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MSI's Cyclonicly powerful HD6850

Subject: Graphics Cards | June 28, 2011 - 05:41 PM |
Tagged: msi, cyclone, factory overclocked, hd6850

While here at PC Perspective we have been busy with Hawks and Lightning, OCIA went for a Cyclone.  The particular whirlwind in this case being the MSI R6850 Cyclone PE/OC, which as the name implies sports a custom cooling solution and a factory overclock.  The custom cooler really makes this card stand out, instead of the full shroud we are used to seeing there is a 90mm PWM-controlled 9-blade fan with the card its self being fully exposed.  The overclock, 85 MHz on the GPU taking it to 860MHz and the memory bumped 100MHz to 1.1GHz, 4.4GHz effective, which OCIA made even more impressive by overvolting the card with MSI's Afterburner software.  To MSI's credit, the card is priced similarly to other HD6850s unlike many other factory overclocked cards which carry a premium price tag.  If you have less than $200 to spend on a GPU, this card might be for you.

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"Discrete computer graphics are one of the toughest markets to keep current with. New graphics cores are released on a pretty frequent basis from both ATI and NVIDIA and with naming schemes that change nearly as often, it can be difficult to determine where each card stands in relation to others in the same price range. Today we will be taking a look at the MSI R6850 PE / OC graphics card, a mid-range GPU that was launched at the end of last year. Codenamed Barts, this GPU is built on a 40nm process with support for DirectX 11 & Open GL 4.0. Other notable features include HDMI 1.4a & DisplayPort 1.2 support as well as AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology and CrossfireX support."

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Source: OverClock Intelligence Agency

Powercolor's take on the ultimate HD6970

Subject: Graphics Cards | June 24, 2011 - 12:50 PM |
Tagged: powercolor, amd, HD6970, factory overclocked

Head over to [H]ard|OCP to meet the PowerColor PCS+ Radeon HD 6970 with a 60MHz bump on the CPU to 940MHz and memory of 1425MHz which is a 50MHz bump, along with an improved cooler.  They also added some extras to the back of the card, a dual-link DVI-I port, a single-link DVI-I port, one HDMI port, and two mini-DisplayPort jacks which will make setting up EyeFinity a breeze.  The boosted speed helped in overcoming the GTX 570  in almost every single benchmark, pity that the same can be said of the price as it costs more than NVIDIA's card and doesn't surpass it in performance enough to justify the increased cost.

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"PowerColor's highest-end Radeon HD 6970 is on our test bench today. The PCS+ Radeon HD 6970 has a respectable out-of-the-box overclock, a custom cooler, and a free game, but does it offer value for its price premium?"

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Source: [H]ard|OCP

Big, blue and overclocked, the HIS HD6870 IceQ X Turbo X

Subject: Graphics Cards | June 3, 2011 - 01:25 PM |
Tagged: factory overclocked, his, hd6870

The HIS HD6870 IceQ X Turbo X is a card you will recognize in a lineup as not many manufactures have been making their GPU shroud out of translucent blue plastic.  Benchmark Reviews reports that the "IceQ X cooler, which performs better than it looks", should not discourage you from picking up this card.  HIS placed extra temperature sensors on the card to help enthusiasts push the already overclocked card even further, which is very possible as long as you change the fan profiles which are not aggressive enough on default settings.

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"HIS first introduced its IceQ coolers in 2003 to its Radeon 9800PRO series of video cards, eight years later HIS return with the IceQ X cooler, which thankfully performs much better than it looks. In this review the IceQ X cooler is strapped onto a HIS HD6870 Turbo X video card which comes factory overclocked at 975MHz GPU and 1150MHz Memory. Pushing clocks this far on a factory overclocked video card takes some guts, but HIS know that they have nothing to worry about, their IceQ cooler is up to the job. Benchmark Reviews aims to provide you with an unbiased review of the HIS HD6870 IceQ X Turbo X and report back our findings, keeping you informed on the latest technologies available on the market today."

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Source: Benchmark Reviews

MSI's Lightning Strikes Again, this time it is a factory overclocked HD6970

Subject: Graphics Cards | May 16, 2011 - 03:40 PM |
Tagged: HD6970, MSI lightning, factory overclocked, msi

MSI's new R6970 Lightning will set you back about $80 more than a stock card which gets you an 80MHz GPU overclock, though the GDDR5 remains at the stock speed of 5.5GHz effective.  Don't turn your nose up right away, the clocks are similar but the PCB is completely redone and all components follow MSI's Military Class II specs which give you a vastly improved platform to crank up the voltage and frequency, helped by the custom cooling solution.  [H]ard|OCP broke 1GHz on the GPU and an additional 280MHz effective on the RAM which noticeably improved their experience.  This is definitely one worth checking out.

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"MSI's Latest Lightning series, the R6970 Lightning is here, based on an AMD Radeon HD 6970 with 2GB of GDDR5. It is only moderately overclocked out of the box, but its hardware quality may just knock the ball out of the park. Come with us as we test it against the stock Radeon HD 6970 and the GeForce GTX 570."

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Source: [H]ard|OCP

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