ASUS HD7870 DC2 VS
RRP: $359.99 (GIGABYTE GV-R787OC) $349.99 (ASUS HD7870 DC2)
Website: www.gigabyte.com | www.asus.com
Test Machine
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Intel Core i7 3770K
GIGABYTE Z77X-UD5H
SEAGATE 7200.12 500GB
ANTEC HCP 1200
Windows 7 64-bit SPI
W
hat we are looking at
here are essentially
two identical cards. The
PCB’s are the same, the
memory is the same and of
course the GPUs as well.
The only differentiator
between the two is the
cooling solution used. With
that said, the clock speeds
differ as well with the ASUS
card delivering 10MHz above
18 The OverClocker Issue 19 | 2012
the reference clocks. This
is a small and meaningless
overclock, but one that is
there for one reason or the
other.
Against that we have
the GIGABYTE card which
features a meatier factory
overclock at 100MHz above
the base clock. Memory
speeds remain unchanged
which is a pity given the
headroom the card has for
tweaking there.
Looking at the results
one can see, there isn’t
much between these cards.
The GIGABYTE card is
obviously faster, but you
can easily achieve this on
the ASUS card as well with
just a slider and no other
tweaking. If the factory
overclock is worth an
additional $10 will be up to
you. What we found odd was
that despite the seemingly
better cooler on the ASUS
card, the GIGABYTE offering
was actually the better
combination. Of course
visually the ASUS is far
better looking, but we would
have thought it was the
better cooler or at least the
same as both are by Cooler
Master.
The difference between
the two is minimal at 2’C
on either ends, but given