2 Weeks of GPU Research & Still Confused

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Maverick1337

Gawd
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Feb 27, 2011
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All right ladies and gentleman, I really don't want to get flamed for this question seeing as I have spent so much time researching what's the better GPU. I have read many reviews and benchmarks and more reviews and more benchmarks and I am still puzzled.

Basically my options at the moment are GTX 570 vs. 6950 Unlocked.

I know, I know, NOT THIS THREAD AGAIN!?!? I just have one simple question:

Can you make the comparison that a 6950 Unlocked and OC'ed is the same as a stock 6970? Because I see all these comparisons between a 570 and 6970 and I always think, "well a 6950 can be unlocked and perform just as well as a 6970." Is this a correct assumption?

I've been struggling with the decision between the 570 and 6950 for so long now and it seems at my resolution 1920x1080 the 6950 (technically 6970) would be the better option. Hopefully I've explained this well enough for you guys to understand the basis of my question. Thanks in advance for any and all help and I do want to reiterate that I have been doing my homework and I am still confused on which card would be right for me.
 
Yes, it is a fair assumption that most 6950s will unlock and OC to reach stock 6970 performance. Check the thread in my sig for unlocking statistics. TPU also has an official unlocking thread that has a better yes % than my thread does. At your resolution, 2GB of VRAM will have a minimal impact for the time being, but in the future with games like BF3 and Skyrim they may start surpassing 1GB at 1080p. Get whichever one is cheaper, and if they're the same price get the one you like more, they'll both be almost identical.
 
XacTactX said:
Yes, it is a fair assumption that most 6950s will unlock and OC to reach stock 6970 performance. Check the thread in my sig for unlocking statistics. TPU also has an official unlocking thread that has a better yes % than my thread does. At your resolution, 2GB of VRAM will have a minimal impact for the time being, but in the future with games like BF3 and Skyrim they may start surpassing 1GB at 1080p. Get whichever one is cheaper, and if they're the same price get the one you like more, they'll both be almost identical.
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This ^^^ and I also want to make another point. A 6970 stock and a GTX 570 are about equal at this resolution. Hardly any games surpass 1.2GB of Vram at this resolution, except for Crysis and maybe another game. So, if you go with either card expect similar performance except in games that favor amd or nvidia, in those cases the corresponding solution will fare better. Not by much though. As XactactX medntioned games are coming that will push Vram limits at 19x10 in the coming months and even more so later. Consider that the best GTX 570 deal is probably $290 or $300 after MiR and when it runs out of Vram the 6950/6970 will lay the smack down on it, being that the 6950 reference 2gb card can be had for $240 after MIR and is the better long term solution I'd think this would be a no brainer.
 
At +%20 powertune a shader unlocked 6950 with a slight overclock to 880/1375 performs EXACTLY like a stock 6970 for almost $100 less.
 
Lord_Exodia said:
As XactactX medntioned games are coming that will push Vram limits at 19x10 in the coming months and even more so later. Consider that the best GTX 570 deal is probably $290 or $300 after MiR and when it runs out of Vram the 6950/6970 will lay the smack down on it, being that the 6950 reference 2gb card can be had for $240 after MIR and is the better long term solution I'd think this would be a no brainer.
Click to expand...
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/02/11/amd-radeon-hd-6950-1gb-review/1
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4137/...-6950-1gb-xfxs-radeon-hd-6870-black-edition/5

Considering that the 1GB and 2GB 6950s benchmark to be exactly the same even at 2560x1600 with 4xAA in most titles (at which point the framerates are too low to matter anyway) I really doubt you're going get over 1.3GB at 1920x1080 even in BF3, and certainly not Skyrim which will be designed with consoles in mind.

You're going to hit performance issues long before you run out of memory in games with these cards.


What I think is more likely to be a differentiator in upcoming games' performance rather than VRAM is tessellation performance, and that is one area where Nvidia are beating AMD by some margin.

In most cases, the 6970 and GTX570 trade blows, with them either being evenly matched or within about 5fps of one another depending on the game. However I have noticed that there do seem to be some cases where the 570 is clearly ahead of AMD by some margin, and there doesn't really seem to be any cases where AMD is ahead by a large margin in the games where the 6970 does outperform the 570.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/306?vs=292&i=188.191.194.238.200.203.206.210.213.216.219.221

It really comes down to price, whether or not your 6950 unlocks (here at least, a 570 and 6970 are similarly priced) and whether you want an AMD/Nvidia card. (drivers & features)
 
I would read up on the memory failure rate that people who unlock are dealing with. There are a LOT of dead cards out there because the memory isn't rated for 6970 speeds. It kept me from doing it on my card.
 
If you get a 6950 get the Xfx 6950 2gb. you don't loose your warranty replacing the stock cooler with a aftermarket cooler Like with the other manufacturers
 
lloose said:
I would read up on the memory failure rate that people who unlock are dealing with. There are a LOT of dead cards out there because the memory isn't rated for 6970 speeds. It kept me from doing it on my card.
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Yes, do research. From what I have gathered, you don't want to flash to a 6970 BIOS, flash to the custom BIOS that has all shaders unlocked but leaves the RAM alone. The 6970's RAM is a bit different and can handle more volts. The 6970 BIOS has the increased voltage and has burnt some peoples RAM up. I think it's TPU that you can get the reference BIOS that is updated to unlock all shaders on the 6950 giving you 6970 level. Then you can clock the RAM on your own.

That sound about right everyone?
 
flexcore said:
Yes, do research. From what I have gathered, you don't want to flash to a 6970 BIOS, flash to the custom BIOS that has all shaders unlocked but leaves the RAM alone. The 6970's RAM is a bit different and can handle more volts. The 6970 BIOS has the increased voltage and has burnt some peoples RAM up. I think it's TPU that you can get the reference BIOS that is updated to unlock all shaders on the 6950 giving you 6970 level. Then you can clock the RAM on your own.

That sound about right everyone?
Click to expand...

You've done your research well, that is the current state of affairs yes. Unlocking a 6950 BIOS, preferably the one that came with your card, only unlocks SIMD clusters, and does not present any irreversible issues.
 
My biggest concern is in benchmarks, you can basically replace a 6970 score with a 6950 score unlocked/oc'ed because essentially they are the same. However, that is when you compared a stock gtx 570 with an OC'ed/Unlocked 6950, so how much further can you push a 6950? Basically I want to know how a gtx 570 OC'ed compares to a 6950 unlocked and overclocked (not just to 6970 specs but beyond).
 
6950 unlocked.

2g of vram > 1.2vram

And price....saving yourself ALOT of cash
 
Maverick1337 said:
My biggest concern is in benchmarks, you can basically replace a 6970 score with a 6950 score unlocked/oc'ed because essentially they are the same. However, that is when you compared a stock gtx 570 with an OC'ed/Unlocked 6950, so how much further can you push a 6950? Basically I want to know how a gtx 570 OC'ed compares to a 6950 unlocked and overclocked (not just to 6970 specs but beyond).
Click to expand...

Before anyone considers overclocking a GTX 570 I highly suggest you read this thread http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/929152-have-you-killed-570-a.html

BTW there is one chance for salvation, the GTX 570 HD may be a better card to use for overclocking. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...30613&cm_re=gtx_570_hd-_-14-130-613-_-Product this custom design supposedly uses the same VRM array that the 560 Ti's use.

6950 ----> 6970 FTW!! ;)
 
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