Will ASUS M4A87TD Evo work with Radeon 7870?

[copperkat]

M4A87TD Evo has 3 PCIe 2.0 slots, which I think is compatible with a Radeon 7870 but I want to be sure.

Also which brand is best? I'm stuck between the GIGABYTE GV-R787OC Ghz Edition and MSI's twin frozr ghz edition. MSI also has a HAWK version, anyone know the difference between twin frozr and that? Is there a brand I'm missing? Who has the best support?

Newegg 7870 list, which I'm choosing from: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&SrchInDesc=7870&Page=1&PageSize=20

 

[Supernova1138]

The 7870 will work in a PCI-E 2.0 slot, PCI-E standards are backwards and forwards compatible. It will work with your motherboard. I hope you have one of the better AMD CPUs though, otherwise you may wind up facing a CPU bottleneck with a 7870.

As for brand, The Gigabyte, and the MSI HAWK offer the best performance out of the box with a 100MHz factory overclock on the GPU. The MSI Twin Frozr uses the older Twin Frozr III cooler, while the MSI HAWK uses the Twin Frozr IV cooler. Twin Frozr IV has better cooling performance, and also has a neat feature where the fans spin in reverse for 30 seconds at boot up to blow dust out of the heatsink. The HAWK also has higher quality components than the Twin Frozr to better facilitate very high overclocks.

As for which to get, that's up to you. The HAWK might be a better choice if you wish to pursue a very high overclock, as it has features to better facilitate that. You can go for the Twin Frozr version if you only want a more modest overclock. The Gigabyte is also a good choice if you want really good out of the box performance.

 

[copperkat]

The 7870 will work in a PCI-E 2.0 slot, PCI-E standards are backwards and forwards compatible. It will work with your motherboard. I hope you have one of the better AMD CPUs though, otherwise you may wind up facing a CPU bottleneck with a 7870.

As for brand, The Gigabyte, and the MSI HAWK offer the best performance out of the box with a 100MHz factory overclock on the GPU. The MSI Twin Frozr uses the older Twin Frozr III cooler, while the MSI HAWK uses the Twin Frozr IV cooler. Twin Frozr IV has better cooling performance, and also has a neat feature where the fans spin in reverse for 30 seconds at boot up to blow dust out of the heatsink. The HAWK also has higher quality components than the Twin Frozr to better facilitate very high overclocks.

As for which to get, that's up to you. The HAWK might be a better choice if you wish to pursue a very high overclock, as it has features to better facilitate that. You can go for the Twin Frozr version if you only want a more modest overclock. The Gigabyte is also a good choice if you want really good out of the box performance.

Wow thanks for the info, that's really helpful. The HAWK and Twin Frozr were listed at the same price on newegg, so if the HAWK has better parts I think I'll go with that. The 3 fans on the Gigabyte seem appealing, and it has more positive reviews. However, I could not for the life of me find accurate dimensions on the card. I have a pretty big case, but there's a harddrive cage, so there's about 11 inches and pretty nice clearance to fit a card but I hear the Gigabyte's heatsink and fan go longer than the actual card, which is already around 10.5, so I'm not sure I can fit it with the cage.

As for my PC it's an AMD Phenom II x4 965 Processor (3.4 Ghz, I have yet to overclock it). Do you think it'll bottle neck the card? Again your help is very much appreciated.

 

[Supernova1138]

You should be okay with that CPU at stock clocks with the 7870. The MSI HAWK card is 10.9 inches long. It will be tight, but it should fit into your case with 11 inches clearance. The Gigabyte does look like it is a bit longer, so you may have clearance issues with that one.

 

[copperkat]

You should be okay with that CPU at stock clocks with the 7870. The MSI HAWK card is 10.9 inches long. It will be tight, but it should fit into your case with 11 inches clearance. The Gigabyte does look like it is a bit longer, so you may have clearance issues with that one.

I can't thank you enough man. I updated to a decent pc a while ago and have been waiting ever since for the newest generation of cards. I've never had a card I could just start any game, and know I'll get good fps without tinkering with settings. It's kind of the fulfillment of a dream, as cheesy as that sounds.

This is what I've settled on, I notice you have one too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127681

Sorry to take more of your time but, do you know if MSI has good customer service? Newegg sometimes sends things dead or incomplete.

 

[Supernova1138]

I haven't personally dealt with MSI's customer service. My R7870 HAWK is the first product I've ever had from them, and I only got it yesterday. I haven't heard any horrible things about their customer service for what it is worth.

 

[copperkat]

I haven't personally dealt with MSI's customer service. My R7870 HAWK is the first product I've ever had from them, and I only got it yesterday. I haven't heard any horrible things about their customer service for what it is worth.

Thanks again. I'm just hoping I don't have an trouble installing it. I don't think I've ever had a card I needed to plug directly into the PSU, heh.

 

[Supernova1138]

Which power supply do you have anyway? The MSI HAWK uses a little over 150 Watts on its own. If your power supply isn't up to the task, you'll have to upgrade that too.

 

[copperkat]

Which power supply do you have anyway? The MSI HAWK uses a little over 150 Watts on its own. If your power supply isn't up to the task, you'll have to upgrade that too.

I don't think it's a very noteworthy brand, but the PSU is one thing I made sure to get decent wattage on when I got this pc. It's 750 watt, I can't quite remember the brand.

 

[Supernova1138]

Well it's more important to know how many amps it can provide on the +12V rail. Not all power supplies are created equal, there are a lot of "750 Watt" units out there that are not up to powering higher end graphics cards.

 

[copperkat]

Well it's more important to know how many amps it can provide on the +12V rail. Not all power supplies are created equal, there are a lot of "750 Watt" units out there that are not up to powering higher end graphics cards.

I took this for my own reference since the stickers the only way to know whats going on down there, but you might want to look: http://imgur.com/aiMqM

I think it's got two +12V rails? 21A and 22A, mins 0.5A?

 

[copperkat]

Best answer selected by copperkat.

 

[Supernova1138]

Assuming that PSU can deliver what it promises, you'll be okay. It is actually a 500 Watt power supply for all practical intents and purposes. They can only get away with calling it 700 Watts because it provides more power on the barely used 3.3V and 5V rails.

 

[copperkat]

Assuming that PSU can deliver what it promises, you'll be okay. It is actually a 500 Watt power supply for all practical intents and purposes. They can only get away with calling it 700 Watts because it provides more power on the barely used 3.3V and 5V rails.

That's extremely useful to know. PSU is now on my list of things to replace in the future. You've been so helpful, thank you for your time and patience.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey