Gaming @ 1920x1080

[Xisdibik]

I have an old GTX260 that is starting to fail in terms of performance even in generic stuff like watching Hulu videos full screen. I used to game at 1680x1050 and the card worked decently for most games except things like Crisis.

I am looking to replace this card which will be my gaming machine until July/August when I will then move it to Japan to be hooked up to a TV I purchase there (at 1920x1080) I tend to be having bad luck with nvidia cards, or their drivers, and so am thinking of doing ATI this time around.

CF or SLI are out of the question because im bringing a "space saving" computer with me to Japan, the MB supports it, but the cards are VERY close together, and increase heat output on both cards. So I would prefer a single card solution, I was mainly eyeing between the 6950 and 6970, and was wondering if the 6950 was more than enough to meet what I want for now and some time to come, or if the 6970 was worth the price premium.

Thanks

Xisdibik

Edit: Comp specs for the rest of it are

6GB DDR3 1600 Ram
Core i7-950 @ 3.06ghz (no OC yet)
Asus Micro ATX Motherboard (if its really important ill look up the board model for you, as im not at home to see the box sitting on the shelf)
and its running on a 240GB SSD currently with Win 7 64bit

 

[COMPPRO2K7]

go with a 6950, save some money and alot of them unlock to a 6970 with a bios flash

 

[Xisdibik]

Thanks for the information (even with it being so short, it made sense to me

I have been out of the ATI loop for a long time. I hear people talk about XFX's double lifetime warranty. Are there any other brand suggestions (especially in regard to flashing the BIOS with the 6970's if i wanted to boost performance?)