# PowerColor HD 7870 PCS+ 2 GB



## W1zzard (Sep 17, 2012)

The PowerColor HD 7870 PCS+ Vortex II is one of the highest clocked HD 7870 cards available today, in our testing we see it match HD 7950 performance. PowerColor also engineered a special feature that lets you adjust the fan's distance from the card, promising improved cooling performance.

*Show full review*


----------



## dj-electric (Sep 21, 2012)

An obsolete product atm.
SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR...


----------



## eidairaman1 (Sep 21, 2012)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> An obsolete product atm.
> SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR...



what?


----------



## INSTG8R (Sep 21, 2012)

His point is you can get a 7950 Cheaper than that 7870.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Sep 21, 2012)

INSTG8R said:


> His point is you can get a 7950 Cheaper than that 7870.



oh a ref model per se then im guessing.


----------



## INSTG8R (Sep 21, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> oh a ref model per se then im guessing.



Did you check the link? It clearly wasn't a reference model. Sapphire Dual X Cooler Boost Edition $20 cheaper than the 7870...


----------



## W1zzard (Sep 21, 2012)

newegg price just magically dropped 30$


----------



## BiggieShady (Sep 21, 2012)

To be honest, I'm surprised how significantly overclocked 7870 has better performance per watt than reference GTX 680.


----------



## INSTG8R (Sep 21, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> newegg price just magically dropped 30$



Dammit! There onto us!  

 But for $10 more the Sapphire really is the better deal


----------



## Mr Verro (Sep 21, 2012)

i find this card amazing ,the new price is very reasonable ,it is agreat deal


----------



## BigMack70 (Sep 21, 2012)

No reason to buy this card when a custom-cooled 7950 is actually CHEAPER. This needs to drop to $270 or less.


----------



## Delta6326 (Sep 21, 2012)

Great review W1zzard! It's a good card just needs to be a little cheaper.

My only complaint with the review and its not a big one, when you say Quote  "The heatpipes stick out a bit, so better check to make sure it fits your case.". On "The Card" page it would have been nice to give the measurement, because I don't know where else would give it to you. I think Full card Height - PCI Express plug, would work.


----------



## Casecutter (Sep 21, 2012)

Well, I first thought wow what will we see for power consumption… and next noticed that MSRP, I reckoned it couldn’t fair well.  Although, the power isn't out of bounds and furnishes strong performance. PowerColor did very nice work, they seemed to find good balance!

And now at $270 it starts to be deserving of dialogue…  Especially against such reference 660Ti while those can be found at $260, with the PCS+ you obtain lavish Tour’de force construction and just more value in my mind.

Against a 7950 like the Sapphire it diminishes in luster, but differences are really in the advantage of acquirement of Boost clock.  Which for me because that advantage vanishes when going to OC it makes it more of a quandary.  Buying it that way and then not employing it squanders its main advantage... then just grab a non-boost.  I hope with the "Oland" they find a way to keep Boost, but not have to sacrifice it when OC’d up to a certain level, kind of what Nvidia does but with less domineering nanny.  While then a second BIOS that does allow straight old fashion OC’n.  

So the question is, grab the 7950 and use a it is, or the PCS+ and juice it that little extra.  IDK


----------



## INSTG8R (Sep 21, 2012)

But it's not as simple as just "juicing it" for just a few bucks more the 7950 has more everything. More shaders, more RAM, more Bandwidth. the 7950 would certainly clock up to the same clocks easily and that just widens the gap even further.


----------



## Casecutter (Sep 21, 2012)

INSTG8R said:


> 7950 has more everything.


Don't get me wrong... To me it works like this buy...
A) The Sapphire 7950 With Boost for $270, and enjoy as is... maybe OC it later! At that price it's a great purchase! 
B) Get the original 7950 with a nice cooler like an Asus DirectCU and Juice it! But those aren't dealing anything close to $270. I did see a Sapphire (810Mhz) with what appear to be the same cooler that was showing $280 -AR, then Egg cash back got it down $265.. that was 8 day's ago. 
C) Or get this PC PCS+ and find a little more. 

But yes that one Sapphire 7950 With Boost deal is smoke'n


----------



## mediasorcerer (Sep 22, 2012)

Im glad i got the 7950 now, good review and thankyou, the extra memory and increased bandwidth are a bonus for a few dollars more, im sure there both good cards, but if you wanted to add extra monitors later or drive a real hi res display, thats why i got 7950 over 7870.[and i got to flash the new bios too hehe].

Some of the gtx 660ti,s are 20-40$ more expensive than my 7950, and they dont come with 3 free games either.


----------



## mastrdrver (Sep 22, 2012)

I think there's a typo on page 3:

"You may combine up to two HD 7850 cards from any vendor in a multi-GPU CrossFire configuration for higher frame rates or better image-quality settings."

I'm guessing you meant 7870?

Nice review though.


----------

