XFX AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB GDDR5, Price, Specifications and review :

The AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series is the upgrade gamers deserve. Based on the award-winning GCN Architecture, these cards are engineered for supremacy with the industry’s very first 28nm GPU design. Packed with incredible features, such as support for PCI Express 3.0, the ultra-efficient AMD ZeroCore Power technology and gaming at resolutions up to 7680x3200 with AMD Eyefinity technology, serious gaming starts here.

I had great first impressions of this card right out of the box. It feels durable with its thick metal casing, and its probably the most aesthetically pleasing graphics card I've ever bought. The metal is polished to chrome around the fans (the fan centers are real metal chrome as well), and the red side panel has a reflective metallic shine that looks great through a case window. XFX clearly spent a lot of time and resources on how their Radeon HD 7000 line is presented, and its also whisper quiet.


 This card is running great. Temp on idle is 34C at default 37% fan speed. On load I top out at 55 - 65C with fan speed at about 47% and it seems quiet at those speeds. I'm able to run my favorite older games like Portal 2, Bioshock, Borderlands at 60 fps solid with max settings at 1920 x 1080. Skyrim runs at about 45 - 60 as you run along and get into battles. Fantastic performance in games Metro 2033, Bioshock Inf,Hitman Absolution, and ARMA 3 beta Max Settings minus Physx @1080p

 MSI Afterburner came out with the official version to support this card, I achieved a nice 1150 core clock speed and 1350 memory speed (5.4 gbp/s) This is about how stable I got it on default volts. I sure you can overvolt it to 1.v3 and get it higher but id rather stick to the default volts. Overclocking gets it running on the hot side - around 68-71 on load. I would have liked to ideally see it run 1200 core and 1400-1450 mem clock but just might not have gotten a high overclocker, at least on default volts. Do not count on kombuster to test a 100% stable overclock. I can run it for 30+ minutes and have it stable but only be able to run DOTA for 20-30 minutes until I get a crash. Make sure it you overclock either use the CCC to adjust the fan speed speed, or use afterburner to make a custom fan map for cooling (much better than just running the fan at a constant speed).

Price: $210

AMD Radeon HD 7870 Specifications :

• Mfr Part Number: FX787ACDFC
• Chipset: AMD Radeon HD 7870
• Engine Clock: 1000 MHz
• Video Memory: 2GB GDDR5
• Memory Clock: 4800 MHz
• Memory Interface: 256-bit
• Bus: PCI-Express 3.0 x16
• RAMDAC: 400 MHz
• Max. Resolution: 2560 x 1600
• Connectors: DVI-D, DVI-I, HDMI, 2x Mini DisplayPort
• Thermal: Fansink (Dual PWM Fans)
• Dimensions: 9.5 x 4.4 x 1.5 inch / 24.10 x 11.12 x 3.81 cm
• This Video Card Supports:
  • Microsoft Windows 7/ Vista / XP
  • AMD Eyefinity Technology
  • AMD CrossFireX Technology
  • AMD HD3D Technology
  • AMD App Acceleration Technology
  • AMD PowerPlay Technology
  • AMD PowerTune Technology
  • HDCP - High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection
  • Microsoft DirectX 11, Shader Model 5.0 and OpenGL 4.2
• 500W Minimum System Power Supply Requirement

 Pros:
1. Excellent price to performance ratio, compared to NVidia cards at similar performance points
2. I like the red metal top plate compared to the molded plastic that the EVGA cards come with
3. Support for 3 monitors with a single card
4. Excels at gaming runs effortlessly at 1080p/High.
5. Under stock settings, no noise i
6. PCIe 3.0 versus the GTX 5xx which is on 2.0. You could get the GTX 670, but it costs a lot more. Basically if you want 3.0 at this price range (just for the sake of newer tech), this is the card to get.
7. Lower power consumption compared to the GTX 570 despite better performance. With new tech, it appears you can have your cake and eat it too.

Cons:
1. Huge card
2. The card runs at 80+ degree, which is not a bad thing but when u have a dual fan cooler, it should run lower than this.

Overall - great card! If your lucky, patient, and a bit daring, you could have a really strong card to beat out the keplers for price/point performance.