GTX260 SLI to single 6950 or 6970: should I?

M

MaxBurn

[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 14, 2004
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Thinking about doing this but can't find any charts or comparisons that really do an apples to apples on these because of the age difference. Will I see any differences? It is the machine in the signature.

Playing mostly recent fallouts, bioshock, GTA4, CODs and DAOC. Using 1920x1080 with highest quality and as much AA/AF as I can run before it chokes.

Will think about the 6970 hack, likely do it.
 
Well, it makes sense if you want to go DX11 and take advantage of some more Vram (2GB) and newer tech, i.e.. tessellation. I would imagine you could get at least $200 for both 260's, then you only be $100 out of pocket for the 6950.
Haven't see any benches of 260 SLI vs.6950 but I would imagine the 6950 would curb-stomp it...
 
I know this is not the FS forum, but I might be interested in buying your 260s if the price is right.

In which case you would be pretty close to your goal of getting a 6950, then hack it to a 6970 and have a nice dx11 card for relatively little money.

As I understand it, a 216 260 is very close to a gtx 460 1bg card at reference clocks. So I would think that 260s in sli would be faster in most games than a 6970. But you would get a larger frame buffer which would help in some games with high AA and AF settings. Of course your res isn't super high so...not sure if the vram would matter at all.
 
GTA IV does not take advantage of multi GPU so you'll see a big increase there.
 
UtopiA said:
Single 6950 would probably actually be slower.
Click to expand...

I dont even feel a need to tell you why youre wrong. Im just going to hope you are normally an inteligent person and this was a mistake and you were tired/drunk.
 
:):) said:
I dont even feel a need to tell you why youre wrong. Im just going to hope you are normally an inteligent person and this was a mistake and you were tired/drunk.
Click to expand...
In most games, the 6950 would be slower.
Unless the 260 SLi has terrible scaling.

edit;
260 C216 SLi is looking to be faster than the 4870X2 (I had to go check old benchmarks).
A single 6950 is indeed significantly slower.

edit edit;
Somewhere from 2% to 13% slower (average, 1920x1200), to be as exact as possible.
 
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edit edit edit: YOu prved my point. Its faster in 99% of Multi GPU sclaing gamnes.
 
UtopiA, could you link those benchs you were looking at? Even if things were a touch slower think I could turn up the eye candy / AA&AF and still wind up about the same speed? You think the 6970 modification would make it about a wash then?

There is always the possibility I could SLI 6950 down the road too, need to check power supply specs they need though.

1,1,2,3,5,...YGPM
 
Personally, I think you should make the jump. A 6950 will be ahead where it counts. In older DX9 titles a 260 SLI setup will be faster but you'll probably already be averaging 100 FPS or more either card, so it's a wash there.
 
Thank you, that's the homework I didn't really want to study up on for the equivalencies for several hours. I will mull it over.

Looks like my PS is set, it isn't on the list but it puts out more power than one that is on the list for 2x6970.
 
:):) said:
6970/570
6950
GTX 295
4870 X2
5870---Dual GTX 260s.
Click to expand...
This is incorrect.
The 295 is 15% faster than the 5870 at 1920x1200, the 6970 is 13% faster at the same resolution -- the GTX 295 should be at the top of your list.
The 6950 is not faster than the 4870X2.
The 4870X2 and Dual 260's trade blows, as long as the 260's are Core 216.

The speeds are so close, the upgrade would show no performance gain (or significant performance loss in most cases), that it's not worth the money. The only benefit is ditching two cards to be replaced with one card (Not multi-GPU).

Fixed it:
GTX 295 (15%)
6970/570 (13%, 9.8%)
4870 X2 (4%)
GTX 260 SLi (+4%?)
6950 (2%)
5870 (0%)
Percentages are relative to the 5870, since the 5870 exists across all benchmarks.

Also, when I say "path", I meant benchmark path (how to compare the 6950 and GTX 260 SLi across multiple benchmark reviews).
Not performance path. That needed to be cleared up. :)
 
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UtopiA said:
This is incorrect.
The 295 is 15% faster than the 5870 at 1920x1200, the 6970 is 13% faster at the same resolution -- the GTX 295 should be at the top of your list.
The 6950 is not faster than the 4870X2.
The 4870X2 and Dual 260's trade blows, as long as the 260's are Core 216.

The speeds are so close, the upgrade would show no performance gain (or significant performance loss in most cases), that it's not worth the money. The only benefit is ditching two cards to be replaced with one card (Not multi-GPU).

Fixed it:
GTX 295 (15%)
6970/570 (13%, 9.8%)
4870 X2 (4%)
GTX 260 SLi (+4%?)
6950 (2%)
5870 (0%)
Percentages are relative to the 5870, since the 5870 exists across all benchmarks.

Also, when I say "path", I meant benchmark path (how to compare the 6950 and GTX 260 SLi across multiple benchmark reviews).
Not performance path. That needed to be cleared up. :)
Click to expand...

I had a look at some old benchmarks at Anandtech and in most cases the 5870 is matching or beating the 295 at 1920x1200. You also have to consider that was done with launch drivers; the gap has widened since then.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2841/18

Comparing the Crysis results back then to now with Anandtech's 6970 review show a 5FPS boost for the 5870.
 
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_5870/30.html

perfrel_1920.gif


You also have to consider that was done with launch drivers; the gap has widened since then.
Click to expand...
Correct.
I already specified these "cross-review" benchmarks ignore driver updates.

Comparing the Crysis results back then to now with Anandtech's 6970 review show a 5FPS boost for the 5870.
Click to expand...
Worth noting, ATI spent a lot of time optimizing for Crysis recently.
A 15% increase across the board (average), to catch the 295, is probably impossible.
 
