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Today we are looking at the latest card from Gigabyte, the HD7870 Overclock Edition which is supplied with a custom cooler, comprising not two, but three fans. This is the first custom cooled HD7870 we have looked at since the launch of the reference card on March 5th. Gigabyte claim the card is almost silent thanks to a proprietary ‘anti turbulence' fan design.
There are certainly no shortage of buzzwords in the graphics sector from all the leading manufacturers. Gigabyte are promoting their ‘Windforce 3X' cooling solution which is a triple fan solution with patented anti turbulence inclined fans and twin copper heat pipes. We already tested the reference HD7870 and our results highlighted that it didn't produce a significant amount of heat.
Gigabyte have opted for this hardcore fan design clearly to try and reduce noise emissions to a minimum. They say their ‘Triangle Cool' Technology (another patent pending) ensures that heat is dissipated as quickly as possible.
| Product | AMD HD7970 | AMD HD7950 | Gigabyte HD7870 Overclock Edition |
AMD HD7850 |
| Core Clock speed | 925mhz | 800mhz | 1000mhz (1,100mhz) | 860mhz |
| Transistors | 4.31 billion | 4.31 billion | 2.8 billion | 2.8 billion |
| Stream Processors | 2,048 | 1,792 | 1,280 | 1,024 |
| Compute Performance | 3.79 TFLOPS | 2.87 TFLOPS | 2.56 TFLOPS | 1.76 TFLOPS |
| Texture Units | 128 | 112 | 80 | 64 |
| Texture Fillrate | 118.4 GT/s | 89.6 GT/s | 80 GT/s | 55.0 GT/s |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| Pixel Fillrate | 29.6 GP/s | 25.6 GP/s | 32.0 GP/s | 27.52 GP/s |
| Z/Stencil | 128 | 128 | 128 | 128 |
| Memory Type | 3GB GDDR5 | 3GB GDDR5 | 2GB GDDR5 | 2GB GDDR5 |
| Memory Clock | 1,375mhz | 1,250mhz | 1,200mhz | 1,200mhz |
| Memory Data Rate | 5.5 GBps | 5.0 Gbps | 4.8 Gbps | 4.8 Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 264 GB/s | 240 GB/s | 153.6 GB/s | 153.6 GB/s |
Gigabyte have increased the core clock speed from 1,000mhz to 1,100mhz. A significant increase.
looks like a great card, three fans, only seen arctic cooling going for a menage et trois 🙂
I dont like the appearance, but it is great, no doubt about it. never bought an MSI or gigabyte GPU before but they seem to be good.
That is a great idea, spinning them slowly but including 3 fans. cant see it for sale yet anywhere.
I like your reviews but question the data based on other reviews posted regarding this card, especially around acoustics. For me, low sound is a big part of a purchase and most of these sophisticated coolers end up louder than the reference design. Guru3D point out that the fans rpm remains constant at idle and load, your review shows a big difference between idle and load indicating an increase in rpm’s. Also Guru3d noted that this version was louder than the reference design and you have indicated that it is quieter. Why the inconsistency?
Hi Greg, I have no idea about other sites reviews. I only test what I am sent. This card is very quiet at all times and barely registered on our meter. It does spin up when loaded although GPUZ won’t record the fan speeds. At all times it was much quieter than the reference design we have here which can spin the single fan quite high under furmark load.
perhaps the bioses/fan implementation were changed, the card I received came straight from the factory without any box or accessories.
Hmm i don’t know which to buy the Gigabyte 7870 or the Sapphire 7870 both are good. Gigabyte is even more better but i can’t choose. My last Sapphire 5750 was pretty good even overclocked & I was happy. Pls help me
Which is cheaper where you live?