£220 inc VAT * sapphiretech.com • tinyurl.com/3nk8wfw
ATI's Radeon HD 6950 is based on the same Cayman architecture as the Radeon HD 6970 (page 65), and the cards are physically identical. The HD 6950 runs at lower clock speeds and uses only 1,408 of the 1,535 available cores. Early versions of the cards could be upgraded to a 6970 by flashing the Bios. Unfortunately, this option has since been disabled by ATI. This Sapphire Flex version has a core clock of 800MHz, and a memory clock of 1,250MHz (5GHz DDR effective). Sapphire hasn't overclocked these specifications, but it has built in support for EyeFinity, letting you add up to three monitors and run games across multiple screens without tweaking - two DVI connections and an HDMI port are used with a supplied adaptor. This is ideal for widescreen gameplay, such as flight simulators - provided that you have the screens to take advantage of it, of course. The Sapphire has 2GB of video memory; cheaper versions are available with 1GB. Its 256bit memory interface sounds insubstantial in the face of nVidia's 320bit offerings, but its high memory freguency enables it to deliver 160Gbps of memory bandwidth. It performed brilliantly in our tests, and slightly outran its closest nVidia rival, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti (page 66), across the board. We recorded 102fps in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at 1280x1024 pixels, and 77fps at 1920x1080 pixels. In Stalker, the Sapphire achieved 65fps at 1920x1080 pixels, representing a 5 percent performance hike over the GTX 560 Ti. And in Crysis, it even snapped at the heels of the more expensive GeForce GTX 570 (page 66), and managed 56fps at 1280x1024 pixels and 37fps at 1920x1080 pixels. The Radeon HD 6950 offers stellar performance at this price, but factory-overclocked versions of the GTX 560 Ti may close the gap somewhat. The £15 more expensive GTX 570 offers stronger performance still, and is a better bet if you can afford it. VERDICT: Sapphire's Radeon HD 6950 Flex is a powerful graphics card that performed well across all our games tests. If widescreen gaming tickles your fancy, its support for EyeFinity may appeal.
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