Palit Radeon HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition 512MB Review

Thermals and Conclusion

With that fantastic heatsink the Palit HD4870 Sonic Dual Edition idled at a happy 41 Celsius with an ambient temperature of 22 Celsius. At the 775MHz/1000MHz OC profile it loaded at 64 Celsius after looping 30 minutes of 3DMark2006 game test 3. Compared to the reference card and cooler hitting ~90 Celsius this is a huge improvement and with a quieter heatsink setup to boot.

Priced at $265 with an additional $20 rebate available at the time of writing this, the Palit HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition is price competitive with other HD 4870s on the market. It does have a leg up on the competition with its 3rd party heatsink and its dual BIOS option. Equipped with a two year manufacturing warranty, the card all in all is a slightly better option than most cards in its price range.

When you consider the performance that the card provides with its factory overclock and its quieter heatsink it really is hard to find a fault with this card. The bundle was sufficient, the card and heatsink quality are top notch, and most importantly, the performance was readily available with no concerns over thermals. All in all Palit presents a well rounded option in this price bracket.

Legit Bottom Line: Palit offers a great deal with a better than stock cooler and faster than stock performance at a stock price.