Coolers

AFOX Radeon HD 7850 (Single Slot)

The cooling system is so slim that the card only occupies one expansion slot. The cooling system consists of a narrow fan placed over the GPU heatsink reinforced by the copper base and heatpipes. The memory chips have no dedicated cooling. The cooler is rather noisy, because the fan is quite small.

MSI R7870 Hawk

The TwinFrozr cooling system consists of three main parts: the main heatsink, supplementary plated heatsink, and cover. Two parts of the main nickel-plated split heatsink are connected by heatpipes rooted in the baseplate which is pressed against the GPU. All these elements are made of copper alloy. Besides, there are two fans optimized for more efficient air intake.

The supplementary plated heatsink cools memory chips and power transistors. At the same time, it is a strengthening rib paired with a metal plate at the back to provide a secure mount for the GPU Reactor. The whole cooling system is shielded by a cover. In general, the cooling system is highly efficient albeit rather noisy.

Temperature monitoring results

We measured temperatures using the EVGA PrecisionX utility.

AFOX Radeon HD 7850 (Single Slot)

MSI R7870 Hawk

In both cases the temperatures do not exceed 82°C, which is acceptable for a graphics adapter of this class. Noise, however, is a weak point. As you see, the fans work at 93% of their highest speed—at over 4000 rpm. MSI R7870 Hawk is the most unpleasant of the two in this regard: it gives off high-frequency whistling that makes gaming without headphones on nearly impossible.

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