Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB Video Card Review

Conclusions
As I expected, there wasn’t any significant differences between the gaming performance numbers. Remember it is basically the same card, with only a 50mHz memory overclock. My GPU overclock of 50mHz did make a little difference.

So what’s the big deal with the Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe? COOLING!!! The cooling on the reference HD 4870 X2 left much to be desired. Honestly, load temps of over 90C are pretty scary. The highest load temp I saw with the Revolution 700 was a momentary 77C, all the rest of the time the temperature was 74C. An average drop of 25C on idle temp is just as impressive. And all this with the fans at a silent speed.

The output interface is pretty cool too. Someone spending that kind of cash is likely to keep the card for a long time, and the DisplayPort connector, though not yet popular, may come in handy. Not a lot of cards have a HDMI connector, and for those that hate adapters as I do will appreciate the addition of an HDMI port, since HDTVs are becoming very popular as second monitors.

The twin heatpipe coolers do make the card huge. It might prevent being able to use CrossFire on some motherboards, or take needed expansion slots for someone that uses a lot of PCI card devices. Also, some may find only one DVI connector a pain. There is an adapter to connect a second DVI to the HDMI port, but it is pretty long, maybe 1/2″ longer than the average adapter.

Finally, the bundle. It seems a very lackluster bundle for such an expensive video card, but to be honest, I seldom use anything included with a video card. Since there are Sub-15 and HDMI ports, there are no need for those adapters. And there is no need to include a game to increase the selling price of the card. So I guess that the bundle contains everything you need.

I don’t have an official price on the Revolution 700 Deluxe, but I have seen a price of $540. As the reference 4870s run from $480 to $550, and as far as I know there is no aftermarket cooler for them, $540 is definitely a good price for this card. No, a $500+ video card isn’t for everyone. But for someone in the market for a new Radeon HD 4870 X2, I see no need to purchase a reference one over the Revolution 700 Deluxe, unless you need to heat a small home with it. ThinkComputers.org gives the Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe a 9 out of 10 score.

rating9 10 small

Pros:
– Excellent one-of-a-kind cooling system that totally dominates the reference cooling
– Four-way output interface that includes HDMI and DisplayPort
– Competitively priced with reference models (if the price I have is correct)

Cons:
– Some may find the card too large for their system
– Some may find only one DVI port undesirable, though there is an adapter to accommodate a second DVI