Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe 2GB GDDR5 Video Card Review

Conclusion

Evaluating a card like the Palit Revolution 700 Deluxe is definitely tough considering I had some high expectations for it before I even opened the box and fired it up. Its size is completely over-the-top but Palit differentiate themselves much since the memory overclock isn’t anything to write home about and the cores stay at stock speeds. This gave it performance which was not that far above a bone stock HD 4870 X2 but the real news is in the temperatures the gargantuan heatsink is able to achieve. Noise levels are also way down when compared to the reference card which is great for those of you complaining the HD 4870 X2 kicked up a racket when under load. This is the only dual GPU card we have come across to have near-silent operation. Indeed, there are plenty of people out there who will be more than happy to pay any amount of money a high performance card without all that annoying fan noise drowning out their favorite game.

Lower temperatures and a greatly decreased acoustical footprint only go so far when you are paying the big bucks for a high performance card. The performance is still there in spades when compared to many single GPU cards but the slight bump in memory speeds does little to help its performance against a stock HD 4870 X2 or even a GTX 295 for that matter. From what we understand, the RV770 cores are not operating anywhere near their upper clock speed envelope so the lack of a decisive core overclock has us scratching our heads. That being said, the mere fact that there is an overclock on the Revolution will likely take a bit of the sting out of any price premium you may have to swallow if you end up buying this card.

Sticking a massive heatsink on a card and then releasing it without even a minor overclock on the cores strikes us as running contrary to the whole “Revolution” aspect of this product. For that matter, where does the “Deluxe” stuck on this product factor into Palit’s mindset in the first place? The accessory package is anemic and the card doesn’t carry any extra features other than a currently pointless Display Port connector and a built-in HDMI port. Sure, Display Port may be the next big thing but I am sure the majority of you who are looking at a card with a $600+ CAD price tag will upgrade it far in advance of buying a Display Port-equipped monitor.

I think the most unfortunate thing about the Revolution is that it is not particularly revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination. To tell you the truth, the only thing revolutionary about the 700 Deluxe is the absolutely abysmal idle power consumption figures we received being the worst results of any graphics card…ever. This is definitely something that evolved the wrong way on Darwin’s famous tree. The reason power consumption stood out as such a major issue is the fact that the majority of custom cards we have seen offered lower power consumption when compared to their reference brethren. No this one though.

Even though you may be starting to feel a bit sorry for this product, there really isn’t much to worry about since…well, it isn’t available in significant quantities. Looking through price comparison engines in Canada, the US and even in Europe, finding this flagship card is next to impossible as it seems Palit sent more out to reviewers than they shipped to retailers. Or maybe they just cut their losses after the reviews started rolling in.

I was really hoping for much more from the Revolution 700 Deluxe but it just wasn’t able to deliver. With disproportionately higher power consumption than a reference card, very minor performance increases from a pathetic overclock, an overly high heatsink and nonexistent availability, we just can’t recommend it even if you can find it for sale. Low temperatures and a decrease in noise output only go so far. Hopefully Palit’s next “Deluxe” card will prove to be something a bit more than window dressing.


Pros:

- Good performance
- Quiet
- Good cooling performance


Cons

- High power consumption
- Lackluster overclock on a flagship product
- 2-year warranty
- Takes up 3 expansion slots
- Generic bundle
- Availability