Zaključak

Baš kao i cijela Southern Islands serija, i Pitcairn oduševljava odnosom performansi po uloženom Wattu električne energije. Performanse su općenito kao što smo vidjeli jako dobre, pogotovo kod jačeg, HD7870 modela a sve bi bilo savršeno da nije njegove malo visoke preporučene cijene (349 USD) i ne baš tihog rashladnog sistema. Overclocking potencijal kartice je vrlo dobar, baš kao i porast performansi. Visoka cijena ne bi trebala biti problem jer kao što smo vidjeli, ova kartica s lakoćom pobjeđuje HD6970, a čak je u nekim naslovima brza kao i GTX580. Uz to, teselacijske su performanse odlične. Uz sve prednosti i tehnologije koje SI donosi, a pri ovako niskoj potrošnji električne energije HD7870 je vrlo dobar odabir.

HD7850 zbog cijene od 250 USD čak ima malo više smisla jer je tiša, a overclockingom se da nadoknaditi razlika do jačeg modela. No, tu dolazimo i do problema. HD7850 je kao što smo vidjeli malo brža od GTX560 Ti kartica u većini testova, a cijenom će biti dosta iznad nje. No, potrebno je sagledati dva testa kako bi vidjeli da je ipak u prednosti na duge pruge zbog velike količine memorije – Battlefield 3 i Crysis 2. Uz sve ostalo što SI donosi, HD7850 je vrlo dobar ulog u budućnost. Svi se trenutni naslovi kao što smo vidjeli mogu igrati i u maksimalnim detaljima, a 2GB memorije bi to trebalo osigurati i nadalje. Prosječna potrošnja od oko 130W čini ovu karticu nenadmašnom u performanse po Wattu odnosu, i nismo mogli vjerovati kako naš ipak high-end sistem u igrama može trošiti tek malo iznad 200W. S ovim ćemo zaključiti ovaj test, a ostaje nam vidjeti kakve će biti kartice partnera, te koliko dugo moramo čekati Nvidijin odgovor na ovu AMD-ovu uspješnu Southern Islands priču.

 

Conclusion

Much like the rest of the Southern Islands series, the performance per Watt ratio is just great with Pitcairn also. Performance are generally very good, especially with a stronger HD7870 model and everything would be perfect if it was not for its high suggested retail price of 349 USD and not so quiet cooling system. Overclocking potential of the card is great, as well as the increase in performance. The high price however should not be a problem because as we have seen, this card easily beats HD6970, and even in some benchmarks is in pair with GTX580. In addition, tessellation performances are great, and with all other advantages of the SI family that you get, at such low power consumption HD7870 is a very good choice.

Because of the 100USD lower suggested price at 250 USD, HD7850 has even got a little more sense. It is quieter, and with its overclocking potential you can easily catch up with the HD7970 performance. However, here we come to a problem. HD7850 is as we have seen is just a little faster than the GTX560 cards in most of these tests, but for the time being it will be priced much higher. However, it is necessary to taka consideration two tests to see that HD7850 will benefit you on a longer run because of the large amount of memory – Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2. With everything else SI brings, HD7850 is a very good bet in the future. All current titles as we have seen can be played with maximum detail, and 2GB of memory it should continue to provide the same comfort. The average consumption of about 130W makes this card unbeatable in performance per Watt ratio, and we still can`t believe that our high-end system can spend only as little as 200W while playing games. With this we conclude this test, and it still remains to be seen what will bring AIB`s, and how long we must wait for Nvidia’s answer to this AMD’s Southern Islands success story.