Sapphire HD7870 W/ Boost (Tahiti LE) Review

The Sapphire HD7870 Tahiti LE graphics card is a very attractive proposition for gamers who are limited to a budget of around £200. It is without doubt one of the best value for money graphics cards currently on the market. At around £190 inc vat the Sapphire solution is certainly worth serious consideration.

Our testing has shown that at the highest overclocked speeds the Tahiti LE can deliver reference HD7950 performance although it won't compete directly against the leading HD7950 cards on the market when they are also manually overclocked to the limit.

The HIS HD7950 IceQ for instance always held a clear frame rate advantage over the HD7870 Tahiti LE core, although it isn't such a clear cut buying decision when you factor in the considerable £50 price difference.

The MSI GTX660 OC was one of my favourite graphics cards in 2012 and with the recent price drop to around £175 inc vat it maintains a great price to performance ratio, especially when factoring in that the custom Nvidia 660ti cards are around £60-£70 more expensive.

In this test today however the MSI GTX660 OC was clearly outperformed by the Sapphire HD7870 Tahiti LE solution.

The Sapphire graphics card not only delivers excellent frame rate performance, the power demand is also lower than the HD7950. The dual fan cooler ensures that noise emissions are never a concern, even under extended load. The copper heatpipe based cooling system holds extended load temperatures in the mid 60's (C).

We can certainly recommend the Sapphire HD7870 w/Boost (Tahiti LE). The price point breaks new ground for those gamers who are struggling to get acceptable frame rates at 1080p with the latest Direct X 11 titles. It is one of the finest graphics cards under the £200 mark.

Pros:

• Best performance under £200.
• runs quiet.
• runs cool.
• massive overclocking headroom.
• lower power demand than full fat HD7950.
• strong bundle.

Cons:

• No shortage of competition.

Kitguru says: A high performance card at a very tempting price point, ideal for 1080p gaming with the latest Direct X 11 titles.

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