XFX 4870 1GB stock : beware

[cegras]

I'll keep it sweet and simple.

NCIX.com - Buy XFX Radeon HD 4870 750MHZ 1GB 3.6GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI HDCP Video Card - HD487AZWFC In Canada.

Newegg.ca - XFX HD-487A-ZHFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

See the cooler? It's not the stock cooler. The GPU heatsink and memory / mosfet sinks are married, while the plate is reduced to a thin piece of aluminum that only makes point contact with the memory and mosfets (while the regular one makes contact over the whole plate). You can tell it's not the stock cooler: there is an additional squared off corner on top of the fan.

The result? Close to 70 idle, and ~90 load. This is with 49% fan. (Although it's not directly comparable, as the fan is a different model with apparently better acoustics).

The card squeals. Upon dissection of the card, the two single chokes (for the memory?) are cut down ones, with "R22" instead of the Pulse branding.

So, I bought an ATI stock cooler. Not only is it much quieter, idle temperatures are exactly inline with HWC's review: 55 idle, 80~ at load.

Moral of the story: check the pictures closely.

Another moral of the story: Sometimes a similarly priced Sapphire with a custom cooler should be enough to lure you away from the warranty.

[largon]

Ah, that's one big brightside of watercooling - stock coolers are meaningless as you can slap your trusty MCW60+ on the bugger, no matter if it is nV/ATi, no matter what PCB version is it and no matter what the brand of the card is.
:P