The power and temperature tests are where we expect to see some real wins from the liquid-cooled Radeon HD 5870 LCS.
First, let's look at power draw, both at idle and while stressing the GPU with the 3DMark Vantage Perlin noise test at the extreme preset:

First, we will note the extremely high idle power usage of two Radeon HD 4890 cards in CrossFire. An astounding 286W is a level that many passable gaming machines won't even reach under duress. At load, the CrossFire setup is pulling almost twice that, but the overclocked 5870 card with the modified BIOS is pulling even more.
However, the stock Powercolor HD 5870 LCS and the overclocked version using the stock BIOS are pulling much more reasonable load numbers, while providing performance that almost matches the extreme overclock.

This is where the LCS will come into its own. Even pushed to the stock BIOS' overclocking limit, the card remains cooler than 50 degrees Celsius, and it takes the unlocked BIOS flash and high overclock to force load speeds above 50 degrees. Compare this to the CrossFire'd Radeon HD 4890 cards, which idle at 63 degrees Celsius and reach 80 degrees under load.
- Introduction
- Under The Hood And The Bundle
- Installation
- Overclocking PowerColor's Radeon HD 5870 LCS
- Test System And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: 3DMark Vantage And Crysis
- Benchmark Results: Far Cry 2
- Benchmark Results: World In Conflict: Soviet Assault
- Benchmark Results: Resident Evil 5
- Benchmark Results: Fallout 3
- Benchmark Results: Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
- Benchmark Results: Left 4 Dead
- Power Usage And Temperature Benchmarks
- Conclusion
oh and you too powercolor. mmmmmmmmm waterblock...
Nice to see ATI back on top. Would be nice to have that card.
so much potential lost for shame...
sorry for double posting but i got cut off.
Unless nV screws G300 up (rebranding G200) then it may be a nice time but wont last forever.
If only they could get a damn seperate shader clock. With 1600 SPs running at 1.7GHz they could blow nV out of the water....
Though I'd love to liquid cool my i7, then add a 5870 and liquid cool that also. I got a radiator at work that can likely handle a 10 kilowatt system, add to that it's constantly cooled by sub zero temperatures (during winter atleast), with a 5 barrel resevoir, and dual 24" fans (used to cool 3000psi hydraulics).
Even more dissapointing to see it can't keep up with it's dual 4xxx series cousin.
Also, GPU waterblocks just look so inneficient...
can i has one to sell? then buy dual 5850s
I think now am interested in water cooled video cards.
but honestly, i thought the gain will be 20% at least... disappointing.
Nice work but I also wish you guys tested Crysis at Very High settings.... its always great to see Crysis tested at its maximum threshhold.
And the power usage is impressive too(Only on stock).
This is the best card for now and with a lil price dip it'll be fav. of all high end gamers.
For now single 4890 is plenty for most of us.Buy when prices fall.
I am running a watercooling setup on my CPU alone at the moment. Despite majority of heat gone from internal case, my HD4850 card would barely escape overheat in room temperature of 23deg C in UK winter. I once tried moving my soundcard closer leaving 2 inch clearance from HD4850 and it crashes every single time when I run Mass Effect. Now it crashes once in a while and I am 100% sure it's due to overheating of the GPU. Load temperature reaches 106 deg C. The card crashes at 110 deg C.
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3038/kingpin_cooling_single_gpu_competition_with_ln2_by_deanzo/index.html
That deanzo guy is crazy....
but can it run pacman?
Keen to find out if DX 11 will make a difference once its mature...
what rubbish?