Reference HD 7950 pictured
Ryan Martin / 13 years ago
Unlike previous speculation suggested it would now appear the Radeon HD 7950 will not use the same design as the HD 7970 graphics card currently on the market. The HD 7950 is reported to use both a different cooler and a totally different PCB layout. This is quite disappointing for many fans who were hoping for a “HD 6950-6970 BIOS conversion” on the new series of cards as the new PCB will probably not allow such a conversion. The cooler is also quite different using a rather basic small 80mm fan to cool a simple aluminium heatsink arrangement as the new 28nm technology emits very little heat in comparison to older cards.
Although some may be disappointed by the aesthetics, PCB and cooler design remember most cards that are released normally take the form of a non-reference design. This will also particularly be the case if the HD 7950 reference design is poorly recieved. For those of you who remember what the reference HD 7770 looked like you will be able to see the obvious similarities.
Source: OBR-Hardware