Which 6870 to get?

Walter Sobchak · 14 Nov 2010 at 20:28

I was going to get a s/h 5870 to replace my 4870 but it is too large for my case. The 6870 is smaller and will fit, but Im unsure which make to buy.

Which make would you recommend getting?

The Asus has a slight overclock, HIS has a free game(already got it though). Which is best for warranty/noise/cooler?

Ta

MichaelM · 14 Nov 2010 at 21:36

Well they are all reference cards at the moment so they are all the same really with regards to noise and cooling.

Look on youtube for peoples videos of them unboxing the different brands and decide what accessories you consider important to you. Warranties should be available in the item description on OcUK.

reiyushin · 14 Nov 2010 at 21:39

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-109-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

It's voltage tweakable!

All are the same cooling atm so noise should be the same.

Otherwise that HIS one with the free game looks like a good deal.

MichaelM · 14 Nov 2010 at 21:45

Might want to check your link reiyushin

For the record I went with Sapphire because in the past I felt they have a great product in every respect, came with a 1.8m HDMI cable and TriXXX was the only (is the only?) overclocking app for the 68XX series which allows voltage tweaks.

reiyushin · 14 Nov 2010 at 21:51

Lol, thanks ^^

reiyushin · 14 Nov 2010 at 21:53

Should add that I've had 2 sapphire cards and they've both been spot on and if they allow voltage adjustments then I'd go for that.

Martini1991 · 14 Nov 2010 at 22:11

They all allow for voltage control..

reiyushin · 14 Nov 2010 at 22:24

Martini1991 said:
They all allow for voltage control..

They should advertise that as it was a sought after feature in the 5 series.

Randomface74 · 14 Nov 2010 at 22:28

Sapphire every time, they get the best pick of the bunch. They might be reference cards but there's manufacturer priority.

Porcelina · 15 Nov 2010 at 02:20

If you have previous experience with manufacturer's, go with what you have learned from that. For me, Sapphire has been very good to me and that means a lot as far as customer loyalty is concerned.

Seeing that they are more or less identical at this point in time, go with experience, either first hand or second hand then price.

Walter Sobchak · 15 Nov 2010 at 07:48

Ill go with Sapphire then! Thanks for the replies!

spudbynight · 15 Nov 2010 at 09:29

reiyushin said:
They should advertise that as it was a sought after feature in the 5 series.

So not an MSI exclusive? Or is that like the MSI afternburner and it is just MSI software that will work with any card?

MichaelM · 15 Nov 2010 at 10:06

spudbynight said:
So not an MSI exclusive? Or is that like the MSI afternburner and it is just MSI software that will work with any card?

From what I know, shortly after release Sapphires TriXXX was the only thing which allowed voltage tweaking and it was locked to cards with a Sapphire bios.
It's just a matter of time before MSI came out with software allowing it and 3rd party software supporting voltage tweaking, all of which are in beta form at the moment...I think.

easyrider · 15 Nov 2010 at 12:58

I went for the ASUS

the1gooner · 15 Nov 2010 at 13:56

I went for the HIS version as it is on this week only and comes with the free game.

Have been very impressed trying it out over the weekend.

^Andy^ · 15 Nov 2010 at 17:06

I grabbed the sapphire on launch day via a preorder price of 179 quid. I have recently flashed it to use the HIS overclocked bios (920/1120) and it works fine.

Mr Krugga · 15 Nov 2010 at 17:16

^Andy^ said:
I grabbed the sapphire on launch day via a preorder price of 179 quid. I have recently flashed it to use the HIS overclocked bios (920/1120) and it works fine.

You flashed a card to gain extra 20MHz on core and 70MHz on memory? :eek:

easyrider · 15 Nov 2010 at 17:16

My asus is running 975/1150 without issue and no bumps in voltage 3 yr warranty too.

^Andy^ · 15 Nov 2010 at 17:24

Mr Krugga said:
You flashed a card to gain extra 20MHz on core and 70MHz on memory?

Long story but essentially yes lol :eek:

I did the flash to make sure that the version of AtiFlash that I obtained worked with the new cards. The intention was then to use RBE 1.26 to create a custom bios to flash however that didn't work out as there are issues with RBE and the catalyst drivers that result in the drivers not initialising if you alter the clock speeds.

Barzini · 15 Nov 2010 at 17:26

Yeah Sapphire seems to be the most popular ATI/AMD brand, and I have always had good experiences with their cards. My 5850 Vapor-X is awesome and handles games like a champ at 1080p, I'm in no rush to upgrade it.