PowerColor HD 6870 X2 2 GB

[W1zzard]

PowerColor's exclusive HD 6870 X2 unifies two HD 6870 graphics processors on a single card. This approach offers performance that can compete with other high-end cards like GTX 580. In our testing we saw nice results that make this card a worthy alternative in today's high-end graphics card market.

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[Nesters]

Best top high-end perf/$ even at launch price.

 

[antuk15]

Red PCB = Fail

And it really could of done with 2Gb of VRAM per GPU core, With 1Gb per GPU it just dosn't have the VRAM to back up the shader power.

 

[Pestilence]

Damnit Wizzard... Now i want to order one. Nice review

 

[antuk15]

You may add more HD 6850/6870 cards to a CrossFire configuration with the HD 6870 X2. Thanks to the Lucid Hydra chip on the board it is also possible to combine this card with any other ATI or NVIDIA card, but this requires the Lucid Hydra drivers which are not working perfectly yet

I beg to differ

 

[Pestilence]

Wizard,

Would you buy one to play with over a 580?

 

[ERazer]

another superb review almighty wiz

i would definitely consider one if is below 500$

 

[damric]

Tul seems to have the perfect balance of engineering and marketing. Not only is this card fantastic, but it showed up at the right time, when HD 6990 and GTX 590 are out of stock!

 

[antuk15]

Tul seems to have the perfect balance of engineering and marketing. Not only is this card fantastic, but it showed up at the right time, when HD 6990 and GTX 590 are out of stock!

But in the UK atleast it's slower and more expensive then 5850 Xfire.

 

[Fourstaff]

But in the UK atleast it's slower and more expensive then 5850 Xfire.

5970 is roughly 5850 Crossfire, so I would say this card is about as powerful as 5850 Crossfire in a package. This is more of novel engineering (and experience off it) rather than anything, and the target audience (if there is one at all) is probably people looking for novel stuffs.

 

[bbmarley]

i see crossfire bridge inc , could you tri/quadfire this card?

edit i must have overlooked a part dam thats pretty nice

 

[Pestilence]

I was hoping someone would do a Quad Crossfire review

 

[antuk15]

5970 is roughly 5850 Crossfire, so I would say this card is about as powerful as 5850 Crossfire in a package. This is more of novel engineering (and experience off it) rather than anything, and the target audience (if there is one at all) is probably people looking for novel stuffs.

From what I remember seeing in reviews 5850 crossfire was always slightly faster the a 5970 because of scaling.

On a clock-for-clock basis a 5850 is quite a way faster then a 6870.

 

[erocker]

But in the UK atleast it's slower and more expensive then 5850 Xfire.

Every time a dual GPU card is released this statement is made. A single, dual GPU card will be more expensive, that's the way it is.

 

[antuk15]

Every time a dual GPU card is released this statement is made. A single, dual GPU card will be more expensive, that's the way it is.

it doesn't matter if it's made everytime. It's still a valid statement and is still something vendors have to think about and deal with.

 

[Fourstaff]

From what I remember seeing in reviews 5850 crossfire was always slightly faster the a 5970 because of scaling.

On a clock-for-clock basis a 5850 is quite a way faster then a 6870.

Slightly faster as in 1-5%? Well technically it will be slightly faster, but in real life it will be "about as powerful". Also, you must remember 6xxx series scales way better compared to 5xxx series.

Every time a dual GPU card is released this statement is made.

Its obvious and true, so (in my eyes) that statement is going to be made every single time a dual GPU comes out.

it doesn't matter if it's made everytime. It's still a valid statement and is still something vendors have to think about and deal with.

And why should they bother? I don't see any reason for them to sell it any cheaper, just like how you don't price limited edition stuff cheaper than normal edition ones.

 

[antuk15]

Slightly faster as in 1-5%? Well technically it will be slightly faster, but in real life it will be "about as powerful". Also, you must remember 6xxx series scales way better compared to 5xxx series.

Not from my own testing, Scaling is the same.

The 6000 series just require less CPU resources to aceheive maximum scaling compared to oder generations.

 

[cbupdd]

This and Club3d 6870x2 have the same pcb:

http://www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=31558

http://www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=31562

 

[WhiteLotus]

Why so noisy! Why do they do this, they can run so much quieter! Curse them!

 

[Damn_Smooth]

I wish this card was in my price range. I guess nobody will sell me anything for $0-$5 though. Maybe I should buy some lotto tickets.

 

[KainXS]

haven't been around much anymore,


oh i see

 

[Assimilator]

W1zz, did you try setting manual fan profiles/voltages for idle to see if that helped the high power draw and noise at that level?

And a suggestion: every card on your charts has at least 1GB of VRAM, so instead of saying "1024M" you could save some space by using "1G", or instead of "1536M" use "1.5G".

Also why do they bother using 1.25GHz memory chips but only run them at 1.05GHz?

 

[dir_d]

Good review, Great card, if Powercolor was smart they would lower this card below 480 and watch these cards fly off the shelves.

 

[Cool Mike]

Nice card, I would buy if the price was around $469-$479. Just noticed newegg is offering the stupid $15 powerjack for free with purchase. Please lower the price no one wants the powerjack!!
No one buy until the price is LOWERED....

 

[Frogger]

You may add more HD 6850/6870 cards to a CrossFire configuration with the HD 6870 X2. Thanks to the Lucid Hydra chip on the board it is also possible to combine this card with any other ATI or NVIDIA card, but this requires the Lucid Hydra drivers which are not working perfectly yet

would be interested in seeing this card with another HDxxxx card in CF to see the Hydra drivers in action . any info on this "Lucid Hydra drivers which are not working perfectly yet"