I can't decide... GTX 570 or 6970

T

Tudz

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 15, 2008
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G'day all,

I need a new card to replace my GTX460 768mb.

My price range extends up to a 6970 or GTX 570, I can't decide which one I want.

The 6970 has more RAM, and I love high res texture packs so that's a plus (I assume the coming months will see some big texture packs for Skyrim, and I would like to try some mods for GTA4 which are RAM intensive). Its also slightly more powerful in benchmarks. Does the extra RAM of the 6970 actually mean anything? I remember in the past, one company was more efficient in its memory usage, so it would hit the RAM wall later despite similar amounts of RAM, does that still apply these days. Is the 2gb a real advantage, or not really?

nVidia... honestly I just prefer them. Their drivers actually remember video settings (have ATI fixed this yet? I found it extremely frustrating with my 4870, I wanted one colour profile for TV and another for desktop, which it could do... but it wouldn't remember the damn settings). They seem to be more stable on new release games. They have more gimmicks (Physx... I don't care about it much and I know its a gimmick, but all things being equal, I'd take the card with Physx over the one without it). Also CUDA... which I doubt I'll ever use, but maybe I will... one day. In the past I've preferred their drivers, though admittedly I haven't used ATI drivers for about a year and a half when the 4870 was dying on me.

Now that the dust of new releases has settled, what are people recommending these days?

There is also the option of waiting for the next gen... but I really want to spend some time gaming over the next month so, and that GTX460 keeps reminding me that its good, but not good enough :p
 
Well, for how long do you intend to keep these GPU ?

The 6970 has a beefier 2GB memory. So, it would be more future proof. Also, it would be better if you are planing to go multi monitor

However, apparently the 570 takes a slight lead in most of the benchmarks. And if you are happy with one monitor, then I'll advise you the 570.

Basically, you'll be happy with any of the two card. Its not like a heaven and earth difference between the two..
 
@OP

I would recommend amd 6970 2gb over gtx 570 1.25gb.
If you have 1080p resolution, gtx 570 1.25gb vram might not be enough. BF3 ultra settings will probably use more than 1.25gb vram and more future game will have higher requirements.
 
krazyatom said:
@OP

I would recommend amd 6970 2gb over gtx 570 1.25gb.
If you have 1080p resolution, gtx 570 1.25gb vram might not be enough. BF3 ultra settings will probably use more than 1.25gb vram and more future game will have higher requirements.
Click to expand...

I run BF3 Ultra @ 1080p with zero slowdown. I have SLI but even with one 570 Ultra was still playable. No VRAM issues, anyway, is my point.

The only VRAM issues I've had so far with 1.25 GB is running Skyrim with a ton of texture mods and 8x FSAA. Turning down to 2x or 4x resolves it, and it's not even low framerate so much as minor stuttering as VRAM is flushed/loaded.

Basically as has been said, if you plan on going over 1080p, go for the 6970. If not, get the 570. Depending on your budget, you could also consider the 570 2.5 GB version.
 
AMD's next gen video cards should be released in less than a week (if the reports are correct). If so, the 7950 would probably be a good option for you.
 
jbz7890 said:
AMD's next gen video cards should be released in less than a week (if the reports are correct). If so, the 7950 would probably be a good option for you.
Click to expand...

This , just be patient no reason to buy a card now and be disappointed when the new cards come out and you have not enough money to buy them , that is if you don't have extra cash but if you got $$$ to burn then go for it. They are both good cards!
 
Wait till January 9th to see what the HD7950 does to pricing. It may either be in your price range, or cause the 570/6970 to drop enough to make it worth it. It could potentially be considerably faster and being you've lasted this long 3 weeks shouldn't be too bad? Currently the HD7970 leaked price is ~500e before tax but if it is only the sites trying to gouge on pre-release then it could be less which would make the 7950 potentially in the same range under $400. Who knows, but it is worth waiting. The 570 is limited in BF3 so it most likely will be in other upcoming titles in 2012 as well.
 
I would go with the GTX570 out of those two. I don't care what anyone says Nvidia cards tend to perform a little more reliability and from what I've seen fermi has the better minimum framerate of the two most of the time. On top of that Nvidia has some nice features like 3d vision, ambient occlusion, working transparency aa in DX10 and 11. I just think that out of those two that the GTX570 is the better buy at 1920x1080 or 1200.
 
Damn it! Such mixed responses, doesn't help me at all :p I was going to make it a poll but I failed, oh well. The GTX570 2.5gb is an option... but its $80AUD more than a 6970 (Gigabyte 3 fan 6970 = $379AUD, EVGA 2.5gb 570 is $460AUD). I could afford it, its on the high end of my price range, it just doesn't seem worth the premium over a 6970!

