The front of the box
GIGABYTE have opted for the minimalistic approach with their packaging, shying away from bright and vibrant artistic flair accustomed to so many manufacturers these days. The box provides a clean façade with a robotic eye being the central attraction. The general theme of the packaging isn’t obvious but users will no doubt care more about what’s inside than outside. Nonetheless, Gigabyte make use of the front face to list key features of AMD’s HD6970 such as DirectX 11 support, HD capabilities and compatibility with the latest DisplayPort and HDMI standards. The model of the card is boldly printed across the bottom as well as the on-board 2GB framebuffer is also illustrated.
The back of the box
Onto the back of the box, some of the key features of the graphics card are illustrated, namely DirectX 11 support which bring new technologies such as Direct Compute, Multi-threading, Tessellation and HDR texture compression, and Eyefinity display technology, supporting up to 4 displays. The main features are also listed in 8 other languages. The actual specifications of the HD6970 have been omitted from the packaging.
AMD features
The features are clearly illustrated on the front to inform users what they can expect. Gigabyte highlight AMD’s foray into a more diversified user experience when it comes to display technology. Not only does AMD’s new generation of cards support up to 4 displays in Eyefinity, but they now have added 3D functionality. As standard with AMD’s line up, the HD6970 also provides 7.1 surround sound.
Inside the box
Upon opening the box, we are met with a simple white cardboard box holding the graphics card in a foam enclosure and the rest of the bundle in various compartments. The graphics card itself is well secured and comes wrapped in an anti-static bag. Next to the card is a holed lid containing all the necessary accessories and beneath the foam enclosure are the driver CD and documents.
The bundle
The bundle includes:
- 1 x Dual Molex to 8 Pin power adapter
- 1 x Dual Molex to 6 Pin power adapter
- 1 Crossfire Bridge
- 1 x Multi-lingual quick-installation guide
- 1 x French user guide
- Driver disc
The bundle is fairly mundane and despite 2 mini DisplayPort connectors on the card, no adapters have been provided to ensure compatibility with regular DisplayPort cables. Another omitted accessory is a DVI to VGA adapter. Given that most high end monitors have DVI ports, it’s not a significant oversight. This is akin to the ASUS bundle.
The graphics card
The GIGABYTE HD6970 follows the same AMD reference design found on the ASUS HD6970 and the HIS HD6950. Unlike ASUS, Gigabyte have opted for an attractive gun metal decal with some sort of engine design that incorporates the fan as part of the theme. The shroud uses the same “ribbed” design on the side and a standard blower style cooler. The card spans 27.4cm in length.
