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Asus HD6970 Direct CU II Review – the ultimate 6970 ?

Today we are using one of KitGuru’s most powerful systems, a Core i7 970 based configuration – liquid cooled to 4.33ghz, with a Corsair AX1200 power supply – all built into a sexy Thermaltake Level 10 chassis.

Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.33ghz
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65 (MS-7522)
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10
Power Supply: Corsair Ax1200
Memory: 6GB GSkill Performance Gaming ram @ 902.9 MHz (2:10) @ 9-9-9-24
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)
Monitors: Hazro Ultra Sharp HZ230Wi, Dell Ultrasharp U2410 Rev A00, Iiyama Prolite E2472HDD x2

Other graphics cards for comparisons:
AMD HD6970
AMD HD6950
AMD HD6870
AMD HD6850
AMD HD5870
AMD HD5850
nVidia GTX570
nVidia GTX460 OC (715/900)

Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
Catalyst 11.1
Forceware 266.58 WHQL
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
TessMark
ShaderToy
HQV 2.0 Software

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Nikon D300S with R1C1 kit
Keithley Integra unit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter

Games:
Resident Evil 5
Colin McRae Dirt 2
Lost Planet 2
Dead Space 2
Far Cry 2
Alien V Predator
Mafia 2
BattleField: Bad Company
Tom Clancy H.A.W.X. 2
F1 2010
Crysis Warhead
Metro 2033
Left4Dead2
Battleforge
Medal Of Honor
Devil May Cry 4

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests all games across five closely matched runs and average out the results to get an accurate median figure.

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9 comments

  1. I am sporting a semi after reading the overclocking page (first thing I skipped too as the default clocks of this are stupid).

    Makes that XFX card look really bad.

  2. Very yummy indeed, but the 3 slot cooler is a little extreme. surely they could have done that in a dual slot design. the heatpipes and heatsink arent that big.

  3. that cooler really is insane looking. very similar to MSI’s frozr, which is also great. I dont understand the low core clock speeds. if t his card can hit 1.1ghz with voltage increase then 1ghz should be easy enough. if they sold it as a 1ghz model I bet they would sell tons more. people dont always know how high a card will OC. now we do !

  4. THey always made good boards, but they can be slow getting them out. all the early adopters miss these cards cause they already have other ones.

  5. Thats a fucking kick ass product. 3 slot cooler is really massive, wouldnt fancy trying to fit three of these in a system for 3 way CFx

  6. id rather have their GTX580, but both are pretty class leading designs whatever way you look at it.

    whats next? sapphire with a four slot cooler?

  7. McCoys Salt n Vinegar

    Asus have probably the best engineers in the world, look at their mars and ares cards for instance. we will all never forget em.

  8. I would be more then happy with a card of such calibre running in any of my desktops and I think this card is going to be truly amazing when it comes to staying cool which as we all know opens up lots of over-clocking possibilities

  9. i have bought one 6970 direct Cu 2 and i fails bad
    here is forum with the real temps
    http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=4151379&posted=1#post4151379