Which 6870?

[Haych]

I'm looking at getting a 6870 for my next rig, but am slightly uncertain as to what would be the best option. Originally I was thinking about getting an XFX 6870 and quieting it with an aftermarket cooler (probably the Twin Turbo Pro with VR0001 heatsinks), but lately I've also been considering the MSI 6870 Twin Frozr II and the Asus 6870 Direct Cu. The thing that bothers me about the Asus is that it's 11" long and I've ordered a Fractal Design Define R3 case which states that the max GPU it accomodates is 290mm. So while the Direct Cu should fit, it will be pretty close.

Regarding the Asus and MSI cards I'm unsure about what options are available to me if the fans start to get noisier with age/use. If the fans on the Twin Turbo get noisier I can just ziptie a couple of 92mm replacements on there. Could I do the same with the Asus or MSI, or would that invalidate the warranty?

On the subject of warranties. The XFX has a double lifetime warranty, but after reading it on their site I got the impression that they're maybe not as accomodating as they were famed for being when it comes to aftermarket coolers. Maybe I'm wrong. Warranty would be for Europe region.

http://xfxforce.com/en-gb/Help/Support/ ... ation.aspx

I've also discovered that the shop/e-tailer you purchase the card from covers the warranty for the first two years, but after that I'd have to mail the card to XFX.... in America.

The Asus has a three year warranty compared to the MSI's two year.

Any opinions? At present, the Asus and the XFX card are both available on Newegg for $219.99 after mail in rebate. The Twin Frozr II is 269.99

[Fire-Flare]

I've been planning an upgrade to the 6000 series for about a month, and I believe that Asus' CU line is the best option. Not only because of the noise to temperature ratio in reviews, but because they also have a nice backplate that can most likely be used in conjunction with an aftermarket cooler if the fan proves to be too noisy for our ears.

If the cooler is too noisy for my tastes, I'm definitely going to slap an Twin or Xtreme Pro on there.

(If the fans do become noisier over time, AC sells replacement fans on their site. The TTP fan assembly is $4. http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/spare ... tml?c=2208 )

[Haych]

I have to agree. I've never used Asus products before now but the DirectCU was too hard to pass up at that price. Especially as it came to just over £162 with P+P, and it will be less than that if Asus come through on the rebate. There's no way that I could buy one for that price over here. In fact the only price I've seen for it here is £192, so I've just saved myself a nice chunk of change. I won't get to play with it until I pick it up from my fiancee around summertime this year, but that's not a bad thing as any driver issues there may be at the moment should have been ironed out by then.

Thanks for your reply, Fire-Flare.

[falcon26]

Why not get the Xfx 6870 that already has the twin turbo pro on it..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150521

[Haych]

Why not get the Xfx 6870 that already has the twin turbo pro on it..

The best reason for not getting it would be that I've already bought the Asus 6870 DirectCU.

At the point of time, the XFX card you linked to hadn't been released and I didn't want to wait on the Asus as the price may have gone up. I'll admit I'm a little peeved, but I'm sure the Asus will prove to be a great card (at least once AMD get the drivers sorted out), and from the review I've read for it I've no doubt that it was a good purchase.

[Fire-Flare]

Why not get the Xfx 6870 that already has the twin turbo pro on it..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150521

In my case it's because I don't see any sign of RAM coolers on it. I'm impressed that they kept all the chips on the cool side, but without heatsinks I'm not interested.

[falcon26]

How do you know that their are no heatsinks on the ram if you can't see under the cooler?

[Haych]

In my case it's because I don't see any sign of RAM coolers on it. I'm impressed that they kept all the chips on the cool side, but without heatsinks I'm not interested.

It's funny you should mention that. I've just started reading another review on the 6870 DirectCU, and there aren't any RAM heatsinks on it either. Still, it does say "The Hynix GDDR5 memory ICs have part number H5GQ1H24AFR-T2C, meaning that they are rated for 1.25 GHz at 1.5 V. The memory doesn't need direct cooling as it operates efficiently enough to not overheat."

If your interested, the link for the review is http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews ... _directcu/

Also, if you haven't read it already there's another here http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1 ... ction.html.

[Fire-Flare]

How do you know that their are no heatsinks on the ram if you can't see under the cooler?

I zoomed in on the images and looked beneath the shroud.

[Fire-Flare]

In my case it's because I don't see any sign of RAM coolers on it. I'm impressed that they kept all the chips on the cool side, but without heatsinks I'm not interested.

It's funny you should mention that. I've just started reading another review on the 6870 DirectCU, and there aren't any RAM heatsinks on it either. Still, it does say "The Hynix GDDR5 memory ICs have part number H5GQ1H24AFR-T2C, meaning that they are rated for 1.25 GHz at 1.5 V. The memory doesn't need direct cooling as it operates efficiently enough to not overheat."

If your interested, the link for the review is http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews ... _directcu/

Also, if you haven't read it already there's another here http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1 ... ction.html.

Awesome! *want-want-want!*