Introduction

The 2011 Grammy Awards recently aired and we, the viewers, were witness to the “paint-by-numbers” shock theatrics on display by the latest artists. It makes you wonder why society seems to give so much stock to these things which just appear creative on the surface rather than actual musicianship just because it is new.  In much the same way, this phenomenon can also be observed in the world of computer hardware.  Popular hardware brands can often get away with using promotional sound bites and buzzwords to describe how their product is different from the rest but when you look closely, you realize that the new product they are offering isn’t really much of an improvement over the previous, and often significantly more economical, product. This is something called “The New Malibu Stacy Hat” phenomenon, as pointed out in The Simpsons television show 17 years ago.

Some video card manufacturers, for instance, would slap custom game graphics on the shroud, bump the clock speed a mere 10MHz and sell it for $20 more as a First-Person-Shooter du jour edition.  It’s even more tragic when you realize the game included on the box art isn’t bundled at all.  Fortunately, for those who are more discerning hardware buyers, PowerColor thinks differently and offers up their latest PCS+ video card.

The PowerColor HD6970 PCS+ comes with its core and memory clocks cranked up to 940 and 1425MHz respectively. The PowerColor HD6970 PCS+ uses a custom 4-pipe heatsink and dual-fan solution, not only to keep temperatures in check but also lowers the fan noise during gameplay.  The PowerColor HD6970 PCS+ also comes with a key code for Modern Warfare 2, so users can test their newly purchased hardware immediately after opening. The PowerColor HD6970 PCS+ has 2GB of GDDR5 memory, a dual-link and a single-link DVI port, HDMI 1.4 and two mini-display ports that can run AMD’s Eyefinity Technology for a truly immersive gaming experience.