nVidia GTX 260 to AMD 6950 2 GB - Switching Camps for BF3?

JakFrost

JakFrost

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
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I'm thinking of switching camps from being a long time nVidia fan until the wholeFermi debacle soured me on the company and their treatment of their customers and the heat that these cards produce.

Looking at the latest Battlefield 3 benchmarks it seems like the AMD (ATI) cards are 10% faster and 20% cheaper at 1920x1080 High Quality settings that I plan to play on for smoother frame rates. (Everybody is quoting Ultra settings here but the last time I tried that with up-to-date hardware in Battlefield 2 I always came back to High Quality for the smoothness.)

I'm now considering an upgrade from my nVidia GTX 260 to AMD 6950 2GB then unlocking it to 6970. I can't stomach the higher prices for nVidia GTX 570 or 580 only to be shafted with the lower performance.

I would really prefer to wait for the next generation of cards to come out to find something new and exciting but it seems that it won't happen until 2012 Q1 or Q2 and by then I might not care about Battlefield 3 anymore.

Any weird caveats to worry about after switching? I'm using Dual 24-inch IPS at 1920x1200 but plan to play single-screen most likely. I can't visualize on how I would center the game with just 2 screens? Where does the crosshair go?

I really wanted to see if doing a 3x1920x1200 monitor portrait mode gaming would be feasible but it seems that it would require 3xSLI or 3xTriFire to get smooth rates and even then you have to deal with micro-stuttering, no updated drivers yet, heat generated by cards, seam lines of the monitors, etc. Maybe after the next gen of cards is released with faster GPUs will 2xGPU for 3xMonitors be feasible since the drivers and games will be fixed by then, it would be something nice to upgrade to in the future.

SAPPHIRE 100312-3SR Radeon HD 6950 Dirt3 Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity - $264.99 USD ($244.99 USD with Rebate)
 
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Wow I'm making the exact same upgrade how funny. I'm not sure which of the 6950s to get though. I've heard that the 2GB versions are the only ones with the unlock switch, and of these not all of them have it. I'm looking at these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=6950&x=0&y=0
And unfortunately there don't seem to be a lot of options. I'm not familiar with Sapphire so any input on deciding between the 6950s would be nice.
 
OP, the Dirt 3 Edition 6950 is a great card. Mine unlocked with a flip of the switch and OC'd to 970/1370 and actually performs pretty much identically to my GTX 580 that was OC'd to 930/2250 in BF3 at 2560x1600 (Ultra settings except MSAA was manually set to off). Both cards averaging over 40fps with my testing using FRAPS. Not bad for a card that is pretty much close to 1/2 the price of a 580.

Swapping back and forth between Nvidia and AMD cards has been a non issue with me. Just uninstall the old all the old drivers prior to installing the new card (if you play games like Metro, you can leave the Phys-x drivers in place). Some people recommend driver cleaner as well, however I very rarely have ever needed to do that step.
 
At 1920x1200 you probably aren't playing with 4x MSAA anyway, at least not as long as you like good framerates. In any case, it appears that the 6950 2GB Dirt 3 version has the BIOS switch to unlock the extra shaders, so if you are getting one, that looks to be a good choice.
 
Forceman said:
At 1920x1200 you probably aren't playing with 4x MSAA anyway, at least not as long as you like good framerates. In any case, it appears that the 6950 2GB Dirt 3 version has the BIOS switch to unlock the extra shaders, so if you are getting one, that looks to be a good choice.
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Hey be careful betting on unlocking a 6950 these days. They seem few and far between and vendors have been changing from ref without making it known, so it's a crap shoot. Of course if you don't care either way just go for it, I've heard the performance is similar to a 6970 after OC regardless of the shader unlock.

Also I've seen 6970's drop under $300 with MIB if you're patient (got mine for ~$270 after MIB).
 
I upgraded from a GTX280 to a 6950 2GB and *LOVE* it.

Currently sitting at 900 Mhz (100Mhz over stock) and getting EXCELLENT experience in 1920X1080p in BF3 (ultra quality)

I paid 289 - 30 mail in rebate. Just my luck new egg lowers to price to 249 with a 30 mail in rebate currently.

For 220 dollars you simply cannot find a better deal for a 2GB card that's a good overclocker. I don't even care about trying to unlock the shaders... it's smoking fast as it is :)
 
I just pulled the trigger and ordered the 6950 2GB linked to above along with Battlefield 3 Limited Edition. Looking forward to reliving the fun times of flying helicopters with my full stick, rudder, and throttle.
 
Already did the research to unlock the shaders using RBE and also to overclock the GPU on it a healthy ~100 MHz amount but leave the memory stock since it doesn't overclock well.

I re-checked my bang-for-buck ratio and this card is it. The 6970 is ~$100 USD more expensive +20% and only offers +12% performance boost over the 6950. Not worth it and neither are the nVidia models for band-for-buck for Battlefield 3.

