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Powercolor HD6870 PCS++ Review

Today we are using one of KitGuru’s most powerful systems, a Core i7 970 based configuration – liquid cooled to 4.33ghz, with a Corsair AX1200 power supply – all built into a sexy Thermaltake Level 10 chassis.

Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.33ghz
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65 (MS-7522)
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10
Power Supply: Corsair Ax1200
Memory: 6GB GSkill Performance Gaming ram @ 902.9 MHz (2:10) @ 9-9-9-24
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)
Monitors: Hazro Ultra Sharp HZ230Wi, Dell Ultrasharp U2410 Rev A00 x3

Other graphics cards:
Nvidia GTX590
Zotac GTX580 AMP! Edition
Nvidia GTX580
Nvidia GTX570
XFX HD5970 Black Edition 4GB (QuadFireX)
AMD HD6990
AMD HD6950
AMD HD6870
Powercolor HD6850 Single Slot Edition
AMD HD5870
Sapphire HD5850 Xtreme
Sapphire HD5830 Xtreme
Sapphire HD5770 Vapor X Edition (860mhz core)
Sapphire HD6790 CrossfireX
MSI N560GTX Ti Twin Frozr II
nVidia GTX570
nVidia GTX 550 ti (900/1026)
nVidia GTX460 OC (715/900)

Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
Catalyst 11.5
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
HQV 2.0 Software

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Nikon D300S with R1C1 kit
Keithley Integra unit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter

Games:
Resident Evil 5
Lost Planet 2
Home Front
Far Cry 2
Alien V Predator
BattleField: Bad Company
Tom Clancy H.A.W.X. 2
Total War Shogun 2

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests all games across five closely matched runs and average out the results to get an accurate median figure.

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10 comments

  1. 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?

  2. They are making some great cards. bummer you got a dodgy sample. it happens. at least they arent cherry pickin them

  3. 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?

  4. 5eenbynotheard

    Score is too high, the card is faulty, you review what you are given. 6/10 max

  5. 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

  6. This is why Sapphire get such a good name, because things like this just dont happen for them!

  7. 6870 isn’t a good seller for AMD. its one of their worst sellers. the lower end boards get them their gravy.

  8. 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.

  9. You scored it too high, even if it is a bad card, you needed to score it lower. Cant take powercolors word on it !

  10. 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.