Reviews - Pro-Clockers! PC Reviews One MegaHertz At A Time

That is when the new low profile Sapphire HD Radeon 6670 comes into play. This card is capable of playing back awesome video with the clearest of audio and at the same time can even game (well to a certain extent). But what most of you will like is what I mention in the first sentence of this paragraph, this card is a low profile single slot unit that can be placed in almost any rig.

If you were to take a look over at Sapphire’s website you will see several Radeon HD 6970 listed, 7 to be exact. Which, besides a possible bundled game, you may want to know what exactly the real differences between the models are. To put it briefly, all have a standard 880MHz core and 2GB of GDDR5 memory; some have a game bundle, some don't; but primarily it is a difference in the equipped cooler. That last one is where today's review sample comes in. It has dual fans to help with sound reduction, as well as better cooling in conjunction with the 8mm & 6mm heat pipes. There is also the dual BIOS switch, something normally available on many Radeon HD 6950 and HD 6990 models. We will get more into this during the review process, but felt we should break down what makes this model stand out.

The Radeon HD 6950 is from the Cayman Pro family that boasts an 800MHz core clock as well as 1250MHz GDDR5 memory clock. This along for many maybe enough to consider the card a worthy purchase but the 1408 shader processors and 2GB of memory definitely does help a lot.

Our sample we are testing today is from ASUS and you know they are not ones to leave reference numbers and parts alone. The Radeon HD 6950 DirectCU II increases the stock core clock to 810MHz while the memory clock remains the same. But where this Radeon HD 6950 is in the cooling department which is based on direct heat pipe technology to help keep core clocks are bay.

The Radeon HD 6750 from Sapphire specifications is identical to those of the reference design which would be a 700MHz core clock on 1150MHz memory clock. The unit has 716 million transistors, 36 texture units and 720 stream processors. With such specifications the unit should make for a pretty decent but lower end gaming machine.

So as a new day dawns, we see yet another mid-range GPU being released; the new Nvidia GTX 560. Equipped with reference clock speeds, this new card runs at a respectable 810MHz on the core clock and 1GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2004MHz (4008MHz effective) fed by a 256bit bus. Last, but not least, the 336 CUDA cores which scream along at 1620MHz.

The first model we get to play with today is the one from our friends at Gigabyte. Follow along as we dig into it and test it's metal against the competition.

If you fit the individual in the second half of the above paragraph then our next video card up for review maybe just what you need. Sapphire has introduced a new video card based on the AMD Radeon HD 6570 chipset. Boasting 512MB of GDDR5 clocked at 1000MHz and a 650MHz core clock the Sapphire Radeon HD looks to be a great alternative to the based video present on the motherboard.

This new card is labeled as an Xtreme model, but specifically why we're not sure. because it still carries the reference clocks. Maybe it is due to the 'extreme'-ly affordable price point. The card comes bundled with the new looking cooler that resembles those on some of the Sapphire 6xxx series. Perhaps also is because the card can be overclocked with Sapphire's GPU tweaking TriXX application. Whatever is the case, we'll definitely find this out for you, so join along and fine out if it is really Xtreme or not.

Our friends at Gigabyte released their first version along with all the other launch partners. Gigabyte did not release their based on the reference model. This card sports an overclock directly from Gigabyte and a custom cooling system. With all this card has going for itself, it just be your next card if you are working with a tighter budget.

We have seen many retailers’ sites featuring this line of cards and we have the opportunity to look at one today. The ASUS Radeon EAH6850 boasts this DirectCU cooling technology, as well as a 790MHz overclocked Barts GPU up from the default 775MHz. Based on AMD’s latest TSMC 40nm processing, the HD6850 tops out at a mere 127 watts for power consumption. Meaning a good 500W power supply should be good enough to power one of these beauties.

Since day one, when reviews for Eyefinity started popping up, I have wanted to try my hand at it. Yet like many of you, I also am not able to afford the types of monitors or fancy adapters it takes in order to enjoy gaming nirvana with multi-monitors; however, leave it up to our good friends at Sapphire to make it a little less painful on the pocket. Enter the FleX Edition cards.