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The first custom cooled HD6870 has not disappointed Kitguru. The Powercolor HD6870 PCS+ manages to increase the core and memory speeds while also lowering the noise levels significantly.
Powercolor have not yet quite earned the reputation of XFX or Sapphire, but they have been making strides in the last year to be taken seriously as a company who know what the enthusiast market really wants. This card is a perfect example of their design ethic, creating a heatpipe cooler design with centralised fan – all tied into a carefully configured bios which balances good airflow with minimal noise. Return to Idle speeds are also impressive.
We have not yet received pricing information on this card, but we would expect it to be around £25 more than the reference design, which is currently in the £200 sector. If they manage to keep it below £230 inc vat, then they will surely get a lot of sales from enthusiast users who want something much nicer than the plain reference design.
We like this card, there is really nothing we can fault. The bundle is strong, the cooler is fantastic and the reduced noise levels will appeal to many gamers who find the reference designs rather intrusive.
KitGuru says: A fantastic release from Powercolor, and certainly worth shortlisting.
Edit: 23rd November – Powercolor have informed us that this card will only cost £10 to £15 more than the reference card, meaning it becomes a total nobrainer to us. This is the HD6870 you buy.
Excellent, but I just wonder are they starting to encroach into the price sector planned out for the 6970? I hear it will be around 300 inc vat, so this could very well only be 60 less. which means it might not be quite the deal !
Well I wasnt expecting powercolor to be out first 🙂 nice board indeed. very impressive.
This is very sexy, worth it for the cooler alone, im not that bothered about the overclocks out of the box.
Nice cooler but bring on the 6970
Fucking sweet man. if I had the money right now id be all over this. Might wait for the 6970 tho and save a few more months !
Powercolor are kicking ass and taking names lately. They still have a ways to go before they get the acclaim that sapphire do, but I really like the company. never let me down yet
Weill be good to see how this handles against the black edition from XFX.
10 more sounds like a bargain to me. any ideas when this is out, soon I hope?
Cooler looks brilliant. Nothing really that awesome mind you, much like their last generation cooler.
I dont for the love of god see why anyone needs a GTX580 with the performance levels one of these generates at half the price. even on a 24 inch screen, its pointless.
Awesome review KG.
Well, this just hits the spot. im an nvidia lover however so ill not move, but tis nice to see competition.
Hey, nothing wrong with powercolor. its just idiots on the net who keep saying sapphire are the only make they will buy.
I had a powercolor card years ago and it died, they didnt replace it, and I gave up and swore never again. I think their UK support is poor, unless it has improved recently. im afraid its XFX or sapphire for me.
You know Kitguru, your benchmarks would be much readable if you used black or dark background. It just needs more contrast. This way they’re not very easy on the eyes.
Love the product from powercolor, I hope to see XFX and sapphires models soon.
Since you received word from PowerColor directly, may I ask if you could ask them when are they going to release the Radeon HD 6970 with the PCS+ cooler? Thanks.
In fact, I was going to purchase this very same card, until I heard of the new models being released (I didn’t know they were ready for launch), so I decided to wait a little just for a review on the (future, hope) PowerColor PCS+ 6970. Thanks again!