Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition – Fastest Card To-date!

Sapphire recently launched its Radeon HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition that features the highest clock speeds and cutting edge technology. The Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition is believed to be the fastest single GPU graphics card based on the latest HD 7970 GHz Edition GPU. It’s also the first for a consumer graphics card to have a 6GB frame buffer, and is suitable for demanding applications like photo and video editing and rendering and muti-screen gaming.

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Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 TOXIC Edition Specifications

Dimensions: 275mm(L)x115mm(W)x52mm(H), 2.5 x slot
GPU: 1050 MHz Core Clock, 28 nm Chip, 2048 x Stream Processors
Memory: 6144 MB Size, 384 -bit GDDR5, 6000 MHz Effective
Output Ports: 1 x HDMI, 2 x Mini-DisplayPort, 1 x Single-Link DVI-D, Dual-Link DVI-I
Software: Driver CD
Accessories:

  • CrossFire™ Bridge Interconnect Cable
  • DVI to VGA Adapter
  • Mini-DP to DP Cable
  • 8-PIN to 4 PIN x2 Power Cable
  • HDMI 1.4a high speed 1.8 meter cable(Full Retail SKU only)
  • Mini Display Port to SL-DVI Active dongle

Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition Features

In a gist, below is a list of features that can be found in this graphics card:

  • GHz Edition
  • AMD Eyefinity 2.0
  • AMD CrossFireX™ Multi-GPU Technology
  • AMD HD3D Technology
  • 28 nm GCN (Graphic Core Next) Architecture
  • PCI Express 3.0
  • 1x HDMI Port
  • 2x Mini-DisplayPort
  • Single-Link DVI-D
  • Dual-Link DVI-I
  • Advanced GDDR5 Memory Technology
  • Dual-X
  • Lethal Boost Button
  • Lethal Power Suite
  • PCB Temperature LED
  • OpenGL 4.2
  • Best Microsoft DirectX11 Support
  • AMD Catalyst Control Center
  • Windows Vista support
  • AMD PowerTune Technology
  • TriXX Utility
  • Microsoft Office 2010
  • Windows 7 support
  • AMD App Acceleration
  • AMD PowerPlay with ZeroCore Power Technology

The Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Editions is clocked at 1050MHz by default and can go up to 1100MHz and a 6000MHz memory clock with the help of PowerTune Dynamic Boosts. The core clock is further boost to 1200MHz and 6400MHz of memory clock by using Sapphire’s Lethal Boost button, all you have to do is push that button to unleash its power.

Another cool feature found in the Radeon HD 7970 TOXIC 6GB is the Lethal Power Suite. This contains premium design features such as a new 8 phase power design for the GPU VDDC, with an additional one phase each for VDDCI and MVDD. The design uses a brand new double sided Black Diamond Choke for the first time, as well as DirectFET technology and all on a 12 layer PCB to ensure the board runs fast and stable. (The double sided Black Diamond Choke design reduces the temperature around the power design portion by 40 degree Celsius in lab test when compared to the reference PCB design.)

The Sapphire HD 7970 6GB Toxic Edition is cooled by Sapphire’s very own Vapor-X technology. You can see the signage of Vapor-X at the back the graphics card. But the Vapor-X in the HD 7970 Toxic Edition features a new vapor chamber custom-designed for this model only. Four heat pipes carry the heat and is being dispersed by two 90mm fan. The two 90mm fans features aerofoil blades and dust repelling bearings. It also has an onboard LED indicator (PCB Temperature LED) so that users can easily monitor the graphics card’s temperature.

The Sapphire HD 7970 6GB Toxic Edition supports all latest demands of multi-screen applications multi-threaded Application Acceleration with stream processing, fast HDMI support for high resolution and stereoscopic 3D displays and all the Direct Compute features incorporated in the latest operating systems. But unlike other graphics card, this one can handle multi-screen setup with the highest possible settings.

Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition Pros and Cons

Even though the card is not yet sold online (as of today), popular tech sites were already given samples to play with. Most of them arrived at the same conclusion, that indeed this graphics card is the fastest single-GPU todate. Below are their common pros and cons.

Pros:

  • Fast clock speeds out of the box
  • Unmatched performance
  • Fastest single-GPU to-date
  • Great cooling performance
  • Able to achieve highest frequencies amogst the HD 7970 GPU
  • Able to accommodate three monitors with bundled adapter
  • Great overclocking capabilities
  • Great custom design
  • Lethal Boost is a plus factor
  • Can easily be overclock with push of a button

Cons:

  • This card is expected to be expensive
  • Can become noisy at a certain point
  • Tends to be high power consuming
  • The 6GB frame buffer is useless if you are using 1 or 2 monitors

Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition Price and Availability

As of today, Sapphire did not disclose as to how much would this graphics card be, but I’m pretty sure this card will be expensive (around $680 perhaps) considering its features, specifications and performance. The Sapphire HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition will be available starting July 2012.

Photo credits: KitGuru

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