AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB Performance Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,681
AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB Performance Review - We are pitting the new Radeon HD 6950 1GB video card against the Radeon HD 6950 2GB version and a GeForce GTX 560 Ti in apples-to-apples testing to see how they compare. We test at 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 to push memory limitations and find which card provides the best gaming value.
 
Good review. If you can find a 6950 2gb with a good rebate and discount, it's very close in price to a 1gb version currently.
 
Thanks for the review. Although no expert on the matter I am not sure who actually games at 1920 x 1200 these days. I'm guessing 90% of the people here and elsewhere run 1920 x 1080. I am sure this debate has raged here before so I won't dwell on it but still. I expect the handful of people who run 1920 x 1200 will no doubt speak out. Thanks again for the review.

I've got to buy another 6970 before BF3 comes out. That's my next hardware goal.
 
nice. needed confirmation give the threads that have been going around here. still I have trouble with the 1gb version simply because the small price difference. for the extra 20 bucks I would rather have the extra overhead. but beyond that I don't see a need.
 
SixFootDuo said:
Although no expert on the matter I am not sure who actually games at 1920 x 1200 these days. I'm guessing 90% of the people here and elsewhere run 1920 x 1080. I am sure this debate has raged here before so I won't dwell on it but still. I expect the handful of people who run 1920 x 1200 will no doubt speak out. Thanks again for the review.
Click to expand...

I am 100% confident in tell you our evaluation holds true for 1080P display users as well. We are talking 2.3M pixels and 2.07M pixels. Arguing over that is a non-issue to us. If you want to discuss that, please take it to your own thread.
 
Valset said:
nice. needed confirmation give the threads that have been going around here. still I have trouble with the 1gb version simply because the small price difference. for the extra 20 bucks I would rather have the extra overhead. but beyond that I don't see a need.
Click to expand...

Indeed, the 2gb version is worth the extra 20~30 bucks.

I wonder how the upcoming GTX 560 2gb will fare.
 
Nice comparison.

Higher rez. people appreciate, or will appreciate when they get there. I for one can really see the the 1gb limit when I'm using 3x eyefinity. As everyone who's experienced it, when you run out vram performance takes a nose dive. Below that, at say.... 1080 for example ;) , it's really a non-issue.

The 6950 is really one great $ / perf. good card!

Y.
 
Should Crysis 2 prove to be a memory and shader intensive game, I'd love to see it tested in this comparison.
 
Wasn't it said the 6950 1GB would not be able to flash to 6970 specs due to changes on the board? Is this still true, or did the change to 1GB already make the card unable to flash up to the 6970?
 
Another good review. I run 1920x1200 but ended up buying a 2GB the other day, only because the price was ridiculously low. Seeing this, I may have to pick up the 1GB for my wife since she's running 1680x1050. Generally I look at [H] reviews at higher resolution and figure if they can run it at higher settings than what I normally do, then all the better for my less demanding experience. It also helps me plan ahead, because even though I play at 19x12 now, I will eventually upgrade to a higher resolution display.
 
I think this is one case where the 'maximum playable' type test would have been the most useful, to see where the tipping point is for memory on these cards.
 
Leman said:
Wasn't it said the 6950 1GB would not be able to flash to 6970 specs due to changes on the board? Is this still true, or did the change to 1GB already make the card unable to flash up to the 6970?
Click to expand...

I'd like to know this too. You guys over at [H] have the 1GB reference design, I think the community as a whole would appreciate a definitive answer on flashing the 1GB reference design, I haven't seen anything about it yet.

Thanks for the review. It confirms my suspicion about VRAM at higher resolutions. 1GB is fine for ~2MP, once you get to >4MP 2GB is useful. Thanks again.

samuelmorris said:
I think this is one case where the 'maximum playable' type test would have been the most useful, to see where the tipping point is for memory on these cards.
Click to expand...

I agree with this too, we didn't really get to see the differences between the cards, or if lower amounts of AA would be alright for 25 x 16.
 
