get 2 6950s or wait for the 7970?

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Deltief

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
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Should i get 2 6950s or wait for the 7970, Im running three 1080p monitors.
 
Deltief said:
was planning on getting these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945, which have the bios switch to unlock to a 6970, but... I dunno, I just need some reassurance that the 7970 is the right way to go, Ive never spent this much on a sigle card before.
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All I know is, if one of my friends or people i try to build pc's for were to spend $600 on a single or 2 video cards right now. My answer would be to wait 2 weeks.

The 7970 will be out then, with a new driver set, and with retail product reviews. IF then you think its not worth it I would get the 6950's.

But thats my opinion.....Right now I would have a hard time recommending a older generation ATI knowing the new generation is coming out soon.

If you really cannot wait 2 weeks, then get what you want!
 
get 7970 now oc as a stop gap then get another when one isnt good enough
 
this may not pertain to you or anyhting like that, but I don't see why some people are actually worrying about spending an extra $100 on a 7970 over the $450-480 for 6950 CF.. I mean, if you are planning on getting any of these setups, what's a extra $100 when you've already spent 700-900 plus? If you want high end, you're going to have to pay the premium, so no need to complain about pricing.. Anywho, I think you should get the 7970 simply because it's only 10-15% slower, it's a single card solution, with the option of adding another, and you don't have to deal with the headache of X-fire driver etc.
 
thanks for the reply, I was thinking along the same lines, single card without the crossfire hassle. I wasnt to sure about the actual performance difference, but I belive I can live with a 10-15% drop, I guess I could always add another in the future, just have to fudge the numbers (in cost) to the wife.
 
two new 6950s would cost more than a single 7970
 
as someone who already has one 6950 2GB card -- I'm just going to wait for the 7000 series to start selling, and then hopefully see a 50 dollar fall for prices of 6k series cards.

I'm not going to drop 400-500 dollars on a single card (not when I already have 250 invested in the 6950), it's not like i need all the crazy power anyways, I game at 1920X1080p and might do some bitcoin/WPA cracking every now and then.
 
if you look you can find a 6950 for $200 and a 6970 for $300

so 2 6950 cost you $400 or $600 for 2 6970s
 
You could also wait just a bit. Once the 7970 is released, I'm sure there will be some used 6950s and 6970s for sale...probably pretty cheap, too
 
notarat said:
You could also wait just a bit. Once the 7970 is released, I'm sure there will be some used 6950s and 6970s for sale...probably pretty cheap, too
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^^^ What he said. After the actual 79xx cards start to hit retail there will be a lot more 69xx cards on the used market. Prices will drop accordingly for the used cards.
 
So, you can get 2 6950's that flash to a 6970 for $400 if you do a little looking around, that will be slightly faster than the 7970...which will be at least $150 more (probably closer to $200 more with the price gouging over the next couple months). That's a hell of a big price difference, for less performance, and now that amd has made custom cf profiles available through CCC cf is much less of a pain. Soooo....yeah, there's that.
 
Here's the problem with the 6950 CF vs 7970. You are gonna hit your performance ceiling with the 6950CF, unless you want to add another 6950 do Tri Fire, you'll probably end up getting a 7970 or a 7970XT anyway in the future and the with nvidia's offerings coming down the line, you'll lose resale on those 6950s. With the 7970, you will spend roughly $100-150 more at the start, but you will only be missing out on 10-15% from the 6950 CF ( based off the mild OC benchmarks, I'm sure with voltage tweaks,manufacturers releasing twin frozr or whatever OC brand, this card may even be able to match the 6990 in the next few months) and you will have the option to add a 7990 or another 7970 for additional performance, plus, if it matters to you, you will draw less power and have a extra PCI-e slot.

Sooo, if you want to hit your performance ceiling with the 6950 CF, go ahead, it's cheaper and faster by about 15%, or you can opt and get a 7970, pay the extra $$, take a 15% hit in perf, but be able to Xfire later, draw less power, and have a single card without the CF problems( I dont care what they did to there custom cf profiles, it's AMD, and they will always have issues with software) I have a 6970 right now, and instead of adding another 6970 in about 3 months, im just gonna sell it and get a 7970. Or if Kepler is out in 3 months and blows the 7970 out the water and is priced fair ( which probably wont happen) I'll grab that.
 
If you have an extremely powerful CPU like a i5 2500k and up, I think the new cards would match better. I am still on a Q9550 and I don't plan on upgrading the CPU so I am going the 6950 crossfire route since that would fit better with my system as a whole.
 
deadsoulz said:
Don't forget the power savings on 1 7970 vs 2 6950/70's.
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Unless you are gaming 24/7, that's just a few cents a week.

I went the two 6950s for $400 route and never regretted it. A 7970 is $150 more expensive @ $550 for less performance.
 
Less performance, but for how long though ? Who knows what drivers and OC'n will show in the next few months. Plus, he doesn't have the 2 6950's yet and the 7970 is out now or in the next couple weeks. A few months ago, it was a no brainer to CF 6950's because the price/performance was great. But now, with the 7970 and maybe even the 7950 and with everyone saying the 7000 series OC headroom is ridiculous, it something to really thing about. All I'm saying
 
heatthegreat said:
Less performance, but for how long though ? Who knows what drivers and OC'n will show in the next few months. Plus, he doesn't have the 2 6950's yet and the 7970 is out now or in the next couple weeks. A few months ago, it was a no brainer to CF 6950's because the price/performance was great. But now, with the 7970 and maybe even the 7950 and with everyone saying the 7000 series OC headroom is ridiculous, it something to really thing about. All I'm saying
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If they were the same price, you would have a point that the 7970 might catch up in performance with updates, new drivers, optimizations, new revelations, etc.

But 7970 will be MSRP for several months @ $550 while the price of a 6950 (which might unlock to a 6970) will keep dropping. You might find them for $180 which means trifire 6950s for the price of a single 7970 and the 7970 would still get smoked even with huge OC headroom.

If money were not an issue, I would go for 7970 though as a single card will always be less hassle than multiple cards.
 
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