PowerColor Devil 13 HD6970 2GB GDDR5

Graphics Engine: Radeon HD6970
Video Memory: 2GB GDDR5
Engine Clock: 880MHz / 960MHz
Memory Clock: 1375MHz (5.5Gbps) / 1425MHz (5.7Gbps)
Memory Interface: 256bit
DirectX Support: 11
Bus Standard: PCIE 2.1
Display Connectors: DL-DVI-I/SL-DVI-D/HDMI/2* mini DisplayPort

An over-clock switch means gamers and power-users can easily increase 10% frequencies to 960MHz core and 1,425MHz memory to boost performance of the GPU.

The Devil 13 HD6970 includes voltage measurement points for gamers to measure and monitor the GPU voltage by multimeter. It is also pimped out with LED lighting signals that show the working status of current GPU.

The Devil 13 HD6970 is equipped with two ultra large 92mm cooling fans. With 4 x 8 ø large pipes, heat is easily dissipated from the copper base which fully covers the GPU.

The Devil 13 HD6970 supports 2nd generation DirectX 11 technology and HD3D technology. It is also compatible with AMD’s Eyefinity technology, maximizing the field of view up to 4 displays.

Pricing and release date to follow.

The 3 monitor output is achieved with the Integrated Device Technology (IDT) chipset that allows the GTX550Ti to output its graphics power across a 3 monitor setup display.

Other features such as an acquired programmable digital PWM which essentially enables power increments to be summoned at will. There is a 6 phase power band for the best OC performance and stability to ensure continuous and uninterrupted delivery of vivid graphics power for you to game. There is also an option of 1-phase to 2-phase PSI for light load highlighting an excellent balancing between OC and power saving ability.

My current display set-up at home is just two 23-inch monitors. It would be great to have 3 monitors in an array to give me bigger screen real estate.

We’re still not sure when this will be available in the Philippines and for how much but would be very interested to grab one once it becomes available.

Announced back in January during CES 2011, Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPU have been available in local stores as early as last week of the same month.

The Core i7 2600k is a 4-core, 8-thread processor with a base clock speed of 3.4GHz (and 8MB Cache) and Turbo Boosts to 3.8GHz. Maximum supported memory is up to 32GB (DDR3-1066/1333 MHz).

The CPU has an embedded graphics (Intel HD Graphics 2000) running at a base frequency of 850MHz.

The rig also includes a 320-bit NVidia GeForce 570 GTX with 1280 MB GDDR5 memory that supports resolution of up to 2560×1600 pixels. This GPU is power-hungry and requires a minimum of 550watts to operate properly.

Our 3DMark benchmarks above shows a 24,524 total score witht he CPU getting a base score of 6,551. The Core i7 2600 retails for about Php14,200 in stores while the 570 GTX costs about Php16,200.

The PowerColor HD6850 single slot edition clocks in at 775MHz core speed and 1000MHz memory speed; accelerating gaming speed with 1.48 teraFLOPs of computing Power. The slim HD6850 can maximize the rig’s performance in a single slot design, allowing a 4 way CrossFireX layout that delivers an out-of-box HD gaming experience like no other.

PowerColor HD6850
Core Speed: 775MHz
memory Speed: 1,000 MHz
Memory: 1GB GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth: 256bit

The PowerColor HD6850 single slot edition also takes advantage of PowerColor’s Platinum Power Kit, utilizing 100% SMT type components: Volterra, Poscap and Proadlizer, enhancing the stability and efficiency for top-tier gaming performance. Furthermore, the latest edition uses the exquisite thermal design, mounting 3 units of 8mm heat pipes with a full cover cooling plate, dissipating heat from its large pure copper base. These features enable a cool entertainment experience when space is at a premium.

Its thermal landscape balances thrifty operation with the need for uncompromising performance as a multimedia anchor, resulting in 21% better power efficiency compared to competing models. The cooling solution also boats silent 0dB operation, with no fans needed. Instead, Bravo220 uses oversized heatsinks and advanced materials to ensure quick heat dissipation and greater longevity, without falling back on power-hungry active cooling.

The integrated EMI shield reduces emissions, thus safeguarding users and PC components from any potential harm. Likewise, sturdy fuse protection guarantees longer-lasting operation for this component even in the face of fluctuating power supplies. This is part of Bravo220’s environmental stance, reflected in the chic green cooler attachment.

The absence of a dedicated fan allows for a more silent operation. As such, Asus liberally added a nicely designed heat sink into the chip.

Here’s a video demo of the Bravo 220:

Asus Bravo 220 Silent/DI/1GD2 specs:
Graphics Engine: GeForce GT220
Video Memory: 1GB DDR2
Engine Clock: 525MHz
Shader Clock: 1360MHz
Memory Clock: 800MHz (400MHz DDR2)
Memory Interface: 128-bit
DVI Max Resolution: 2560X1600 pixels

The video card comes with a light sensor and a remote control out of the box. This allows you to control the Bravo-powered PC using the remote. We’re not sure how much this will retail once it comes out in stores. Will also post some benchmark results when we’re done with it.

