What's in a manufacturer Name? What 6970 to go with? CFX

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MaynardLD50

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I have pretty much nailed down getting 6970 CFX. 6990 is sort of a disappointment and overpriced and the GTX590 seems that it won't be able to dethrone the R6990. I currently have a HD5970, but that's going to my friend and I'm getting the option to upgrade (which I LOVE).

I'm now looking at buying the two cards and I cannot for the life of me figure out which freaking brand to buy. I look at warranty and they all, pretty much, have a 2 year limited warranty (XFX Lifetime of course). So far my XFX 5970 Black Edition, oooooooo, has run very well for me, thus inclining me to stick with them. However, looking at the best bang for the buck some other brands have popped up, Sapphire, HIS, Powercolor, MSI, ETC.

Example: What makes this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102915$379.99 and the MSI variant $320?

Someone who's done the research or has experience with these models shed some light on them?

Thank you! Happy to be finally be posting on [H]OCP :)

ps. worth mentioning my post in the display section. I plan on running 3 120Hz monitors in eyefinity for most games. Already talked to Lord_Exodia about the setup and ordered my DP to DVI DL adapters.
 
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yes the 2gb 6950's are the best bang for buck, unlock shaders or flash it it doesnt matter it is a good deal, is your 5970 the 4gb?
 
All of the 6950 and 6970 cards that have boxy double-slot coolers with red fans and different stickers (manufacturers) have been made in the same factory. In terms of hardware these "reference" 6950 and 6970 models are identical, but the manufacturers have wildly different warranties for their parts. Some of the most renowned manufacturers in terms of honoring the warranty are XFX, eVGA, and Asus, though MSI and Gigabyte are also very good. Check out the thread in my sig to find out about warranty periods and the fine print.

The warranty for MSI, Asus, and Gigabyte are tied to the serial number on the video card, not the original owner and proof of purchase, so as long as the card is physically alright and the P/N stickers are legible you're covered. Its easier to sell because of that.

The MSI is the cheapest card available IIRC, at $320 AR. You may also consider getting a 6950 2GB and unlocking the shaders.
 
I'm partial to Asus and Gigabyte. Solid, strong brands that I don't have to worry about going out of business and will be around in case I need to use a warranty.

As far as the 6950/6970, I went with Asus because of the aluminum shroud they put on. Nice little addition if you ask me, helps with the thermals.
 
Why are you downgrading. You won't see more fps. You'll see the same only with added Crossfire issues
 
Is Asus the only main company out doing both AMD and Nvidia right now??
 
So let me understand this. I can buy 2 6950s, unlock the shaders and basically get the same performance out of the cards as a 6970? Am I reading that correctly? Than why would anyone even buy the 6970?

As far as the HD5970 it is the 2GB edition and saying that this is a downgrade is absurd.
 
MaynardLD50 said:
So let me understand this. I can buy 2 6950s, unlock the shaders and basically get the same performance out of the cards as a 6970? Am I reading that correctly? Than why would anyone even buy the 6970?
Click to expand...

Precisely. 90%+ 6950s will unlock shaders and most will hit stock 6970 clocks at stock 6970 volts, so you get 6970 CF for $500 AR. It's the best high-end bang for the buck currently available.

MaynardLD50 said:
As far as the HD5970 it is the 2GB edition and saying that this is a downgrade is absurd.
Click to expand...

A single 6970 and 6950 would be a significant downgrade, a 6950 CF configuration would be a noticeable upgrade.
 
Grab a pair of the Asus 6950's... nicely made and they scale really well in x-fire.
 
^^^^
This! Plus you can probably unlock them if you feel the need to.

I got 2x Gigabyte 6970 at a ridiculously "low" price (for 6970s), and couldn't be happier.
 
My brain must be insane because I feel like if I buy the 6950's I'm buying inferior cards. What about the concern that AMD could lock them in later driver updates?
 
right now the 6950's are dropping to the sub 250 range, definitely a good time to pick something up.
 
