The XFX HD6970 Black Edition ships in an oblong box with distinctive futuristic artwork. We always like the subtle yet dramatic XFX artwork.
The bundle contains two sheets of XFX branded stickers, a ‘Do Not Disturb' door sign, literature on the product, and software discs. There is also literature supplied which highlights the excellent XFX range. The stand out item for us is the little aluminum adhesive badge (above right).
Sadly we were immediately disappointed to see that XFX hadn't bothered to create a custom cooler for this card, instead relying on the reference design, which as we know is somewhat lacking when compared to other cards we have reviewed lately. There is no backplate on the back of the PCB.
One point worth making is that this card ships with a protective film layer (see above) on the cooler and fan sticker. It is important to remove these before using the card as heat can make them warp under use. In the past we have experienced one of these (BFG model) detaching from the card under heat and getting wedged in the fan during operation.
The card is Crossfire capable in 2/3/4 way configurations. It requires a 6 pin and an 8 pin power connector to operate.
All HD6970 cards have a switch next to the Crossfire Connectors which enables two modes. Setting 1 is an unprotected mode for user updates and setting 2 is protected as factory default.
Connectivity adheres to the reference design, with 2 miniDisplayport connectors being complimented by an HDMI 1.4A output and 2 DVI ports (one DL and one SL).
The cooler is a 5th generation Vapor Chamber system which AMD claim has great cooling efficiency and acoustic performance. The 2GB memory installed on the card is Hynix H5GQ2H24MF.
An overview of the overclocked card in the latest version of GPUz.