Introduction

The HD 7970 had a bit of a weird launch that was split into two dates, the first one was just days before Christmas Day which I have already expressed my fondness about in our reference card review, that date was all about the reference card unlike today which is not only about cards from AMDs partners, but also the day we'll see them start to hit store shelves.

What's really cool is that today we're not just looking at a reference designed card from one of the AMD partners, instead we're looking at a card that not only carries an out of the box overclock, but also carries with it a new cooling solution.

The Black Edition naming in the new XFX HD 7970 Black Edition Double Dissipation isn't anything new to us, the new Double Dissipation tag is, though, and that refers to the cooling solution they're using today.

Before we have a look what's going on with the card and the cooler we need to check out the package, an area that XFX tend to be pretty strong in. Once we've done that we'll take a closer look at the card before we check out the specifications and see what kind of overclock is on offer from the Black Edition naming scheme. Once we've done that it's time to get into the testbed and then the fun stuff; the benchmarking. First things first, though, let's check out what's going on with the box and bundle.

The Package

Checking out the box we've got a pretty funky design going on with a different setup to what we've seen from XFX in the past. We can see that they highlight the new Double Dissipation cooler which we'll look closer at on the next page. As for the rest of the box we can see the back expands on some of the main features that the new HD 7970 offers.

Moving inside the box we've got a heap of paperwork going on showing off some of the other products XFX offer, some information on your warranty, a quick install guide, a really cool sign to hang off your door knob and the typical driver CD.

Along with all the paperwork we've got a HDMI to DVI cable, CrossFire bridge and a cool little XFX Black Edition case badge that will no doubt look awesome on your case letting you display your graphics card loudly and proudly.