XFX radeon 7870 xt(Tahiti LE)

[brownninja97]

Firstly if you buy this card then you might encounter a few quite minor problems especially with Gpu z. This problem shows that the gpu doesnt exist but it does anyways that doesnt mean its the end.

 

 

Firstly the packaging is standard, paper, more paper and a case for a driver disc that had no driver disc in it which was amusing. A positive to note down is that this card has a 2 DVI ports on it whereas most radeon 7870 xt cards only have the connector that can be seen in the bottom row above(2 mini display ports, 1 hdmi port, 1 DVI port). Moving on the card has plastic on the red strip and the fan circle. It also has 1 crossfire finger and you get a crossfire bridge in the packaging. 

 

With the 7870 xt on the red strip it will say 7800 series instead of 7870 and then ghost edition at the end if you got the dual fan version which you need defiantly. The appearance of this card is down to you, its not amazing but now horrible in my opinion(red bit of metal seems out of place). 

 

BENCHMARK

My best system killed itself so i have to go back to my old(1 year old) dell.

specs: intel i3 2120 3.3ghz

4gb ram 1333mhz

XFX radeon 7870 xt 1000mhz and 1250mhz memory clock

GAMES
 

How did it go

 

Borderlands 2

Firstly i maxed the game 1080p however physx caused problems(at caustic caverns water simming) as the water kept coming and didnt stop at all dropping the fps by the second. I got pissed and turned physx off. Its worked fine after that.

 

Max:210fps

Min: 40fps

Average: 80fps

 

Conclusion of gpu with borderlands 2: The game was very fluid and had no problems after the physx issue staying over 60fps 90% of the time.

 

Blacklight Retribution

 

I maxed everything and ran around the Evacuation map for a while which is the most intensive map by far.

 

Max: 130fps

Min: 70

Average: 110fps

 

Conclusion of game results: This surprised me and the fps stayed very constant even when i threw grenades and ran around looking at the reflections of rain on the ground. 

 

Battlefield Bad company 2

 

This was well amazing.

 

Max: 270

Min: 140

Average: 170

 

Conclusion of game results: My jaw dropped as i didnt think it would have done this well even with the i3 2120 bottlenecking the card to hell.

 

Skyrim

 

Some people say that this is a cpu intensive game and i think it must be as bottlenecking seems to show

 

Max: 61

Min: 7(anomaly maybe)

Average: 53

 

Conclusion for the games result in total: I have many games left to review that i got free with the card however the card went very well with the games that i have tested so far. I am happy for my purchase.

 

 

When the dust settled: There are a few problems with the card such as heat, this might be unreliable but the case needs a intake fan or you will be breach high temps(85+) at the stock levels. The sound level of the card is great at 100% and is fine to sleep with at 25% at idle. The idle temps are 40oc and its 26.7oc right now. The case is a dell insprion  620 mid tower, i chose that because its a worst case scenario case. The card is great and ill try to get more benchmarks out soon. 

 

 

 

Btw i didnt show benchmarks because the i3 bottlenecked HARD and the score was barely higher then my old 6770.

 

[Muffinator]

Can I have a link to the card? Is it voltage locked?

[mumbojumbogumbo]

Woah an XFX 7870 XT? I've heard that you can get one on Aria.uk but I've never seen one. 
 

Can you post pics of it b/c that picture is a regular XFX 7870. 

[brownninja97]

Can I have a link to the card? Is it voltage locked?

Yep its voltage locked. 

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/XFX+Double+D+Radeon+HD+7870+GHz+Edition+%28Tahiti+LE%29+OC+2GB+GDDR5+Graphics+Card+%5BFX-787A-CNAC%5D+%2B+4+FREE+GAMES%21+?productId=55140

Ironic how they reduce the bloody price a day after i buy it.

[brownninja97]

Woah an XFX 7870 XT? I've heard that you can get one on Aria.uk but I've never seen one. 

 

Can you post pics of it b/c that picture is a regular XFX 7870. 

here come the pictures, sorry if bad quality, blame my nokia n95. 

These are from my computer and yes that is a dell case. My parents didnt believe i knew a lot about computers when they brought it.

[brownninja97]

More benchmarks to show: Nothing has changed in the system:

 

Planetside 2

 

Max: 83

Min: 21

Average: 48

 

The Cpu was showing signs of problems with this and im sure it caused big bottlenecks.