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I never realized how fast my 4870 crossfire setup was. Still, the jump to a 6970 has returned very noticeable results, I'd imagine a 6950 would be as fast or faster without any of the multi-GPU crap you have to put up with.

Definite upgrade from where I sit, especially since he'll be able to flash that 6950 into a 6970 relatively easily. 260's in SLI work with games that support them, but crank up the resolution and AA + DX11...and there isn't even a comparison between them and the 6900 cards. People saying not to upgrade are smoking the crack pipe big time.

And why are we even talking about the 295? The OP doesn't even have one...and being based hybrid design (280/260), its not even a direct comparison to his 260 SLI setup.
 
Well, I was extremely nervous when I decided to upgrade before christmas. I had a 4870x2 and was looking at benchmarks wondering what to do. If I had went on benchmarks from other sites I wouldn't have upgraded at all, instead I focused purely on the hard reviews of every card I was thinking about and in the end decided to get the 6950.

So I ordered it with the attitude that it wouldn't make major difference in games performance, but would be able to get on the DX11 bandwagon. But, I was very wrong. The 6950 is so much better than the 4870x2. I can turn settings up higher, it plays much smoother and is much quieter.

Then add the fact that if you hook it via hdmi to a receiver, you can bitstream all the HD audio codecs, I actually have ditched my sound card and use the HDMI audio for everything.

I would imagine the 260 sli is roughly the same as the 4870x2, I think you will be very happy with the jump to the 6950 and If you use the PC for more than games you will be even happier :)
 
That's sort of what I am hoping for, raw framerate aside if I can run with higher settings and still get good frame rates I'd be happy.

Then maybe six months or so down the road I pick up another 6950/6970 and be back to SLI again. Maybe.
 
i was considering this upgrade from my 260 216sp SLI set up but its really just a side grade, and at 300 bucks an expensive one, ill hang on to my current set up for another year and be just fine in all the games i play anyway. then ill build a 6-8 core SB with a 28nm GPU in about a year, THAT will be a worthy upgrade
 
reaper12 said:
Well, I was extremely nervous when I decided to upgrade before christmas. I had a 4870x2 and was looking at benchmarks wondering what to do. If I had went on benchmarks from other sites I wouldn't have upgraded at all, instead I focused purely on the hard reviews of every card I was thinking about and in the end decided to get the 6950.

So I ordered it with the attitude that it wouldn't make major difference in games performance, but would be able to get on the DX11 bandwagon. But, I was very wrong. The 6950 is so much better than the 4870x2. I can turn settings up higher, it plays much smoother and is much quieter.

Then add the fact that if you hook it via hdmi to a receiver, you can bitstream all the HD audio codecs, I actually have ditched my sound card and use the HDMI audio for everything.

I would imagine the 260 sli is roughly the same as the 4870x2, I think you will be very happy with the jump to the 6950 and If you use the PC for more than games you will be even happier :)
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This.... I have tried many, many multi-gpu setups, and they put up big benchmark numbers, but are not as smooth as I like while gaming.
 
my 260 sli set up delivers much improved gameplay over a single 260. i never notice "unsmooth" game play in BFBC2 mafia 2 or Lotro. what gave me the upgrade itch was wanting higher levels of AA and DX11 300 bucks is worth more or less depending on who you ask, to me not worth the money just yet
 
I'm pretty happy with my 6950, after I got my royal screwing with the whole driver installation over with. Plays everything still and looks better with higher settings. I didn't do the softmod 6970, not really planning on it either.
 
460 1 GB SLi will easily trump a single 6950. Read it here: http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-crossfirex-review/6

But honestly, I have a GTX 260 SLi that I run Surround on, and I have yet to find a game it cannot run smoothly.....excepting Metro 2033.

If I was considering an up- grade it would have to be a CrossfireX and EyeFinity or bolstering the system you have and going Surround.

I think the suggestion about two 460s is a good one. They are quite cheap at this point and will carry you a good bit until the next generation of nvidia cards comes along.
 
cbutters said:
I know the 768mb limits you with a single card but shouldn't sli make up for that?
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No, SLI makes things worse, as there's actually less memory available to each card. Two 768MB cards doesn't give you twice the speed and 1536MB, it's actually more like 720MB.
 
Magoo, the 460's are kind of moot now because he's already purchased the 6950.

Anyways, glad you got your card and are enjoying it. The only thing I think should be pointed out is how you keep referring to putting two 6950's in sli in the future, as you can't. You can Crossfire them, which is virtually the same, but if you have an sli only motherboard, you'll need a new motherboard that supports crossfire.
 
magoo said:
460 1 GB SLi will easily trump a single 6950. Read it here: http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-crossfirex-review/6

But honestly, I have a GTX 260 SLi that I run Surround on, and I have yet to find a game it cannot run smoothly.....excepting Metro 2033.

If I was considering an up- grade it would have to be a CrossfireX and EyeFinity or bolstering the system you have and going Surround.

I think the suggestion about two 460s is a good one. They are quite cheap at this point and will carry you a good bit until the next generation of nvidia cards comes along.
Click to expand...

Does that include BC2 running smoothly? Im seriously considering getting another 260 and going surround but im a bit concerned about BC2 not running well.
 
I dont see any minimum framerates in that review, that is where you have trouble. He was also quoting the cheaper 768mb cards above in his question.
 
6950 is slower than 260 216 sli. substantially. if you dont notice microstutter, keep the cards and wait for something better.
 
Yeah. That statement is true. To say the 6950 is substantially slower than GTX260 SLI, quite a lot different to your other statement, is false.
 
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