[Review] Sapphire Radeon HD66702 Comments By ArchercloseAuthor: ArcherName: Kevin Marlin Email: kevinsmarlin@embarqmail.com Site:http://www.techreaction.net About:See Authors Posts (18) on December 7, 2011
Sapphire has sent us an interesting sample this time and honestly not much was expected. Considering the competition from both NVidia, as well as many offerings with the same graphics processing unit (GPU) from other vendors, we assumed this would be an average card, considering its single-slot, low-profile cooling. It did not work out that way. Though the AMD HD6670 is considered a minimalist GPU in the standard arena it is a bang for the growing small form factor computer (SFF) segment. So i...
[Review] GELID Icy Vision Rev 2 GPU Cooler5 Comments By GSG-9closeAuthor: GSG-9Name: Levi Tomes Email: gsg-9@mediocrocy.com Site:http://StypticDesign.com About:See Authors Posts (13) on October 12, 2011
Recently, GELID Solutions sent over some of there flagship cooling products. First up, is the Icy Vision Revision 2 GPU cooler.
Some words from GELID themselves:
The “Rev. 2 ICY VISION” cooler contains 5 power heatpipes in a unique heatpipe constellation. The heatpipes are interlaced into 85 optimized high-quality Aluminium fins. Together with a flat stack fin soldered Copper base, they enable the most efficient heat transmission and dissipation from GPU core in its class. Besides the heatsi...
[Review] ASUS HD 6870 DirectCU1 Comment By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on July 19, 2011
Today, we have the ASUS HD 6870 DirectCU, with a custom PCB design, that will be going onto our test bench to see how closely it performs to the marketing hype. The DirectCU line of cards from ASUS are catered to the overclockers out there in the market. The DirectCU has precision mounting, putting the copper heatpipes in direct contact with the GPU for better cooling performance. ASUS has also implemented their SAP, Super Alloy Performance technology, which uses high quality capacitors, MOSFETs...
[Review] Sapphire Radeon HD6770 Vapor-X3 Comments By ArchercloseAuthor: ArcherName: Kevin Marlin Email: kevinsmarlin@embarqmail.com Site:http://www.techreaction.net About:See Authors Posts (18) on July 15, 2011
Sapphire Technology has been around for ten years and has learned how to get things done the right way. Being one of the, if not the, largest supplier of AMD/ATi video cards Sapphire is a leader in design, innovation and application of new processes. Through what many consider a conservative approach to innovation; Sapphire has maintained a strong market share in an ever growing field of competitors. Is this HD6770 is one of the reasons why:
Though the packaged is a rather plain, no frills, box;...
[Review] ASUS HD 6950 2GB – Voltage Tweak3 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on April 4, 2011
ASUS has sent us their version of the Radeon HD 6950 to run through the paces today. The ASUS HD 6950 2GB is factory overclocked right out of the box by 10MHz, which really is not anything to write home about, but it’s there nonetheless. ASUS does include their voltage tweak software to help gain a better overclock, which we aim to attempt as we have in all of our reviews. The ASUS HD 6950 is also fitted with a non-reference, full aluminum cover to help dissipate heat better. The HD 6950 c...
[Review] EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked Edition4 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on March 24, 2011
EVGA has supplied us with their take on the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, the EVGA Superclocked Edition. The EVGA SC edition is the second-lowest-clocked card of their factory overclocked cards. The first is the FPB edition, then the SC, followed by the SSC and the FTW editions. The EVGA GTX 560 Ti comes overclocked by about 75MHz on the core and 50MHz on the memory. Judging from previous overclocking results on past cards, this should still leave plenty of headroom to go higher. We will find out just h...
[Review] Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 – King of the Hill18 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on March 24, 2011
The GeForce GTX 590 is the new flagship for Nvidia that is finally hitting the marketplace after a long awaited release date. Based on the GF110 graphics processor, the GTX 580 was built to be the world’s fastest DirectX 11 GPU. For the elite gamers who are not satisfied with the performance of just one GTX 580, Nvidia created the GTX 590; combining the power of two GF110 GPU’s on a single graphics card to deliver the ultimate gaming experience. Nvidia has also equipped the GTX 590 w...
