Sapphire HD 6950 1 GB GDDR5 PCIE
Sapphire’s dual-fan Radeon HD 6950 1 GB presents us with somewhat of a problem simply in its description. First of all, Sapphire designates the dual-fan design by placing a PCIe label at the end of the name, even though both it and the single-fan design use the same type of expansion slot. Second, the 1 GB version of its DiRT3 Edition graphics card doesn’t carry the DiRT3 Edition moniker of its 2 GB sibling.
The dual-fan card gives up the pair of Mini DisplayPort connectors from its single-fan sibling and replaces them with a single, full-sized connector. Based on a 9.1” PCB, this the only shortened design in today’s round-up limited to a single DisplayPort monitor.
Even more unique among Radeon HD 6950 graphics cards is the single CrossFire bridge connector. This is the only graphics card in today’s review that lacks the second bridge connector required for triple-card CrossFire.
Sapphire doesn’t overclock its dual-fan Radeon HD 6950 1 GB, though the card does support overclocking utilities. The dual-fan cooler will certainly assist tuners looking to get the highest performance from its GPU.
Sapphire goes further in confusing us by changing its packaging and model number. The older model we received (11188-09-40G) was never been sold in the U.S. and is listed as discontinued by several European sellers. Meanwhile, the newer version 100312-1GDP that is available in the U.S. lacks the bonus HDMI cable. Only the older version is shown on Sapphire’s site, though.
Buy either model, though, and you get the same card, the same two-year warranty, and the same DiRT3 game certificate.