# HIS HD 4870 IceQ4+ Turbo 1 GB GDDR5



## W1zzard (Mar 23, 2009)

In addition to the long and complicated name, the HIS HD 4870 IceQ4+ Turbo features twice the memory compared to the AMD HD 4870 reference design. The clock speeds have also received a boost, now running at 770 MHz core and 1000 MHz memory out of the box. Last but not least, HIS replaced the AMD cooler with their own IceQ cooling system.

*Show full review*


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## WarEagleAU (Mar 25, 2009)

Awesome review as always W1zz. One thing Id like AMD to do more of, seeing as they wont run their stream processors independently of the core, is push the core envelope a bit more. Id like to see the core hum along 1ghz if possible.


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## ShadowFold (Mar 25, 2009)

WarEagleAU said:


> Awesome review as always W1zz. One thing Id like AMD to do more of, seeing as they wont run their stream processors independently of the core, is push the core envelope a bit more. Id like to see the core hum along 1ghz if possible.



4890 is going to run at 1ghz  

Awesome review, gets my hopes up for my coming 4870 1gb!


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## newtekie1 (Mar 25, 2009)

ShadowFold said:


> 4890 is going to run at 1ghz
> 
> Awesome review, gets my hopes up for my coming 4870 1gb!



It can overclock to 1GHz, it isn't going to run that by default.  850MHz is the stock clock, last I heard.  Hopefully, 1GHz is possible on most cards, but that is a stretch.


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## aCid888* (Mar 25, 2009)

Great review, I'm happy we now have a solid review from TPU (the only place to trust) comparing the 512MB version to the 1GB 4870.

Now I see what this thing can do I'm happy I have a 1GB 4870 coming to replace my 9800GTX+ that clocks like a beast...I'm luck enough to have a Koolance VID-487 coming as well to make it suffer more under water.


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## mlee49 (Mar 25, 2009)

Whoa so the fan is off until it reaches 83ºC?  Crazy!  Must be like flooring the fan until it cools the gpu and then shuts off.

*I still want to see a 3870x2 involved with test benchmarks!!!*


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## Altered (Mar 25, 2009)

Excellent review. I like the "Performance per Dollar" charts. For the average enthusiast the $ is almighty and can easily play a major roll in deciding on what card he/she can afford. After reading that I am very happy with what I paid for what I should get tomorrow.


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## rockit00 (Mar 25, 2009)

mlee49 said:


> Whoa so the fan is off until it reaches 83ºC?  Crazy!  Must be like flooring the fan until it cools the gpu and then shuts off.
> 
> *Still want to see a 3870x2 involved with test benchmarks!!!*



The HIS HD4870 IceQ 4+ Turbo is much quieter than my Powercolor HD 4870 512. They both have buggy fan control but the Powercolor reference card would floor the fan, like you just stated. The HIS has a better fan control with its bios. Expert Tool ATI v4 set to fixed 50% for the Powercolor keeps it around 50C at idle. Expert Tool with the HIS can be set to dynamic (39-45%) fan speed at idle around 52C. Great review also.


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## btarunr (Mar 25, 2009)

This card beats GTX 260-216 and GTX 285 in perf/watt.


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## Mussels (Mar 25, 2009)

interesting, my 4870 came stock 770/900 instead of 750/900.

It OC's to 790/1000, so yay, i have an OC model now!


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## DaveK (Mar 25, 2009)

I would do some dirty things to get my hands on that card lol. Not available here though :|


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## newtekie1 (Mar 25, 2009)

Just wondering, now that TPU has a test platform that can do both SLi can Crossfire, might we see some SLi and Crossfire results in the reviews?


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## alexp999 (Mar 25, 2009)

Great review as usually just a couple of things:

Picture missing on page 3 (comes up as a little red x):
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4870_IceQ4/3.html

And you wrote the overclock down as 835/1225, instead of what GPU-Z shows of 835/1070
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4870_IceQ4/32.html


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## W1zzard (Mar 25, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> Great review as usually just a couple of things:
> 
> Picture missing on page 3 (comes up as a little red x):
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4870_IceQ4/3.html
> ...



fixed. thanks


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## alexp999 (Mar 25, 2009)

No problem

Also, can I just ask, do you take the heatsink off before or after the tests?


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## AsRock (Mar 25, 2009)

btarunr said:


> This card beats GTX 260-216 and GTX 285 in perf/watt.



