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Finally Upgrading my GPU for 30"

P

PC_User

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Sep 15, 2007
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I recently got a 30" so it's finally time to say thanks to my GTX 285 and move onto something more powerful and capable of handling the latest games at 2560x1600.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to the 2GB Radeon 6950, which I might flash to the 6970 bios. Is this the best choice in terms of price/performance? Will I lose much by foregoing PhysX?

If it is the 6950, I think the one from Sapphire for $257 AR is currently the best price.

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
Do you regularly play Mirrors Edge or Batman: Arkham Asylum? If yes, you will lose out without PhysX. Otherwise, no, it makes bugger all difference.

There's a $230 AR Powercolor 6950 at newegg currently.
 
PC_User said:
I recently got a 30" so it's finally time to say thanks to my GTX 285 and move onto something more powerful and capable of handling the latest games at 2560x1600.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to the 2GB Radeon 6950, which I might flash to the 6970 bios. Is this the best choice in terms of price/performance? Will I lose much by foregoing PhysX?

If it is the 6950, I think the one from Sapphire for $257 AR is currently the best price.

Thanks for the suggestions!
Click to expand...

i recently upgraded to 30inch monitor as well except i grabbed 6970 instead of 6950
but since performance should be pretty much identical i can tell you that i haven't run into any performance issue running games yet
 
Great choice of hardware :) (You own the same speakers and graphics card as me, along with the new version of my display)
 
samuelmorris said:
Do you regularly play Mirrors Edge or Batman: Arkham Asylum? If yes, you will lose out without PhysX. Otherwise, no, it makes bugger all difference.

There's a $230 AR Powercolor 6950 at newegg currently.
Click to expand...

I cannot say that hw physx in mirrors edge did anything beyond making my system slow.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
samuelmorris said:
Do you regularly play Mirrors Edge or Batman: Arkham Asylum? If yes, you will lose out without PhysX. Otherwise, no, it makes bugger all difference.

There's a $230 AR Powercolor 6950 at newegg currently.
Click to expand...

I do sometimes play games which have PhysX and the options would be quite nice, although I certainly do not play them 'regularly.' I want to avoid a dual-card setup, but maybe will use my GTX 285 as a PhysX card.

The $230 Powercolor comes out to $255 after taxes. All else being equal, I'd rather go with Sapphire.

PeeWeePee said:
i recently upgraded to 30inch monitor as well except i grabbed 6970 instead of 6950
but since performance should be pretty much identical i can tell you that i haven't run into any performance issue running games yet
Click to expand...

They are the same card. From what I understand, I can flash the 6950 to a 6970 (i.e. unlock the shaders).
 
Yeah I don't much like Powercolor either, but they're little worse than Sapphire. There's an HIS for $260 AR if you're happy to go with them.

The 6950 and 6970 are very nearly the same card, just with a different fan. The 6950 has a 5000rpm 53-blade fan, whereas the 6970 has a 6000rpm 47-blade fan.
 
Is there an NVIDIA card that offers better performance for a similar price? I think the GTX 570 is closest to the HD6950, but costs ~$50 more.
 
PC_User said:
Is there an NVIDIA card that offers better performance for a similar price? I think the GTX 570 is closest to the HD6950, but costs ~$50 more.
Click to expand...

6950 is the best bang for the buck in a long time in a video card world.
 
If you want HD6950-ish performance then the GTX570 is your alternative. It's a fair bit pricier than the HD6950 at $335 versus $240, and performs about the same (remember this is 2560x1600 where the 6950 performs better than at lower resolutions), but that's the premium you'll pay if you want to run a geforce. The 1GB GTX560Ti is $245, same price as the 6950, but is very outclassed at this res by the 6950, due to memory restrictions, and being a slower GPU.
 
samuelmorris said:
If you want HD6950-ish performance then the GTX570 is your alternative. It's a fair bit pricier than the HD6950 at $335 versus $240, and performs about the same (remember this is 2560x1600 where the 6950 performs better than at lower resolutions), but that's the premium you'll pay if you want to run a geforce. The 1GB GTX560Ti is $245, same price as the 6950, but is very outclassed at this res by the 6950, due to memory restrictions, and being a slower GPU.
Click to expand...

I'm not an "NVIDIA" loyalist by any means. I'm simply looking for the best performing card (best bang-for-the-buck).

Looks like the 6950 is the most reasonable choice.

BTW, when are the next-gen cards coming out (with die shrink)?
 
PC_User said:
I'm not an "NVIDIA" loyalist by any means. I'm simply looking for the best performing card (best bang-for-the-buck).

Looks like the 6950 is the most reasonable choice.

BTW, when are the next-gen cards coming out (with die shrink)?
Click to expand...

6950 ( flashed ) is best bang for buck yes
and normal cycle has been 12 to 15 month so give or take
jan ~ march of next yr
 
Cool. Then now seems to be a good time to upgrade.

I'll probably need the upgrade for games like Crysis 2 and Portal 2 anyway.
 
I run dual 5870s on a U3011 and I would say 6950s in Xfire and don't even worry about flashing them. I have been running Rift on Ultra at 60-70 FPS. What need to do more?
 
Does anyone have experience with HIS?

Until 10 mins ago, I was planning to go with Sapphire. Now I notice that I can save $13 by getting the HIS card. Not a huge difference, but I may as well if they are identical.
 
I think Sapphire is considered a step above HIS. I think the main AMD brands are now XFX and Sapphire. My only AMD experience is XFX since these are my first AMD cards. I was all NV before these cards. If they are ref cards then it doesn't matter, they are all the same. Go with the name/price if reference.
 
MaK2000 said:
I think Sapphire is considered a step above HIS. I think the main AMD brands are now XFX and Sapphire. My only AMD experience is XFX since these are my first AMD cards. I was all NV before these cards. If they are ref cards then it doesn't matter, they are all the same. Go with the name/price if reference.
Click to expand...

They are all reference designs. $12 doesn't break the bank for me.

Any significant reasons to go with one or the other? Otherwise, I'll just get sapphire.
 
Now I read somewhere that Sapphire charges $15 processing fee to RMA the card. Has anyone dealt with this? Does HIS also charge for shipping/processing during the RMA process?
 
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