Overclocking

Radeon HD 4870 XXX 775M runs at 775MHz, 25MHz higher than reference. We managed to further overclock it by 60MHz, which is a great result for the RV770 core. 3DMark 06 results agree with the overclock and the results jumped from 16218 to 16614. We got slightly better results in Left 4 Dead where at 2560x1600, we got 8% better results after we overclocked the card.

We overclocked the memory by another 100MHz, which resulted in a 134.4 GB/s bandwidth, as opposed to the reference 115.2 GB/s.



Temperatures

When in 2D mode, XFX’s card downclocks the core to 600MHz, whereas the reference card lowers the clocks to 500MHz. As a result of this, XFX HD 4870 XXX card runs some 2-3°C higher in idle, ending up at about 75°C. When under a workload, temperatures hit 86°C, which is one degree less than on reference card, despite XFX’s higher clocks.



The fan runs quiet in idle mode, and while it gets louder during gaming for instance, we can’t say it’s too loud.

Consumption

Due to higher clocks, XFX HD 4870 consumes a bit more than the reference HD 4870. On the other hand, when compared to the HD 4850 we see over 60W more. That’s why the HD 4870 requires two 6-pin power connectors whereas the HD 4850 needs only one.




Conclusion

XFX HD 4870 XXX 775M is a great card based on the reference design and comes pre-overclocked. The core runs at 775MHz, which is 25MHz higher than reference HD 4870. One of this card’s upsides is the overclocked GDDR5 memory running at 950MHz (3800MHz effectively). The card packs 1GB of memory, and you’ll be thankful for it when high resolution gaming puts an accent on the memory.

This is a great gaming card, but it's priced higher than standard HD 4870 1GB models due to XFX's overclock. It will run just slightly faster than a reference Radeon HD 4870 card and it will come with a slightly higher price.

Fans of the XFX brand won't mind that this card will cost them some €20 more than a reference HD 4870, and many might go for it, but with HD 4870 and 1GB memory, you are making quite a good choice that will definitely defeat a GTX 260 with 192 shaders.