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The Powercolor HD6870 PCS++ is a very high performing card which is supplied at highly modified ‘out of the box' clocks. It is in fact one of the fastest HD6870's we have tested, almost performing at the same level as a reference HD6950.
The cooler design is attractive, with a ‘race car' feel to it, complete with gold grill beside the fan. The results of our temperature testing are concerning however. Our final results of almost 100c in Furmark, and around 90c when gaming is much higher that we would expect from a custom cooled card and we actually delayed the review by almost a week so we could communicate directly with Powercolor.
Powercolor claim that our voltage figures are accurate and that the card has been tuned to deliver the highest possible performance with increased frequencies. They do claim however that our temperature results are higher than they should be which would indicate that our sample is faulty on some level. Before remounting the cooler and applying new thermal paste our system would shut down when running Furmark, afterwards it was stable with all games and synthetic testing.
It makes it somewhat difficult for us however, because while we are sure the temperatures are higher than they should be, we only have one sample to evaluate, and there is a niggling doubt that perhaps Powercolor have set the voltage a little high. Even if the temperatures dropped by 10c they would still be borderline on what we would expect from a custom cooled solution.
On a performance level, the HD6870 PCS++ certainly delivers a great gaming experience coming close in performance to the reference clocked HD6950. Two of these in Crossfire would certainly make a great multi screen gaming experience.
Pros:
- Nice design
- very high ‘out of the box' clocks which lead to class leading performance
Cons:
- Our sample ran very hot
KitGuru says: Without having access to another sample it is hard to wholeheartedly recommend this particular card, but temperatures aside, it is one of the fastest HD6870's on the market.
Nice looking cooler indeed. weird about the temps, that seems very high. the A on the furmark and GPUZ seem VERY high though, I wonder is the bios messed up?
They are making some great cards. bummer you got a dodgy sample. it happens. at least they arent cherry pickin them
Hey, can you pass over my details to powercolor? I have the same card and the same problem. I dont think its your specific sample, perhaps a faulty batch with too much voltage?
Score is too high, the card is faulty, you review what you are given. 6/10 max
Fumark is too much of a stress test now. its like prime. its useless nothing ever stresses out hardware this much. something like crysis is fine. all you need
This is why Sapphire get such a good name, because things like this just dont happen for them!
6870 isn’t a good seller for AMD. its one of their worst sellers. the lower end boards get them their gravy.
optix what do you mean? i think this deal about sapphire being perfect is stupid.
I have had sapphire cards fail before years ago. most of them are made in the same factories anyway by palit.
You scored it too high, even if it is a bad card, you needed to score it lower. Cant take powercolors word on it !
I found another review and theirs seems ok. I think this one might have a different bios with more voltage. the Amps look higher than even most OC’d models ive seen in furmark.