Club3D Radeon HD 6950 Battlefield 3 Edition Graphics Card Review

This is the first time that we’ve looked at Club3D on the AMD side of things, as we’ve only ever taken a look at the GTX 560Ti from Club3D, which even then was awarded our Innovation Award so we held high hopes for the Radeon HD 6950 that we were sent.

Though this is a stock card, they have certainly spiced things up a little bit with the dual fan design, which still maintains a low power output from the card, and keeps the temperatures low, and as we said with regards to the high load temperature, this was tested under extreme conditions through FurMark, which currently no game on the market can mimic in terms of stressing the GPU. Under normal conditions, the card will fall well under our expected limits, and that’s a great accomplishment in our eyes.

With the dual fan cooler, it also makes the card very desireable in terms of looks and overall styling and due to the all black colour scheme on red PCB, it should match up with most systems nicely, especially if you have an Asus Republic of Gamers based motherboard, which uses the same red and black theme. The heatpipes that protrude from the top of the card also give a good quality feel and show that this card means business in every way, and the performance certainly backed that up.

Performance wise, we saw the 6950 keeping up with its bigger brother, which is also more expensive too. The 6950 from Club3D showed some really promising results across all of our tests including games and gaming orientated benchmarks. Comparing it to similiar priced cards, like the GTX 560TI, we saw the 6950 speeding past in a blaze of glory as it achieved higher scores and frame-rates across pretty much all of the benchmark tests that we performed. This goes to show that AMD really have a great GPU core on their hands, and Club3D have managed to harness it to produce something spectacular.

Sadly in the UK, Club3D products are massively stocked and widespread, and due to that, availability really comes down to price, and at over £200, it sadly doesn’t offer the best deal on the market, but we could say the same about our 6970 which we know retails for around £100 more in comparison. One part of the value that gets added to this card is the included Battlefield 3 and Dirt 3 coupons, which together are worth around £60 alone, so taking that into consideration doesn’t make the price seem like such a bad thing any more.

Overall, we like every aspect of the card and what it offers, included great performance at all resolutions, including those rocking an Eyefinity setup. The only downside really is the price, but it’s still a perfect bundle for the avid gamer who enjoys playing some of the best selling games in the market, and because of that, this card will hold it’s place in our trophy cabinet, but with the 7000 series Radeon graphics card on the horizon, will we see Club3D following on the success of this card with the 7950? Only time will tell, and remember, we’ll have it here first, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.