The HD 7970 may be the graphics card everyone is talking about but it only just became available in somewhat limited quantities and pricing is far beyond the reach of most consumers. But while the Southern Islands-based cards will take over AMD’s flagship range, lower end cards still provide great performance at a fraction of the cost. The HD 6970 is a prime example of this since it is based off of a mature architecture, can achieve playable in nearly every game and retails for less than $360 in most cases. In order to add some interest to the HD 6970 market, Sapphire recently introduced their new Dual Fan version which is supposed to replace the reference SKU in their lineup. This card doesn’t retail for a penny over $350 but incorporates one of the best heatsink we’ve seen (wait ‘till you see the numbers this thing posts), an expanded VRM section and dual BIOSes. Unfortunately, clock speeds remain at stock speeds but with those kinds of capabilities, overclocking is certainly an option.