The Card

PowerColor has covered the whole front of their card with a large heatsink that even extends to the back of the card.


Installing the card requires three slots in your system. Note how the heatsink extends beyond the back of the card. I had to install the card on the second PCI-Express slot due to clearance issues with the CPU cooler. This had the card run in PCIe 3.0 x8 because the second slot does not support x16. The performance impact is negligible, though.


Display connectivity options include one DVI port, one HDMI port, and one DisplayPort. You may use all outputs at the same time, so triple-monitor surround gaming is possible with one card if you can fit all the connectors in without spacing issues (many HDMI / DP adapters are wider than the plug itself).

The GPU also includes an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 1.4a compatible, which includes HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies support.


A single CrossFire connector is available, which would allow you to combine up to two cards in a multi-GPU configuration. Note how the heatsink appears to block CrossFire, but a bit of wiggling will make the CF bridge fit.


Pictured above are the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (front, back). If you choose to use these images for voltmods, etc., please include a link back to this site, or let us post your article.