The Basics:

The ASUS EAH6870 1GB Radeon HD6870 graphics card has an appearance much like the bulk of the other HD6870 cards on the market so far. While the cooling shroud makes it look like a reference design card, ASUS has implemented an Aluminum cover plate, which in their testing lowers the surface temperature by 14 degrees Celsius when compared to the reference design.



The cooling shroud creates a large black rectangle around the video card, which has approximate dimensions of 9.5" long and 5" wide. Red stripes are found on the face of the shroud, while the hub of the cooling fan features an inverted color scheme with black stripes on a red background. Not an overly exciting design, but if it functions well to keep the card cool and quiet, who really cares?



The back side of the card (shown in the above right image) is dominated by small electrical traces covering the bulk of the black PCB. The shroud is anchored to the card by nine bolts, and the core of the GPU cooler is connected by four bolts and a metal brace.

The next image takes a look at the card from an angle where we can see the two 6-pin power connectors, as well as the sides of the shroud. The box-like shroud doesn't have many points where air can escape, so the flow should be drawn in through the fan and forced towards the back of the card and out of the case.



The final image in this section shows the expansion slot bracket for the card, which is obviously a two slot solution. In addition to slots to vent the hot air out of the case, we find a pair of DVI ports (one DVI-I and one DVI-D), an HDMI connection, and a pair of miniature DisplayPort connections. Quite the combination of connections, making it well set up for desktop, gaming, or HTPC duty... And definitely well configured to take advantage of AMD's EyeFinity multi-monitor technology.