Pros:
-Closed loop cooling does the following
--Does not add heat to the inside of the case, Instead Exhausts it through the top (your radiator location may vary)
--Keeps the GPU at an average (under full load) 100F to 105F for either Gaming or Running calculations for SETI@home
--The hot as hell radiator exhaust prevents my cats from wanting to sit on top of my tower (as my CPU radiator does not release as much heat)
-Fast
--on my 1200P monitor all setting maxed on any game I have can usually keep up with the 75hZ Refresh rate... with the rare drop to 73FPS and Im pretty sure that can be blamed on something else in my computer
--Excellent game loading times with the HBM when your CPU goes to dump 3gb into the HBM
-Small
--The physical Card is tiny, I've not owned a GPU this small since 2005
-Quiet
--the only reason i know the card is on, is from either the monitor showing stuff, The jet blast of heat out of the radiator, or the menacing red glow in the side of the case. But you cannot hear it. (you can hear my old HD7000 series like a wild banshee. It is the loudest thing in my pc. and yes i kept it in my pc :) it got demoted to a lower pci x16 slot)
Cons
-140mm radiator is not 140mm, its bigger due to the Extra sized reservoir. Now this really isn't a problem for me because I have a 900D tower. so it mounts nicely up top with no issues. But if you have a smaller case, be ready to do some mild engineering to get this to fit if your tight on space.
-Weirdly it get faster the more screen real-estate you have. so if your running a small 1080p, or 1200p monitor your not using it to its potential it can under-perform. If you have an Eye-Infinity setup with say 2x or more screens you should be fine, or one of those 1440p monitors with a moderate refresh rate. If you have a small monitor, it helps if you have a really high refresh rate. The 75hZ on my 1200p seems to work out great.
-Radiator umbilical is kinda short. For smaller cases this is no issue, but if you have a large case like mine, you can run in to issues finding the radiator a home.... not that my case does not have prime radiator real estate, Reaching the coveted top of case can be a stretch if you have stuff already up there.
-Price
--For a top end card its actually reasonable. but for the working guy it is a hit to the wallet. (if your a kid with no job, I wish you gods speed convincing your parents or grand parents to get you this bad boy.)
Conclusion - Great Purchase, Great Card
After Owning it for a full week now "breaking it in" I will say this, if i had to go back to decided if i would buy it again, assuming i'm in a bad financial situation (i wasn't at the time)... based on my experiences I would make it work and buy again. It is worth every cent. Later this year, I'm seriously considering a second card after the DX12/Win 10 drop.
| Max Screen Resolution | 4096 x 2160 |
|---|---|
| Memory Speed | 500 MHz |
| Graphics Coprocessor | AMD Radeon |
| Chipset Brand | AMD |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 4 GB |