[Review] ASUS GTX 550 Ti DirectCU TOP3 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on March 18, 2011
Introduction:
With the new release of the GTX 550 Ti upon us, we have the ASUS factory overclocked GTX550 Ti DirectCU TOP for review today. The 550 Ti is not intended to a be top contender in the market, but rather a lower-end card with great upgrading potential via overclocking and SLI. With the ASUS 550 Ti coming with the DirectCU cooling solution, we anticipate seeing some very low temperatures. The ASUS GTX 550 also comes with SAP (Super Alloy Power) design which is said to deliver 15% perf...
[Review] Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti2 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on March 15, 2011
The Sniper is on the prowl again as Nvidia reloads their 400-series lineup. The new GTX 550 Ti option for gamers is aimed at people who want more performance than the GTS 450, while maintaining a price point below the 460 (~$150). Equipped with faster clocks and a wider 192-bit memory interface, the GTX 550 Ti should provide you with about 28% faster performance on average, and 20% more performance/watt. Will the new Sniper lay waste to the older, slower 450 sniper? Continue on…
The GeFo...
[Review] Zotac GTX 560 Ti4 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on March 3, 2011
Today we look at Zotac’s take on the “Hunter” – the GTX 560 Ti. Running at stock speeds (822/1000) this is Zotac’s entry level GTX 560 Ti card. They have three GTX 560 Ti cards on the market, the basic version which we have for review today, as well as the factory overclocked AMP! and OC editions. Using the GF114 silicon, we expect to see a noticeable improvement in power consumption, temperatures and performance. Let’s get down to business and toss the Zotac ...
[Driver Comparison] Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 – 266.58, 263.09, 262.99 Compared10 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on February 7, 2011
Today we are going to take a look at the “top dog” in the marketplace, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 580, along with the three latest drivers, the 266.58 WHQL, 263.09 WHQL, and 262.99 WHQL. Our goal is to see what performance difference and improvements are available in each driver set, if any. We hope that by the end of this we will have provided you with enough information to choose the best driver available. We will be testing the majority of games/programs listed in the 266.58 release n...
Follow Up: Catalyst Drivers On The HD 6970 – 11.1a/11.1/10.12 Compared16 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on January 31, 2011
After our recent review of the ASUS HD 6970 and seeing the lackluster results that we were presented with, we decided to set out and give the 6970 another shot. Was it just another bad driver from AMD that seemed to have crippled the 6970, or was it in fact just the card itself that wasn’t meeting our expectations? So what we have done is take the Catalyst 10.12 driver that we reviewed the card on and put them up against the new 11.1 WHQL and 11.1a Hotfix drivers that were released Janua...
[Review] Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti – GF114 is mean!8 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on January 25, 2011
The hunter has been released, again, but most people will come to know it as the GTX 560 Ti. The Ti on the end may bring back memories to many of the old-school gamers. Around 2002, Nvidia came out with the Ti line. First with the GeForce 3 series and later with the GeForce 4, however, it disappeared shortly thereafter. But now it is back with a vengeance on the GTX 560 line of cards. Of course, this premium line of cards will go for a little more money, but hopefully the performance makes i...
MSI @ CES: P67 Big Bang Marshall and new AMD board?3 Comments By EnJoYcloseAuthor: EnJoYName: Alex Joy Email: alex@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About:See Authors Posts (53) on January 9, 2011
While we attempt to finish up our coverage of CES 2011, we paid a visit to our friends at MSI to discuss some of their new and upcoming products. MSI has been hard of work this past year, investing heavily into the overall quality and features of their motherboards. Check out the gallery below for shots of some of their products. We’ll go into greater details on some of the most interesting products further down.
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[Review] EVGA GeForce GTX 570 SuperClocked4 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on December 29, 2010
EVGA has sent us their first factory overclocked GTX 570 card to hit the market. The SuperClocked edition of the GTX 570 will be followed by two more factory overclocked editions, the SSC and FTW. The latter two have not yet reached the marketplace, so until then, the EVGA GTX 570 SC will have to quench our thirst for a powerful GTX 570 graphics card. The GTX 570 is supposed to bring improvements in power consumption and temperatures using the new GF110 architecture. We will be sure to test ...
[Review] ASUS GeForce GTX 580 Voltage Tweak9 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on November 30, 2010
Earlier this month, NVIDIA released their new powerhouse card, the GeForce GTX 580. ASUS has sent us their GTX 580 to put through our strenuous suite of testing. The reference design used by ASUS was somewhat surprising as they will typically use their own custom PCB. The GTX 580 is supposed to bring improvements in power consumption and temperatures using the new GF110 architecture. We will be sure to test to see just how these improvements add up in the real world. Read on…
Packag...
