6950 best for the money?

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At this price does anything really compare? It really seems too good to be true, 6950 unlocked to 6970 seems to be by far the best deal right now.

Am i missing something or just thinking too much?
 
6950 definitely a good deal and might go even lower seeing how the GTX 560 just came out.
 
At this price does anything really compare? It really seems too good to be true, 6950 unlocked to 6970 seems to be by far the best deal right now.

Am i missing something or just thinking too much?

The 6950 is real nice and I got two of them.

But the 6970 is also really nice. And if I had a bigger power supply, I might have probably spent a little more for two of them instead.

The 6970 has faster memory chips and it has an 8 pin PCI-E power adapter, so I believe it can take more power and overclock further.
 
The 6950 is real nice and I got two of them.

But the 6970 is also really nice. And if I had a bigger power supply, I might have probably spent a little more for two of them instead.

The 6970 has faster memory chips and it has an 8 pin PCI-E power adapter, so I believe it can take more power and overclock further.

2x 6950!

what kind of crazy games you've been playing?
 
6950 definitely a good deal and might go even lower seeing how the GTX 560 just came out.

I don't think so - I think AMD is pretty comfortable with their price points right now - especially with the 6950 1gb release.
edit: news articles indicate that the 6950 2gb will be dropped to around $269-$289. About where it's priced now.

hardocp review said:
Our performance results at this ~$260 price point indicate that the GeForce GTX 560 Ti is more apt to compete with the Radeon HD 6870 than the Radeon HD 6950 as one might have thought, in terms of performance.

Considering you can pickup a 6870 for $200 after rebate - nVidia is the one who will need to drop prices.
 
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I just cratered and picked up a 2GB 6950. 299 for the XFX version off of Amazon, plus the Circuit City $10 rebate if I ever get that back as well as the Amazon $20 gift card for $10. Felt like $279 was a fair deal for what you got. I really like XFX and the double lifetime warranty too.
 
I just cratered and picked up a 2GB 6950. 299 for the XFX version off of Amazon, plus the Circuit City $10 rebate if I ever get that back as well as the Amazon $20 gift card for $10. Felt like $279 was a fair deal for what you got. I really like XFX and the double lifetime warranty too.

Yeah i was back and froth for the longest time over the various cards out there but since you can unlock the 6950 2gb i cant think of a single reason to buy any other card. Even though its a little over my intended budget its just too damn perfect.

I was worried about sound until i figured out its almost exactly the same as my current 4870 which is perfect.

Im almost sad to be upgrading from my 4870 what a work horse this card has been.
 
Yeah i was back and froth for the longest time over the various cards out there but since you can unlock the 6950 2gb i cant think of a single reason to buy any other card. Even though its a little over my intended budget its just too damn perfect.

I was worried about sound until i figured out its almost exactly the same as my current 4870 which is perfect.

Im almost sad to be upgrading from my 4870 what a work horse this card has been.

Same. Bought my 4890 XXX used. Been a terrific card.
 
It's a shame the 6950 1 GB's don't unlock.
AMD isn't that stupid, I guess. :p Or, maybe a better thing to say is, "they aren't that generous". :(
 
It's a shame the 6950 1 GB's don't unlock.
AMD isn't that stupid, I guess. :p Or, maybe a better thing to say is, "they aren't that generous". :(

That would be awesome but think about the potential revenue lost because people unlocked 6950s instead of buying 6970s.
 
A 700W is ample for two 6970s, do it :)
6950s are good cards for the money. Two HD6850s are better value than a 6950 or a 6970 however, if you're able/willing to use crossfire.
 
That would be awesome but think about the potential revenue lost because people unlocked 6950s instead of buying 6970s.

I'm pretty sure the amount of people actively unlocking their cards is low compared to the overall market. Factor in the good will it has created among the enthusiast community, and the 6950 unlocking "feature" has probably been a boon to AMD.
You had hardcore fanboys on both sides commenting how much of a value an unlocked 6950 represented...which translated into lots of 6950 sales.
The converts AMD got as a result probably outweighed the loss of 6970 sales.

While it makes sense to eventually remove this "feature" in the next card revision. I honestly have a feeling they knew about this loophole before the cards launched...and probably figured it would create that extra buzz a new product launch needs. Which as we all know...it has.
 
I'm pretty sure the amount of people actively unlocking their cards is low compared to the overall market. Factor in the good will it has created among the enthusiast community, and the 6950 unlocking "feature" has probably been a boon to AMD.
You had hardcore fanboys on both sides commenting how much of a value an unlocked 6950 represented...which translated into lots of 6950 sales.
The converts AMD got as a result probably outweighed the loss of 6970 sales.