SixFootDuo said:
Thanks for the review. Although no expert on the matter I am not sure who actually games at 1920 x 1200 these days. I'm guessing 90% of the people here and elsewhere run 1920 x 1080. I am sure this debate has raged here before so I won't dwell on it but still. I expect the handful of people who run 1920 x 1200 will no doubt speak out. Thanks again for the review.
Click to expand...

Well I can tell you, you're at least partially wrong. Most of us here are 1920x1200 but you are correct that at least a handful of people will speak out. ;)



oh and I'm 5760x1200 :D
 
Thanks for another informative review.

Dual bios still. Makes me wonder...unlockable? I know the speculation has been a no but as long as the 6950 2Gb unlocks for the price I know you can find them for, this would have to get a bit cheaper than that listed MSRP.


Just want to point out, and I realize it is only one game, but Crysis 2 for High DX11 @ 1920 is calling for 1.8 Gb of video memory. Now, it remains to be seen if a 6950 can even run the game at acceptable framerates with settings that would require that amount of video memory but...
 
SixFootDuo said:
Thanks for the review. Although no expert on the matter I am not sure who actually games at 1920 x 1200 these days. I'm guessing 90% of the people here and elsewhere run 1920 x 1080. I am sure this debate has raged here before so I won't dwell on it but still. I expect the handful of people who run 1920 x 1200 will no doubt speak out. Thanks again for the review.

I've got to buy another 6970 before BF3 comes out. That's my next hardware goal.
Click to expand...


i do game at 1920x1200 and have used my system on a 1920x1080 display as well. theres maybe 3-4 fps difference between the resolutions at the same exact settings.. theres not a huge enough difference to allow you to enable 8x msaa vs 4x msaa at 1920x1200.

wrangler said:
Just want to point out, and I realize it is only one game, but Crysis 2 for High DX11 @ 1920 is calling for 1.8 Gb of video memory. Now, it remains to be seen if a 6950 can even run the game at acceptable framerates with settings that would require that amount of video memory but...
Click to expand...


quote frankly no one knows and it could be a total piece of fud and the game doesn't actually need that much video memory to run. until the actual game comes out and people review it no one will know. my best guess is the game doesn't end up using anywhere near 1.8 gigs of video memory otherwise they just proved everyones points for the last 3 years that they don't know dick about games and are just a bunch of graphic designers by recommending a 4870x2. but we'll see..


thanks for the review Brent.
 
Last edited:
Haha, another good evaluation. I guess personally I don't see why someone would want the 1 gig 6950 since it isn't that much cheaper, but it does give people another option. Especially if you plan on going CFX, the benefits of having a full 2 gigs of VRAM become even more clear. I still find it amazing what kind of value the 6950's are right now.
 
The 560 cards love Civ V. They even handily beat the 570 iirc! (I guess I should qualify that with @ lower resolutions.)
 
Any chance of testing xfire 2 gig+1gig vs xfire 2gig+2gig. I already have a 2gig might be able to save on another 1 gig card if not any differences yet.
 
Uncle said:
Any chance of testing xfire 2 gig+1gig vs xfire 2gig+2gig. I already have a 2gig might be able to save on another 1 gig card if not any differences yet.
Click to expand...

I would imagine that to be a waste. You would only be able to use 1GB of your video ram.
 
reaper12 said:
I would imagine that to be a waste. You would only be able to use 1GB of your video ram.
Click to expand...

I take it then you don't add up the ram on both cards, just a little confused then, we just had a test to check 2 gig vs 1gig, so your saying that changes when doing two cards.
 
Uncle said:
I take it then you don't add up the ram on both cards, just a little confused then, we just had a test to check 2 gig vs 1gig, so your saying that changes when doing two cards.
Click to expand...


no you don't add up the ram. when you use 2 x 6950 2GB in crossfire you only have 2GB of accessible memory because it duplicates the load on the memory between both cards. so if you were to use 1 6950 2GB and 1 6950 1GB you would only be able to use 1GB of the 2 gigs of video memory on the first card.
 
Uncle said:
I take it then you don't add up the ram on both cards, just a little confused then, we just had a test to check 2 gig vs 1gig, so your saying that changes when doing two cards.
Click to expand...

