6950 vs 560 Ti

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Skulltrail

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I searched the forums and found nothing. Which card would you guys recommend? I can't get grounded on either one since the 560 Ti is powerful and cheap but the 6950 has 2GB of VRAM and comparable performance.

Note that I will be using the Twin Frozr II HSF on either card, because from what I've read (in reviews, videos, and forums), both can stay under 65*C at all times with this magnificent HSF where as the 6950 ref. card goes to 90*C under load easily.

Is the extra $20-$40 worth going with the 6950? I've read reviews on HardOCP and they ranked the 6950 with their gold award and the 560 with their silver award but mention that the 560 Ti competes well against the 6950 which is supposed to be competing directly with the 570. IDK. :confused:
 
There is a bunch of 6950 1GB that are cheaper then the 2GB version. You will not even notice a difference between the two either. The 6950 itself is a superior video card to the GTX 560 Ti in everyway in my opinion. You have to overclock that card to get the performance of a 6950, but of course you can still overclock the 6950 ;).
 
Yea I mean either card is great for the resolution your at but the 6950 is the better card imo especially if you can get a reference model and unlock it.
 
I just got a 6950 on my front porchstep yesterday :D. Im going to take off the stock heatsink and see if I can wrangle my old Zalman onto it for better cooling. You want me to let you know how it goes with all of it? (OC and a possible bios flash to a 6970 along with the heatsink swap) I got the MSI reference 2GB card btw, let me know if there is anything specific you want me to bench/test.
 
I'm on the same boat...but I just feel like an nvidia this time around :p
Currently I have an ati 4850 512 ~_~ that's hot and noisy. Hopefully the 560 ti hawk is cool n quite.
(1920x1200 - i7 920)
 
Skulltrail said:
Note that I will be using the Twin Frozr II HSF on either card, because from what I've read (in reviews, videos, and forums), both can stay under 65*C at all times with this magnificent HSF where as the 6950 ref. card goes to 90*C under load easily.
:
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Nothing wrong with the TFII HSF, but I have to wonder how they're getting those reference temps. My 6950 unlocked and overclocked to 900/1350 will bounce between 74-75C and 48-50% fan speed under load. The fan is definitely audible at that speed, but not annoying. 60% fan speed the sound really ramps up. 100% fan speed might be useful if you need to blow-dry something. I also like that the reference cooler exhausts the hot air out the back of the case.
 
An american recording artist. Born Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr., but better known for his stage name T.I. or T.I.P.

The 6950 seems to be the ideal choice.
 
Kueller said:
Nothing wrong with the TFII HSF, but I have to wonder how they're getting those reference temps. My 6950 unlocked and overclocked to 900/1350 will bounce between 74-75C and 48-50% fan speed under load. The fan is definitely audible at that speed, but not annoying. 60% fan speed the sound really ramps up. 100% fan speed might be useful if you need to blow-dry something. I also like that the reference cooler exhausts the hot air out the back of the case.
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From what I've noticed in the design of the TFII, the three heatsink pipes work wonders. Most GPUs have one giant heatsink over the GPU die but it's rare to see three pipes (not heatsink radiators like on a Galaxy card) until MSI released these. That with the two fans and openings on all edges of the card allow hot air to run out quickly.

I think what really makes a difference on whether this card is cool, warm or hot under load (and the 60*C load temps recorded in reviews) is the computer case's ventilation. A HAF X has plenty of exhaust fans to pump out hot air at all times, that + this hot air blower = not as much hot air inside to cook components.
 
jeremyshaw said:
It's just a suffix nVidia attaches to their GPU names to denote a different SKU (and likely, different performance).
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The Ti is short for Titanium. Like you said, it's just a tag implying a difference between it and similarly named products.
 
Get the 2GB card.

With Rise of Flights settings turned up to the max I use 155% video RAM at 1680x1050. The game crashes when trying to load it. I have 896MB on a GTX 260.

ArmA 2 also uses 94% of my video RAM (according to Nvidia inspector)... I am not even playing at 1680x1050, but the resolution that is a bit lower.

Clearly 1GB is not enough anymore if you care to max out your games. If you're going to spend $160+ on a new video card then there is not reason to not get 2GB. But if all you play is CoD/BF, then 2GB might be worthless.
 
+1 for 2Gb card. Why turn down settings cuz a game now uses over 1GB?

Oh yeah you wanted to save a 20 dollar bill or 2, lulz.
 
