PowerColor HD 6950 PCS++ 2 GB

[W1zzard]

PowerColor is bringing an exciting new HD 6950 to the market. Their HD 6950 PCS++ includes a feature to unlock additional shaders, resulting in the same shader count as the HD 6970 - a nice performance increase, for free. Since the feature is enabled by the flick of a button even novices will be able to use it.

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[Ev1LrYu]

Nice, PC decided to save us the effort of flashing :cheers:

 

[bear jesus]

This has got to be the best 6950 to buy if you intend to flash to a 6970 although i was surprised to see the cooler is designed to use four heat pipes yet only has three.

One question though, is the VRM heatsink actual copper or aluminum colored to look like copper?

 

[Ev1LrYu]

if its anything like my 5870PCS+ then its actual copper

 

[bear jesus]

if its anything like my 5870PCS+ then its actual copper

That would be good, one thing i really hate is when company's try and make aluminum look like copper.

 

[danc]

Bios Signature dump?

The bios switch of Powercolor has they made it that switching do not need to reinstall Catalyst?

Default Cayman boards need to reinstall catalyst to detect changed bios.

 

[cdawall]

this card confuses me who wouldn't just leave it as a 6970?

 

[danc]

I found TPU voltage readings strange. In reviews of default 6950 gpu voltage is 1.1v (fair), in PCS++ Performance is 1.23v(high!!!) and in default 6970 is 1.05v (huh? so low?).

Think so any people?

 

[bear jesus]

this card confuses me who wouldn't just leave it as a 6970?

I would hope no one i just see this as powercolor cashing in on the 6950 unlocking by making a card designed to be unlocked out of the box.

Many people are scared of bios flashing so this is perfect for them or lazy people like myself, i would so prefer to flick a switch before installing over flashing the bios.

 

[Over_Lord]

Umm, dont compare the memory OC to HD5770.

The HD5770 have 5Gbps memory chips. These AFAIK(HD6900) have 5.5 or 6Gbps chips.

 

[Loosenut]

Great review W1zzard, thank you.

If I had the funds, this would be my next card for sure. I have two 5870 PCS+ in crossfire and I've never had any issues. Powercolor rocks!

 

[wolf]

I think its neat that they include the shader unlocked bios right there for convenience, tested to work and all.

memory clock is freakin AWESOME too.

 

[W1zzard]

Umm, dont compare the memory OC to HD5770.

The HD5770 have 5Gbps memory chips. These AFAIK(HD6900) have 5.5 or 6Gbps chips.

pictures are in the review

I found TPU voltage readings strange. In reviews of default 6950 gpu voltage is 1.1v (fair), in PCS++ Performance is 1.23v(high!!!) and in default 6970 is 1.05v (huh? so low?).

Think so any people?

measured with the same multimeter, the same method, at the same spot on all three

 

[Vargtass]

Great review again, thx W1zzard!

Could you please show us the vcore readout point(s) on this pcb?

 

[bbmarley]

Great review!!!

i am happy to see world of warcraft back in your reviews

 

[WhiteLotus]

Would one think they would "fix" the idle fan noise?

33db at both load and idle seems insane.

 

[Melvis]

Good to see the heat down with these coolers. Looks like a good card at higher res.

 

[Mr.Blade]

Thank you for this review.

Would one think they would "fix" the idle fan noise?

33db at both load and idle seems insane.

That would be really good to know.

 

[damric]

Nice review as always. Good job by PowerColor on capitalizing on unlocks, and being first to do so, as far as I have heard so far. I'm sure we will see other manufacturers follow suit, as we see so many motherboards advertising core unlock these days.

They should rename the card the PCS++ W1zzard, as they surely read your unlock guide ^^

 

[Alex_BeNDeR]

Voltage Tuning by what? Softmod or hardmod? No one program can make it. Or I didn't find the right one. I want to know method, program, used in this review.