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XFX HD6970 Black Edition Review

Metro 2033 is an action-oriented video game with a combination of survival horror and first-person shooter elements. The game is based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. It was developed by 4A Games in Ukraine and released in March 2010 for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

The game utilizes multi-platform 4A Engine, running on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows. There is some contention regarding whether the engine is based on the pre-release X-Ray engine (as claimed by Sergiy Grygorovych, the founder of GSC Game World, as well as users who have seen the 4A Engine SDK screenshots, citing visual similarities, shared resources, and technical evaluation of the pre-release 4A Engine demo conducted at the request of GSC Game World), or whether the engine is an original development (as claimed by 4A Games and Oles’ Shiskovtsov in particular) who claims it would have been impractical to retrofit the X-ray engine with console support). The PC version includes exclusive features such as DirectX 11 support and has been described as “a love letter to PC gamers” because of the developers’ choice “to make the PC version [especially] phenomenal”.

Metro 2033 is a very intensive engine which can bring a lot of hardware to a grinding halt. The XFX overclocked card helps improve the minimum frame rate from 21 fps to 23 fps during our test environment. We would still probably need to drop the settings a little more to get the engine running perfectly smooth.

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9 comments

  1. Great results. runs a bit hot in furmark, but it tends to push hardware to limits no game will. shame they didnt opt for a dual slot cooler like they used on their 6800 series.

  2. We all know how good the HD6970 is, but why would they not do the full monty on this. If powercolor can do it, surely XFX can.

  3. those temps are too high. if I see 90c with any card I panic. I liked their dual cooler system on their other cards, really helped drop the temps. Can they update this card later with a new cooler ?

  4. When I saw the card on page 2 I was stunned. its a reference cooler with an XFX sticker! I dont mind this on release day, but months later? what a letdown.

  5. Its worth paying extra for their warranty, as my card failed and they replaced it without a problem last year. I wouldnt pay for a reference AMD card without a new cooler as my mates 6970 runs higher than this after he flashed his bios.

    How much extra is it? £20?

  6. That is no Black Edition Card. The only thing slightly above average were the memory speeds. Come on XFX! You can do better than that!

    It’s ironic isn’t it; XFX One of AMD’s leading partners got out classed By Powercolor. Seems Powercolor Grew some man junk overnight and XFX decided profit was more important than a good product.

  7. A rather disappointing release from XFX really. 95c in furmark is very high.

  8. It is really going to struggle against some of the very cool competiting cards from people like powercolor and asus.

  9. I love the HD6970, but this card isn;t offering anything the reference design isnt. its easy to overclock to these speeds with all 6970s. so why pay for it.