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When testing the R5870 Lightning we ensured the partnering equipment was as closely matched to the relevant target audience as possible. As we don’t like to see CPU limiting on the high end graphics card results we used one of the fastest processors on the market – Intel’s 980X. Asus were also kind enough to let us use their stunning Rampage III Extreme motherboard and if you missed our previous review check it out over here.
Test System:
MSI R5870 Lightning
Radeon HD 5870 1GB
Intel Core i7 980x
6GB Corsair Dominator GT
Coolit ECO A.L.C. (Review)
Enermax 1250W Revolution PSU
160GB Intel SSD
LaCie 730 30 Inch Display (max supported 2560×1600)
Silverstone Raven 02 Chassis
Thermal Diodes
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Keithley Integra 2700
Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Edition – all latest patches/updates
Catalyst 10.6 Driver
Fraps Professional
Aliens V Predator
Metro 2033
Grand Theft Auto 4: Episodes from Liberty City
Dirt 2
Napoleon: Total War
Far Cry 2
The system was built from scratch and all drivers updated – all our results are gathered from five individual runs to analyze and remove any possible result abnormalities.
Good god man, its alive. that is a mental card, it appears to have been out for a while, how come ive never heard about it ! ME WANT!
That is stunning , simply stunning. Sapphire must be worried if MSI keep these up !
that overclock is insane, over 1ghz on the core? bloody hell man.
1ghz on the core and what the hell on the memory ! I need a silverstone raven 02 for my setup too!
£20 more than a reference design? ill have it. if I could afford it :p
Just ordered one, ill post a picture of my receipt on the forums 🙂
That is one mega mega board. I love all the work they put into the hardware rather than just slapping a crappy cooler on it.
Who the hell needs a GTX480 when you got one of these, or two in Crossfire. If anyone here as two of them in Crossfire, ill be green.
Power drain is quite high but what a card that is. well worth the money.
Wonder if I could get a deal on a Crossfire setup !
ITs a really nice design and normally these cards really dont appeal to me at all.
Bit out of my price league but great review, really enjoyed that one.
seems well priced considering. Ill get one when they drop to 200 quid.
MSI are seriously underrated at times, all the attention goes to Sapphire. some of their motherboards are wicked good.
Love lovely lovely. ill have one 🙂
What a design that is. nice to see other companies doing these apart from asus. its actually quite affordable too, considering.
temps seem good, power consumption is high, but nothing compared to GTX480
would have liked to see some compares with GTX480 🙂
ITs way out of my price range, but if I had money to buy a HD4870 id get this for sure, absolutely !
Great review man, I wonder how many people actually buy these cards. they seem way expensive.
Nice review, cheers. what a great card. shall discuss it with you on the forums
Impressive design from the ground up, dont often see that kind of attention to detail.
Right, ive been looking at all these cards this month and im getting sick of it, having a crappy old GTX250. just ordered this, time to warn the wife.
I still think the sapphire vapor is nicer.
Would like to buy one of these myself, but hey im poor 🙁
how cool is the LED strip on the back of the PCB? wicked man.
how cool is the LED strip on the back of the PCB? wicked man.
Love the cooler, wonder who made that for them? arctic cooling maybe?
Nah its not arctic cooling, they dont make metal coolers like that. maybe MSI internal one.
MSI make coolers? I thought all these companies farmed out jobs like that to specialists.
Nah arctic cooling only do that if their name stays on the cooler. this is not them for sure.
I really enjoyed that review. i always like reading about hardware I can’t afford 🙂
power consumption is high, but two 12 pin feeds would explain that. this card is sucking some serious wattage.
It is my dream to play GTA4 at 2560 on a HD5870. I shall have my dream in the next 2 months 🙂
Good temps, for the power intake. Love the board.
nice card indeed. great clocks too. I didnt think it was possible to hit 1ghz on core on air.
MSI FTW with this beast. love the cooler too. like the pictures, turned otu well.
very interesting indeed. the 8mm heatpipes are certainly good ideas. they are normally 6mm right?
Nvidia really are not making much ground on older tech hardware. HD5870 is still kicking n screaming.
They really should have overclocked this card more out of the box, dont you think?
its very interesting to see the 8mm pipes. those are much thicker than the normal design, id love to know who makes the cooler for MSI. thats not an internal design, specialist job.
wonder what the thermal limit on those cards is? 105c like nvidia GTX480?