The Card
This card is a lot bigger than the 2 cards tested previously, certainly not the biggest card to arrive at the lab.
As you can see, the card comes with dual fans – sufficient to tame the 120w card. AMD has progressed very well, considering a GPU of this performance at 120w. I think it’s good. The card requires 2x PCI-E power connector.
DirectCU II cooler, with heatpipes running along the length of the card.
DVI, HDMI and Mini-DisplayPort. All good for the latest in video output.
More details at the Official Product Page
Test Setup
The computer setup used for this review.
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K |
| RAM | Kingston Value RAM 4GB 1333 |
| Motherboard | MSI Z77A-GD45 |
| Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 101 |
| Monitor | 46″ LCD TV |
| Power Supply | Xigmatek NRP-PC602 600w |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64bit |
Below is the GPU-Z for the card.
*Ignore the PCI-E 1.1 part, I forgot to click the “?” when I did the screenshot.
The Performance
Metro 2033
Graphic Detail : AAA, 16 AF. No Physx
| Card | Average 1080p | Average 720p |
| ASUS HD 7870 | 51.00 | 76.50 |
| Leadtek GTX 460 | 28.90 | 51.25 |
Lost Planet 2
Graphic Detail : Maximum
| Card | Average 1080p | Average 720p |
| ASUS HD 7870 | 50.0 | 58.8 |
| Leadtek GTX 460 | 36.9 | 50.9 |
Alien Vs Predator
Graphic Detail : Maximum
| Card | Average 1080p | Average 720p |
| ASUS HD 7870 | 73.6 | 138.8 |
| Leadtek GTX 460 | 42.2 | 77.9 |
Heaven 3.0
| Card | Average 1080p | Average 720p |
| ASUS HD 7870 | 56.9 | 91.3 |
| Leadtek GTX 460 | 30.4 | 47.3 |
Operating Temperature
Furmark was used for graphic card stressing. Based on 720p preset.
| Card | Idle (°C) | Stress (°C) |
| ASUS HD 7870 | 29 | 80 |
Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.
Conclusion
The Asus HD 7870 is certainly a worthy consideration if you have about RM 1.2k to spare, and in my opinion I would work better than having a dual HD 7770 setup that costs around RM 1.2k as well. As seen, the Asus HD 7870 is providing almost always 2x the performance of the GTX 460 (will add HD 7770 new benchmarks later).
