PowerColor HD 7870 PCS+ Vortex II 2048 MB

W1zzard · Sep 17, 2012, 01:31 PM

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...lus_Vortex_II/

Dj-ElectriC · Sep 21, 2012, 07:40 AM

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

eidairaman1 · Sep 21, 2012, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dj-ElectriC

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

what?

INSTG8R · Sep 21, 2012, 08:05 AM

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

eidairaman1 · Sep 21, 2012, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by INSTG8R

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, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eidairaman1

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, 10:15 AM

newegg price just magically dropped 30$

BiggieShady · Sep 21, 2012, 10:24 AM

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

INSTG8R · Sep 21, 2012, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by W1zzard

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, 11:25 AM

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

BigMack70 · Sep 21, 2012, 11:37 AM

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, 03:00 PM

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, 03:25 PM

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, 03:37 PM

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, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by INSTG8R

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, 07:57 AM

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, 02:59 PM

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.

Sep 17, 2012, 01:31 PM	#1
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,783 (4.18/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,255 Times in 3,172 Posts System Specs	PowerColor HD 7870 PCS+ Vortex II 2048 MB To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...lus_Vortex_II/ Last edited by ogharaei; Oct 1, 2012 at 07:49 PM.

Processor:	Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.4 GHz
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Memory:	3x 2048 MB Mushkin DDR3
Video Card:	ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP
Hard Disk:	Crucial C300 128 GB, WD6400AAKS 640 GB, WD15EADS 1.5 TB
Optical Drive:	BenQ DW1640
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell U3011 30", 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Case:	NZXT H2
Sound Card:	On-board Realtek HD
PSU:	Kingwin Absolute Platinum 550 W
Software:	Windows 7 64-bit

Sep 21, 2012, 07:40 AM	#2
Dj-ElectriC Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Trollithia Posts: 1,584 (1.56/day) Thanks: 141 Thanked 646 Times in 301 Posts System Specs	An obsolete product atm. SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR... __________________ Unreal Tournament mod - 85% progress Sponsored by MSI and Antec Battletag: HolyDiver#1664

System Name:	UTPC \| IRIS \| mITX
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Memory:	AVEXIR Core 32GB 1600Mhz \| Patriot VIPER3 Venom-Red 32GB 1600Mhz \| 8GB 1600Mhz
Video Card:	MSI Lightning GTX680 2GB SLI \| Intel iGPU Graphics \| iGPU
Hard Disk:	X2 Seagate barracuda 1TB, Corsair Perf Pro 256GB \| Samsung 830 128GB SSD \ Seagate 3TB \| 2TB Seagate
Optical Drive:	like... plastic media readers and such? o_0
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell U2713HM 27" \| Samsung EU46EH5000 46"
Case:	CoolerMaster Cosmos II \| Fractal Design Define XL R2 \| Node 304
Sound Card:	Some card... Tremor Core \| OB ALC 898 \| ALC 898
PSU:	Antec HCP Platinum 1000W \| Classified Antec 750W \| Antec TPN-750W
Software:	Windows 7 Ultimate 64BIT \| same \| same
Benchmarks:	Over 9000 @ 3DMark V\11

System Name:	BS03/04
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Motherboard:	DFI LanParty NFII Ultra-B Bios (TicTac 3D Fire R2)
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Memory:	2GB Mushkin Redline 4000 @ 200 MHz 2.5V
Video Card:	Sapphire R1950Pro 512MB AGP 1.5V
Hard Disk:	250 & 400 GB Seagate Baracuda 10 SATA
Optical Drive:	2x Samsung Multiformat Rewritable Drives
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Sep 21, 2012, 08:05 AM	#4
INSTG8R Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Lost in Norway Posts: 2,581 (0.83/day) Thanks: 934 Thanked 378 Times in 320 Posts System Specs	His point is you can get a 7950 Cheaper than that 7870. __________________ Sys. Specs. i7 2600K@4.6\|ASUS P67 Sabertooth\|2x4096 Corsair Vengence 1600 \|Sapphire HD7970 OC\|WD Caviar Black 6.0Gbps 1TB x2@RAID 0\|SB X-Fi Fatality Pro\|TT Toughpower 1.2kW\|TT Kandalf L.C.S.\|Acer V243H 24" 1920x1080\|Logitech G25\|Logitech G500\|Logitech G19\|Saitek X-52 Pro\|TrackIR4 w/Trackclip Pro

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Sep 21, 2012, 10:15 AM	#7
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,783 (4.18/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,255 Times in 3,172 Posts System Specs	newegg price just magically dropped 30$

Sep 21, 2012, 10:24 AM	#8
BiggieShady Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Zagreb, Croatia Posts: 242 (0.51/day) Thanks: 13 Thanked 68 Times in 56 Posts System Specs	To be honest, I'm surprised how significantly overclocked 7870 has better performance per watt than reference GTX 680.

