To test power consumption today we are using a Keithley Integra unit and we measure power consumption from the VGA card inputs, not the system wide drain. The best way to get maximum load results is by using Furmark, and even though it is not indicative of a real world situation it shows the limits the card can theoretically demand.
The HIS card is taking a little more power than the reference design although it is only a few Watts more under load. It is worth pointing out that when playing a game the power drain is significantly lower than 217 watts. Crysis Warhead for instance only demanded 140w at maximum settings. Furmark is purely synthetic but interesting regardless.
HD5870 is a great card and I like the look of this one. cooler is a bit ugly I think but its nice to see improved/higher fan speeds for cooler temps.
I never really notice fan noise, unless its wild helicopter style noise. This looks like a good buy. I never see them in america tho, not in stores anyway
Sapphire model is better but it costs more. which I would say would be pretty obvious
Well I like being proved wrong, I had assumed HIS was a POS, but this review has certainly changed my view.
mega OC on that. weird they only overclock it a little out of the factory. its hardly ‘turbo’ more ‘shoved a little’
Glad to see you mentioning the hardly overclocked speeds. I dont know why they launch these as TURBO editions when its hardly even overclocked in the least, which is shown on the graphs. So much headroom and I think a small portion of the audience will even know how much they can get out of it. ID have gave it 3 out of 5 just for that point. TURBO should be TURBO.
Well I was expecting good temps, but more noise over reference? surely thats not right
nice review, very thorough, thanks.
Excellent, I like that card a lot. I prefer cooler to quieter.
I would probably still opt for Sapphire, they just seem a better company
I would probably still opt for Sapphire, they just seem a better company
I just ordered one of these and got a bit of a bargain, 50 off retail price 🙂