Like Sirmonkey says, when you crossfire two cards you don't add the memory of both cards together. So if you had a 1GB card and a 2GB card the maximum memory available would be 1GB.

That's why it is always better to use two cards that are the exact same in crossfire, because if you don't you are limited to whichever card is the slowest or has the smallest memory.
 
Like I said, I wouldn't dwell on the subject. Lot of tweeners like to make something out of nothing, read into things. For me, it's a simple clarification, for the tween ragers, it's everything.

Kyle, thank you much for that clarification. I've always wondered what the difference was exactly. I knew it wasn't much of a performance hit / gain between the two.

I bought 40+ Acer 24" Business LCD's from an office equipment sale, all of them are 1920 x 1200. Still on pallets shrink wrapped. I've tried to sale a few on eBay but doesn't seem to be much interest even at $125 + shipping. Part of the speculation I have is I get these questions over eBay telling me I'm asking too much then they point out that people can buy a new 24" 1920 x 1080 for what I'm asking used. Not really speculation, just what I've gathered from the public. That and Newegg doesn't seem to sale very many of them.

But that's nether here or there, thanks again Hardocp / Kyle.
 
Last edited:
reaper12 said:
Like Sirmonkey says, when you crossfire two cards you don't add the memory of both cards together. So if you had a 1GB card and a 2GB card the maximum memory available would be 1GB.

That's why it is always better to use two cards that are the exact same in crossfire, because if you don't you are limited to whichever card is the slowest or has the smallest memory.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation to both of you. I'm waiting for the updated Sandybridge boards, by then the another 6950 should be somewhat cheaper.
 
The next person to argue resolution in this thread will be banned. This is your warning. Make your own damn thread about YOUR topic.
 
McG2k1 said:
What's the noise level like (subjective) on these 6950s?
Click to expand...

At idle very quite. Really hasn't got hot enough to make much noise unless I can't hear because of the gaming sounds.I have 4x120mm fans and one of them pushing cold air into the card intake.
 
Thanks for the review. Nice to see the Radeons holding their own so well.
 
I kinda like and dislike this review. Being in the position of needing an upgrade in the video card department, and looking at both the 6950 and the GTX560, it would have been nice to see what the 2gig GTX560 had to offer along side the others in this review. Like to see where it stands at 1920x1200 and above. Any chance of that ?
 
Wasn't arguing for a different resolution to be tested. Just said it would have been nice to see detail level tested, as it normally is in HardOCP benches.
 
south side sammy said:
I kinda like and dislike this review. Being in the position of needing an upgrade in the video card department, and looking at both the 6950 and the GTX560, it would have been nice to see what the 2gig GTX560 had to offer along side the others in this review. Like to see where it stands at 1920x1200 and above. Any chance of that ?
Click to expand...

if you look at the result, IT DIDN'T matter at 2.3mp. and given the way the 560GTX performed its pretty reasonable to say that 2gb isn't going to perform any differently. 2gb vs 1gb at around 2mp seems to be a non issue at the moment. if your worried about future titles and the cost isn't that big (25 dollar difference between a 2gb vs 1gb for the 6850) then go with the two.

much like the pci e bandwidth fallacy I think this should have laid all to rest
 
Is it possible to crossfire a 6950 2GB and a 6950 1GB. If so, are you only able to use 2GB out of the 3?
 
Valset said:
if you look at the result, IT DIDN'T matter at 2.3mp. and given the way the 560GTX performed its pretty reasonable to say that 2gb isn't going to perform any differently. 2gb vs 1gb at around 2mp seems to be a non issue at the moment. if your worried about future titles and the cost isn't that big (25 dollar difference between a 2gb vs 1gb for the 6850) then go with the two.

much like the pci e bandwidth fallacy I think this should have laid all to rest
Click to expand...

I don't think your opinion is going to persuade me in my decision when it comes to a purchase. I'd like to see it in black and white in charts by a "qualified" individual. Ever try to find a decent review including a 2gig GTX560 card ? If one weren't so hard to find I wouldn't have posted my question here. How long have these cards been out ? Why no review ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top