System Name:	Windows 7 64-bit Core i5 3570K
Processor:	Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.8 GHz
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Sep 21, 2012, 11:25 AM	#10
Mr Verro Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: every where no where Posts: 8 (0.01/day) Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts System Specs	i find this card amazing ,the new price is very reasonable ,it is agreat deal

System Name:	PC
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Memory:	Kingston DDR2 1066
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Software:	Win 7 x64

Sep 21, 2012, 11:37 AM	#11
BigMack70 Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 393 (0.92/day) Thanks: 69 Thanked 90 Times in 54 Posts System Specs	No reason to buy this card when a custom-cooled 7950 is actually CHEAPER. This needs to drop to $270 or less.

Processor:	Intel Core i7-2600k @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard:	ASrock z68 extreme7 gen3
Cooling:	noctua nh-d14
Memory:	Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB DDR3-2133
Video Card:	2x MSI 7970 Lightning
Hard Disk:	OCZ Agility 3 240gb + WD Caviar Black 500GB + WD Raptor 74 GB + 7 TB external
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Sep 21, 2012, 03:00 PM	#12
Delta6326 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Iowa, USA Posts: 3,290 (1.80/day) Thanks: 558 Thanked 600 Times in 438 Posts System Specs	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. __________________ Diablo III- Delta6326#1894 TechPowerUp WCG Forum Skyrim Skill Perks By Delta6326

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Video Card:	2x SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 1GB.
Hard Disk:	WD Black 500GB/WD EXT 2TB/ Toshiba 250GB Test Drive
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Sep 21, 2012, 03:25 PM	#13
Casecutter Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: So. Cal. Posts: 745 (0.97/day) Thanks: 52 Thanked 52 Times in 45 Posts	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

Sep 21, 2012, 03:37 PM	#14
INSTG8R Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Lost in Norway Posts: 2,581 (0.83/day) Thanks: 934 Thanked 378 Times in 320 Posts System Specs	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. __________________ Sys. Specs. i7 2600K@4.6\|ASUS P67 Sabertooth\|2x4096 Corsair Vengence 1600 \|Sapphire HD7970 OC\|WD Caviar Black 6.0Gbps 1TB x2@RAID 0\|SB X-Fi Fatality Pro\|TT Toughpower 1.2kW\|TT Kandalf L.C.S.\|Acer V243H 24" 1920x1080\|Logitech G25\|Logitech G500\|Logitech G19\|Saitek X-52 Pro\|TrackIR4 w/Trackclip Pro

Sep 22, 2012, 07:57 AM	#16
mediasorcerer Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: coast ,melbourne Posts: 942 (1.53/day) Thanks: 709 Thanked 235 Times in 169 Posts System Specs	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. __________________ his masters voice Illuminous Epanoia Technocrati Last edited by mediasorcerer; Sep 22, 2012 at 09:36 AM.

System Name:	THE MEDIAMACHINE
Processor:	i5-3570k
Motherboard:	Asus gene v z-77 matx.
Cooling:	Antec h20 620
Memory:	2x4gb g.skill ripjaws z 2400
Video Card:	h.i.s radeon 7950 reference 3 gb- hooray!!!
Hard Disk:	samsung 128gb~830 ssd. samsung 500gb hdrive.
Optical Drive:	samsung super writemaster
CRT/LCD Model:	22 inch tele.
Case:	circa 1996 grey rat box with no sides front.until my own is finished
Sound Card:	inbuilt creative.supreme effects 3
PSU:	thermaltake tt-500w
Software:	win 7 x64-
Benchmarks:	Coming soon

Sep 22, 2012, 02:59 PM	#17
mastrdrver Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 2,344 (1.51/day) Thanks: 497 Thanked 492 Times in 396 Posts System Specs	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. __________________ AV-Test reports (updated Quarterly) Fan sounds, airflow, and voltage/rpm recordings: Martinm210, Cooling Technique, atreviewnet

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