GTX 560 Ti vs. 6950 2GB

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Mr. Pedantic

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I have three options:



Sapphire 6950 2GB + Free Dirt 3 - $450


Powercolor 6950 2GB - $401


Gigabyte 560 Ti 1GB OC - $374


Both the 6950s are at stock. All three have dual-fan, open heatsink style cooling. And they're all NZ prices. No, I don't want to buy a card and ship it from Australia, or the US.


On the one hand, the 560 is cheap, and seems like really good value since several reviews peg it as hovering around the 6950 at stock, and given this is a factory-OC'd card, it should do okay (and then there's the [H] review...). On the other hand, the 6950 has all that extra memory...I know it's not very useful at the moment, but maybe in the future...?


Also, I know the Sapphire has Dirt 3. That's not really that useful for me, I'm not really planning on playing it; if I bought the Sapphire I'd probably just sell the game on or give it to a friend. If I sold it I could probably get about $30-40 off the coupon, I reckon.


I'm leaning towards the 560 Ti at the moment because it's cheaper, I've heard that it's really overclockable, and it seems to be quite a bit quieter than the 6950, which is important to me. I don't know how good with overclocking the 6950 is, though. And unless it was a reasonably safe bet, I wouldn't really consider being able to unlock the 6950 to a 6970 as an 'advantage'. I like warranties.


So, guys. What do you think?


I'll be coming from a 512MB 4870, on a Core i7 920. My resolution's 1920x1080.
 
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Generally speaking, 6950 is superior to 560 Ti across the board, even overclocked. At 1920x1080 though, you're not reaching the res where AMD really starts to run away, although that's not to say its still not a better choice. If you are willing and can sell the Dirt 3 voucher to make the Sapphire card the same as the 560 Ti, that's the clear cut winner. 2gb 6950 is more future proof, and thus more likely easier to resell or a better option for running multi-gpu in the future if you choose.

As to overclockability, I think you'll be fine with the 6950, as its got a fair amount of headroom. And while you know that the unlocking isn't guaranteed, the 6950 is better than the 560ti, and a 6970 is a fair margin past that - i.e., if you can unlock the shaders, great; if not, you'll likely be able to get at least good clocks.
 
either one is fine. since the gtx560 ti is cheaper I would probably go for that.

btw what are the rest of your specs???
 
I would definitely take the 6950 2GB over the 560 Ti easily (560 Ti probably wins the price vs performance ratio if that matters to you).

Next comes the question of warranty between Sapphire and Powercolor.. I have no experience with Powercolor, but Sapphire I can say from own experience that they have pretty good customer service (obv not on same level as eVGA or XFX or ASUS or Gigabyte but few GPU companies do).. Just based on that, I would take Sapphire, but if you don't care, it won't hurt to save some bucks and go with Powercolor... Warranty-wise: Gigabyte >>> Sapphire/Powercolor

Also, if you plan on upgrading within a year or 2, you may be better off going for the price vs performance ratio and getting the 560 Ti. If you don't plan on upgrading for a long time (like 3-4 years), you should get the best possible for your money right now and stick with the 6950. Depends on what you think and want to do.
 
If you get the 6950 you could potentially unlock the shaders and overclock it and have a 6970 card. Most of the new Dirt 3 edition cards unlock just by shutting down and flipping the BIOS switch.
 
Sweet, it seems 6950 is the way to go. I'll probably get it in a couple days' time; I have my last exam tomorrow, so... :D


@Cannondale: As in the OP, Core i7 920, 4870 512MB, 1920x1080 monitor. Also, I have 6GB RAM, and 700W Silverstone PSU.

I think I'm fine for now in terms of CPU, I might upgrade that a few years down the track. But I want BF3, and I want a new GPU to go with that. Though obviously I won't just be playing BF3, so I don't really want that to weight heavily on the decision

@Blade12: I've never really had to contact tech support, and I hope I won't have to this time round either. My 4870 was an XFX, though. Got it for the warranty/support, and never ended up having to using it. Kind of a shame, in a perverse way. But yeah, I've heard good things about Sapphire tech support, though I didn't realize Gigabyte's was better.

And I didn't think I'd upgrade my 4870 so soon. Before that I had a Radeon 9600 Pro and I literally ran it into the ground before I decided to upgrade. I thought I'd run the 4870 till it broke as well, to be honest. So I might, I might not. No idea, really.
 
With the flick of a switch on the side of the card, that Sapphire card unlocks the shaders of a 6970. I just picked up one on Friday for my GF's computer, and the built-in second BIOS worked flawlessly. Without a doubt, go with the Sapphire 6950, which is essentially a 6970.
 
Sorry, I made a mistake. The Sapphire is $450 instead of $413; is it still the best choice?
 
I second the 6950. With unlocked shaders, the performance is significantly superior to the 560.
 
6950 all the way, get it spend 10 minutes and get yourself a 6970 (and you only paid for the 6950).
 
Saabjock said:
All those prices are way too high.
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Because I live in New Zealand. Next time you think about how you are being price-gouged by Newegg or Frys, think about us, about how our prices are 50% higher, all the frickin' time.
 
Mr. Pedantic said:
Because I live in New Zealand. Next time you think about how you are being price-gouged by Newegg or Frys, think about us, about how our prices are 50% higher, all the frickin' time.
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that's actually about 75% more than prices at newegg. :eek:
 
If the 6950 you are looking at is the Dirt 3 edition, I absolutely love mine. Fantastic card.
a) Mine was preloaded with unlocked bios and unlock confirmed
b) Fantastic overclocker, 970/1370 totally stable so far.
c) Runs cool, 37C idle and only 60C full load with BF3 at 75% fan and is still pretty quiet.
 
6950 is twice as fast as a 4870 in DX9/10, but obviously also allows for DX11.
Dirt3 isn't a bad game with a steering wheel, it might even be fun with a xbox pad, but I use a G27....speaking of which, how much is a G27 in NZ?
 
$357. Almost as much as that 560 Ti. Good wheels here are expensive...just like everything else :p

I'm going to try order the card this morning before my exam, the only thing I'm waiting on is a bank transfer so I can pay for the thing.
 
6950 dirt 3, should have a switch on teh board to enable extra shaders and easily overclocks to 6970 ..
 
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I've seen bench tests where the 560Ti beats the 6950 2Gb in BF3 at certain resolutions/settings.

At very high resolutions the 6950 does seem to pull ahead slightly though. I think they're both good value, but I personally would go with the 560Ti. I don't think the 6950 is powerful enough to make good use of the extra VRAM.
 
Just got the 6950 about an hour ago. I'm pretty busy at the moment, but I'll see if I can take some pics and get it in sometime in the next few days.
 
DualOwn said:
once you enable msaa on 6950 the performance drops 27% more than nvidia boards.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2195975&page=10

and where do you get this" Much better scaling" from? AMD forums?
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Take a look at the review here on [H]; not only does MSAA not make a damn bit of difference while taking a massive hit on either card (agreed more on AMD), but Crossfire scaling was measured a 96%, over Nvidia's 80-something.

Heck, it's been shown over and over that AMD's 6000-series Crossfire scaling is superior to SLi scaling, to the point that a pair of unlocked HD6950's can keep up with 580GTX SLi on occasion (and never far behind).
 
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