Powercolor HD6950 PCS+ 2GB Review (Vortex II Edition)

The Powercolor HD6950 PCS+ Review (Vortex II Edition) is supplied in a long box and like other cards in their range highlights the image of a sports car on the front.

The bundle includes a Crossfire connector, quick install guide, and a software CD. There are also two video convertor cables supplied.

The card itself is a stunning looking beast, with two large, black fans sitting within a complex looking shroud. It is built around a bright red PCB.

The card incorporates a 4 part heatpipe design with a paired configuration passing heat into the aluminum fins on either side. We will look at this in more detail shortly after disassembly.

The PCS+ has two 6 pin PCIE power connectors to operate, and it is also CrossFireX capable in 2, 3 and 4 way configurations.

The PCS+ ships with protective covers on the ports. They are: Displayport (1.2), HDMI 1.4a, and 2 DL-DVI and SL-DVI connectors.

The cooler ships with both fan housings in the ‘low' position (above left). These can be adjusted to rise (above right), which in effect alters the airflow trajectory. Powercolor claim that adjusting the positions can reduce the turbulence and help heat spread from hot areas.

Both fans positions are raised in the image above, into a ‘double inclined' stance. Powercolor highlight this cooler as having ‘anti turbulence' properties. Air turbulence can be a common problem with a dual fan design. These ‘perforated' fans are said to produce 13% more airflow when compared to traditional designs.

By raising the fan Powercolor claim that the cooler can absorb the cooler air from the bottom of the case.

The fans are spliced into the same cable, taking power from the same header on the PCB. The cooler has a pure copper base for maximum heat transfer, and this is connected into four heatpipes which spread the heat into a dual array of 61 aluminum fins. The PCB design incidentally is custom designed by Powercolor and includes Solid Capacitors, Ferrite Core Chokes to enhance stability/reduce noise and DrMos to optimise the gate charge, minimizing switching losses.

An overview of the card in the latest version of GPUz, highlighting the enhanced clock speeds and 2GB of GDDR5.

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