KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
The makers of Metro 2033 – 4A Games was founded by people who split off from GSC Game World a year before the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, in particular Oles’ Shiskovtsov and Aleksandr Maksimchuk, the programmers who worked on the development of X-Ray engine used in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. The game utilizes multi-platform 4A Engine, running on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows. There is some contention regarding whether the engine is based on the pre-release X-Ray engine (as claimed by Sergiy Grygorovych, the founder of GSC Game World, as well as users who have seen the 4A Engine SDK screenshots, citing visual similarities, shared resources, and technical evaluation of the pre-release 4A Engine demo conducted at the request of GSC Game World), or whether the engine is an original development (as claimed by 4A Games and Oles’ Shiskovtsov in particular, who claims it would have been impractical to retrofit the X-ray engine with console support). 4A Engine features Nvidia PhysX support, enhanced AI, and a console SDK for Xbox 360. The PC version includes exclusive features such as DirectX 11 support and has been described as “a love letter to PC gamers” because of the developers’ choice to “make the PC version [especially] phenomenal”.
We tested at 1920×1080 with settings on default ‘normal’
The overclock helps the HIS HD6870 Turbo climb to a level footing with the HD5870 graphics card at the top of the pile. An excellent result.
Very nice overclocking. the 6870’s seem pretty close to their limits. I wonder will anyone be able to sell one at 1ghz core with a custom cooler down the line? I dont think so. might be 950mhz will be the limit for these retail.
Seems a good buy, but the 6850 would be my choice as they overclock so well. seem basically the same limits as the 6870s on the core anyway.
HIS are really good. I think their reputation is a little unwarranted. ive owned a few of their ATI (Amd?) boards in the past and never had an issue. I would wait on a custom cooled one though, these reference coolers are never wonderful. 80+c on these cards seems rather high, id like to see mid 70s. which a reference cooler wont deliver.
Very nice, but HD6850 is more in line with what I want. im buying one at christmas then another in the new year. should keep me going for years. I like the 1080p tests here. I cant afford a 30 inch screen and find those results hard for me to work out. maybe a lot of people own a 30 inch screen, lucky bastards 🙁
Good card, they all are though. not sure id pay £20 for a bios update, unless the card is a hand picked model then it seems worth it. sadly HIS dont mention this, so I would assume they are maybe just from a specific batch with good yield.
A problem I always have is with reviewer samples. If this card is £20 more for 20mhz core increase and its identical, then it seems a bit expensive. Granted the memory is much higher than reference, but I think most 6870s hit those speeds anyway.
Could very well be HIS hand pick reviewer samples. but its hard to know.
IM furious. and will lodge a complaint with OCUK. I bought this last week for £240. its down to £215 on their site now. fucking pissed off.
IM furious. and will lodge a complaint with OCUK. I bought this last week for £240. its down to £215 on their site now. fucking pissed off.
You know, this would have been great to test against a 580 if you used both HIS cards in Crossfire. Actually, where is your 580 review?
Real shame they didnt use a custom cooler on this 🙁 makes them all more attractive. Are AMD blocking custom designs still or has that not passed?