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The AMD HD6970 is a fantastic card and one that we have raved about since it was released. The newest high end AMD product combines killer gaming performance with a modest asking price of around £280 inc vat in the United Kingdom. It may seem like a lot of cash, but it's worth remembering that the last end high AMD product (HD5870) sold for over £350 inc vat when it was released.
This HIS HD6970 Turbo Edition is slightly disappointing as it is basically a reference card with a modified bios and clock speed improvements. There is no custom cooling solution or PCB design and with a minor core clock increase of only 20mhz, it doesn't really translate into anything very noticeable under real world conditions.
We were extremely impressed with the highly modified PowerColor HD6970 PCS+ which offered a custom PCB, in house designed cooler and a substantial clock increase. We don't think this rather bland Turbo Edition card from HIS will capture the hearts and minds of the high end enthusiast audience. Cooling performance is no better than the reference edition and it emits just as much noise when pushed hard.
We know that Sapphire and XFX hand pick their overclocked cards from specific high performing batches, but we aren't sure if HIS have the same procedure. Having had access to only one sample means it is hard to comment on the overclockability of the card, but we did manage to push this particular one to 990mhz which is extremely impressive. It could very well be that we got lucky, but still it is an indication of potential headroom.
Our recommendation to buy this card is based around the price you can get it for. HIS told us that it will cost around £20 more than the reference board, therefore in the region of £300 inc vat. We aren't sure at this price that it is a fantastic value for money proposition, especially as all the work has been put into the bios.
KitGuru says: A very good card, but HIS haven't really put much effort into this ‘Turbo Edition'. If it offered a custom, enhanced cooler and cost a little extra, it would be a much stronger proposition.
Well this is rather disappointing, especially after that sexy powercolor card you reviewed last week. I hadnt forgotten about it !
£20 for a 20mhz core increase and a bit of an OC on the memory? I can do that myself with CCC and spend that £20 on some drinks :p
Good cards, but I agree, this isn’t really hitting the spot for me, seems a bit cheeky really as its a complete reference design.
This is a nice card, all 6970s are nice ! powercolor card has me spoiled, that was awesome.
Fair score, I was thinking it might be a 7, but the hardware is that good that would be unfair. any higher than 8 is overly generous, as the powercolor one tested here last week is miles ahead and deserves the gold award.
Man, bad time for HIS to release this, after the powercolor PCS+, MSI HAWK, Sapphire Flex and the Asus GTX580 direct CU ! what awesome boards in the last week.
Yeah, dont really think this is such a good deal. id rather get a reference card for £20 less, and oc it myself.
I just bought a 6970 myself, picked it up for £260 and have overclocked it to 960mhz, faster than this HIS, and £40 less 🙂
yeah, im feeling smug, so what :p
Good review, thanks for the testing. ill give this one a miss and get their reference model, as our local store is selling it for £270 inc vat.
I dont mind HIS, good products with some of their range. This one however is a miss for me, because I dont think companies should get away with selling bios adjusted cards for £20 more. there is no extra work, and a ‘turbo’ sticker doesnt cost anything extra.
every HD6970 ever made hits 920mhz, so there is no hand selection going on here Zardon, that was a rather optimistic closing comment from you.
Waste of money, I can modified bioses myself and I dont have to pay £20 for the priveledge.
Good card, but its nothing out of the ordinary. Not sure they will sell many of these when there are alternatives offering better specifications and coolers etc.
very disappointing for a HIS release. Sad that they couldn’t put IceQ X on it. 6870 with IceQ is my dream card for now:)