Help me pick one of the 2 cards please

Depends. Resolution? If you plan on crossfiring, doesn't really pay to spend the extra $$. Two 6950s should be good for most any game in the next 2 years unless you are going huge.
 
The 6950 will guarantee a lower level of performance, but has a good chance of gaining enough performance to reach a stock 6970. The stock 6970 guarantees a higher level of performance and RAM rated for 1500MHz, albeit at a higher cost.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_560_Twin_Frozr_II/23.html

Simple question for you, OP: Do you place any value on the guaranteed performance level and better RAM of the 6970 compared to the 6950, and if yes, is it worth $75?

My personal opinion: I'd get a stock 6950 2GB and unlock/OC it myself.
 
Selecting the best card is a personal choice reflecting the tradeoff between better perfomance and cost. Is it worth it to you?

You need to consider what games you play and at what settings and screen resolution.

You can find more information about and links to reviews at:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/reviews
 
Thanks for the replies.

As far as games go, I am thinking of re-opening my City of Heroes/Villains account. Maybe Star Wars Old Republic, and maybe Final Fantasy.

As far as specs go:
my board is a Biostar TA890FXE
AMD Phenom x 6 ( can't remember the specific one, not at home)
No memory yet, but planning to max out at 16gig w/ DDR3 1800
No hdd/psu yet.

This is my first build in almost 5 years so I need a more up to date hdd and psu.

I want the performance so am leaning toward the 6970 and wait for a price drop to grab the second one.
I also prefer 1028x720 resolution.
 
CyberSlave said:
Thanks for the replies.

As far as games go, I am thinking of re-opening my City of Heroes/Villains account. Maybe Star Wars Old Republic, and maybe Final Fantasy.

As far as specs go:
my board is a Biostar TA890FXE
AMD Phenom x 6 ( can't remember the specific one, not at home)
No memory yet, but planning to max out at 16gig w/ DDR3 1800
No hdd/psu yet.

This is my first build in almost 5 years so I need a more up to date hdd and psu.

I want the performance so am leaning toward the 6970 and wait for a price drop to grab the second one.
I also prefer 1028x720 resolution.
Click to expand...
i think the 6970 is overkill for those games and that resolution, let alone 6970 crossfire. Although, your cpu and memory are overkill too, so i'm assuming you're building this more as futureproof than for what you're currently doing.

if you are considering flashing a 6950 to 6970, read this first:
http://www.techimo.com/forum/graphics-cards-displays/255792-6950-6970-flash-info.html
 
Yeah you don't need crossfire at 720p, nowhere near it. I'd say a single HD6850 would be enough.
 
yeah, and you're not even pushing 720p. Hell, you're pushing less pixels than i used to push in 1998 running half life at 1024*768. In fact, why are you running such a strange resolution? what monitor do you have?
 
I'm pretty sure he meant 1280x720, but still that's a low res that even a 6850 can handle with ease
 
At that resolution you might want to spend the dough on a monitor that supports a higher resolution. 6950 would be a overkill. Even the 460 would be a overkill.
 
I agree with everyone else, pick up the 6850 unless you are going to be pushing 1920x1080 at max/high settings
 
Again, I thank you for the replies.

I am future proofing to a degree. I know the games are nothing that will push the card.
The resolution is lower because I have not replaced my monitor yet.
My current is duel 17" LCD but I do plan to upgrade that also to 27" or bigger.
I would love to make my monitor a duel 36" LED tv but I don't have the space just yet and I need to do more research into televisions as monitors. But the least would be duel 27's.
 
I don't really understand why people say "this or that card is a waste of money for your resolution".

My friend, if you are not the kind of guy that spends money every 6 months in new cards... try to get the best card for the money but with some future proofing. It can be an overkill at the present time, but in 6 months, it will keep giving your good performance in future games ...

As for the cards... usually, the ATI 6950's 2Gb with Dual Bios can be flashed with 6970's bios. The 6950's 1Gb can't because they don't have dual bios.

What's your budget. Keep in mind that EVGA is launching a 460 2Win board, that's basically a dual gpu card with 2 GF104 chips ( GTX460 ) with a price tag that is lower that a GTX580.

But now, if it was me, i would go for a 6950 2Gb and flash it to the 6970 bios ;) Best bang for your buck!
The 2Gb although people say that are only useful on higher resolutions, it's not entirely true because when you increase AA and Ansio filters, they will use the available VRAM... so ... usually ... more VRAM available, more AA & Ansio performace, more FPS.

;)
 
I hope you get a new monitor soon because at just 1280x720 that gpu is going to HORRIBLY underutilized.
 
Yep.
Next on the list is a HDD and Win7
then PSU
Finally monitor.
A month hopefully.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top