[Blog] Corsair Graphite Series™ 600T – all internal dual loop9 Comments By miahallencloseAuthor: miahallenName: Jeremiah Allen Email: miahallen.ironmods@gmail.com Site:http://www.ironmods.com About: Well, I was playing with computers ever since my Dad got a Commodore 64 when I was 6 years old (1986), when I was 10 (1990) he bought a custom build 486DX33, and I was in love. Mostly back then I was just a kid playing games, but my fascination with computers had a start. Because I had no money of my own, I was stuck playing with my Dad's computers, and really couldn't "play" too much. So in 1998, the year I graduated, I spent some of my college savings to by a "computer for school", haha. It had two Voodoo2 12MB 3D accelerators in it, so you can imagine how much school work was done on it ;-) It had an AMD K6-233 that I had a really mild OC on, but my custom computer builder friend Aaron had done all the work. So I can't really take the credit there. My fascination with graphics just kept growing and growing over the years, and I was constantly in a struggle to keep my games looking as sharp and smooth as possible. OCing played a big role.
My whole world was rocked in 2004 when I was deployed to Iraq as a US Army soldier. The whole year I was there I had a cheap IBM Thinkpad R40 with a 2GHz Celeron, 1GB DDR-333 RAM, a 60GB 4200RPM HDD, and ATI Radeon Mobility graphics (same technology as a 7000 series with only 16MB of memory). It started out rough as I was really into Command and Conquer Generals at the time, and the machine would only play the C&C slide show LOL. So, I downloaded PowerStrip, and OC'ed the GPU by 40%...amazingly, the game was playable!
Things changed dramatically in 2007 when I met a guy named Matt while I was stationed in Japan. He introduced me to www.ocforums.com, and the "Benchmarking Team" there. I had not had much interest in benchmarking previously, I always though of myself as more practical. But, I thought I'd play along and I joined the team. My first introduction to an actual competition was was is "The Raptor Pit", "Forum Warz 2008" in the spring of 2008. I was running a Q6600 and an 8800GTX. With air cooling I was able to bench my Q6600 at over 4GHz, and tore up the competition in my class. Overall OCF won the Forum War in 2007, Winter and Summer of 2008, and 2009...that means five in a row. I was not part of the first one in 2007, but the four since then, I have participated in. After winning the 2008 Winter and Summer Warz, Tom's Hardware Guide announced they were looking for nominations for individuals to compete in their first ever international overclocking competition, called "Overdrive". I was nominated, and chosen to compete in the North American semi-finals in Los Angeles in November 2008. I was placed on "Team IRONMODS" as they only had two guys, yet three man teams were allowed. We won the semi-finals in LA, and our prize was a trip to Paris the following month, to compete with the best in the world.
The following month, Ton, Jake, and myself flew to Paris as "Team USA" to face off against the best from Taiwan, France, Germany, and Italy. It was a very intense competition, but after two heated days of battle (16 hours of benching), we emerged the victors. Amidst our celebration, Ton and Jake officially invited me to join "Team IRONMODS" on a permanent basis, and I graciously accepted. Ton, aka "TiTON", is a world renown case moder, and is also very well known for some of the AMD overclocking he has done. Jake, aka "CPT.Planet", is a genius overclocker, and a really fun guy. The team has a great synergy when working together, we really have complementary styles.
After winning the world championship in December 2008 things were a bit quite for a couple months, then in the spring of 2009 I received an invitation to the 2nd annual Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship "GOOC". I would compete in the North American semi-final in LA, where the winner would win a ticket to the world championship in Taipei Taiwan during CES in June 2009. The competition was tough with 14 of the best from North America gathering for a 1 on 1 competition of OCing. But once again, I completed the competition well, and rose above the others. I won 1st place and the trip to the world finals in Taipei.
My luck ran dry in Taipei where I started off with a bad motherboard, and went through 5 more during the course of the competition due to various reasons. Despite the poor finish in Taipei, I have high hopes to redeem myself next year.See Authors Posts (24) on November 28, 2010
One of my co-workers is a hardcore gamer and power user. Since we’ve met, he’s become more and more interested in the hardware aspect of computing, and recently asked me to help build him a new system.