While it makes sense to eventually remove this "feature" in the next card revision. I honestly have a feeling they knew about this loophole before the cards launched...and probably figured it would create that extra buzz a new product launch needs. Which as we all know...it has.

I wonder about that as well, hell it worked awesomely on their phenom lineup.
 
I caved on the 2GB XFX 6950 today as well, not to unlock it, because I won't, but honestly just because I was tired of trying to make up my mind between GTX 570, HD6950, and now the GTX 560.

In the end, I just felt I needed to get an AMD card in the house, and the 6950 should do well for me single monitor 19x12.

No matter which way you go though, it seems pretty hard to make a truly bad choice right now, and you sure do get a lot of card for the money these days.

Good times.
 
I caved on the 2GB XFX 6950 today as well, not to unlock it, because I won't, but honestly just because I was tired of trying to make up my mind between GTX 570, HD6950, and now the GTX 560.

In the end, I just felt I needed to get an AMD card in the house, and the 6950 should do well for me single monitor 19x12.

No matter which way you go though, it seems pretty hard to make a truly bad choice right now, and you sure do get a lot of card for the money these days.

Good times.

Flashing a bios is relatively simple and last i checked even if you fuck it up you can reflash stock. If you can turn your $300 card into a $370 card why not?
 
Flashing a bios is relatively simple and last i checked even if you fuck it up you can reflash stock. If you can turn your $300 card into a $370 card why not?

Well, for starters, it's been so long since I've used an AMD/ATi card, I'd rather let it be, at least for the near term, and see what it can do without me fucking with it. My last experience with an AMD card was a 5770 I chose for a friend-build. It went back to newegg after 2 days, GSOD after GSOD, and she's running a GTX 260 now.

I am by no means an NV fanboy, but my experience over the years is by far slanted in their favor, and I'd like to give this card a fair shot before I go poking at it. 6 months form now, we'll see.
 
Some other poster said nvidia has their pricing in la la land, and they're right. Nobody in their right mind would buy an nvidia product at this time.

GTX 580: Nobody running 1920 or lower needs this in any way. Nobody running 2560 or higher wants the 1.5 GB of ram.
GTX 570: Outclassed by HD 6970 and 6950 flashed to 6970
GTX 560: Outclassed by stock 6950 and severely outclassed by 6950 flashed to 6970
GTX 460 1 GB: Severely outclassed by HD 5850

None of the other nvidia cards are even remotely relevant.


(Note that I'm running a gtx 260.)
 
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I don't think it's quite bad, but it's most definitely the case that better value resides with AMD currently (and it has for several years, to be honest).
 
GTX 570: Outclassed by HD 6970 and 6950 flashed to 6970

I agree with the rest of your post but this and not because I have a 570 in my main rig but because I had tested both cards the 570 and a flashed 6950. I could have a 6970 right now if i wanted. When you factor in overclocking the 570 is faster than an overclocked 6970 below 2650x1600, has more features, and is cheaper. That's why I kept it and I think it's the only Nvidia card worth anything.
 
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I agree with the rest of your post but this and not because I have a 570 in my main rig but because I had tested both cards the 570 and a flashed 6950. I could have a 6970 right now if i wanted. When you factor in overclocking the 570 is faster than an overclocked 6970 below 2650x1600, has more features, and is cheaper. That's why I kept it and I think it's the only Nvidia card worth anything.

Can you please elaborate on "more features"?
As for the performance, I agree....1080 and below the 570 seems to be a better value, as it is cheaper then the 6970. Though with voltage tweaking, 1000Mhz on a 6970 isn't out of the question...and its pretty fast at those speeds. I'm not sure how much headroom is left in a 570, but I think the only big thing it has going for it is a better price.
 
Newegg has the SAPPHIRE 100312-1GSR Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card


for * $259.99
* $7.87 Shipping

Much better deal than the 560 IMO.

But then for a bit more the 2GB version that is flashable is the best deal IMO.
 
Yeah go w/ 2gb if you're running 1920 or higher Res. If you're running a lower res, the Geforce may be a good option.
 
Nvidia needs to be a little more price competitive IMO. The 6950 is indeed a good value.
 
It's a shame the 6950 1 GB's don't unlock.
AMD isn't that stupid, I guess. :p Or, maybe a better thing to say is, "they aren't that generous". :(

And you thought that the release batch was unlockable because they were generous ? LOL, you're hilarious :)
 
Yeah go w/ 2gb if you're running 1920 or higher Res. If you're running a lower res, the Geforce may be a good option.

