XFX HD6950 DD, HD6870 DD and HD6790 DD Review

Our sample of the HD6950 DD was supplied in the older box, as XFX sent us one of the first samples. The image above shows the new box shape and artwork behind the HD6950, which is in the older style packaging.

The bundle is pretty much identical to the other cards, although this time we have a Crossfire bridge. This is always a welcome addition, although I probably have about 50 in a drawer now.

Déjà vu? Yep, it looks identical to the other cards on test today. Same sexy black PCB, dual fan configuration and black plastic shroud.

One of the view visible differences – the HD6950 has two Crossfire connectors, for 2,3 and 4 way configurations. It requires 2 x 6 pin connectors for correct operation.

The HD 6950 DD has two DVI ports on the I/O plate, with a full size HDMI connector and two mini displayport connectors. There is full support for AMD Eyefinity and the card features the same nifty ‘XFX' logo cut into the backplate.

To get access to the card we need to remove mounting screws, PCB screws and backplate screws. Doing this will invalidate your warranty, as XFX have tamper proof stickers over two of the mounting screws.

The cooler is identical to the one on the other two cards with three thick direct contact copper heatpipes leading out into two seperate racks of aluminum fins on either side of the core. These are cooled from above by the two fans. We guess using the same cooler saves on engineering costs, but it sure means the owner of the HD6790 DD is getting a great deal.

The PCB on the HD6950 DD is significantly different and they have switched from Elpida memory to 2GB of Hynix GDDR5.

Above, a GPUz screenshot of the XFX HD6950 DD. It runs at 830mhz core and 1300mhz via the 2GB of GDDR5 memory (5200mhz effective) which is connected via a 256 bit interface. The card is based on the 40nm AMD Cayman core and has 1408 unified shaders and 32 ROPS.

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