Computex 2010 Coverage

PowerColor

PowerColor's slogan is "Unleash the Gaming Power." One look at the company's products at Computex and you understand why - PowerColor unveiled many firsts that are sure to whet the appetite of gamers everywhere. Marketing Manager Gene Chi provided a personal tour of the new offerings.

I'll start off with a product I mentioned way back on page nine - The PowerColor HD 5770 Sniper. The HD 5770 Sniper is the world's first single card solution to combine a GPU and NPU, coupling the HD 5770 with Bigfoot Network's Killer 2100 NPU. With Bigfoot Networks, we got a peek at a prototype, but now we get to see what the retail version looks like.

PowerColor didn't think being the first manufacturer to combine a GPU and NPU together on a single card was good enough, so the company also unveiled the world's first graphics card containing the onboard Hydra Engine. The HD 5770 Evolution features Lucid's Hydra Engine, allowing the combination of any GPU alongside it, even those from the NVIDIA camp. In addition, no extra connector is necessary.

PowerColor was also showing off two other HD 5770 solutions - HD 5770 Single Slot Edition and HD 5770 Low Profile Edition. The naming is pretty self-explanatory. The Single Slot Edition is great for gamers tight on space, whereas the Low Profile Edition is great for anyone looking to build a powerful HTPC. An HD 5750 Low Profile Edition is also available.

The last HD 5770 I was shown was the Eyefinity 5 HD 5770. As the name suggests, this card features five Mini DisplayPorts so you can hook up five monitors to a single card.

If all these HD 5770 are a little too weak for you, maybe the FC5870 V2 is more up your alley. The FC5870 is a water-cooled HD 5870 featuring an all new water block (thus the V2 designation).

The problem with a card like the FC5870 V2 is that it's heavy. If any of you have bought a new mid to high end card over the past few years, you've probably noticed the cards getting bigger and heavier, and you may have worried about the strain that puts on your motherboard. PowerColor has a rather strange solution - the Power Jack. PowerColor calls it the "professional graphics interface card supporter." This tiny accessory starts at 61.25mm and can extend up to 150mm, allowing you to provide some support to your graphics card and relieve some of the stress on the motherboard.

Lastly, we have the beast of all beasts, the Eyefinity 12 HD 5970. Yes, you read that correctly - Eyefinity 12. As you can see in the second photo below, this card features a whopping twelve Mini DisplayPorts. PowerColor actually accomplished this by attaching a six-port daughter card to the HD 5970. As such, this card actually takes up three expansion slots. Good luck affording this card though, let alone the twelve LCDs to go along with it.