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The reference HD6970 is a great high performance solution from AMD. It makes an ideal partner for a high resolution gaming system. Furthermore we appreciate that it supports tri screen gaming out of the box, without any extra cost. Multiple screen gaming is no longer a privilege of the rich as a decent 24 inch screen can be bought for £150 in the UK. With a HD6970, 5760×1080 gaming is possible, even without an expensive Crossfire configuration.
Unfortunately the XFX HD6970 Black Edition has failed to really excite us. While XFX are offering solid overclocked values ‘out of the box', the card hasn't received any special treatment in regards to a custom cooling solution or PCB design, which KitGuru noted recently on the fantastic PowerColor HD6970 PCS+ card. Not only is the Powercolor product clocked faster out of the box (940mhz), but it runs cooler, consumes less power and emits less noise.
The XFX bundle is good, we like the little extras such as the branded stickers, ‘do not disturb' sign and metal badge. They also pair the products up with a great warranty service and live support on their website if the customer starts to experience any problems. We have tested this support system recently by pretending to own one of their cards and the technical support guy appeared to have a fair grasp of the technology.
In a similar manner to the recent HIS HD6970 Turbo release, we feel that selling a ‘special edition' of AMD's flagship technology should merit a custom cooling solution and PCB design. We are aware that XFX hand pick these overclocked cards from their production batches for ‘Black Edition' status, but Powercolor have recently moved the goalposts with their stunning HD6970 PCS+ solution. Therefore we can recommend this XFX HD6970 Black Edition, especially if the price is right, but XFX had a fantastic opportunity to use an updated version of their excellent dual fan cooler.
Pros:
- Excellent performance, out of the box
- Overclocks great, and is hand picked from the production line to earn ‘Black Edition' status
- Good Bundle
- Great support and warranty options
Cons:
- No custom cooler design
- can get loud under load
- runs quite hot
- no free game
KitGuru says: A great performance tweak on the reference design, but it has failed to truly excite the KitGuru team.
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.
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.
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 ?
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.
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?
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.
A rather disappointing release from XFX really. 95c in furmark is very high.
It is really going to struggle against some of the very cool competiting cards from people like powercolor and asus.
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.