MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition Review

There are many modified discrete graphics solutions on the market today and working out which one to buy can prove to be a long and involved process. Without a doubt the R6950 Twin Frozr III continues the long line of success stories for MSI and we can certainly recommend it as a shortlist product.

Noise emissions are reduced significantly thanks to the intelligent dual fan cooling solution, helped in part by the efficient propeller blade technology. The thermal properties of the R6950 are improved noticeably, with maximum temperatures registering 60c when gaming. A standard HD6950 with a reference cooling solution will often operate at a 20c+ higher threshold.

The HD6950 doesn't lack when it comes to high resolution gaming, and the overclocked R6950 helps improve performance slightly. When it came to manually overclocking the card, we hit the wall a little sooner than expected, but this will vary from board to board. Any settings over 920mhz and the display would corrupt, which was slightly disappointing.

The card is slightly difficult to find in the UK, however Amazon stock it via a partner for £284.75, which seems rather expensive in today's market. Luckily just before going to press we managed to get another link on OCUK, priced at a much more reasonable £235 inc vat. OCUK are also throwing in Deus Ex and Dirt 3 for free, which seems like a smart buy to us.

Pros:

• Great performance.
• Fantastic cooling system.
• dual fan settings.
• full voltage control options via latest version of MSI Afterburner.

Cons:

• our card didn't overclock to the levels we had hoped.

Kitguru says: Another excellent card from MSI.

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