 

Far cry 3(HDAO)

 

Max: 91

Min: 31

Average: 63

 

 

Tomb raider(tressFX off as it hurt my brain)

 

 

Max:140(bit too high i think)

Min: 39

Average: 72

 

Combat arms(for shits and giggles)

 

Max: 2582(no shi*)

Min: 193

Average: 732

 

Killing Floor

 

Max: 421

Min: 103

Average: 382

[Guest]

GRR ME WANT!

[brownninja97]

GRR ME WANT!

Get crossfire and you might get maybe 10% of my performance.

[Nertballs]

here come the pictures, sorry if bad quality, blame my nokia n95. 

These are from my computer and yes that is a dell case. My parents didnt believe i knew a lot about computers when they brought it.

dat cable management. :P

[Kuzma]

xD wow this card performs really well it seems... ^_^ can't wait to crossfire it.

[brownninja97]

dat cable management. :P

If you had the case and no zip ties then you would understand. Anyways im soon getting  a coolermaster n400 or n600 so im keeping the cables everywhere so that it will be easy to move.

[brownninja97]

xD wow this card performs really well it seems... ^_^ can't wait to crossfire it.

Its crazy as its partnered with an i3 2120 as well, im excited to see the results with a fx8320 which im obtaining soon.

[Kuzma]

Its crazy as its partnered with an i3 2120 as well, im excited to see the results with a fx8320 which im obtaining soon.

:huh: I wonder if two would outperform a 780.... at lower resolutions obviously due to ram.

[brownninja97]

:huh: I wonder if two would outperform a 780.... at lower resolutions obviously due to ram.

They would be close, two 660ti cards would outperform a 680 by a small mark but sli has 90% scaling so that might be why.

[Kuzma]

They would be close, two 660ti cards would outperform a 680 by a small mark but sli has 90% scaling so that might be why.

Oh okay kewl ^_^

[KittenHat]

Its crazy as its partnered with an i3 2120 as well, im excited to see the results with a fx8320 which im obtaining soon.

I don't think you will see a huge jump in performance w/ the 8320 maybe like 5 fps

[Kuzma]

I don't think you will see a huge jump in performance w/ the 8320 maybe like 5 fps

Well an i3 2120 was seen to bottleneck up to 30 fps in AnandTech's recent article so you're pretty wrong there...

[KittenHat]

Well an i3 2120 was seen to bottleneck up to 30 fps in AnandTech's recent article so you're pretty wrong there...

Oh, so there was a jump in 30 fps when using an 8320 compared to the i3 2120? What game? 

[Nertballs]

If you had the case and no zip ties then you would understand. Anyways im soon getting  a coolermaster n400 or n600 so im keeping the cables everywhere so that it will be easy to move.

oh i understand the plight all too well! :P i was just kidding!

[Kuzma]

Oh, so there was a jump in 30 fps when using an 8320 compared to the i3 2120? What game? 

Look for the three way 7970 benchmark here the i3 3225 had a 50fps difference compared to the 8350 without the core parking patch and 60 fps difference compared to the 8350 with the core parking patch.

[Scia]

ooOOH, this is a very beautiful card :D Could I spend some time alone with it? ^^

[brownninja97]

Oh, so there was a jump in 30 fps when using an 8320 compared to the i3 2120? What game? 

 

Look for the three way 7970 benchmark here the i3 3225 had a 50fps difference compared to the 8350 without the core parking patch and 60 fps difference compared to the 8350 with the core parking patch.

Ok guys calm down, what we can agree on is that the i3 is still a decent option for gaming  and yes it might bottleneck but not to a degree where its not playable. I also didnt use the linus way of benchmark. Instead i ran around and that sort of stuff so its more of a realistic benchmark. Btw in far cry 4x ssao makes it unplayable at 27fps average and same with tomb raider. Im gonna try having two and even  three screen benchmarks to see the powerful but that will be 3x 1680x1050 as one screen is 1680x1050.

[brownninja97]

ooOOH, this is a very beautiful card :D Could I spend some time alone with it? ^^

Can i join you?

[brownninja97]

Ok guys calm down, what we can agree on is that the i3 is still a decent option for gaming  and yes it might bottleneck but not to a degree where its not playable. I also didnt use the linus way of benchmark. Instead i ran around and that sort of stuff so its more of a realistic benchmark. Btw in far cry 4x ssao makes it unplayable at 27fps average and same with tomb raider. Im gonna try having two and even  three screen benchmarks to see the powerful but that will be 3x 1680x1050 as one screen is 1680x1050.

Just an update, far cry 3 can now be maxed out with ssao with an average of 32fps. Your fps might be higher as i was in a area with many explosions and fire to test the worst situation.