Tuesday, October 25th 2011
Sapphire Celebrates Battlefield 3 Launch with Special Edition HD 6970 Graphics Card
Celebrating the launch of the much anticipated Battlefield 3 game, SAPPHIRE Technology is introducing the SAPPHIRE HD 6970 BF3 Special Edition - featuring two SAPPHIRE exclusive technologies, SAPPHIRE FleX and Vapor-X cooling as well as performance enhancing options for the enthusiast and access to a FREE copy of the full game!
The SAPPHIRE HD 6970 BF3 Special Edition is based on AMD's award winning second generation DX 11 graphics engine with the powerful configuration of 1536 stream processors and 96 texture processing units delivering smooth and detailed graphics to the latest generation of games and applications. SAPPHIRE FleX technology allows the direct connection of three DVI monitors in Eyefinity mode without the need for special adapters, making it the simplest solution to multi-screen enjoyment, and the highly efficient SAPPHIRE Vapor-X cooling enables performance to be maximised whilst keeping noise levels low.
On this card, a Dual BIOS switch allows users to choose between two performance settings delivering the best performance in its class. The 'normal' setting has clock speeds of 880MHz for the core and 1375Mhz (5.5Gb/sec effective) 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 to deliver higher performance. Enthusiasts can further optimise performance using the SAPPHIRE TriXX tool, free to download from the SAPPHIRE website, which allows users to adjust clock speeds, voltages and fan speeds whilst monitoring GPU temperature.
The SAPPHIRE HD 6000 series family all have on-board hardware UVD (Unified Video decoder), considerably reducing CPU load and delivering smooth decoding of Blu-ray and other video content for both VC-1 and H.264 codecs, as well as Mpeg files and including 3D content. The UVD can decode two 1080p HD video streams simultaneously and display HD video in high quality with Windows Aero mode enabled. HDMI output conforms to HDMI 1.4 which supports Stereoscopic 3D output.
SAPPHIRE graphics cards are supported by AMD's DirectX 11 WHQL certified graphics driver which delivers support for all of the key DirectX 11 level features required for new gaming experiences and acceleration of next generation high performance applications.
The SAPPHIRE HD 6970 BF3 Special Edition is based on AMD's award winning second generation DX 11 graphics engine with the powerful configuration of 1536 stream processors and 96 texture processing units delivering smooth and detailed graphics to the latest generation of games and applications. SAPPHIRE FleX technology allows the direct connection of three DVI monitors in Eyefinity mode without the need for special adapters, making it the simplest solution to multi-screen enjoyment, and the highly efficient SAPPHIRE Vapor-X cooling enables performance to be maximised whilst keeping noise levels low.
The SAPPHIRE HD 6000 series family all have on-board hardware UVD (Unified Video decoder), considerably reducing CPU load and delivering smooth decoding of Blu-ray and other video content for both VC-1 and H.264 codecs, as well as Mpeg files and including 3D content. The UVD can decode two 1080p HD video streams simultaneously and display HD video in high quality with Windows Aero mode enabled. HDMI output conforms to HDMI 1.4 which supports Stereoscopic 3D output.
SAPPHIRE graphics cards are supported by AMD's DirectX 11 WHQL certified graphics driver which delivers support for all of the key DirectX 11 level features required for new gaming experiences and acceleration of next generation high performance applications.
14 Comments on Sapphire Celebrates Battlefield 3 Launch with Special Edition HD 6970 Graphics Card
all you really get is a fancier cooler and 10-15% bump in clocks something you could both do yourself. A Arctic Cooling Xtreme Plus II with cool leagues better and and a free program like TriXX or MSI Afterburner.
With this whole artsyfartsy 'OoOoO daddy look at mee - im special' Vapour-X cooler is more of a gimmick then anything else.
This is a cooler ripped off a old non ref 5850... Keep an eye out on the heatpipes.
^ Notice how the heatpipes inside split up into different directions - just like the one on this flex...
Now the underside of the cooler where the cooler makes contact with the GPU.
^Notice how small the contact area is?? for Vapour X to be a 100% more effective you need a wider contact area similar to the reference coolers to maximise cooling.,
AMD's Vapour X works on 2 levels. - the copper vapour X chamber where all the magic takes place and the aluminium fins on the second layer of the cooler that are fused with the copper layer to move the heat away when the fan blows on it.
Wider the area - more fins = better cooling.
what theyve done here is given it a small contact area and heatpipes which lead to the cooling fins which the fan blow on.
And if you take the shroud off....
^This is no doubt what this 6970 would look like if you took the shroud off.
Closer look at the heatpipe layout/setup with the shroud off.
Look how thin the base/contact area is....
you can cool a 5850-6870 with the same setup without the whole 'Vapour X' malarky
The Vapour X setup will WORK but I highly doubt that it makes and huge difference in temperatures due to the use of heatpipes and not a cooler similar to a reference one.
a similar arguement can be said about the whole 'Direct touch' feature on CPU coolers back when socket 775 was released. Direct touch might have worked. but compared against a cooler that didnt have Direct touch - there was hardly any difference at all.
The more contact the cooler makes with the CPU the better it can take heat away.
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Obviously these are just based on my own personal observations and you may refute my claims as much as you like. but IMO Sapphire are using it as an empty marketing ploy as they know 6970s run hot
I've always wanted to see a vapour chamber cooler the size of a motherboard ( with 10mm high fins) to bolt to the cpu/motherboard as that would be a good use of the vapour chamber technology ( expensive and difficult to make though)
Heatpipes do just a good of a job if not better as more heatpipes = more surface area contact with the fins them self.
( vapour chambers only have the edge of the fin to transfer heat to)
A combination of the two technologies would be best.
I did have some Vapor-X cards in past and I was happy with them, but lately I heard a lot about them being somewhat hot and loud, still better than reference designs of course, but still...By the way, if I may ask, what do you think about Asus Direct CU II coolers on HD 69xx cards?
the cooler seems to do a decent job, but i dont think its worth the extra money.
If you play on just running 1 single 6970 then grab something from Arctic cooling. If you run dual graphics then its better to get a graphics card with a good or above average cooler as aftermarket cooling can take up 3 PCI slots per card which puts them dangeriously close together as the top card can and will overheat. due to there not being enough space for airflow between the cards - trust me, Ive experienced this with 2 5850s with AC Twin Turbo's mounted.
I wish they don`t have the special aluminum case one like they did for the BC2 Vietnamese edition...$100 more then the card board box (LE one in my case)which was $30 more.