Sapphire HD6950 FleX Edition 2GB Review

For our review today we are using one of KitGuru’s strongest systems, featuring an Intel Core i7 970 processor clocked to 4.33ghz with a Coolit Vantage.

Our testing will take place across various sections. Firstly with a single screen then 3 screens and finally 4 screens. When we get to 4 screen testing later in the review, we will be adding another reference HD6950 in CrossfireX, for added horsepower at 7680×1080 resolution.

Featuring: Sapphire HD6950 Toxic Edition

Hardware Test System:
Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.33ghz
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65 (MS-7522)
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10
Power Supply: Corsair Ax1200
Memory: 6GB GSkill Performance Gaming ram @ 902.9 MHz (2:10) @ 7-8-7-24
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)

Camera: Nikon D300S and R1C1 Kit

Monitors: Dell Ultrasharp U2410 (A00)
Iiyama ProLite E2472HDD x2
Iiyama Prolite B2712HDS

Other Video Cards (single screen game comparisons)
Nvidia GTX590
Nvidia GTX580
Nvidia GTX570
MSI N560GTX Ti Twin Frozr II
nVidia GTX460 OC (715/900)
XFX HD5970 Black Edition 4GB (QuadFireX)
AMD HD6990
AMD HD6970
AMD HD6870
AMD HD6850
AMD HD5870
AMD HD5850

Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
HQV Benchmark
Catalyst 11.3 Driver
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Keithley Integra unit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter

Games:
Alien V Predator
Far Cry 2
Resident Evil 5
Lost Planet 2
Tom Clancy HAWX 2
Battleforge
Medal Of Honor SP
Devil May Cry 4
Metro 2033
Colin McRae Dirt 2
F1 2010
Left4Dead 2
Dead Space 2
Just Cause 2
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests all games across five closely matched runs and average out the results to get an accurate median figure.

Become a Patron!