Flogger23m said:
Get the 2GB card.

With Rise of Flights settings turned up to the max I use 155% video RAM at 1680x1050. The game crashes when trying to load it. I have 896MB on a GTX 260.

ArmA 2 also uses 94% of my video RAM (according to Nvidia inspector)... I am not even playing at 1680x1050, but the resolution that is a bit lower.

Clearly 1GB is not enough anymore if you care to max out your games. If you're going to spend $160+ on a new video card then there is not reason to not get 2GB. But if all you play is CoD/BF, then 2GB might be worthless.
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Thank you....you said what I was thinking. I always get into spats about VRAM on the forums...I go over 900 MB in some games at just 1600x900. (988 MB maxed out in GTA IV) A 2 GB card will be my next card when I get a new monitor. I would NEVER get a 1 GB GTX 560 Ti as good as it is. Just not enough VRAM. Nvidia's got to start making single cards with upwards of 2 GBs per gpu.

A powerful card like the 560 is a waste with 1 GB.
 
You bastards (i kid)
Now you made me re-think what I wanted to get...
I was going for an msi gtx 560ti hawk and now I'm going to probably get a MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III
Not a "reference" card because I REALLY don't want a hot and loud card (already have that with my 4850).
Opinions?
 
Flogger23m said:
Get the 2GB card.

With Rise of Flights settings turned up to the max I use 155% video RAM at 1680x1050. The game crashes when trying to load it. I have 896MB on a GTX 260.

ArmA 2 also uses 94% of my video RAM (according to Nvidia inspector)... I am not even playing at 1680x1050, but the resolution that is a bit lower.

Clearly 1GB is not enough anymore if you care to max out your games. If you're going to spend $160+ on a new video card then there is not reason to not get 2GB. But if all you play is CoD/BF, then 2GB might be worthless.
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What are your AA settings in these scenarios?
 
I own both cards...(actually three), the 2GB MSI R6950, as well as two 2GB Palit GTX560ti in SLI. You have quite the dilemma. On the one hand, the AMD card is better built and has faster peak framerates. The Nvidia card...(for me anyway)..runs smoother, though at a very slightly lower peak framerate overall. Either card will do the 'bidding' quite well. My personal preference is smoothness over framerates if those framerates are already acceptable.
 
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Saabjock said:
I own both cards...actually three, the 2GB MSI R6950, as well as two 2GB Palit GTX560 in SLI. You have quite the dilemma. On the one hand, the AMD card is better built and has faster peak framerates. The Nvidia card...for me anyway..runs smoother, though at a very slightly lower peak framerate. Either card will do the 'bidding' quite well. My personal preference is smoothness over framerates if those framerates are already acceptable.
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Yeah those are 2gb gtx 560 not gtx 560 ti ~_~
Hmm you almost got me but are you comparing one 6950 to two gtx 560?
 
eizen said:
You bastards (i kid)
Now you made me re-think what I wanted to get...
I was going for an msi gtx 560ti hawk and now I'm going to probably get a MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III
Not a "reference" card because I REALLY don't want a hot and loud card (already have that with my 4850).
Opinions?
Click to expand...

I can personally guarantee you that the 560 Ti reference cooler is superior to even the Twin Frozr 3 on the Hawk. Yes, I have owned both cards. I even got the Hawk for CHEAPER than the reference EVGA card that I ended up keeping. The default fan profiles on the Hawk card are extremely aggressive and loud in my opinion, but they do keep it quite cool. Once I used Afterburner to equalize the noise between the two, well, the Hawk couldn't keep the card under 90C in Witcher 2.

If I had to say, the 560 Ti has probably the best reference cooler design I have EVER seen on a high end video card. I can also guarantee that any 6950 you get will be louder and hotter. I owned a reference 6970 for a short time and it was the first card I've had since my X1950XTX (back in 2006) that was audible at idle in my system.
 
eizen said:
Yeah those are 2gb gtx 560 not gtx 560 ti ~_~
Hmm you almost got me but are you comparing one 6950 to two gtx 560?
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I actually have the ti cards.As to the comparison...I tested them head to head in single configuration before electing to get the other GTX560ti for SLI. So yes, my test was with single cards and the latest drivers at the time.
 
The HD6950 is really built with surround gaming in mind and where the 2Gb of ram is really used at.. i would never limit myself to an Nvidia product that can't do surround gaming from a single card if one day you decide that you want to try it and never look back..
 
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