Compared to what price as it's not said on the 1st page ?.. Also a 260 192sp can be had for like $170 ish and not $240 as it says well i guess you could find a 260 192sp for $240 but you be getting ripped..  And a 216sp for around $220.


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## btarunr (Mar 25, 2009)

AsRock said:


> Compared to what price as it's not said on the 1st page ?.. Also a 260 192sp can be had for like $170 ish and not $240 as it says well i guess you could find a 260 192sp for $240 but you be getting ripped..  And a 216sp for around $220.



No part of my comment put price into the equation.


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## AsRock (Mar 25, 2009)

btarunr said:


> No part of my comment put price into the equation.



Oops been doing that a lot these days....  Sorry ..


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## W1zzard (Mar 25, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> No problem
> 
> Also, can I just ask, do you take the heatsink off before or after the tests?



i take the card out of the package, put it in the test system, run all performance benchmarks, run power consumption, test overclocking, measure temp idle, load, load + oc, measure oc performance, remove card, put it in the sound testing rig, measure fan noise idle and load, remove the card, take pics, disassemble the card, take more pics, put the card back together and realize i forgot the package and box contents pictures, take those, make graphs, write review


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## alexp999 (Mar 25, 2009)

Okay just checking, cus obviously the order the review pans out in, looks like you take the card apart then do all the tests, making the heat ones unfair, lol.

What I dont get is why HIS have got a problem with the fan again. They had this on the IceQ3 cooler and had to fix that, you wouldnt think they would make the same mistake twice.


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## W1zzard (Mar 25, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> Okay just checking, cus obviously the order the review pans out in, looks like you take the card apart then do all the tests, making the heat ones unfair, lol.



yeah i understand that but having the card presentation before the benchmarks makes more sense to me.


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## alexp999 (Mar 25, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> yeah i understand that but having the card presentation before the benchmarks makes more sense to me.



I agree, just wanted to check that tests were done based on how it came out of the factory


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## Altered (Mar 25, 2009)

Just out of curiosity where / how do you get the cards you test? My new card should be here tomorrow and I would love to see it up against this card and crossfire with it in a real non biased test.  Obviously I want AS on it when you put the heatsink back on though.  


[*]Brand  	ASUS
[*]Model 	EAH4870 DK TOP/HTDI/512MD5
[*]Core clock  	815MHz
[*]Memory Clock  	3.7GHz (925MHz DDR5)
[*]Memory Size 	512MB

These couple of statements from this review have me excited but still doubtful that this is reality.


> For memory, ASUS went with 512MB of GDDR5. These particular chips come from Qimonda, model IDGV51-05A1F1C-40, and are rated up to 1000MHz (4GHz effective). As you'll see in the overclocking section, however, they can be pushed well beyond that spec.





> The EAH4870 DK Top comes from ASUS already overclocked, but that wasn't good enough for us. Most manufacturers leave a certain margin of safety when establishing factory overclocking speed. This ensures that more cards will be capable of sustaining the set clock speeds and cuts down on warranty service due to failed overclocks. We decided to explore this margin, and after some stability testing, settled on 855MHz for the GPU core and 1175MHz (4700MHz effective) for the memory. Needless to say, this card had considerable headroom left, even on top of the factory overclocking performed by ASUS.




Is this realistic {4700MHz effective} and stable?


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## Olykainnen (Apr 5, 2009)

I bought this card last week and install instead of 3870 IceQ3Turbo. 3870IceQ3 was absolutely noiseless even under 3D load, but new 4870IceQ4 is noisy like hairdryer. I checked BIOS version, it was 113-SBSJ2G09-00R-01. It means my card have another BIOS than you tested card. GPU temp was 83C under load and 62 in idle. OK! I flash you suggested BIOS and: 72C under load, 68C in idle, reduced noise, but this noise is the most hearable. I am dissapointed.
I think about fullcover


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## Paintface (Apr 5, 2009)

wizard, could you provide the values you use for the custom fan profilefor this exact card? thank you


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## Soylent Joe (Jun 22, 2009)

I've had this card for about a month now, and I absolutely love it. I haven't been able to find a game that brings it to it's knees. 40 fps in Crysis on high, 60 in L4D maxed out, 150-200 in TF2 maxed out, all at 1920x1080. I love this thing!


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