ASUS Radeon 6970 DirectCU II review

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Final words and conclusion

 

Final words and conclusion

The EAH6970 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5 (yes, that's the SKU name to look for in the stores) is an incredible piece of machinery to look at and work with. The baseline performance is similar to the reference product though, the extras of course need to be sought in overclocking. Armed with ASUS SmartDoctor software you increase the GPU voltage to roughly 1.2V and from there on you can easily take the card over 1 GHz on the core. We ended at 1050 MHz, but there actually was a little more leash left. 1070~1080 might even be a possibility for some cards. Memory wise we could not complain either, 6000 MHz surely doesn't suck now does it?

ASUS took the GPU and started building an infrastructure of the very best components around it on a PCB. Then they added that DirectCU II cooler, which really works out well for this product if you look at temperatures and noise levels.

We do have to say this though, the R6970 remains what it is, it's a really fun product but sure, does lack here and there in performance compared to the GTX 580 for example, Most of it is due to the updated micro architecture of the GPU. Anyway, overclock it a little more and you can squeeze another +10% performance out of a product that already offers real nice performance. Of course, being all reference you could try and voltage tweak the product as well, then topping 1 GHz should be very possible.

Connectivity wise we ran into an actual issue, our 30" Dell screen is an older model and needs dual-link DVI to get to 2560x1600, While ASUS advertises that the DVI ports on the EAH6970 DCII are dual-link, we got single-link from both of them, trimming down our monitor resolution options. We had to swap out the monitor for a newer model with a DisplayPort connector, after which things worked fine.

Update - there is a switch on the card that can select single link & dual link. All due to there is only 6 deck slots in the AMD GPU , ASUS needs to do this to make sure people able to use dual link after the switch, so:

  • Factory switch  : single link x2 + 4 DP
  • After switch : 3DP + single link + dual link

Connectivity wise the four DP connectors and the two DVI connectors are nearly a little silly, in a good way of course. It could even allow for a 6-panel Eyefinity setup, though you'd need to pursue the CrossfireX alternative real fast for performance there.

Yea... the EAH6970 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5 is a lovely card in every way, the noise levels are downright silent, power consumption is very decent and your gaming experience will run up-to 1920x1200 extremely well and all that with the very best image quality settings. Pretty much any game to date will have no issue whatsoever. The one boggle will obviously remain its size, one card that eats away three PCI slots is just too much. Remember at all times though, the card is 11.7" x 5". Some are bothered, others do not care -- of course.

guru3d-gaming_essential_150.jpgThe one thing that keeps bothering me though is simple... why does ASUS not factory clock a card with so much potential and leeway a little higher? I mean, the competition (MSI Lightning) is at least 50 MHz higher. We noticed the same thing with the GTX 580 DirectCU II.

Thickness and the shy factory OC aside, the EAH6970 DCII is an absolutely exquisite product. Its one of these products that would be an absolute shame not to overclock though, so you need to be a bit of a performance enthusiast alright. Anyway, definitely recommended, good stuff.

More info on this card here.

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