Incorrect. At 1920x1200 / 1920x1080, 1 GB of VRAM is more than enough, unless you want to use extreme levels of AA (beyond 8x)
 
Can you please elaborate on "more features"?
As for the performance, I agree....1080 and below the 570 seems to be a better value, as it is cheaper then the 6970. Though with voltage tweaking, 1000Mhz on a 6970 isn't out of the question...and its pretty fast at those speeds. I'm not sure how much headroom is left in a 570, but I think the only big thing it has going for it is a better price.

And better IQ than the HD 6900s, unless you don't care about that of course.
 
And you thought that the release batch was unlockable because they were generous ? LOL, you're hilarious :)
Leaving the new 6950's unlockable would be generous, regardless of ATI's intentions with the original 6950's.
 
I am curious about this statement. Anything to prove this?

There's a whole thread about it here (and Beyond3D as well), with plenty of links (even some videos):

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1557795

Videos are here:

http://www.computerbase.de/downloads/system/grafikkarten/af-videos-fuer-hd-6800-launch/

Other sites have mentioned it also:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-570-gf110-performance,2806-5.html

http://www.behardware.com/articles/...n-hd-6970-6950-single-and-in-crossfire-x.html

Lastly, we maintain our red card for AMD for the reduction in default graphics quality (with too aggressive optimisations of texture filtering) on the arrival of the Radeon HD 6800s and across the whole range. In 2010, this is no longer acceptable!

And Tech-Report also mentioned it recently:

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/20293#metal

Damage said:
I do plan on writing about texture quality issues (had hoped to include it here), but that is a moving target with AMD making changes to improve quality in the Cat 11.1a drivers. That change means the only difference between Quality and High Quality is the removal of a trilinear optimization. Since NV uses a similar trilinear optimization by default, I didn't think ramping the Radeons up to HQ was necessary.

To be clear, in specific cases with very high noise textures, Nvidia has visibly superior filtering quality, but setting the Radeons to HQ doesn't discernibly improve their filtering in such cases.

Damaget said:
So... Nvidia filtering quality at the defaults is higher than AMD's HQ setting. Seems like that would be the key thing you'd want to know, if you wanted the best image quality possible.
 
If this is something other than the "Enable Surface Optimizations" from the ATI drivers a few months ago, then I want to see comparison screenshots.
(I'm talking about the Q vs HQ slider stuff)
 
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Folding, Physx, Cuda, and more games optimised for Nvidia cards. Also Fermi has greater performance gains from overclocking.

Folding is still running like crap on AMD cards....

PhysX is really useless, unless you are a huge fan of Batman AA, otherwise there is no point of it.

CUDA, it really depends on what you do with it.. such as Encoding, which the quality is terrible in general.

I don't see more game optimize for nVidia, they are well balance....
Even though some game says Optimize for nVidia, but the game runs the opposite, such as Crysis...etc.
At the end, even with a nVidia logo doesn't mean it runs better...same goes to AMD, AvP also proved it..
 


I haven't seen any screenshots of proof in these sites. Can you link me to some definitive examples? All I've seen so far is a test image on page 1 of the [H] thread, which seems to show AMD's filtering as superior.
 
With the 2GB 6950 being unlockable and around $70-90 bucks cheaper than the 570, I think I made the right choice. Time will tell. I refuse to spend over $300 on a video card anymore.
 
I haven't seen any screenshots of proof in these sites. Can you link me to some definitive examples? All I've seen so far is a test image on page 1 of the [H] thread, which seems to show AMD's filtering as superior.

It's funny that you only chose to see the image from [H], when the thread has many links showing much more :p

I even included a link with videos to be downloaded (also present in the original thread)...If you don't want to see them, that's your choice.
 
Looked at the pictures, and honestly I see a difference, but I don't see a problem. It does not look like no AF is being applied, there are no glaring errors with the output either.
Not able to download the videos as it requires registration which isn't possible as I don't speak german and don't understand the security question.
 
It's funny that you only chose to see the image from [H], when the thread has many links showing much more :p

I even included a link with videos to be downloaded (also present in the original thread)...If you don't want to see them, that's your choice.

From what i am reading here its not an actual loss of IQ because of the card its because they changed something in the driver. If im reading it right turning texture filtering to high quality eliminates the issue altogether.

The issue affects things at default settings which i suppose could mess with some benchmarks but if you want the IQ its just a click away.

Sensationalism at its finest i would say.
 
From what i am reading here its not an actual loss of IQ because of the card its because they changed something in the driver. If im reading it right turning texture filtering to high quality eliminates the issue altogether.

The issue affects things at default settings which i suppose could mess with some benchmarks but if you want the IQ its just a click away.

Sensationalism at its finest i would say.
Yeah that's the old story, assuming whatever he's talking about isn't some "new" texture compression ATI is doing.
It was sensationalist then, even after we beat it to death in multiple threads. Sad to see it popping up again.

6 months from now, we'll see it again, I assume.
 
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