So... who wants to buy a nVidia GTX 260 now?
 
I was a long time Nvidia fanboy until the whole Laptop GPU debacle where they knowingly used and shipped HP laptops with faulty GPU's.

On my next computer I'm going to be getting a Radeon card due to it being of equal or better performance of its Nvidia counterpart at a much lesser price.
 
I still have a perfectly good Sager laptop with a faulty 8600gt. It's been baked 5 times now.
It sounds like I'll be going to a 6950 while I wait for the new cards to come out.

Where is the best deal on an unlockable 6950? Newegg has it for $264 before rebate, which doesn't sound like that good of a deal.
 
Striker9 said:
I still have a perfectly good Sager laptop with a faulty 8600gt. It's been baked 5 times now.
It sounds like I'll be going to a 6950 while I wait for the new cards to come out.
Click to expand...

Same happened to me this past spring, but with an 8800GT. It just DIED, out of the blue; no recovering, either, even after attempting (several times) solder reflow. I went with a Powercolor 6950; first one had artifacts, even on the desktop with no load or changes to the BIOS. The sticker looked like it was put on by a 4-year-old, too (bubbles, crooked, etc.). RMA'd it, got the new one about a week later, and it's been delightful ever since -- the sticker's even straight! It can get fairly hot & loud, but only under duress, and never fails to impress, even when pushing three 1080p monitors.

Where is the best deal on an unlockable 6950? Newegg has it for $264 before rebate, which doesn't sound like that good of a deal.
Click to expand...

There's a Powercolor for $254 right now ($244 after MIR) @ Newegg. It must be a more-recent model than mine, because it comes with two fans and a heat pipe-equipped cooler, whereas mine has a single 'squirrel-cage' fan, a.k.a. reference design. There's a bit of contention as to whether this one is unlocked, but I'd say it IS unlocked based upon the comments. Just need to use the switch & BIOS tools properly.

The next card up, in base price but same after rebate, is the Dirt 3 Edition by Sapphire. As one person said, "Some are Unlockable or Pre-Unlocked on the second BIOS."

Good luck on your selection, but either way, you won't regret it. :)
 
adrift02 said:
Hey be careful betting on unlocking a 6950 these days. They seem few and far between and vendors have been changing from ref without making it known, so it's a crap shoot. Of course if you don't care either way just go for it, I've heard the performance is similar to a 6970 after OC regardless of the shader unlock.

Also I've seen 6970's drop under $300 with MIB if you're patient (got mine for ~$270 after MIB).
Click to expand...

Everyone I've seen who has bought a Sapphire Dirt 3 Edition or Toxic edition has unlocked with just the switch. This is why they cost more too I guess. The Dirt 3 edition is basically a 6970 since every one I've seen has overclocked and unlocked to 6970 levels. The Toxic edition apparently overclocks a bit better (comes overclocked from the factory).
 
I made the same exact upgrade and I dislike ati generally. Very pleased with the results thus far, aside from my shaders not unlocking. ;( 980/1450 clocks though so I can't complain too much. Works well in BF3 and I can't wait to tear through The Old Republic with it. Huge difference from my 260.
 
Half a year ago I speced out a system for a co-worker wanting to upgrade. He was only interested in playing Civilization 5 so I heartily recommended the newly released MSI nVidia 560 Ti TwinFrozr II since that card edged ahead of the 6950 and even the 6970 in the only game that he was interested in playing.

With the release of Battlefield 3 I am in the same situation as him, since I'm only interested in playing this game and this time around the 6950 edges out the 560 Ti and even almost matches the 570 that is $100 more expensive in the resolution and quality settings that I see myself playing at, 1920x1080 High Quality. If this 6950 that I bought is also unlockable to a 6970 and I can overclock it well then I can even match the performance of the $200 more expensive 580 in this case, that would be wonderful.

It would be stupid in the price-for-performance / bang-for-the-buck ideology to get a 560, 570, or 580 card for me.

At $244 for that 6950 it might even be possible to go CrossFire later and smoke equivalently priced SLI out of the water but frankly I have always stayed away from that since buying a newly released single video card always ends up being somehow better, cheaper, and almost faster. With the 7000 series being slated for 2012 Q1/Q2 it would be wise to save that CrossFire money and just upgrade to a 7950 equivalent model later down the line and eBay this 6950. Rotating and eBaying cards yearly is something that I've done with my nVidia cards when I was still upgrading them regularly and playing.
 
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Got the card and just installed it. I changed the BIOS switch and now my card is showing 1536 Unified Shaders in GPU-Z, easiest unlock 6970 ever.

Installed Saphire Trixx and overclocked it 925 MHz since 950 MHz froze 3DMark Vantage New Calico test at 1920x1200. Running at ~72C temps and 50% fan speed.

All this after 1-hour of total work to install new card, download drivers, set it up and I'm good to go.
 
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