GIGABYTE GV-R695D5-2GD-B Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Pros: 2 of these cards will run anything and laugh at it

Cons: None. Just buy a big case.

Other Thoughts: I live in Korea, and video cards here are over priced. And there's lots of mom and pop computer stores that will build you a computer for 10 bucks, so I decided to buy my video cards and cpu in the US, ship them here, and have the Koreans do the rest.

So I put two of these cards in with an 17 cpu, with 8 gig of the latest ram, with a board that can run 3 cards.

This sounds expensive, but even with customs it was under 2 grand, including a 27 inch 2560 x 1440 monitor (monitors are cheaper here, as contrasted with video cards).

So I just have been trying my comp out with two of these cards, plus a bonus card the Korean guy gave me for free (yep, running 3 cards).

These is an under 2k comp, including monitor, and it runs every game I've thrown at it on 2560x1440 rez at max settings no problem. Power supply is 900w. The Koreans gave me a solid deal on the case and the motherboard.

These cards are golden as far as I'm concerned, and with a good system are quite cool.

Pros: Runs anything I can throw at it, at least one 720p. Haven't played any games on 1080p yet. Can be flashed up to a 6970 with a simple bios update. Uses a backup bios swtch to recover if you mess up.

Cons: HUGE!~ 290mm and BARELY fits in my lancool k-62

Other Thoughts: Ran Furmark for 24 hours, gets to 90 C, at 24 C room temp

Pros: * Best light effects I've ever seen
* AA actually works at maximum frame rates (and settings, in many cases,) without stuttering
* Does a nice job on BlueRay, and DVD's have never looked better on my HDMI-connected 1080p television
* Multiplicity of simultaneously supported outlets finally let me game on one screen while boyfriend watches movie on connected TV

Cons: * Size, size, size... This card is gargantuan. At 290 mm. long, I had to purchase a new case to accomodate it
* Power draw, but them's the apples for such a capable slab of iron
* PhysX is an nVidia property, so you'd better have a CPU with some marbles if you want things to fall pretty in-game

Other Thoughts: This card is, of course, a compromise. I'm not a power gamer, and am even really quite new to computer games in general. Portal was my, excuse the pun, gateway drug. I'm now branching out to other older games such as the Half-Life franchise, and also Metro 2033, Fall-Out: New Vegas, etcetera. This card, while being a power-sucking beast, handles all with aplomb at HD resolutions, and is considerate enough not to get too hot. I threw it into a year-old rig, and the computer now dances around its' previous self. I picked the card carefully for the best balance of future performance, scaling capabilities, power draw, and usage-case. I'm extremely happy with this accomodation!

Pros: After 2 months flashed to the 6970 and OC'd. This card still runs cool and still love it! Still runs quiet with fan below 50% and keeps temps down.

Cons: Yes its a big card but fits very nicely in my thermaltake black widow case.

Pros: Card runs cool even when O.C.'d! Run any game with vid settings maxed but the best thing is that you can flash this from a 6950 to a 6970!!!

Cons: Card is huge but fit nicely into an antec 600

Pros: I got mine for $245 after MIR and instant rebate, wonderful card! I was nervous about flashing it to a 6970, but I carefully monitored the stock temps and saved the existing bios. Flashed to a 6970 like a charm, huge improvement over my Vapor-X 4890. Flew through Crysis 2 @ 1920x1080 Max settings. If I ever needed to upgrade in the next few years I'd just crossfire this bad boy and stomp the new cards. I'd expect future drivers to further improve it's performance. Save the money and flash this!

Cons: Well, it's big but what did you expect. It fit in my mid-tower with an inch to spare. DO NOT overclock it if you flash unless you are willing to risk the money, especially the ram. It can handle the flash with a well ventilated case with no temp. issues or artifacts at all.

Pros: Quiet, FAST, unlockable to the next step up card HD 6970 (saves you money), FAST, can support up to 4 monitors which would be nice to do in the future, FAST.
2GB memory to help with Eyefinity setup.
Any game thrown at it is eatin' up without lag or errors!!!

Cons: Not so much a con but...it is a huge card. HUGE HUGE HUGE. It didn't come with any cables like other cards except the power adapter cables if you have a dinosaur power supply.

Other Thoughts: This card seems to have a common defect that is corrected though a video card bios update/flash. I noticed during gameplay in BC2 there would be these green and purple circles that would flash on the screen. I didn't think much of it since I was up late and tired so I thought maybe it was my eyes. Nope. Next day go online and searched for similar claims and there they were. IF you get this card you WILL need to update or better yet just unlock to the stable HD6970 unless you'd prefer seeing these "UFOs" I call them.

Pros: The card was easily installed and replaced my aging 8800gt which could play crysis 2 but not with all settings maxed out. I recently built this system with an i7 processor and the 8800gt was the oldest component I had. The 6950 is amazing allowing me to play all of the newest games at max settings with no frame rate issues. Worth every penny and glad I made the choice.

Cons: The card is very long. At least an inch longer than my 8800gt in a mid size case from cooler master. Physx drivers have to be loaded to play some games but thats an nvidia/amd issue not anything specific to this card. Besides that none. Product exceeded all my expectations

Pros: Shiny package... felt like it was quality.

Cons: DOA, put it in my computer along with a new SSD and some new ram. As soon as I tried to turn on aero or run even firefox the graphics driver would stop responding, resulting in screen freezes and occasionally causing my entire computer to seize.

Other Thoughts: Tried it on 3 fresh installs, new motherboard, different ram... as soon as I put my old 4850x2 2gb back in everything was peachy. I've long been a fan of Gigabyte, they've made my past 3 motherboards, any time I build for family/friends they get a gigabyte board, even my old 8800gt was a gigabyte... This is the first failure I've had. I understand it happens occasionally to everyone, but it's really a disappointment on my spotless record with the company. Not going to downrate it farther with no 1 or 2 egg reviews yet on this product, just know that it's not out of the realm of possibility to get a dud. Will update when I receive my RMA replacement from newegg.

Pros: Running nicely at 875/1380 w/1536 shaders with CCC. No voltage modding. Runs Crysis 2 extreme settings @1680x1050 for 2+ hours testing. Fan at 50% (much quieter than my HD 4870). Newegg did a great job as always. Ordered it, and it was here the next day.

Cons: None as of yet...