He previously had a Phenom II X4 940 based system with 4GB of memory and dual GTX 260 graphics cards. Everything was run at stock speeds as he preferred to spend his time gaming as opposed to tweaking. Although his system was no slouch, as any hardcore gamer knows; “the fas...
MSI GTX 480 Lightning Picture Preview2 Comments By PlanetcloseAuthor: PlanetName: Jake C Email: jake@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About:See Authors Posts (8) on November 17, 2010
Be sure to check back for the full review and extreme overclocking results from the card
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[Review] AMD Radeon HD 68501 Comment By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: Drew Briggs Email: drew@techreaction.net Site:http://www.techreaction.net About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (168) on November 16, 2010
With the massive success of the 5 series launch back in September of last year, AMD is looking to continue their momentum with the brand new 6 series line of graphics cards. The codename “Northern Islands” is the second generation of DirectX 11 architecture from AMD. The refined card boasts more performance per mm², new and improved image quality features, enhanced multimedia acceleration and next-generation display technology with HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2. It should also be p...
Sapphire has sent us an interesting sample this time and honestly not much was expected. Considering the competition from both NVidia, as well as many offerings with the same graphics processing unit (GPU) from other vendors, we assumed this would be an average card, considering its single-slot, low-profile cooling. It did not work out that way. Though the AMD HD6670 is considered a minimalist GPU in the standard arena it is a bang for the growing small form factor computer (SFF) segment. So i... 
Recently, GELID Solutions sent over some of there flagship cooling products. First up, is the Icy Vision Revision 2 GPU cooler.
Some words from GELID themselves:
The “Rev. 2 ICY VISION” cooler contains 5 power heatpipes in a unique heatpipe constellation. The heatpipes are interlaced into 85 optimized high-quality Aluminium fins. Together with a flat stack fin soldered Copper base, they enable the most efficient heat transmission and dissipation from GPU core in its class. Besides the heatsi... 
Today, we have the ASUS HD 6870 DirectCU, with a custom PCB design, that will be going onto our test bench to see how closely it performs to the marketing hype. The DirectCU line of cards from ASUS are catered to the overclockers out there in the market. The DirectCU has precision mounting, putting the copper heatpipes in direct contact with the GPU for better cooling performance. ASUS has also implemented their SAP, Super Alloy Performance technology, which uses high quality capacitors, MOSFETs... 
Sapphire Technology has been around for ten years and has learned how to get things done the right way. Being one of the, if not the, largest supplier of AMD/ATi video cards Sapphire is a leader in design, innovation and application of new processes. Through what many consider a conservative approach to innovation; Sapphire has maintained a strong market share in an ever growing field of competitors. Is this HD6770 is one of the reasons why:
Though the packaged is a rather plain, no frills, box;... 
ASUS has sent us their version of the Radeon HD 6950 to run through the paces today. The ASUS HD 6950 2GB is factory overclocked right out of the box by 10MHz, which really is not anything to write home about, but it’s there nonetheless. ASUS does include their voltage tweak software to help gain a better overclock, which we aim to attempt as we have in all of our reviews. The ASUS HD 6950 is also fitted with a non-reference, full aluminum cover to help dissipate heat better. The HD 6950 c... 
EVGA has supplied us with their take on the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, the EVGA Superclocked Edition. The EVGA SC edition is the second-lowest-clocked card of their factory overclocked cards. The first is the FPB edition, then the SC, followed by the SSC and the FTW editions. The EVGA GTX 560 Ti comes overclocked by about 75MHz on the core and 50MHz on the memory. Judging from previous overclocking results on past cards, this should still leave plenty of headroom to go higher. We will find out just h... 
The GeForce GTX 590 is the new flagship for Nvidia that is finally hitting the marketplace after a long awaited release date. Based on the GF110 graphics processor, the GTX 580 was built to be the world’s fastest DirectX 11 GPU. For the elite gamers who are not satisfied with the performance of just one GTX 580, Nvidia created the GTX 590; combining the power of two GF110 GPU’s on a single graphics card to deliver the ultimate gaming experience. Nvidia has also equipped the GTX 590 w... 
