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MSI R6870 HAWK (Twin Frozr III Thermal Design) Review

The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 23c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.

Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.

The custom Twin Frozr III is an extremely efficient design, massively outperforming the reference solution, and even Sapphire's Toxic Cooler which we reviewed last week. Temperatures with the quiet fan profile are 4c higher when under full load.

Return to ambient is a feature we have recently added to our reviews … we measure the time it takes for a solution to return to idle temperatures, immediately after full load. The faster the time, the better the cooler – for example a Noctua NH D14 cooler will return an Intel processor to idle temperatures much faster than a reference cooler. This is a good indication of how quickly a heatsink can dissipate heat.

A twin fan design generally helps with return to idle performance, and the Twin Frozr III cooler design is one of the best in this respective field. Using the quiet fan mode lowers this performance time to around 21 seconds.

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20 comments

  1. I am not easily impressed, but this did it.

  2. That is one hell of a mid range graphics card. Wish they would bring out a MARS or ARES style card. my money is on that it would be better than anything asus could do.

  3. I love their frozr coolers. buddy of mine has one of their older boards and the cooling system is the best on the market.

  4. I love their customised solutions, the high end modded stuff they bring out. this is f*cking brilliant.

  5. With all the extras ill be stunned if this retails for only £20 more than reference

  6. 59c under gaming load. thats specatular. my 6850 runs 10-15c higher.

  7. I never knew they made customised cards like this. its a complete overhaul. excellent. so im waiting on the 560 modded one now 🙂

  8. man I love this site, I was waiting on this card and didnt expect a review so soon. ordering it when I can.

  9. Great bit of engineering from MSI, these guys can deliver smoking hot hardware when they put their mind to it. they are just slow on releasing the hardware, but worth the wait.

  10. Biggest issue I have is that with 20-30 more than a reference HD6870, you are starting to get into the 6950 zone.

  11. Very elaborate design. A lot of work went into this card. Nice job.

  12. I love the metal cooler, thats radical. bet it weighs a ton.

  13. I love my MSI 5770 HAWK
    can’t wait to get this R6870.. Better start saving money..
    😀

  14. exelente review!!!! en estos dias me llegaaa y estoy feliiz!!

  15. I bought two of these cards on recommendation. Glad I did after reading this 😀 Would love crossfire-x support tho, then i would have got three 🙂

  16. I got two and one is bad. Card its WAY too hot 90c when playing BF3 while my other card was nice and cool max temp 52c. Cost to ship and replace under RMA was $21 Fedex. MSI sent my card back from RMA after 4 weeks and its still at 90c on load. Its like they didn’t even touch it. I can’t recommend this card due to MSI RMA. Just do a quick search on hot twin frozer cards. Its a nightmare. Run from MSI.

  17. Sorry to hear that, ill mention it to MSI.

  18. If your Twin frozer is getting hot.
    Remove the cooler and clean the GPU form to thick thermal paste.
    Ad some Artic silver paste and voila a cooler card.
    Well that fixed my hot issue.

  19. i have a this card and i would like to know something that is not explained anywhere, not even the manual.
    There is a few red leds on top of de video card and i don´t know what is their function (in my case are always on). Could anyone tell me? Thanks!

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