Friday, January 21st 2011

Sapphire Readies New Custom-Design HD 6970 2 GB Graphics Card

by
btarunr
 Discuss (31 Comments)
Sapphire is readying a new custom-design Radeon HD 6970 2 GB graphics card. The card uses a PCB that closely resembles the AMD reference-design PCB, but comes in blue color. It also uses a custom designed cooler that uses a traditional blower channeling air through a dense aluminum fin canal block. The most peculiar feature is a round rotary knob, which lets you switch between the two BIOS ROM chips on board, thereby letting you maintain two hardware-stored clock and fan profiles. This knob appears to be coin-turned. The Radeon HD 6970 packs 1536 VLIW4 stream processors, and connects to 2 GB of memory over a high-speed GDDR5 memory interface.

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31 Comments on Sapphire Readies New Custom-Design HD 6970 2 GB Graphics Card

#1
erixx
you cant use this in a Mac computer, because to use the switch you have to open the Mac first, something forbidden and a technical challenge :)
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#2
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
Who uses a Mac anyway.
Posted on Reply
#3
Rebelstar
Only for me design reminds nvidia cards?
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#4
_JP_
OMG! SOLD!
It's so beautiful!
The coin-turner gives it a nice touch, but not very handy for crossfire configurations. Great on those Shuttle type chassis, tough.
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#5
Swamp Monster
I like the design and how air is exhausted outside case. I wonder what components it will use - Texas Instruments Dr.Mos or ones they used before. Also what voltage controllers CHIL ,uPI or Volterra? It is confusing because of how many options there are. I guess only a review will clear that for me.
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#6
Steve-007UK
I don't usualy comment on graphics cards looks but damn i like this, I'm back at work to now so gonna save and buy this fahoooker :D

:toast:
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#7
[H]@RD5TUFF
Why ?:wtf:

Also it's saphire . . .:shadedshu
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#8
Imsochobo
[H]@RD5TUFFWhy ?:wtf:

Also it's saphire . . .:shadedshu
Sapphire have to lowest RMA rate, meaning best quality..
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#9
Steve-007UK
[H]@RD5TUFFWhy ?:wtf:

Also it's saphire . . .:shadedshu
Because i like it thats why.
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#10
thiskar
utterly gorgeous looking card, love that chrome stripe down the side!:)
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#12
Wile E
Power User
btarunrWho uses a Mac anyway.
I do.
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#13
pantherx12
I prefered the bios switch in the reference cards.

Small and in a sensible place.
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#14
shiny_red_cobra
I don't see how this is different from the current cards. They changed the colour of the PCB and the cooler and put a different bios switch on it. That's the only difference as far as I can tell.
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#15
[H]@RD5TUFF
ImsochoboSapphire have to lowest RMA rate, meaning best quality..
Source ?

Given I have gotten a card with the wrong BIOS on it, I payed for a 9600xt, but it came flashed as a 9600.

Saphire = over priced junk.
Wile EI do.
Wow my that sucks.:wtf:
Posted on Reply
#17
AsRock
TPU addict
Swamp MonsterThat is what I could find:
www.techpowerup.com/88515/Study_Modern_Graphics_Card_Failure_Rates.html
LMAO, you believe the french testers to start with lol ?.. Were is XFX ?.. And most have different length warranty's.. The last 2 years just to warranty reasons i have skipped Sapphire as they only had 1 year on them at the time of buying were ASUS has 3 years.

Most of the time any thing like this is flawed.


Anyways love the simplicity about this card well near all of it as already pointed out the bios switch on it which it seems pretty dam dumb.

Would of been better to put it on the back bracket if possible or just leave it how it was in the 1st place.
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#18
[H]@RD5TUFF
Swamp MonsterThat is what I could find:
www.techpowerup.com/88515/Study_Modern_Graphics_Card_Failure_Rates.html
AsRockLMAO, you believe the french testers to start with lol ?.. Were is XFX ?.. And most have different length warranty's.. The last 2 years just to warranty reasons i have skipped Sapphire as they only had 1 year on them at the time of buying were ASUS has 3 years.

Most of the time any thing like this is flawed.
Also there are no current gen cards included in that article.

As well as my experience dictates differently, their RMA is the worst I have ever had to deal with!
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#19
Swamp Monster
I was just trying to bring some proof. Imsochobo maybe have something better to offer. Sapphire is AMD partner Nr.1 so I use it too, I believe it would not be like that if it was "junk". I have never RMA'ed anything to them, that's why I cannot comment it. I have never had any problems with their cards, and I had 3 of them. My friend had faulty HD4850, but it doesn't mean that Sapphire makes only junk.
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#20
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
Bleh, I really don't think that what brand you have makes a difference. The RMA rates are so low anyway. I just buy whatever brand offers best bang for the buck atm.
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#21
Swamp Monster
FrickBleh, I really don't think that what brand you have makes a difference. The RMA rates are so low anyway. I just buy whatever brand offers best bang for the buck atm.
Well, for some reason I don't like Club 3D cards, maybe because they are cheapest of all, and I think because of how cheap they are, they use cheapest components.
Posted on Reply
#22
Wile E
Power User
[H]@RD5TUFFSource ?

Given I have gotten a card with the wrong BIOS on it, I payed for a 9600xt, but it came flashed as a 9600.

Saphire = over priced junk.




Wow my that sucks.:wtf:
First, what happened in teh 9600 days is hardly a true representation of their quality now. Secondly, they aren't any worse than any other manufacturer on the same tier.

As for the Mac, no, it doesn't suck. It's great for everything but hardcore gaming and heavy encoding (due to being on older dual core iMac 20"). That's what I have the PC for. OS X is great, and the iMac is the only all-in-one that has good screens in them.
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#23
kid41212003
Wile EAs for the Mac, no, it doesn't suck. It's great for everything but hardcore gaming and heavy encoding (due to being on older dual core iMac 20"). That's what I have the PC for. OS X is great, and the iMac is the only all-in-one that has good screens in them.
It's great for other people, not for you. I kinda feel it's not you at all to use a Mac, maybe your wife does?
Posted on Reply
#24
Wile E
Power User
kid41212003It's great for other people, not for you. I kinda feel it's not you at all to use a Mac, maybe your wife does?
It's my bedroom computer. I use it all the time. She does use it more often tho. It's nicer for managing multiple programs and windows for me. I wish Windows had Expose.
Posted on Reply
#25
[H]@RD5TUFF
Wile EFirst, what happened in teh 9600 days is hardly a true representation of their quality now. Secondly, they aren't any worse than any other manufacturer on the same tier.

As for the Mac, no, it doesn't suck. It's great for everything but hardcore gaming and heavy encoding (due to being on older dual core iMac 20"). That's what I have the PC for. OS X is great, and the iMac is the only all-in-one that has good screens in them.
I should specify what I mean, the Mac OS, is really nothing more than a glorified version of Unix, which IMO is a fine OS, it's the hardware I dislike, as you pay 3 times as much for half the horsepower, and if you really want a MAC, a hackintosh can give you 2x the power for 1/2 the price!

I disagree, though I can't say I have bought a Saphire since the 3xxx generation, though can you blame me, given all 3 cards I have had to RMA, and as I stated previously 1 came flashed with the wrong BIOS (the BIOS they sent me in a support email bricked the card, and then they tried to deny the RMA), so IMO Saphire = crap.
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