HIS Intros Radeon HD 6950 1 GB Fan Edition Graphics Card

[btarunr]

HIS unveiled one of its first Radeon HD 6950 1 GB graphics cards. The HIS HD 6950 1 GB Fan Edition features AMD's high-end GPU with 1 GB of memory, and a cost-effective design that makes it competitive with upcoming GeForce GTX 560 Ti. HIS used its own design PCB that's shorter in length, and uses cost-effective VRM since the card isn't dealing with high-density 2 Gbit GDDR5 memory chips anymore. It uses a GPU fan-heatsink that uses a large fan to ventilate an aluminum fin array that cools the GPU and other components. the cooler is covered by a well-ventilated shroud.

That and the memory aside, other specifications are the same: the 40 nm Cayman GPU features 1408 VLIW4 stream processors, and connects to 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface. The core is clocked at 800 MHz, and the memory at 1250 MHz (5.00 GHz GDDR5 effective). HIS did not release pricing yet, but it will be well below the $300 mark.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[afw]

No dual-bios ... ???

 

[Over_Lord]

below 300$ ??

HD6870 is 259$

 

[Ozpa]

290$ here we come! lmao..

 

[damric]

Looks good.

6850 is $179, and cheaper with rebates (snagged mine for $155).

6870 is $239, and cheaper with rebates.

6950 1 GB is <$300, will it unlock to 6970?

 

[Red_Machine]

No, I highly doubt the 1GB cards will unlock. It was only the initial production run of 2GBs that had that ability.

 

[bear jesus]

below 300$ ??

HD6870 is 259$

That's is what i have been thinking of ever since the 1GB models were announced, with such a small gap between then 6870 and even more so the slightly more expensive ones there is very little room left under the 2GB 6950 for another product unless there is some decent price drops planned for the 68xx cards.

 

[HalfAHertz]

That's is what i have been thinking of ever since the 1GB models were announced, with such a small gap between then 6870 and even more so the slightly more expensive ones there is very little room left under the 2GB 6950 for another product unless there is some decent price drops planned for the 68xx cards.

My magic 8 ball says "all signs point to yes"

 

[Tatty_Two]

No, I highly doubt the 1GB cards will unlock. It was only the initial production run of 2GBs that had that ability.

And apart from that, there will be issues flashing a Bios that is configured for 2GB of memory on a physical 1GB memory card.

 

[nINJAkECIL]

Is this the card which will compete with the Ti card?

(can't help myself lmao when I heard the "Ti")

 

[DanishDevil]

I like how they kept the overall style of the reference card by replacing the red strips with holes for extra cooling.

These cards will not unlock to anything. If you want unlocking, you need to hurry up and find some old stock of 6950 2GB cards. I haven't seen anybody getting a 6950 2GB that won't unlock yet, but AMD has stated that they won't be around for long.

 

[scaminatrix]

Is this the card which will compete with the Ti card?

(can't help myself lmao when I heard the "Ti")

Surely this couldn't compete with the GeForce 4 Ti series

 

[D4S4]

why are the fins behind the fan bent closed? wtf?

 

[Andy77]

These cards will not unlock to anything. If you want unlocking, you need to hurry up and find some old stock of 6950 2GB cards. I haven't seen anybody getting a 6950 2GB that won't unlock yet, but AMD has stated that they won't be around for long.

I wouldn't eat too much into the rumor, or at least that it's completely gone.

I think that's a marketing decision and we will see products that will keep the dual-BIOS feature for a slightly higher price. Also, see the space they left near the bridges?... why would they do that unless they ordered shrouds like that for versatility.

 

[phandrew]

Why did they use the crap cooler just like 6850. They should of stayed with the current design where it vents all the hot air out of the case.

 

[btarunr]

No dual-bios ... ???

Yep, no dual-BIOS.

 

[Loosenut]

And apart from that, there will be issues flashing a Bios that is configured for 2GB of memory on a physical 1GB memory card.

I agree with you there, you may not be able to flash a 2GB bios onto a 1GB card but what about just unlocking the shaders?

I'm pretty sure they didn't send their extra chips back for laser cutting...

 

[Tatty_Two]

I agree with you there, you may not be able to flash a 2GB bios onto a 1GB card but what about just unlocking the shaders?

I'm pretty sure they didn't send their extra chips back for laser cutting...

I am pretty sure Rui who has been recoding the 6950 bioses to unlock the extra shaders for the current versions could do it....... that is providing they are still locked at the software level of course. I am not using the "full" origional 6970 bios rather his modded version that leaves the voltages/clocks and other things alone.

 

[RejZoR]

These coolers are rubbish and they aren't any silent than reference exhaust ones. Had one on Sapphire HD4870 and even though i had to tweak it to get at least a bit silence it was still whining like crazy under slight load.

 

[Loosenut]

I am pretty sure Rui who has been recoding the 6950 bioses to unlock the extra shaders for the current versions could do it....... that is providing they are still locked at the software level of course. I am not using the "full" origional 6970 bios rather his modded version that leaves the voltages/clocks and other things alone.

I agree wholeheartedly. There are too many differences between the cards to warrant a simple bios swap:

Ref. design HIS HD 6950 2GB taken from W1zzard's review:

I don't know what those little thingys do but if they're not on the 6970...

Ref. design HIS HD 6970 2GB taken from W1zzard's review:

 

[damric]

I don't know what those little thingys do but if they're not on the 6970...

Those must be the extra stream processors

 

[TAViX]

There are for the current regulation of voltage, frequency, intensity, amperage, or something. It seems they remove those since they consider they don't need them anymore. They can also be for the RAM regulators. Since it has only 1GB and not 2, the extra regulators are removed....
Personally I think this card will be even more difficult to o.c. than the older one. And no more 6970 bios

 

[bear jesus]

Those are not components that were removed though, they are components that are not on the current 6950 but are on the 6970.

I don't understand why you think the new cards will be harder to overclock, surly using the same core with mainly just less memory should mean there would be little difference in overclocking ability?

 

[Loosenut]

There are for the current regulation of voltage, frequency, intensity, amperage, or something. It seems they remove those since they consider they don't need them anymore. They can also be for the RAM regulators. Since it has only 1GB and not 2, the extra regulators are removed....
Personally I think this card will be even more difficult to o.c. than the older one. And no more 6970 bios

My bad, I should've specified those pics are from W1zzard's reviews of the 6950 and 6970. They are both 2GB cards.

Original post has been edited

Those are not components that were removed though, they are components that are not on the current 6950 but are on the 6970.

I don't understand why you think the new cards will be harder to overclock, surly using the same core with mainly just less memory should mean there would be little difference in overclocking ability?

Little correction, the extra components are on the 6950 but not on the 6970. Look at the PCIe power connectors

 

[bear jesus]

My bad, I should've specified those pics are from W1zzard's reviews of the 6950 and 6970. They are both 2GB cards.

Original post has been edited



Little correction, the extra components are on the 6950 but not on the 6970. Look at the PCIe power connectors

i got a little mixed up, i should have remembered that as i had pointed it out to people who were saying the 2 cards were exactly the same.