Sapphire HD6950 2GB DiRT3 Edition

The crew at Overclockers Club got down and dirty today with the Sapphire HD6950 2GB DiRT3 Edition video card. Get it? They got "down and dirty" with the "Dirt 3" edition HD 6950? I know, I know, that was bad...just go read the review.

I was able to get my card to overclock pretty well, seeing a 12.5% increase on the GPU Core and 12% on the memory — 900MHz and 1400MHz, respectively. While the GPU Core clock speed was about just below the average, it is still a nice bump; however, the memory was the third highest clock in the running. The only complaint that I do have is that the card is quite long, but this is becoming more of a norm in the market with high-end graphics cards to accommodate the cooling that they require.

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Good to see a favorable review, I have on of these in the mail right now.
I am worried about it fitting in my case though - it's gonna be a close fit, I might need to break out the dremel for this one!

I also have one on the way. Can't wait. Those temps. look good! I might have to remove a drive cage, tho. Paid $250 for HD 6970 stock perf. with overclock and free DiRT3...nice.

Benchmarks on BF BC2 are terrible :S wth... a 560 Ti is better ??
I kinda skimped since im at work... is this correct ?

Brownstone said:

Benchmarks on BF BC2 are terrible :S wth... a 560 Ti is better ??
I kinda skimped since im at work... is this correct ?

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There are conflicting benchmarks on the 6950. There is no doubt it shines best @ 2560 X 1600.

Here's techpowerup on the HD 6950:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6950/8.html

These numbers are a bit better. I guess it's all how the numbers are fudged. Also, the 6950 scores much better in other games like Warhead, F1 2010, Batman AA.

Here are Neoseekers benchmarks for Metro 2033 where the 6950 rocks:

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/sapphire_hd_6950_dirt3/11.html

And here are Overclocker's Club Metro 2033, where the 6950 isn't that good..(.with Physx on, it's probably unfair to AMD):

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_hd6950/6.htm

And then there's [H]ard's 6950 review, including BFBC2.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/12/14/amd_radeon_hd_6970_6950_video_card_review/9

"In all of our tests, the new Radeon HD 6950 either matched or beat the GeForce GTX 570"

Oooh...nice to be back with AMD-ATi! (ATi forever). Man, it's so true.. AMD 2D is so much better than nVidia.

Just got my 6950 DiRT Edition...it's a lovely card. Quiet as a church mouse...great temps. Using 11.6b...

Some benchies compared with my GTX 460 1 GB:

Warhead 1920 x 1080 DX10 64-bit Frost Gamer 4XAA:

GTX 460 OC'd to 800/2000 38 FPS avg.

HD 6950 stock: 55 FPS avg.

HD 6950 OC 900/1325 59 FPS avg.

Vantage:

460 = 16705

HD 6950 = 20034

A very nice improvement. Very pleased so far! Can't wait to break it in.