Introduction:
With the new release of the GTX 550 Ti upon us, we have the ASUS factory overclocked GTX550 Ti DirectCU TOP for review today. The 550 Ti is not intended to a be top contender in the market, but rather a lower-end card with great upgrading potential via overclocking and SLI. With the ASUS 550 Ti coming with the DirectCU cooling solution, we anticipate seeing some very low temperatures. The ASUS GTX 550 also comes with SAP (Super Alloy Power) design which is said to deliver 15% perf... 
The Sniper is on the prowl again as Nvidia reloads their 400-series lineup. The new GTX 550 Ti option for gamers is aimed at people who want more performance than the GTS 450, while maintaining a price point below the 460 (~$150). Equipped with faster clocks and a wider 192-bit memory interface, the GTX 550 Ti should provide you with about 28% faster performance on average, and 20% more performance/watt. Will the new Sniper lay waste to the older, slower 450 sniper? Continue on…
The GeFo... 
Today we look at Zotac’s take on the “Hunter” – the GTX 560 Ti. Running at stock speeds (822/1000) this is Zotac’s entry level GTX 560 Ti card. They have three GTX 560 Ti cards on the market, the basic version which we have for review today, as well as the factory overclocked AMP! and OC editions. Using the GF114 silicon, we expect to see a noticeable improvement in power consumption, temperatures and performance. Let’s get down to business and toss the Zotac ... 
Today we are going to take a look at the “top dog” in the marketplace, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 580, along with the three latest drivers, the 266.58 WHQL, 263.09 WHQL, and 262.99 WHQL. Our goal is to see what performance difference and improvements are available in each driver set, if any. We hope that by the end of this we will have provided you with enough information to choose the best driver available. We will be testing the majority of games/programs listed in the 266.58 release n... 
After our recent review of the ASUS HD 6970 and seeing the lackluster results that we were presented with, we decided to set out and give the 6970 another shot. Was it just another bad driver from AMD that seemed to have crippled the 6970, or was it in fact just the card itself that wasn’t meeting our expectations? So what we have done is take the Catalyst 10.12 driver that we reviewed the card on and put them up against the new 11.1 WHQL and 11.1a Hotfix drivers that were released Janua... 
The hunter has been released, again, but most people will come to know it as the GTX 560 Ti. The Ti on the end may bring back memories to many of the old-school gamers. Around 2002, Nvidia came out with the Ti line. First with the GeForce 3 series and later with the GeForce 4, however, it disappeared shortly thereafter. But now it is back with a vengeance on the GTX 560 line of cards. Of course, this premium line of cards will go for a little more money, but hopefully the performance makes i... 
EVGA has sent us their first factory overclocked GTX 570 card to hit the market. The SuperClocked edition of the GTX 570 will be followed by two more factory overclocked editions, the SSC and FTW. The latter two have not yet reached the marketplace, so until then, the EVGA GTX 570 SC will have to quench our thirst for a powerful GTX 570 graphics card. The GTX 570 is supposed to bring improvements in power consumption and temperatures using the new GF110 architecture. We will be sure to test ... 
Earlier this month, NVIDIA released their new powerhouse card, the GeForce GTX 580. ASUS has sent us their GTX 580 to put through our strenuous suite of testing. The reference design used by ASUS was somewhat surprising as they will typically use their own custom PCB. The GTX 580 is supposed to bring improvements in power consumption and temperatures using the new GF110 architecture. We will be sure to test to see just how these improvements add up in the real world. Read on…
Packag... 
One of my co-workers is a hardcore gamer and power user. Since we’ve met, he’s become more and more interested in the hardware aspect of computing, and recently asked me to help build him a new system.
He previously had a Phenom II X4 940 based system with 4GB of memory and dual GTX 260 graphics cards. Everything was run at stock speeds as he preferred to spend his time gaming as opposed to tweaking. Although his system was no slouch, as any hardcore gamer knows; “the fas... 
Be sure to check back for the full review and extreme overclocking results from the card
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float: left;
margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 50%; }
#gallery-2 img {
border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
}
#gallery-2 .gallery-caption {
margin-left: 0;
}
With the massive success of the 5 series launch back in September of last year, AMD is looking to continue their momentum with the brand new 6 series line of graphics cards. The codename “Northern Islands” is the second generation of DirectX 11 architecture from AMD. The refined card boasts more performance per mm², new and improved image quality features, enhanced multimedia acceleration and next-generation display technology with HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2. It should also be p... 
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