This still makes no sense to me. How can ATI not block this later or shut it off in future driver updates? Basically what has happened is you no longer have to buy a 6970 and you can just buy a 6950. How would ATI be ok with this?
 
simple. AMD wanted the unlocking the happen. It's not the first time certain ATi cards have been unlockable, and it likely won't be the last.
 
jeremyshaw said:
simple. AMD wanted the unlocking the happen. It's not the first time certain ATi cards have been unlockable, and it likely won't be the last.
Click to expand...
Can you elaborate a little more? Why would you want to cost yourself money? Free Publicity to spark sales?
 
MaynardLD50 said:
Can you elaborate a little more? Why would you want to cost yourself money? Free Publicity to spark sales?
Click to expand...

That and it gets AMD sales that it may not have gotten otherwise. A person with $350 to spend could get the GTX 570, the 6970 and the 6950. If the person can pay $350 for nVIDIA's or $300 for AMD's and AMD's has more VRAM, which is the person more likely to do? I'd say that AMD has gotten many sales from nVIDIA with this trick and the phenomenal prices.
 
The 6970 is better than the 6950 but not by enough to make the extra cost worth it. The memory on the 6970 is rated for a higher speed and the chips are binned a bit higher so a 6970 will usually overclock a bit more. There's also a small chance that the shaders won't unlock but even then I think it's a better deal.
 
2 Unlocked and overclocked 6950s (cough 6970s) here. Running games in eyefinity better and faster than my GTX 280 did @ 1680x1050 LOL Do it OP Buy them now,

I will throw a curve ball though, consider getting XFX, the company really seems to step up to the plate with customer concerns. They were the first to step up and honor the 6990 bios switch with their warranty. Even though AMD's official stance is that it isn't covered. This gesture of faith won alot of respect for them from me. They seem to be the "evga" of amd manufacturers.
 
Reference card are reference cards, plain and simple.

that being said I have always been impressed with the warranty process and quality of Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI
 
MaynardLD50 said:
Can you elaborate a little more? Why would you want to cost yourself money? Free Publicity to spark sales?
Click to expand...

[tinfoil hat]
Same reason food companies give out coupons. The people who go through the effort of finding coupons and clipping them out are frequently the people who wouldn't be buying the products if there wasn't a coupon. But the people who don't bother with coupons will buy the stuff at the "higher" price anyway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination
(note: I'm not at all saying that this is the only reason, just one of the reasons)
[/tinfoil hat]
 
I'm down to the MSI or the Asus.

Right now newegg has the Asus on sale for 10% off making 2 of them $260 each.

The MSI variant is $269 less $25 MIR making it $244 each.

So for $16 more is the Asus worth it? I've been building my PC's since the Pentium IImx days, but I've never overclocked anything in my life. Always was interested in it, but never got into it. Are there any good guides for starters to read? Something that is really explanatory and deep. I've always just paid extra for the faster stuff so I didn't have to bother with overclocking it. The point I'm trying to make is I'm mildly nervous overclocking these cards, but if I get them I want them to be as fast, if not faster than the 6970's.

So, Asus or MSI and Overclocking fears :) help me out
 
ASUS and MSI's warranty terms are both the same. The Asus card has a metal shroud on top of the original plastic shroud, it is touted as improving the thermal performance of the card, but it's one layer away from the heat so in reality any difference would be negligible. I'd go for whichever one is cheaper.

To overclock, you need MSI Afterburner. It's fairly simple, you increase the core and memory speeds until you reach the point where it locks up, then you gauge stability by trying speeds that are slightly below where it locked up. Increasing the voltage has a positive effect on the maximum overclock, but gives diminishing or no returns after a certain point, so giving it maximum voltage is not the best way to go.

EDIT: Correction, giving it maximum voltage is not the optimum way to go.
 
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