I’d say pretty clever editing there.

Specs: Asus 4770 Formula Edition
Process: 40nm
Transistors: 826 million
Engine Clock: 750MHz
Stream Processors: 640
Compute Performance: 960 GFLOPs
Board Power: 80 watts

Memory Type: GDDR5
Memory Clock: 800Mhz
Frame Buffer Size: 512MB
Memory Bus: 128 bit

We featured a similar one earlier (Asus EAH4770) and got the following benchmark results:

3DMarks Score: 9,837
SM2.0 Score: 4,337
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 4,982
CPU Score: 2,091
PCMarks: 3,628
Gaming Suite: 3,850

However, this card showed up a slightly different results using the same PC system for benchmarking:

3DMarks Score: 9,584
SM2.0 Score: 4,287
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 4,800
CPU Score: 2,033
PCMarks: 3,647
Gaming Suite: 3,772

The difference is not that significant though.

The Asus EAH4770 comes with the basic features — an ATI Radeon HD 4770 GPU, 512MB of DDR5 video memory, dual DVI-I/VGA, HDTV-Out, HDMI and supports Microsoft DirectX 10.1.

The GPU stats is as follows:

GPU Code Name:  RV740
GPU Process:  40nm
GPU Transistors: 826 million
Board Power:  80W
GPU Core Clock Speed: 750MHz
Memory Capacity: 512MB GDDR5
Memory Speed: 800MHz (3200MHz GDDR5)
Memory bandwidth: 51.2 GB/s
Stream Processors: 640
Texture units: 32
Raster Operators: 16
GFLOPS: 960

The card itself isn’t as humongous as the other GTX cards out there and has a fairly-sized fan and heatsink that is very silent when operating (that’s one less noise you have to worry for your system).

We did a round of testing and ran some benchmarks for PC Vantage, 3DMarks and SiSoft Sandra to see how it performs. Our basic system includes an AMD Athlon X2 7750 2.7GHz, 2GB Kingston DDR2 800 RAM, MSI K9A2VM-F V2 motherboard running Windows Vista 64-bit.

The Asus EAH4770 got the following scores:

3DMarks Score: 9,837
SM2.0 Score: 4,337
HDR/SM3.0 Score: 4,982
CPU Score: 2,091
PCMarks: 3,628
Gaming Suite: 3,850

The 3D Marks06 score of 9,837 for the EAH4770 is fairly good and comparative to the standard score of an ATI Radeon HD 3850.

The card gives some pretty good performance considering its midrange status and price point. The Asus EAH4770 with 512MB DDR5 could have a suggested retail price in the vicinity of Php5,000 when it becomes available locally.

Model: ENGTX275 / HTDI / 896MD3
Graphics Engine: GeForce GTX275
Bus Standard: PCI Express 2.0
Video Memory: 896MB DDR3
Engine Clock: 633MHz
Shader Clock: 1404MHz
Memory Clock: 2.322GHz (1.161GHz DDR3)
Memory Interface: 448-bit
Max Resolution: 2560 x 1600 pixels

It’s odd though why GPU makers use some arbitrary RAM capacity. This one has 896MB GDDR3 RAM.The card support HDMI output via DVI as well as HDTV via HDTV Out cable. Also includes DVI-to-D-Sub adapter, HDTV-out cable, DVI-to-HDMI adaptor, Power Cable.

Ran the card under SiSoft Sandra benchmarks and got the following results (comparing the GeForce GTX 275 against a GeForce 9800 GX2, a 2x ATI Radeon 3850, a 2x ATI Radeon 4670 and NVidia GeForce 9800 GTX+):

Combined results showed the Asus ENGTX275 ranked 3rd, almost tie at 2nd spot with the 2x ATI Radeon 4670 on Float Shaders Performance. results of the PC Vantage benchmark gave a score of 3785 in the Gaming Suite.

Solid numbers for a GTX card. The Asus ENGTX275 should have a retail price of around Php12k to Php14k.

The card is based on the NVidia GT200 and was first released way back in the third quarter of 2008. Built for serious gamers, the Asus ENGTX280 sports a 512-bit DDR3 RAM for bigger processing bandwidth.

The core specs:

Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
Core Clock Speed: 670MHz
Interface: PCI Express 2.0
Video Memory: 1024 MB GDDR3 512-bit
Max Resolution: 2560×1600 pixels (DVI)
Stream Processors: 240

The card has two dual-link DVI ports and a 7-pin HDTV-out port for connecting into hi-def TVs and playing videos. Unlike most other graphic cards, the ENGTX280′s innards are completely encased in metal with only the cooling fan visible from the outside. That added to the heft of the video card.

Be prepared to have a high-capacity PSU as this unit eats up a considerable amount of juice (~300watts). That’s one of the first mistakes I made when testing out this card. A suggested PSU would be the Corsair 650w or the Gigabyte Odin 800 and Odin 1000. Be prepared to shell out some serious dough for those.

The card was pretty expensive when it first came out (above Php20k) although I think it has gone down considerably (around Php12k – Php15k).