My 7870 Tahiti review for you

[Shephard]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Powercolor Radeon HD 7870 PCS+ MYST.(TAHITI LE) 2GB[/FONT]

Ok I got my card today so I am going to be testing games. If there is a game you want me to try let me know. I don't have every game though.

My first ATI/AMD card in 10 years. Last one I can remember was a Sapphire and it died. Was not able to RMA it. I had another Powercolor at one point too.

Ok so in the box there was nothing special.

- Driver disc.
- Installation manual.
- 1 mini display port adapter.

The card itself looks really nice. It has a metal black shroud. Although I noticed when I put it on my mobo it hangs a little bit. I think they could have put a screw through the shroud to the PCB to hold it better.

It looks awesome in my case though which is a blue/black sort of theme with my MSI board.

excuse the crappy camera phone pic.

---

Idle temp is around 25 degrees celcius.

Max temp with SC2 4v4 running and an hd video in the background was 66 degrees celcius.

Fan Speed has not gone past 33%.

There were some complaints I read on reviews about the fan. I have not found it to be that loud. My Fractal rear fan overpowers it and it's suppose to be a silent case.

I am also coming from a 9800 gt so maybe people here have a different understanding of quiet fans. 9800 gt at 100% fan speed is like a leaf blower. With headphones though it's not bad.

We will see when it's actually at 100% how loud it is.

---

So far I have only tried Starcraft 2. More of a CPU intensive game. I did go from medium settings with HD4000 30-50 fps to Ultra settings with 7870 75-100+ fps @ 1680x1050.

Next test is Crysis which I have not played in about a year. With a 9800 I could play it on high - not ultra. Some fps drops here and there. It did look good though.

After that Batman which I have yet to play before.

 

[Eureka]

You should try Crysis with the hi-res texture, ENB and lighting mods.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1014933/a-guide-to-crysis-mods-56k-warning

It will be quite an experience, and it will probably bring the 7870 XT to its knees.

 

[Shephard]

is there a pack that contains all of them? Will that work on Steam?

 

[blackened23]

I am also coming from a 9800 gt so maybe people here have a different understanding of quiet fans. 9800 gt at 100% fan speed is like a leaf blower. With headphones though it's not bad.

We will see when it's actually at 100% how loud it is.

---

So far I have only tried Starcraft 2. More of a CPU intensive game. I did go from medium settings with HD4000 30-50 fps to Ultra settings with 7870 75-100+ fps @ 1680x1050.

Next test is Crysis which I have not played in about a year. With a 9800 I could play it on high - not ultra. Some fps drops here and there. It did look good though.

After that Batman which I have yet to play before.

So....why would you ever run a GPU fan at 100% speed? Did you actually keep your 9800 like that 24/7 (that's what you seem to indicate) and if so, WHY would you ever do that

 

[Shephard]

So....why would you ever run a GPU fan at 100% speed? Did you actually keep your 9800 like that 24/7 (that's what you seem to indicate) and if so, WHY would you ever do that

lol I didn't choose 100% fan speed it was always on auto. GPU intensive games it cranked right to the max. The card actually died and I baked it and brought it back to life. Worked just as good as new but it always ran hot. 80-90 degrees celcius and loud. It did the job though.

-

well until Eureka responds here is Crysis @ all settings Very High, 8x MSAA the max 1680x1050.

Between 38-60 fps. Never seen it this smooth and look so good.

Going to try Batman now.

Fan speed has not gone above 35%. Can hear it a bit with my headphones OFF.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Nice! I have a Sapphire 7870 XT on the way!

 

[Shephard]

yes I was debating the Sapphire version because of the better fan, but It was much more expensive.

This had $30 rebate which was originally $15 so I went for it.

I manually set the fan to 100% and yes it's loud but I doubt it will go that loud. It has not gone above 35% gaming. My 9800 gt I had no choice.

I was playing Batman and what an awesome game. Great graphics.

I think I had everything but MSAA max.

All Settings Checked YES
Detail - Extreme
DX 11 Features - MVSS and HBAO
DX 11 Tessellation - High
2X MSAA

I was getting around 50-100+ fps. Only one time did it spike to 20 which was when I was looking outside of the city. Maybe some loading lag or just the crazy lightning. ^_^

 

[Rvenger]

Your temps look decent as well.

 

[Shephard]

Your temps look decent as well.

I have not overclocked yet. According to reviews when OC to max temps were 79 degrees celsius which is still acceptable. My 9800 gt ran between 80-90s. A couple times 100 still fine.

No fancy cooling in my case. 2 Fractal fans and Hyper 212 for CPU.

 

[Soulkeeper]

It's amazing how cool these 7xxx series cards run
I saw my 7850 dip to 18c the other morning idle (14.5c ambient).
Also idle power usage is something crazy like sub 15watt

Is that a 92mm fan on there ?
What rpm does it spin at ?


.

 

[KevinH]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Powercolor Radeon HD 7870 PCS+ MYST.(TAHITI LE) 2GB[/FONT]

Ok I got my card today so I am going to be testing games. If there is a game you want me to try let me know. I don't have every game though.

My first ATI/AMD card in 10 years. Last one I can remember was a Sapphire and it died. Was not able to RMA it. I had another Powercolor at one point too.

Ok so in the box there was nothing special.

- Driver disc.
- Installation manual.
- 1 mini display port adapter.

