Sapphire HD6970 2048MB GDDR5 (Dual Fan Edition) Review

We review many third party custom cooling solutions, but generally the catch is that they increase the price of a graphics card, with often a £20-£30 premium overhead against a reference solution. This Sapphire HD6970 is their new ‘reference' card, as they move to replace their older, single fan cooler.

We had a great experience with this product, as the twin fan cooler is significantly quieter than the reference design. Temperatures were maintained at just over 60c when fully loaded with a Direct X 11 engine. The rising temperatures only required both fans to spin at less than 50% activity (around 1,700 rpm). Two quality fans are definitely better than one.

The Sapphire TriXX tool allows for full voltage adjustments with this card, meaning we could push the core to 954mhz, and the Hynix GDDR5 memory to over 1500mhz (6000 effective). There is clearly some overclocking headroom with these boards, and for those who make the effort, the gains are noticeable. We can't guarantee all of these new ‘reference' cards will overclock as well, but we would think 930mhz+ would be easy.

The current, single fan revision of the card retails in the UK for £285 inc vat, and Sapphire have told us that this card will directly replace it, at the same price. Make sure you hang fire until the UK stores get updated stock before a purchase.

Pros:

• good overclocking headroom, especially from the Hynix GDDR5 memory.
• Quiet.
• runs cool.
• much improved over the reference design.
• hot air still vented out the rear of the computer chassis.

Cons:

• We hope you haven't bought the previous version recently.

Kitguru says: A direct two fan/heatpipe cooler replacement for the reference card at no extra cost, hard to complain.

Become a Patron!