PowerColor Radeon HD 5870 1GB PCS+ OC Video Card (Page 14)

Temperature Tests

With the TES 1326 Infrared Thermometer literally in hand we found ourselves getting real-world temperatures from the products we test at load (3D clock speeds).

There are two places we pull temperature from - the back of the card directly behind the core and if the card is dual slot and has an exhaust point we also pull a temperate from there, as seen in the picture.

Looking at the temperature, it's a little disappointing to see that both cards sit at around the same level. Fingers crossed the new cooler does better in the sound department.

Sound Tests

Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).

And it does with a healthy drop in dB when compared to the stock cooler that the Sapphire card we have here uses.