HD 6870 non reference cards

MSI R6870 Twin Frozr II
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/sh...1#post50411171

PowerColor HD 6870 PCS+
http://powercolor.com/us/News.asp?id=1064

and the march to worse than stock and hunting model number begins again.

The Twin Frozr II still uses a reference PCB, though.
I believe the PCB design from PowerColor is just a reference clone.

The MSI one looks nice, and the Powercolor one ain't too bad either.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zanzabar

and the march to worse than stock and hunting model number begins again.

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So true.. I would have bought a 6850 for this HTPC/gaming rig if the reference cooled version was made available to us.. the other coolers are unsuitable for a lot of situations

The stock 6850 cooler ran way hot, AMD probably didn't spend a lot of effort in it because all the models sold are custom.

Powercolor has skimped on the vrm control chip, PCS+ has a good cooler but you can't voltage OC, which sucks. :down:

MSI Twin Frozr II on the other hand seems great. :up:

MSI R6870 TwinFrozr II Tested
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/sh....php?t=2995673

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oohms

So true.. I would have bought a 6850 for this HTPC/gaming rig if the reference cooled version was made available to us.. the other coolers are unsuitable for a lot of situations

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What's wrong with having a choice :shrug:

Granted, these custom coolers are hit or miss, but several of them are great and you can almost always find a reference one if you want it.

I'm a fine of the MSI solutions, they tend to work well and are rather good.

I'm just anxious for the 6890s and the X2 cards to come out. That should help me decide whether to get a second 5870 or upgrade to 6000 series.