 strap, for Samsung based cards use the 1750 strap.
I have a mix of the MSI Armor cards and it's usually hit or miss if they will come with Hynix or Samsung memory (although my last few orders have been all Samsung). Anyway, what rjg says is correct about the Samsung doing better by using the 1750 straps, its the Hynix where you need to copy the 1500 strap.
As far as quality, I have several and have yet to encounter a bad card. I am fairly conservative with my overclocks however, and prefer to focus more on reducing power consumption so that my play into it.