MSI R7870 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC. Serious Gaming Starts Here :)

[gzhil]

If the 7970 is too much for you. Well the MSI R7870 Twin Frozr 2GD5 might just be right for you. Codename "Pitcairn" and also using the new 28nm process technology. Same PCI-E Gen3, power management, AMD PowerTune and ZeroCore Technology features like its stronger brother "Tahiti".

I won't be specific on the things what the AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphic Product Line has to offer anymore and I have discussed this with  my previous 7970 post already. Let us just move on right away with the MSI's custom version of R7870. Serious Gaming Starts Here

Here are the actual box shots of the said card.

Well nothing new here some basic information on what kind of components MSI used with the card. MSI Afterburner is the software used for overclocking the video card and lastly the Twin Frozr's Cooling performance is also stated here.

MSI  R7870 Twin Frozr/OC Specifications:
?1280 Stream Processors
?1050 MHz Core Clock
?2 GB GDDR5
?1200 MHz (4800 MHz actual)
?256 bit Memory Interface
?PCI Express 16x 3.0
?One DVI output
?One HDMI output
?Two mini DisplayPort outputs

Bundled Accessories you have:
?Manuals and Utility Software Disc
?2x 6Pin to 4Pin Molex
?Mini DisplayPort Adapter to DisplayPort
?Crossfire Bridge

Here is the card Aluminum brushed top finish. Two 80mm Propeller blade fans which provides 20% more airflow. Nickel Copper Plated Base

Powered up by two 6Pins. MSI Twin Frozr Emboss Steel finish.

Five thick heatpipes that help dissipate the heat away from the GPU core.

Well the backplate eats up two PCI Slots.It also serves as a vent for exhaust to have a good airflow inside the case.

Video Output Functions:
?Dual-link DVI x 1
?Mini DisplayPort x 2
?HDMI x 1

Test system configuration below:
?Processor: Intel Core i7 3960x
?Cooler: Thermaltake Frio Advance
?Memory: Kingston Hyper X Genesis 2x2GB DDR3 2133MHz
?Motherboard: X79A-GD65 8D
?HDD: OCZ Technology Agility 3 120GB
?PSU: Antec TPQ 1200Q
?Softwares: Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit, Futuremark Benchmark Softwares, Heaven DX11, GPU-Z, CPU-Z, Afterburner 2.2.0, AMD ATI Catalyst 12.3

The following were the results of my benchies. First set are all @ stock speed
?3dMark06 - 28670

?Vantage - P28205

?Heaven DX11 - X 1843.617

?3dMark11 Performance - P7579

?3dMark11 Extreme - X2550

Last set is an overclocked system
?3dMark06 - 35402

?Vantage - P33474

?Heaven DX11 - 2166.759

?3dMark11 Performance - P8849

?3dMark11 Extreme - X2971

So far the highest GPU core I can get with the videocard was 1270MHz. Not bad from a stock speed of 1050Mhz. That's it

 

[neoroy]

Hello again Gzhill nice review.
I used to have this card too, and could do 1300/1450 1.30volt just for Vantage and 2011 benchmark like this :




Too bad I only use max 4.4GHz with 2500K because at that time I dont have HSF for my procie ^_^ so it was Intel stock cooling all around.
Daily I used 1250/1450 1.30 Volt or 1275/1300 1.30 Volt. Btw your Graphic score in 3DMark 2011 is so high, is it because of i7 SB-E?? If I use i7 2600K can I achieve that score??
Thx.

 

[gzhil]

@neoroy

Your right because of the Sandybridge-E. It pulls out the performance out of the card. The multi-core helps a lot for the 3dmark11 and as well for Vantage.

 

[neoroy]

@neoroy

Your right because of the Sandybridge-E. It pulls out the performance out of the card. The multi-core helps a lot for the 3dmark11 and as well for Vantage.

I see ... thanks for the tips, gzhil 
Do you think this card abit or at least same in terms of performance with GTX580? I like this card 

 

[gzhil]

@neoroy

In some games GTX580 will be still stronger

 

[Hippie Tech]

Hi and good day all.

Here is my R7870 TFIII making due with a serious (and sometimes not so serious), AM3 cpu bottleneck.

AVP benchmark
HD 7870 @1250/1250 - 105 fps
HD 6870 @1000/1150 - 70 fps

3DMark11
HD 7870 @1250/1250 - P7078, graphics - 7332
HD 6870 @1000/1150 - P4705, graphics - 4516

HWbot Unigine Heaven 2.1 DX9
HD 7870 @1250/1250 - 3225
HD 6870 @1000/1150 - 2325

pEACe

 

[neoroy]

@neoroy

In some games GTX580 will be still stronger

I see, GTX580 still quite strong for HD7870 then  :rolleyes_anim: thanks Gzhil.

@Happy Tech, nice result  btw your memory only max 1250MHz? Can it push to 1450MHz?

 

[Hippie Tech]

Hio and ty Neoroy. You can find me on HWbot, if you want to see more. 

I have not tried anything higher than 1250 mhz on the memory just yet. Soon after I ran those benchmarks, I took the cooling plate off and saw that half the ram and some of the vrms were making little to no contact with the thermal pads. MSI tech support gave me the go ahead to try and bend it into place, so maybe now is a good time to give it a shot. lol

HD 7870 vs GTX 580 stats
gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=677&card2=637

 

[neoroy]

Hio and ty Neoroy. You can find me on HWbot, if you want to see more. 

I have not tried anything higher than 1250 mhz on the memory just yet. Soon after I ran those benchmarks, I took the cooling plate off and saw that half the ram and some of the vrms were making little to no contact with the thermal pads. MSI tech support gave me the go ahead to try and bend it into place, so maybe now is a good time to give it a shot. lol

HD 7870 vs GTX 580 stats
gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=677&card2=637

Wow you already in HWbot  congratulations Hippie Tech, btw your ID also Hippie Tech in HWbot?
Yup I saw this issue too when I use MSI GTX570 TFII OC... black plate seems didn't bend perfectly because I can still it's gap from side... but with MSI GTX 570 PE I think it's bended perfectly.