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The Sapphire HD6950 FleX Edition arrives in a very nicely designed box, featuring an almost obligatory 3D rendered ‘chick with a tude' on the front.
A comprehensive bundle is included. A user manual, driver disk, Sapphire Select Club invitation, a 6 foot HDMI cable, Crossfire bridge connector, DisplayPort to HDMI dongle, HDMI to DVI dongle, DVI to DSUB adapter and a pair of 4 pin molex to 6 pin PCIe adapters.
The Sapphire HD6950 FleX Edition is no reference board, as it comes supplied with a VaporX Edition cooler. The large (92mm) fan is centrally positioned to ensure good air flow across all the underlying components. It is a very attractively styled card and one which will appeal to gamers who aren't willing to opt for a reference cooled design. The blue PCB looks great.
Just like the reference card, the HD6950 FleX Edition requires dual 6 pin PCI E power connectors to operate properly. It is also CrossfireX capable, in 2, 3 or 4 way configurations. There is also a dual BIOS switch behind the rear bridge connection which allows for quick recovery or bios flashing if so desired. AMD recommend a minimum of a 500 watt power supply for this specific design.
The connectivity is strong, with dual link DVI, single link DVI, HDMI and a pair of DisplayPort connectors offered. To allow for a third DVI connection, Sapphire have included a HDMI to DVI dongle so that three DVI monitors can be used for an EyeFinity SLS display. This means you don't have to spend a fortune on DisplayPort capable monitors for tri screen gaming.
Underneath we see the VaporX cooler which should significantly outperform the reference AMD cooling solution on this particular card. The FleX Edition is using a high quality Chil CHL8266 Voltage controller. The reference card uses a Volterra VT1556 controller.
A basic overview of the hardware as highlighted in GPUz. The card is running at 800mhz core with the 2GB of memory running at 1250mhz (5GBps effective) across a 256bit memory interface.
I saw this on amazon last week but its vanished. they stopped stocking it or something?
Been hearing good things about that trixx tool with the sapphire cards, that is a damn fine OC. wonder if it would cause a longevity issue however.
No stock of this in the UK, it shows a fair price premium in states over an ordinary board.
Good card, but ive very litle chance of getting 3 screens. Still looks to be one of the better HD6950s on the market, regardless of the FLEX aspect.
Big fan of Sapphire, I had a 5 series card fail on me and I had a replacement within 14 days. it would be either these cards or XFX for me.
Reckon Sapphire might make an nvidia board someday ? 🙂
Their coolers are always great, but there is quiet a premium sometimes for Sapphire products. Powercolor are usually cheaper and just as good IMO.
Powercolor as good as Sapphire? hardly. wait until one of them fails. unless you are in the states or far east you can kiss any warranty you might like. I know a buddy who had a card fail and he chased a replacement for 4 months then gave up.