HD7870 Front
The HD7870 looks almost identical to the 7900 cards thanks to the glossy black plastic shroud complete with red insert. The fan sports a 1GHz edition sticker but for all intents and purposes, 1GHz is the reference clockspeed on the core of all HD7870 GPU's save for special OC editions by AMD partners.
HD7870 Rear
To rear of the card we see AMD have wisely stuck with the black PCB used across the range. There is no backplate to protect the exposed components so care, as always should be taken when handling. The PCB measures 24.5cm long with a 5mm overhang by the shroud making the card 25cm long in total which is 2cm shorter than the HD7970 and almost 3cm shorter than the card it directly replaces, the HD5870.
I/O Ports
The card features the standard compliment of input/output ports with a DVI, HDMI accompanied by twin mini-DisplayPorts.
Crossfire Capability
The HD7870 is crossfire capable however, as there is only one crossfire tab, the card can only be paired up with one other 7800 series GPU.
Power Ports
Twin PCIe 6pin power ports are found on the front side of the card which is perhaps the best place to have the power ports as this allows for greater case compatibility by restricting the overall length of the graphics card. By having twin 6pin PCIe power ports and working on a PCI Express port we can determine that the theoretical maximum power consumption cannot exceed 225W however in practice the AMD claim the card to have a TDP of 175W. This of course is not taking into consideration AMD's ZeroCore power technology which effectively nullifies any meaningful power consumption of the GPU (<5W in an idle state).
Let's strip this bad boy to the bone...
