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Review: Sapphire HD 7870 Flex GHz Edition

by Parm Mann on 20 July 2012, 09:30 4.0

Tags: Sapphire, AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabjpf

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Test Methodology

Sapphire HD 7870 Flex (BIOS 1)
Sapphire HD 7870 Flex (BIOS 2)

GPU comparisons

Graphics card GPU clock
(MHz)
Stream
processors
Shader clock
(MHz)
Memory clock
(MHz)
Memory bus
(bits)
Graphics driver
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3,072MB) 1,000+ 2,048 1,000+ 6,000 384 Catalyst 12.7 beta
AMD Radeon HD 7970 (3,072MB) 925 2,048 925 5,500 384 Catalyst 12.7 beta
AMD Radeon HD 7950 (3,072MB) 800 1,792 800 5,000 384 Catalyst 12.7 beta
Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 Flex Edition (2,048MB, BIOS 2) 1,050 1,280 1,050 5,000 256 Catalyst 12.7 beta
Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 Flex Edition (2,048MB, BIOS 1) 1,000 1,280 1,000 4,800 256 Catalyst 12.7 beta
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (2,048MB) 1,006+ 1,536 1,006+ 6,008 256 GeForce 304.48 beta
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (2,048MB) 915+ 1,344 915+ 6,008 256 GeForce 304.48 beta

HEXUS high-end test bench

Processor Intel Core i5-2500K (3.30GHz, 6MB smart cache, quad-core, LGA1155)
Motherboard Intel Desktop Board DP67BG
Memory 8GB Corsair Vengeance (9-9-9-24 @ 1,600MHz)
Power Supply Corsair AX750W
Monitor Dell 30in 3007WFP
Disk drive(s) Crucial RealSSD C300 (256GB)
Chassis Corsair Graphite Series 600T
Operating system Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit, SP1)

HEXUS high-end benchmark suite

Aliens vs. Predator DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality
Batman: Arkham City DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 8xMSAA, extreme quality
Battlefield 3 DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, ultra quality
Crysis 2 DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, ultra quality
Just Cause 2 DX10, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality
Total War: Shogun 2 DX11, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, high quality
Power Consumption To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record mains power draw both when idle and whilst playing Batman: Arkham City
Temperature To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and whilst playing Batman: Arkham City
Noise A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and whilst playing Batman: Arkham City

Notes

To provide as much data as we can, we've benchmarked Sapphire's HD 7870 Flex GHz Edition in both available states; BIOS 1 (stock clocked) and BIOS 2 (factory overclocked).

The card is up against some serious competition, but it'll be interesting to see how close it can get to the pricier Radeon HD 7950 and GeForce GTX 670.