# MSI HD 5870 Lightning



## W1zzard (Mar 9, 2010)

MSI's new R5870 Lightning is designed with the hardcore overclocker in mind. It comes with more PWM phases, noise free coils, voltage measurement points, an overclock out of the box and software voltage change support via Afterburner. But is that enough to satisfy the demanding enthusiast crowd?

*Show full review*


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## Kitkat (Mar 11, 2010)

plz tell me u have an 5870 asus top and your doing it next and soon rofl


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## KainXS (Mar 11, 2010)

1100mhz on air, thats crazy


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## W1zzard (Mar 11, 2010)

Kitkat said:


> plz tell me u have an 5870 asus top and your doing it next and soon rofl



atm i'm only signed up for the ares and the matrix


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## Kitkat (Mar 12, 2010)

W1zzard said:


> atm i'm only signed up for the ares and the matrix



lol yay and aww at the same time lol..... you know what i mean.


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## Andy77 (Mar 12, 2010)

W1zzard said:


> atm i'm only signed up for the ares and the matrix



The Matrix is fine, thanks! Unfortunately I hoped that the Lightning would offer some competition to ASUS and will make prices sync, but if Matrix will do better, then there's no reason for them not to up its price. :shadedshu

BTW, why are most review sites interested in taking an OC orientated card and put it to regular tests but leave the OC part just on one page. Seriously, every other site did that.

BTW, W1zz... any thought if you could be doing a x58 vs 890FX comparison? Maybe using the ASUS Matrix? And/or Xfire?  I know, I know... I'm asking for a lot.

Anyway, here is hoping for the better!


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## KainXS (Mar 12, 2010)

you sign up for those cards to review from the manufacturer or something, do you stll get to keep them like before.


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## SteelSix (Mar 12, 2010)

Come on Newegg..


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## Zubasa (Mar 12, 2010)

Medicore at best... LOL $500, what a nice buy.


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## lism (Mar 12, 2010)

Basicly that silver edge protecting the core from being crushed is in the way?

I used to had this problem too on my older X800XT, that stupid thing was in the way for a heatsink to apply good enough without having extreme temperatures.

Also 1400+ on LN2 on Both Gpu/Mem is just outstanding. The rv870 is really a decent chip.


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## W1zzard (Mar 12, 2010)

no, the silver shim is not in the way. the screw posts on the cooler are too long


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## overclocking101 (Mar 12, 2010)

so msi put 2 8pins and with the power draw they pull it is unneccessary surprise much?? marketing gotta love it


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## BenchZowner (Mar 12, 2010)

W1zzy you should edit the review where you quote Hipro5's posts to clarify that those clocks are for benchmarks and not 24/7 stable gaming because lots of people will get confused and think that those were 24/7 stable


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## HookeyStreet (Mar 12, 2010)

Great review, as always.  Thank you W1z.  It looks like a VERY nice card


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## W1zzard (Mar 12, 2010)

BenchZowner said:


> W1zzy you should edit the review where you quote Hipro5's posts to clarify that those clocks are for benchmarks and not 24/7 stable gaming because lots of people will get confused and think that those were 24/7 stable



with enough ln2 they are 24/7 stable


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## BenchZowner (Mar 12, 2010)

A phase change capable to keep the card under load at -45C looks ok for 1250MHz 24/7 :
But the electricity bill disagrees


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## WarEagleAU (Mar 12, 2010)

Wow, priced a bit more than I thought it would be, but seems to perform where I was expecting. And newegg is usually some of the lowest prices, so yeah I can see them marking it up to make some profits. Anyone think its to cover the losses of the cpus they had to overnight to everyone?  ok, bad joke, sorry.


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## HalfAHertz (Mar 13, 2010)

Wasn't the lightning edition supposed to be at 1000MHz core at stock? I wonder why they scrapped the idea? I think this card doesn't stand out much compared to the default 5870.


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## Mescalamba (Mar 13, 2010)

There isnt that much "good" cores for HD 5870 to make enough 1GHz series.. 

In fact there isnt much of them at all, 40nm proces still isnt flawless.. 

Results kinda as expected, tough disappointed by that cooler, I guess that even "cheap n stupid" Accelero would do better job.. I really wish that manufacturers start do make "naked" graphic cards.. and let us choose best cooler (Sapphire would make a fortune on that, imagine sells of Vapor-X cooler).


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## KoukiFC3S (Mar 14, 2010)

I just got this card; but mine seems to be stuck at 1.125v.

Are you using Afterburner 1.5?


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## W1zzard (Mar 14, 2010)

1.51 i think


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## KoukiFC3S (Mar 14, 2010)

Can you guys upload this version?

MSI's website only has 1.5.

Thanks!


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## Easo (Mar 21, 2010)

Any chance that on HD 6xxx Lightning (let the brand continue) we will see those 2 GHz?


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## Mescalamba (Mar 21, 2010)

Zero.

Even 32nm would make it able to reach 1,5 GHz.. But 2GHz hardly.. only L2N. Plus its high probability, that HD 6XXX wont be just "die-shrink". I guess they will follow current architecture and simply "double" chips (chip from HD 5770 is exact half of what is in HD 5870, or if you want it other way.. HD 5870 is exact double of HD 5770). My guess is, that for example HD 6870 will be doubled HD 5870. But it can be even 4x as 32nm is really small.


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## Steevo (Mar 21, 2010)

W1zz, did you see a rise in stable core clock with a decrease in temps at the same voltage?


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## Super XP (Mar 28, 2010)

Wonderful Review once again. I like the cooler on this card but its loud.


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