PowerColor PCS+ HD 4870 1GB GDDR5
There is no way to categorize AMD's recent launch of the RV770 graphics processor powering the Radeon HD 4800 series of cards as anything other than a resounding success. Cards based on the GPU hit the scene offering very strong performance in their respective price brackets, and forced rival NVIDIA to react with a quick round of price cuts that will surely eat into NVIDIA's margins on the gigantic 65nm GT200 chip. Although actual sales figures aren't available just yet, we suspect AMD is going to show strong sales of every member of the Radeon HD 4800 series.
One common concern among analysts and users of AMD's latest flagship GPU has been heat, however. Virtually every evaluation of a reference Radeon HD 4800 series cards makes some mention of the extreme heat radiated by the cards. But PowerColor may have an answer. We recently got a hold of PowerColor's PCS+ HD 4870 card that features a completely redesigned cooler, with multiple heat-pipes and a dense array of aluminum heatsink fins, which the company claims can lower GPU temps by upwards of 10'C. And for good measure, PowerColor also pre-overclocks the cards and packs on 1GB of GDDR5 memory, double that of the initial lot of reference cards.
Considering the relative popularity of the Radeon HD 4870, we were eager to see what this custom variant had in store. Read on to see what PowerColor PCS+ HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 can really do and decide whether it's worth the extra investment...
PowerColor PCS+ HD 4870 1GB GDDR5
One common concern among analysts and users of AMD's latest flagship GPU has been heat, however. Virtually every evaluation of a reference Radeon HD 4800 series cards makes some mention of the extreme heat radiated by the cards. But PowerColor may have an answer. We recently got a hold of PowerColor's PCS+ HD 4870 card that features a completely redesigned cooler, with multiple heat-pipes and a dense array of aluminum heatsink fins, which the company claims can lower GPU temps by upwards of 10'C. And for good measure, PowerColor also pre-overclocks the cards and packs on 1GB of GDDR5 memory, double that of the initial lot of reference cards.
Considering the relative popularity of the Radeon HD 4870, we were eager to see what this custom variant had in store. Read on to see what PowerColor PCS+ HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 can really do and decide whether it's worth the extra investment...
PowerColor PCS+ HD 4870 1GB GDDR5
