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Today we are using an overclocked Core i7 970 system which is running at 4.33ghz. We compare against some lower specified AMD boards to judge how an ‘upgrade’ could improve your gaming experience. We are testing the Powercolor HD6970 Devil 13 in ‘turbo' mode, at 960mhz core. We would make an educated guess and assume that the audience interested in this card will be paying extra for the enhanced speed setting.
If you currently own a lower cost AMD 6000 series graphics card, how much benefit are you likely to see from an upgrade to the Devil 13? Today we find out.
Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.33ghz
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Memory: 6GB ADATA @ 2133mhz 9-10-9-32
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)
Monitors: Sharp Aquos 50 inch LCD 1080p.
Comparison Cards:
HD6950
HD6870
HD6790
HD6770
HD6670
Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Catalyst 10.11
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Nikon D3X 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:
HomeFront
Alien V Predator
Dead Island
Tom Clancy HAWX 2
Resident Evil 5
Lost Planet 2
Far Cry 2
F1 2011
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.
Some game descriptions are edited from Wikipedia.
I wish more companies did collectors editions, they are much more interesting to read. I agree however on the screwdriver set. its fab, but i have all the tools in a drawer already.
seriously, stop reviewing powercolor hardware, they are basically impossible to buy here. I know from the oCUk forums that they stopped doing them cause of warranty issues, they wouldnt honour uk people.
thanks for review, not for this card but for the link on ebuyer for the 250 quid 6970. tyhats my son sorted for christmas.
I think its a thing of beauty, people will pay for it. well if they can find it, I couldnt. anywhere.
Its a great idea, just massively overpriced for what you get. My biggest problem with Powercolor is that I read a huge thread on OCUK last year when they stopped stocking them saying that they weren’t authorising RMAs or something.