Hardware Canucks » Video Cards

Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB OC Review

skymtl — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:16:56 +0000

The HD 7970 is currently one of the most popular cards around and Gigabyte has once again done their part to design a custom card that improves upon the reference design in nearly every way possible. While their OC edition may not sport ultra high clock speeds, it more than makes up for this shortcoming by incorporating the WindForce 3X heatsink which allows for significantly cooler temperatures and near silent operation.

XFX HD 7970 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Review

skymtl — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:25:24 +0000

The HD 7970 3GB is currently the highest performing graphics card on the market and AMD’s board partners have been quick to take advantage of its willingness to overclock. XFX’s Black Edition Double Dissipation not only incorporates higher core and memory frequencies along with a lifetime warranty but also uses a custom heatsink for a quiet -hopefully cooler- gaming experience.

AMD Radeon HD 7950 Review; Tahiti Pro Arrives

skymtl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:02:13 +0000

With the HD 7970 sitting firmly at the forefront of today’s GPU market, it was only a matter of time until its performance trickled down into lower end products as well. Today marks the launch of AMD’s HD 7950, a $449 card that’s supposed to go head to head against NVIDIA’s GTX 580.

XFX HD 7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation Review

skymtl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:01:30 +0000

XFX has always been at the forefront of enthusiasts’ mindsets and their newest HD 7950 looks to take things to the next level. In order to create this card, they took a custom designed PCB, installed a highly overclocked core and then topped everything off with a high performance heatsink. The result is one of the best HD 7950 cards available on launch day.

Sapphire HD 7950 Dual Fan OC Review

skymtl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:01:07 +0000

The HD 7950 Dual Fan OC carries on Sapphire’s longstanding tradition of offering great value in an appealing package. This card seems to have everything; a great heatsink, relatively high clock speeds and a reasonable price but there is plenty of competition out there as well.

Galaxy GTX 560 Ti Super OC White Edition Review

skymtl — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:19:47 +0000

“Black editions” are all the rage these days but Galaxy is bucking that trend with their unique White Edition. Not only does this GTX 560 Ti boast a unique white PCB and chromed heatsink shroud combination but it also sports some of the highest clock speeds we’ve seen on the GF114 core.

Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB Dual Fan Review

skymtl — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:20:19 +0000

The HD 7970 may be the graphics card everyone is talking about but it only just became available in somewhat limited quantities and pricing is far beyond the reach of most consumers. But while the Southern Islands-based cards will take over AMD’s flagship range, lower end cards still provide great performance at a fraction of the cost. That’s where Sapphire’s HD 6970 Dual fan enters the equation.

AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Review

skymtl — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:59:13 +0000

4.3 billion transistors, a 28nm manufacturing process, 2048 cores, a 384-bit memory bus and 3GB of GDDR5 memory; the new AMD HD 7970 has it all. Based off of the new Southern Islands architecture it represents a leap forward for AMD’s core engineering and is designed from the ground up for DX11 a compute performance. While its specifications page may read like a gamer’s wishlist, the HD 7970 has some big expectations to live up to and some heavy competition to beat.

MSI Radeon HD 6950 1GB Twin Frozr III Power Edition OC Review

skymtl — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 04:16:36 +0000

The most recent graphics card in MSI’s quickly expanding stable doesn’t aim for the headlines but continues a longstanding tradition of offering excellent performance at a reasonable cost. Their HD 6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC (yes, it’s a mouthful) only goes for around $260 but should be able to play almost any game on the market at its highest detail settings and mid to high resolutions.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Review

skymtl — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:58:37 +0000

With the Christmas shopping season about to go into full swing and next generation architectures still a ways off, NVIDIA has released a new GTX 560 Ti with 448 cores to fill in a few gaps in their lineup. Based off of a cut down GF110 core, this card is supposed to bridge the chasm between the GTX 560 Ti and GTX 570 while completing directly against AMD’s HD 6950.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Roundup (EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI)

skymtl — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:56:55 +0000

With the NVIDIA launching their new GTX 560 Ti with 448 cores sans reference design, it was expected that their board partners would be competing amongst themselves for your hard earned dollars. The end result is interesting to say the least. In this roundup we take a look at boards from EVGA, Gigabyte and MSI to see if any come to the forefront and stand out from the rest.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 Super Overclock Review

skymtl — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:13:39 +0000

The GTX 570 may have been introduced over nearly a year ago (yes, it has been that long) but it is still one of the best graphics cards around when it comes to price / performance ratio. Gigabyte has taken it upon themselves to take this card to the next level by integrating it into their Super Overclock series. The resulting GTX 570 Super Overclock boasts high clock speeds and a $50 price premium over the reference version but its performance could go toe to toe against the GTX 580.

EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win Dual GPU Review

skymtl — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:58:33 +0000

Dual GPU cards are rarities these days since the amount of time, effort and engineering capital that needs to be dedicated is substantial. While most board partners usually avoid designing these high end niche products, EVGA has jumped into the pool head first with their new GTX 560 Ti 2Win. Packing a pair of GF114 cores and 2GB of memory, this new card should have what it takes to effectively bridge the gap between NVIDIA’s GTX 580 and GTX 590.

The Effect of GPU Memory on Surround & Stereo 3D Performance

skymtl — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:34:55 +0000

While many modern games don’t allow high end graphics cards to really stretch their legs, multi monitor configurations and stereoscopic 3D tend to push even bleeding edge GPUs to their breaking point. Many have argued that a higher amount of memory bandwidth could unlock additional performance in these situations and we’re about to put this claim to the test. In this article, we take a look at GTX 580 and GTX 570 cards with custom memory configurations to see if they can provide higher framerates in some of the most demanding setups available.

ASUS RoG GTX 580 Matrix Platinum Review

skymtl — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:43:04 +0000

The Matrix lineup has contained some of the best graphics cards around and now ASUS is introducing yet another product to this expanding repertoire: the GTX 580 Matrix Platinum Edition. This is a card which many enthusiasts have been eagerly waiting for since it incorporates a high end design with some truly unique features. But with the competition already flexing their muscle in this market, is the Matrix enough to really make a difference?

HIS HD 6970 IceQ Turbo & HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo X Review

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:04:33 +0000

With the wait time between the present and upcoming graphics card generations becoming longer and longer, pre-overclocked graphics cards are seen by many board partners as a way to keep the buying public interested in their products. HIS has recently introduced a pair of unique AMD cards: the HD 6970 IceQ Turbo and HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo X. These are two of the fastest single GPU Radeon GPUs currently available and they’re looking to go head to head with some tough competition.

PowerColor HD 6850 1GB SCS3 Passive Review

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 03:31:53 +0000

Passive cards are hard to come by these days and finding one that can provide decent in-game framerates is next to impossible. PowerColor is looking to change this with the newest addition to their Silent Cooling System 3 family: a HD 6850. Sporting the Barts GPU core, an impressive looking heatsink and 1GB of GDDR5 this new card looks able to succeed where others have failed.

EVGA GeForce GTX 580 3GB Review

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 03:45:57 +0000

In the last few months it has seemed like custom GTX 580 cards are being launched at a nearly breakneck space. Amid the hoopla surrounding some high profile launches from MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS, EVGA silently introduced their own “upgraded” GTX 580 which sports 3GB of GDDR5. While it shuns higher clock speeds and upgraded cooling, EVGA backs it up with their legendary Lifetime Warranty. But will this be enough?

MSI GTX 580 Lightning Xtreme Edition (XE) 3GB Review

Mon, 30 May 2011 11:57:38 +0000

With the MSI GTX Lightning freshly launched, many were surprised to hear that a brand new Lightning -dubbed the Xtreme Edition- would soon be launching. Everyone’s been waiting for a 3GB GTX 580 so we couldn’t wait to get our hands on this new 3GB behemoth and put it through its paces.

Gigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock Review

Wed, 25 May 2011 02:25:20 +0000

With the GTX 580 cards maturing in the marketplace, board partners have begun to release pre-overclocked versions of NVIDIA’s current single GPU flagship. A short time ago we looked at MSI’s Lightning and came away impressed. Today, Gigabyte’s GTX 580 Super Overclock steps up to the plate and it too looks very, very impressive.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 1GB Review (ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte)

admin — Tue, 17 May 2011 13:04:50 +0000

With the GTX 460 gradually making its way into the $175 market and the HD 6870 hitting the $199 price point, NVIDIA needed a card that retailed for less than the GTX 560 Ti but offered much improved performance over GF104-based cards. To accomplish this, they took the GF114 core found in the GTX 560 Ti and did a bit of cutting. The result is the 336 core GTX 560 1GB…without the “Ti” moniker and boasting a price of just $199.

MSI GeForce GTX 580 Lightning Review

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 04:36:16 +0000

MSI’s Lightning series of graphics cards has quickly become known as one of the most highest respected product ranges available and they are now ready to carry this branding over to the fastest single GPU card on the planet: the GTX 580. Naturally, expectations are high but will this new GTX 580 Lightning deliver the goods in such a competitive market?

HD 6870 Roundup: Diamond, PowerColor, MSI, Sapphire & XFX

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 03:14:54 +0000

With high end and lower tiered cards being released to complete AMD’s full 6000-series lineup, many forget that the most popular market segment lies within the $175 and $225 price brackets. Here, cards like the GTX 560 Ti and HD 6950 1GB reign supreme but the HD 6870 with its long list of pre overclocked and custom cooled models still offers some great value. In this roundup we take a look at five different HD 6870 cards from some of AMD’s premier board partners.

AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB & HD 6570 512MB Review

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 04:00:04 +0000

Another week, another graphics card launch. This time AMD is hitting the entry level with a pair of new products: the HD 6670 and HD 6570. Both of these are supposed to offer budget conscious buyers some new choices over the previous generation while adding features like UVD3 into the mix. Hopefully, they’ll allow lower priced GPUs to hit higher performance levels as well.

AMD Radeon HD 6790 1GB Review

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:59:18 +0000

The $150 price point is a busy place these days with no less than five products from AMD and NVIDIA placed within $20 of it. Today we have yet another entry into this market with the Radeon HD 6790 1GB, a card that’s based on a cut down Barts core. Hoping to pick up where the GTX 550 Ti left off, AMD has some high expectations for the HD 6790 but there’s plenty of competition they have to overcome first.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 3GB Review

admin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:41:39 +0000

After more than a year of rumors, false leads and stiff competition, NVIDIA is finally releasing their near-mythical dual Fermi graphics card. Called the GTX 590, it incorporates two 512-core GPUs and 3GB of GDDR5 memory in an effort to topple AMD’s HD 6990 from its preeminent market position. Contrary to what many were led believe, this ultra high end card is neither loud nor hot running and it has several other surprises in store as well.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti Roundup: ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte & MSI

admin — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:57:22 +0000

With NVIDIA’s GTX 550 Ti hitting the market, board partners are set to launch a long list of custom cards; some of which will retail for prices that don’t go above the reference card’s $150 MSRP. In this roundup we take a look at four such cards from ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte and MSI.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Review

admin — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:56:44 +0000

AMD’s HD 5770 has long been the only real option for people looking to spend around $150 for a graphics card but now finally NVIDIA is trying to muscle into this price bracket. In order to do this, they are launching a new graphics card called the GTX 550 Ti 1GB which incorporates a revised GF106 core (now dubbed the GF116) alongside some forward thinking memory controller technology. But will this be enough to unseat the HD 5770?

AMD Radeon HD 6990 4GB Review; Antilles Arrives

admin — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 04:54:50 +0000

AMD’s second generation DX11 lineup is finally starting to take full shape and the latest card is one which many have been eagerly anticipating. Code named Antilles and officially called the HD 6990, it incorporates a pair of Cayman XT cores into a single PCB design which sports 4GB of GDDR5 and a sky high price of $699. This is obviously an enthusiast-oriented product but can it deliver in some of the most demanding situations?

Sparkle ONE GTS 450 1GB OC Single Slot Review

admin — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:25:35 +0000

As the GTS 450 series has matured, board partners have come out with some unique products. Sparkle has headlined their lineup with a single slot and overclocked card that hopes to strike a cord with HTPC users who are looking for more performance than integrated solutions can offer.