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AMD Radeon HD 6950 Review Roundup - ASUS, MSI, PowerColor

Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

2011-04-14 07:30:00.0


techPowerUp, TechREACTION, and X-bit Labs have reviewed a few Radeon HD 6950 1GB and 2GB graphics cards from AMD, ASUS, MSI, and PowerColor.

Let's see what they had to say:

  • techPowerUp: AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB Review:

    "It looks like AMD has listened to the countless requests for a cheaper HD 6950 card. With just 1 GB of memory, instead of 2 GB, the card retails for around $40 less than its big brother. Even though memory size might suggest otherwise, we have seen absolutely no evidence of reduced performance. In no game, not even in Metro 2033 or Crysis, and no, not even at 2560x1600. This means that 1 GB of video memory is still a viable choice for a high-end gaming card today."


    Click here to read the full review.


  • techPowerUp: MSI HD 6950 Twin Frozr III 2GB Review:

    MSI's Radeon HD 6950 Twin Frozr III is a well designed version of a custom HD 6950 design. The company's new Twin Frozr III cooling solution does a good job at keeping the card cool, even though the card seems a bit more noisy than expected. This looks to be more of a BIOS fan settings optimization issue than a shortcoming of the cooler itself. Temperatures are quite low, which shows that there is some headroom left to quieten down the fan some more.

    In terms of performance, the HD 6950 Twin Frozr III did well thanks to its generous overclock out of the box. With 850 MHz it is one of the highest clocked HD 6950s which shows as a 5% performance improvement over the reference design."


    Click here to read the full review.


  • TechREACTION: ASUS Radeon HD 6950 2GB Voltage Tweak Review:

    "Overall the ASUS HD 6950 2GB performed about where it was made to be. Some tests were a little low while some exceeded expectations. With the voltage tweak options ASUS provides, it will allow users to easily push their cards further if they decide that they need the performance increase. The full aluminum cover seemed to do an OK job, keeping the HD 6950 in the middle of the pack temperature-wise. Of course, depending on what you can handle noise-wise, you can play with the fan profiles and customize them through SmartDoctor to your liking for better cooling."


    Click here to read the full review.


  • X-bit Labs: PowerColor Radeon HD 6950 1GB Review:

    "Talking about PowerColor’s version of Radeon HD 6950 1GB that we used in our tests, we can say that it’s really worth its price. Although it cannot boast high overclockability or rich accessories, it delivers high performance in today’s games and has acceptable thermal and noise characteristics. In other words, the PowerColor HD6950 1GB is a regular graphics card without extraordinary features, yet also without obvious downsides. It can be recommended to every gamer who's shopping in the sub-$300 category."


    Click here to read the full review.

Although its power consumption numbers are a little higher than desired, the Radeon HD 6950 remains a truly excellent mainstream graphics card.

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