XFX HD6950 DD, HD6870 DD and HD6790 DD Review

The XFX HD6870 DD arrives in an (almost) identical box as the HD 6790 DD on the previous page. Yep, you guessed it, the obvious difference is the product name.

The bundle contains literature on the XFX range, including their power supplies which we have reviewed before on Kitguru. They also supply access to their support system to help users in times of need. Finally there is a sign for a door to keep out strangers and unwanted family members.

The card looks almost identical to the HD6790, built on the same, eye catching black PCB with dual fan system and black plastic surround. If Darth Vader wanted a video card, this would be the one. He also wouldn't care about the anti tamper stickers on the mounting screws. Warranties beware!

The card is CrossfireX capable, in a two way configuration. The top of the card highlights the thick copper heatpipes and a sticker above which reads ‘Double Dissipation'. The card requires 2x 6 pin power connectors to operate correctly.

The HD 6870 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. Just remember if you damage those stickers on the PCB your warranty will be invalidated.

The cooler is identical to the one on the HD6790 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.

XFX are using 1GB of high quality Elpida GDDR5 memory on this custom PCB design.

Above, a GPUz screenshot of the XFX HD6870 DD. It runs at 925mhz core and 1050mhz via the 1GB of GDDR5 memory (4200mhz effective) which is connected via a 256 bit interface. The card is based on the 40nm AMD Barts core and has 1120 unified shaders and 32 ROPS.

Become a Patron!