Sapphire HD6970 Battlefield 3 Flex Edition Review (Limited Edition)

The Sapphire HD6970 Battlefield 3 Flex Edition arrives in a very stylish box with the game artwork on front. It will certainly attract the eye within a store environment.

The bundle is comprehensive. The package includes several video and power converter cables, a software disc, Crossfire cable, HDMI cable and literature on the range of products.

The card is built around a blue PCB and Sapphire highlight the FleX technology. The large fan is centralised and we can see the copper heatpipes behind it.

The card is Crossfire capable in 2, 3 and 4 way configurations. It demands an 8 pin and a 6 pin power connector to operate properly.

Many graphics cards based on AMD technology require the third monitor in an Eyefinity set-up to be a DisplayPort monitor, or connected with an active DisplayPort Adapter. The SAPPHIRE FleX family can support three DVI monitors in Eyefinity mode and deliver a true SLS (Single Large Surface) work area without the need for active adapters. The first two monitors are connected to the two DVI ports and the third to an HDMI to DVI cable (supplied) with no extra hardware required. Additional monitors can also be connected, but they must be Displayport monitors or connected with an active Displayport adapter.

The rear I/O plate has extra venting to allow for additional heat dissipation.

Sapphire are using a Vapor X cooler on this card, which has a copper block and several thick copper heatpipes which are routed into two separate rows of aluminum fins.

Above, the bios switch allowing for the two separate profiles. The ‘normal’ setting has clock speeds of 880MHz for the core and 1375Mhz for the memory, and a quiet fan profile, whilst the ‘boost’ setting raises the core clock to 930MHz, as well as increasing the core voltage, fan speed and overclock limits.

Above, the GPUz overview from both bios settings.

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