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** POWERCOLOR RETURNS TO OVERCLOCKERS UK!! **

Looking at the 290 PCS+ cards on the Powercolor website, it looks like they have a vent on the rear bracket, but it's blocked by the shroud. Looks like a handily short card if you don't have a massive case. Isn't there also supposed to be a nice backplate too?
 
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Gibbo said:
Nope.

Same group, but two separate divisions and right now OcUK is not seeking to be involved with VTX3D on a direct basis, were focusing on Powercolor as Powercolor is the premium division within the TUL group, whereas VTX3D is the value/budget option.
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After using a Powercolor PCS+ 7870XT Myst for about 8 months now i'm really quite impressed with it.

@ £176 with 3 Games i was a bit apprehensive, especially with the single fan cooler.

It did run hot out of the box, especially overclocked. upto 85c
But with some under-volting it runs at 1200 / 1600 in every game all day without artefacts or even the slightest little niggle, and never goes over 76c with a quiet 40% fan profile.

Its actually the most stable. most solid and most overclockable card i have had in a long time, this is coming straight from a Gigabyte 7870 WF3 costing £240 at the time i bought it.

The only thing i find wrong with it, is not the GPU its self, its that it will not alow any voltage adjustment with any overclocking app other than their own Power Up Tuner, which is, while not bad. its also not good.

Other than that I would not hesitate to buy another Powercolor GPU.
 
My Powercolor x1800xt (from overclockers on this week only) and 7970 have both served me well. My 7970 was a peach of an overclocker and still going strong
 
My Powercolor 6950 unlocked two extra quads, cranked the GPU, Mem and power to max in CCC, and it's never skipped a beat in the years I've had it. The only thing I don't like is the AMD stock cooler as the radial fan is noticeable in a quiet system.
 
I loved my unlocked 6950 PCS++.

For a shade over the price of a 290 PCS+, I can get a reference card and add an H55 and a Kraken G10 and keep the warranty.

Only issue is whether the difference between the reference and pcs is just the cooler, or other components too.

If it's just the cooler, i'll be ordering immediately.
 
Seeing as Visiontek are apparently talking up a $550 liquid cooled(looks EK block like but not sure) 290's, which they say are $400 card, $140 waterblock $36 backplate and you get the warranty, that seems a pretty good deal. It looks relatively speaking like card + block price, even saving a bit, and not losing warranty.

I can't really get behind a £599 card which is a what has been £400 gpu with a £80 waterblock...... It's a pretty insane overhead. £70-80 for the better air cooler seems a bit steep as well, but that's just me. A better cooled card will fail less often and hell buy separately and you pay for the stock cooler as well which is worth $20.
 
Diddums said:
Only issue is whether the difference between the reference and pcs is just the cooler, or other components too.
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PCS+ cards seem to stay quite close to the reference design, but with much better components, (hence the higher clock/memory speeds), and of course the better coolers.
 
Good news. I've had two powercolor cards before, a 9800se 128mb and a 4870 512mb, and both were very good. Maybe one to consider for the future.
 
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