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MSI 5870 Lightning Review

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http://hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=3158

One 8-pin is required, while the other will accept a 6-pin or an 8-pin, depending on overclocking goals. They used dual 8-pins which increased power consumption but only went to 1000MHz core. Would be interesting to see what power envelope and clocks can be achieved with one 6-pin and one 8-pin. Looks to offer flexibily for varying overclocking goals.. nice!
 
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Good review... and very good card.

Congrats ATi & MSI.
 

Polarman

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I was looking forward to this.
 
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Does anyone know when they will be available to the general public and what the real price range would be, I see futuremark has a contest using one of them and i think i want to play,...

i read the article , maybe i just missed it but i will look again...


k from what i have read it looks to me to be in the 475 range, but we'll see...
hope it's out soon,,,
 
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MKmods

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now thats a cool looking cooler, its almost a shame the tubes are hidden under the card instead of on top whre they could be seen.
(too bad for the small exhaust exit port)
 

aCid888*

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I wouldnt buy MSI's boards if you paid me......this on the other hand??

It looks damn fine. :rockout:
 

Sailindawg

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Does anyone know when they will be available to the general public and what the real price range would be, I see futuremark has a contest using one of them and i think i want to play,...

i read the article , maybe i just missed it but i will look again...


k from what i have read it looks to me to be in the 475 range, but we'll see...
hope it's out soon,,,

The article said that it was expected to see these at ~$439 (US $). That's would be reasonable. However, Saphire first listed the VaporX 5870 at 439 and now it's up to $489 :eek: Not worth it. I'm hoping to see the MSI card come in at ~$440. Anything more, I'll keep my 260's a while longer. I was hoping to see it listed on newegg today, no such luck.
 

MKmods

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it looks like Nvidia cards may be so expensive ATI felt the need to raise the prices on all their cards...

The ATI stuff seems a lot more $$ than they were a few mos ago
 
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It has a very nice cooler on it.
 

Sailindawg

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it looks like Nvidia cards may be so expensive ATI felt the need to raise the prices on all their cards...

Hmm.......what I have noticed is that a new ATI card is introduced at a price, then after a couple of weeks, the price jumps. If they are smart, they'll undercut nvidia on price continually. IMHO, there is a price point for any 5870 that's just too much for the performance that's being delivered. When I compare my 2 (overclocked) GTX 260's benches to some of the benches in the reviews for the 5870's, I'm not that far behind, maybe 5% or so. With what I currently have, I'm not really getting spanked real world performance wise.

I do like this Lightning card though!!! :D
 

afw

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awesome looking card ... i read an article saying that the clocks were going to be 1Ghz on the core .... hmm ... anyway great looking card ... plus its shorter than the reference cards ... :)
 

Sailindawg

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Look here. Some are closing in on GPU 1500 on LN2 :eek:

This card ought to do real well on stock air or water, 1000 GPU no problem! They ought to be releasing them soon. Then let the fun begin!! ;)
 
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