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| by Michael "SKYMTL" Hoenig | October 12, 2009 | ||
| A Closer Look at the ASUS HD 5770 Voltage Tweak Edition A Closer Look at the ASUS HD 5770 Voltage Tweak EditionThe ASUS HD 5770 1GB doesn’t differ from any of the other reference-based HD 5770 cards you will see come launch day even though it incorporates Voltage Tweak within the software package. It is a very clean looking card whose heatsink resembles that of the HD 5850 and HD 5870 with a predominantly black color along with a few red accents. It actually looks like a high performance card wrapped into a small package. ASUS seems to be doing things a bit differently with their HD 5770 since the heatsink shroud is devoid of any extravagant stickers that shout out tackiness from every corner. Instead, ASUS leaves the shroud as is and instead applies a simple logo and fan hub sticker. We love this understated minimalism since we all know that good taste doesn’t have to make itself heard. The side of the card houses a pair of Crossfire connectors as well as a long piece of red plastic with the ATI Radeon logo. This area not only provides an extra section where the accent color is used but it also dubs as a vent for any hot air that can’t be exhausted through the backplate. The rearmost portion of the HD 5770 1GB features a pair of gaudy red-fringed vent holes that are used by the fan to suck cool air over the VRMs. Unfortunately, since the plastic heatsink shroud projects over the edge of the PCB, attaching the PCI-E 6-pin connector to the card can be a challenge, especially in a cramped case. Meanwhile, the backplate makes use of its dual slot design to give the user a pair of DVI connectors as well as ports for DisplayPort and HDMI. The back of the card shows us a black PCB with a quartet of GDDR5 memory modules. These ICs are H5GQ1H24AFR units from Hynix and are rated for 1.25Ghz (5Ghz QDR) speed at 1.5V. Length-wise, the HD 5770 is about 8 ¾” in length which is slightly shorter than the HD 5850 but slightly longer than the pint-sized HD 5750. | ||
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