The card itself looks really nice. It has a metal black shroud. Although I noticed when I put it on my mobo it hangs a little bit. I think they could have put a screw through the shroud to the PCB to hold it better.

It looks awesome in my case though which is a blue/black sort of theme with my MSI board.

excuse the crappy camera phone pic.

---

Idle temp is around 25 degrees celcius.

Max temp with SC2 4v4 running and an hd video in the background was 66 degrees celcius.

Fan Speed has not gone past 33%.

There were some complaints I read on reviews about the fan. I have not found it to be that loud. My Fractal rear fan overpowers it and it's suppose to be a silent case.

I am also coming from a 9800 gt so maybe people here have a different understanding of quiet fans. 9800 gt at 100% fan speed is like a leaf blower. With headphones though it's not bad.

We will see when it's actually at 100% how loud it is.

---

So far I have only tried Starcraft 2. More of a CPU intensive game. I did go from medium settings with HD4000 30-50 fps to Ultra settings with 7870 75-100+ fps @ 1680x1050.

Next test is Crysis which I have not played in about a year. With a 9800 I could play it on high - not ultra. Some fps drops here and there. It did look good though.

After that Batman which I have yet to play before.

I think it's the game you're playing.

I did some BF3 and the fan is up to 60% and it's pretty loud. Louder than a reference 7870 I have (Visiontek) and the 7850 Direct Cu I just recently sold.

Idle is quite but the loudest component in my system (albest I have a VERY quiet build).

I'm overclocked to 1200 Core/1600 Memory..rock solid at stock voltage.

Mine idles at around 40 C...ambient temperature in my home around 23 C. It does seem a little warm. Going to plug in my exhaust fan.

*sigh*...more noise.

 

[Shephard]

I think it's the game you're playing.

I did some BF3 and the fan is up to 60% and it's pretty loud. Louder than a reference 7870 I have (Visiontek) and the 7850 Direct Cu I just recently sold.

Idle is quite but the loudest component in my system (albest I have a VERY quiet build).

I'm overclocked to 1200 Core/1600 Memory..rock solid at stock voltage.

I don't have BF3. I might be able to borrow from a friend.

Is there a trial or anything I can try to test it?

Yes it's 92mm fan.

 

[KevinH]

I don't have BF3. I might be able to borrow from a friend.

Is there a trial or anything I can try to test it?

Yes it's 92mm fan.

I'm going to back down my overclock. What kind of case do you have? I'm using a Lian Li Mini ATX case. Air flow is not the best but temperatures are breaking 90 C. Really making me nervous.

 

[Shephard]

I'm going to back down my overclock. What kind of case do you have? I'm using a Lian Li Mini ATX case. Air flow is not the best but temperatures are breaking 90 C. Really making me nervous.

I have Define R4.

It only has 2 Fractal fans. 1 in the front and 1 rear.

 

[KevinH]

I have Define R4.

It only has 2 Fractal fans. 1 in the front and 1 rear.

Jealous of your temperatures. I turned on the exhaust fan. It's now 80 under load. Noise isn't too bad at load using the default fan profile. I didn't realize I had the fan profile for my other card and it was spinning too fast. Not bad...not bad at all.

After my coupon and rebate, this card ended up being $202 after taxes + two free games I plan to sell. I'm 100% happy with it.

 

[Shephard]

Friend lent me BF3 to test out.

1680x1050

ALL settings Ultra
4X MSAA (max)
HBAO
16X AF

Everything max can't go higher.

Average fps 55-60. Fan is louder, but still can't hear it with headphones on.

Some shots for you.

 

[clamum]

I just got a XFX 7870 yesterday and now playing BF3 is actually fun. I came from a HD4870 and damn, I was missing out!

 

[Midwayman]

I installed mine (Sapphire 7870 xt) last night and booted up bf3. Very smooth with all the goodies turned on. Going to OC soon and get some temp readings. I have one of the silverstone fortress SFF cases so it'll be interesting to see how it handles being in a tight space. This is pretty much an ideal card for 1080p gaming so far.

 

[Eureka]

is there a pack that contains all of them? Will that work on Steam?

I don't believe so, ENB itself is a pack. It should work fine with Steam, you just have to move it into the appropriate folder (as opposed to the EA install).

The lighting mod is just a cfg text file with tweaked settings, you just drag it into the folder. The other ones are archive files that you overwrite the stock ones with. Keep copies of the old ones so you don't have to reinstall in case you no longer want the mods.

With those three mods, I was dipping into the 30-40s on a 7970 GHz overclocked to 1100.

 

[Midwayman]

Been running about 36C idle and 76C in games with an OC to 1100mhz. SFF case. Sapphire XT. Fans remain nice and quiet. My old gtx 470 sounded like a jet about to take off in games.

 

[Shephard]

sorry for the crappy screenshots. Photobucket resized the all and no way to change.

Also they don't do BF3 justice with all the trees moving, dust, and weather conditions.

Gonna try Shogun 2 Total War and report back.

 

[Shephard]

Here is another picture of Batman. At actual native res.

 

[jamudin1]

what about the MYST

 

[Shephard]

what about the MYST

This is the 'Myst' sorry for the confusion. It uses Tahiti architecture.

 

[Midwayman]

what about the MYST

MYST is just the powercolor model name. Its a 7870 LE.