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This card retails for about 225 dollars. When you take into account its benchmark performance and the features that XFX have included, this card really stands out as a great value. These are going to be geared more for those that are into multi-monitor configurations, but they will perform on par with the other HD 6870s as well.
XFX have produced a really nice looking card that also performs really well and has some great features. It’s not an easy card to recommend though because of the amount of noise that it produces when put under load. This will really come down to your own personal preference. If you don’t mind the noise and you tend to use headphones anyway, then it really won’t matter to you how loud it is. I’m one of those people that really don’t like to hear much coming from my rig. With the way that many manufacturers have started to pay attention to this aspect of their products it would be nice to see this issue go away. I know that as hardware becomes more powerful there is the potential for it to also produce more heat. This becomes something that manufacturers have to be aware of and also work to find quieter ways of dissipating it.
In conclusion this card really is meant for those that are running higher resolutions or multiple monitor configurations. For the average user the additional video memory really isn’t going to make much of a difference. In my opinion this card just doesn’t quite live up to its price tag for the average user. This card does run Battlefield 3 at nearly maximum settings, very smoothly. Most of the HD 6870s are just under 200 dollars. Actually there are even some that come overclocked that are still under 200 dollars. If this card came with a decent factory overclock it would definitely live up to its price tag. This is something that XFX might want to consider. I’m not saying that you wouldn’t be able to overclock this card yourself; it would just be nice if XFX did it for you so you don’t have to risk voiding your warranty. This card will definitely appeal to a certain niche of buyers and these are the ones that will really enjoy this card. The question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you fall into that niche. With all of the options that are currently available on the market it would be in your best interest to take a good look at what’s available first and then compare them to your needs. Your budget will also come into account when looking at a product like this. Just be sure that your system meets the necessary requirements to run the card that you’re considering to purchase.
