ASUS Released Non-Reference Radeon HD 4870 with Expanded Power Circuitry

[mascaras]

ASUS Released Non-Reference Radeon HD 4870 with Expanded Power Circuitry


ASUS has released a non-reference variant of the ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card. The model EAH 4870 D5 is characterised by enhanced power circuitry. The card uses a 4 phase vGPU power circuit along with a 2 phase vMem circuit, making it similar to that of the PowerColor HD 4870 PCS+, unlike the reference design of 3 + 2 phase. The PCB uses a 100% conductive polymer capacitor design. The same memory chips as those used in making reference designs, made by Qimonda.

The card uses reference ATI card speeds of 700 MHz Core / 900 MHz Memory. Not surprisingly, ASUS used its signature Glaciator Fansink for the GPU and decided to leave the memory chips without active or passive cooling. The cooling reportedly turns into its demerit. Temperatures as high as 110 °C were noted during the card's testing, for the VRM area, with the provided heatsink not looking quite adequate. The card uses single slot expansion bracket though the card itself requires two slots worth space. This release follows several other designs from the likes of Palit, PowerColor, etc., that have similar power circuitry, presumably to facilitate better overclocks though poor cooling designs implemented by these AIBs mar the effort put in to design these superior PCBs.



STcom Korea


http://www.techpowerup.com/70240/ASU...Circuitry.html

regards

[Red Evil]

no memory sinks at all? LOL
that fan must be running crazy speeds.

[freeloader]

The memory never runs that hot anyhow. Now try touching the VRM's and you're in for a real treat!

[clonez]

um, that cant be a 4870 with those clock, more like 4850 oc

[FischOderAal]

TechPowerUp! got it wrong with the clocks. If you visit their source (http://stcom.co.kr/product/productin...02&pdb=product) you see it's 750 MHz and 900 MHz (effective = 3600 MHz).

Greetings from Burgsteinfurt to Münster

[Eastcoasthandle]

Not only that, there is no information regarding vreg temps.

[clonez]

@ fishoderaal

ah, thx

grüsse aus ms-gievenbeck

[@@@@]

I think they need to rework the design no RAM heat sinks? 110C for the VRM?

[BossBorot]

so you get an extra phase with poorer quality parts and then get horrible cooling.... no thanks

[generics_user]

so you get an extra phase with poorer quality parts and then get horrible cooling.... no thanks

QFT

this power reg looks just the same as on my 3870s, no way these are a improvement over the stock ones, they're a cost reduction, nothing else

[Kunaak]

all that work, then skimp on the heatsink?

bet someones looking for a new job today.

[Jethro]

I havent used stock graphics cooling in over 10years. I would definately buy this card for the advanced circuitry.

[Cybercat]

On the one hand, it's nice that reference coolers are good enough to be better than most third-party coolers.

[oohms]

The asus 8800GT of a similar design is also pretty bad... bad temps, many returns. Also the mosfet sink is VERY loosely attached

[trez0r]

Does anyone have any user experience with this card?

EDIT:
Alright if no one does i'll respond to my own question.

I acquired this card for dirt cheap comparing to what it costs in shops. First i did was replacing the craptastic stock cooler with acc.s1.rev1. i had laying around. Temps dropped around 10° with accelero+quiet_12cm_fan compared to stock. Also i did attach copper ramsinks to ram bga's and as i had to remove stock vrm cooling - also to mosfets. Here are the rivatuner monitor shots of before and after:


Good upgrade i have to say.

Next i was going to find out how far i can take the card. When i fired up CCC overdrive i was pleased to see that this card (as probably other asus 48XX cards) does not have a limited overdrive freq limits and can be taken to 900mhz out of the box.
Though running atitool artifact scanner on stock i had an unpleasant surprise - the card had a small artifacting on stock clocks! What a piece of shiet i thought.. I had to back to 730mhz on the core to stop the occasional artifacts. On the other hand, memory (quimonda chips) did 1030 alright.
Next i was going to look at the bios of this rather wierd card. Saved it with latest gpuz and opened up with a RBE. So what did i see there..?

Ok seems that the artifacting at stock could be partially explained by the low voltage used here (1.203V) comparing to other 4870 default voltage. I wonder why asus did this and my guess is because of the poor stock cooler. Putting 1.263V (the highest the default bios allows) solved the artifacting and the card could now do 780-790mhz on the core for extended period atitool artifact free. T° did raise a bit but acc. can still do rather good to keep the card rather cool. Though 30mhz is a rather measly overclock don't you think? Either the core is quite a dud or the non-reference (4 phase!) design asus is using has some serious flaws..

Conclusion: if you have to buy this card at the same price as vanilla 4870 - don't ever do it! Nevertheless card performs quite on par with an aftermarket cooler and a small bios mod.

[generics_user]

Does anyone have any user experience with this card?

EDIT:
Alright if no one does i'll respond to my own question.

I acquired this card for dirt cheap comparing to what it costs in shops. First i did was replacing the craptastic stock cooler with acc.s1.rev1. i had laying around. Temps dropped around 10° with accelero+quiet_12cm_fan compared to stock. Also i did attach copper ramsinks to ram bga's and as i had to remove stock vrm cooling - also to mosfets. Here are the rivatuner monitor shots of before and after:


Good upgrade i have to say.

Next i was going to find out how far i can take the card. When i fired up CCC overdrive i was pleased to see that this card (as probably other asus 48XX cards) does not have a limited overdrive freq limits and can be taken to 900mhz out of the box.
Though running atitool artifact scanner on stock i had an unpleasant surprise - the card had a small artifacting on stock clocks! What a piece of shiet i thought.. I had to back to 730mhz on the core to stop the occasional artifacts. On the other hand, memory (quimonda chips) did 1030 alright.
Next i was going to look at the bios of this rather wierd card. Saved it with latest gpuz and opened up with a RBE. So what did i see there..?

Ok seems that the artifacting at stock could be partially explained by the low voltage used here (1.203V) comparing to other 4870 default voltage. I wonder why asus did this and my guess is because of the poor stock cooler. Putting 1.263V (the highest the default bios allows) solved the artifacting and the card could now do 780-790mhz on the core for extended period atitool artifact free. T° did raise a bit but acc. can still do rather good to keep the card rather cool. Though 30mhz is a rather measly overclock don't you think? Either the core is quite a dud or the non-reference (4 phase!) design asus is using has some serious flaws..

Conclusion: if you have to buy this card at the same price as vanilla 4870 - don't ever do it! Nevertheless card performs quite on par with an aftermarket cooler and a small bios mod.

so it's crap


seriously this PWM design is flawed, it has even LESS parts than the first 3870s had (4-phase ones)

[fragmasterMax]

Temperatures as high as 110 °C were noted during the card's testing,
wtf

[NapalmV5]

R56

1R0

2R0/5R0 way better

unfortunately all 3850/3870/4850/4870 designs are very picky