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

btarunr · Jan 21, 2011

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.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

erixx · Jan 21, 2011

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

btarunr · Jan 21, 2011

Who uses a Mac anyway.

Rebelstar · Jan 21, 2011

Only for me design reminds nvidia cards?

_JP_ · Jan 21, 2011

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.

Swamp Monster · Jan 21, 2011

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.

Steve-007UK · Jan 21, 2011

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

[H]@RD5TUFF · Jan 21, 2011

Why ?

Also it's saphire . . .:shadedshu

Imsochobo · Jan 21, 2011

[H]@RD5TUFF said:
Why ?

Also it's saphire . . .:shadedshu

Sapphire have to lowest RMA rate, meaning best quality..

Steve-007UK · Jan 21, 2011

[H]@RD5TUFF said:
Why ?

Also it's saphire . . .:shadedshu

Because i like it thats why.

thiskar · Jan 22, 2011

utterly gorgeous looking card, love that chrome stripe down the side!

wahdangun · Jan 22, 2011

wow, its look really beautiful, i love this simple design

Wile E · Jan 22, 2011

btarunr said:
Who uses a Mac anyway.

I do.

pantherx12 · Jan 22, 2011

I prefered the bios switch in the reference cards.

Small and in a sensible place.

shiny_red_cobra · Jan 22, 2011

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.

[H]@RD5TUFF · Jan 22, 2011

Imsochobo said:
Sapphire 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 E said:
I do.

Wow my that sucks. :wtf:

Swamp Monster · Jan 22, 2011

[H]@RD5TUFF said:
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.

That is what I could find:
http://www.techpowerup.com/88515/Study_Modern_Graphics_Card_Failure_Rates.html

AsRock · Jan 22, 2011

Swamp Monster said:
That is what I could find:
http://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.

[H]@RD5TUFF · Jan 22, 2011

Swamp Monster said:
That is what I could find:
http://www.techpowerup.com/88515/Study_Modern_Graphics_Card_Failure_Rates.html

AsRock said:
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.

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!

Swamp Monster · Jan 22, 2011

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.

Frick · Jan 22, 2011

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.

Swamp Monster · Jan 22, 2011

Frick said:
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.

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.

Wile E · Jan 23, 2011

[H]@RD5TUFF said:
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.

Wow my that sucks.

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.

kid41212003 · Jan 23, 2011

Wile E said:
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.

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?

Wile E · Jan 23, 2011

kid41212003 said:
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?

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.

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

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erixx

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