I'm considering waiting... but the thing about waiting is that I'm on holidays now and for the next few weeks, so waiting 3 weeks means I'll be buying it just before I go back to work, that's assuming the rumours are true. So buying now has the advantage that I'll actually be able to use it for my break! I don't mind wasting a few bucks, the more annoying thing would be if something more powerful comes along in the same price range.

But obviously I dont want to get ripped off by buying now if prices are going to drop like a rock, though I think the past generation it took a few weeks before prices dropped significantly because the new gen didn't really blow the last gen away or anything. You have to take into account I'm in Australia, prices don't always respond as fast out here. If the new stuff releases overpriced and isn't much more powerful than the old gen, the old gen will tend to hold its price.
 
I don't think that prices are going to drop like a rock but the rumored paper launch is the 22nd so you might as well wait four days see what the price on AMD's 7xxx series looks like. If you really want to buy now I don't think that you would regret going with a 6950 2GB. It'll overclock to 6970 levels and performance is about the same when it does.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
I don't think that prices are going to drop like a rock but the rumored paper launch is the 22nd so you might as well wait four days see what the price on AMD's 7xxx series looks like. If you really want to buy now I don't think that you would regret going with a 6950 2GB. It'll overclock to 6970 levels and performance is about the same when it does.
Click to expand...

That is a decent alternative. The 6950 with the BIOS switch and test if you get the shaders, if not just OC a bit. They are on sale frequently. Either way, the 570 is probably quite reliable as mentioned above, but the 1.2 GB is simply not enough and it can't handle AA due to vram (in BF3), although it's a given that the 6950 can't handle the AA its due to some driver/architecture thing and not a lack of memory. The 2.5 GB cards are not worth it either, the card needs to be optimized to handle the memory and simply doubling it doesn't mean it can handle it (as benchmarks show there's not much difference).

I doubt prices will crash down, it's only the question of whether the 7950 will be priced close to the current 6970 rates.
 
wand3r3r said:
That is a decent alternative. The 6950 with the BIOS switch and test if you get the shaders, if not just OC a bit. They are on sale frequently. Either way, the 570 is probably quite reliable as mentioned above, but the 1.2 GB is simply not enough and it can't handle AA due to vram (in BF3), although it's a given that the 6950 can't handle the AA its due to some driver/architecture thing and not a lack of memory. The 2.5 GB cards are not worth it either, the card needs to be optimized to handle the memory and simply doubling it doesn't mean it can handle it (as benchmarks show there's not much difference).

I doubt prices will crash down, it's only the question of whether the 7950 will be priced close to the current 6970 rates.
Click to expand...

Any single card on the market including 6970 is going to hit a wall with gpu power before vram in BF3 from what I've heard but I don't play BF3. At 1920x1080 I never ran into a game where I was limited by vram on a GTX570 at 1920x1080. In fact I ran most games in 3d.

Kind of like Crysis 2 and the quake source port Darkplaces from what I've heard BF3 caches into vram even if it doesn't need to so in most cases it may not effect performance in that game.
 
Now is not a good time to upgrade. If you want to maximize your investment wait for the new AMD cards to drop soon and either reap the benefits of lowered prices on the 6900 cards or invest in a new 7900 series card.
 
I had to make a similar decisions. I went with the 570 because the benchmarks are faster and Nvidia typically has better driver support. I'm @ 1080p and have not yet seen my GPU frame buffer go over 800ish MB so I'm not worried about not having enough GPU memory.
 
Anything aside from an EVGA card. Their quality control went downhill, at least on their 560tis.

The Sapphire HD 6950 2GB duel fan is a nice card, but the cooler is cheap, poorly mounted, and it comes with AMD drivers. Otherwise it is fast, cool, and quiet. Has the switch to unlock it as well.
 
Yeah the latest rumor is December 22nd for a limited release on the 7950 and 7970. I think you should at least wait until Thursday and check some reviews to see how everything stacks up then. Probably wouldn't be able to get one until early January though and they will be a good chunk more than a 570/6970.
 
If I buy, it'll be on the 22nd. I'm actually still on holiday and don't get back home until late night on the 21st or early morning on the 22nd anyway. Maybe I'll just go to the shop and flip a coin :p I'm not expecting the next generation to be hugely better price/performance than the current gen, both ATI and nVidia seem content to let prices sit at their current levels.

I don't imagine the VRAM on the 570 would be an issue under most circumstances, but I'm a sucker for high res textures and I'll be kicking myself if I can't use high res mods in Skyrim with a GTX570 because of VRAM.
 
Here is my experience with my SLI 570 1.28gbs with 2500k @ 4.5ghz @ 1080p.

I only really play BF3 and the occasional Skyrim, and some Batman AC. In BF3, my VRAM usage is always maxed out. It sits at around 1150mb usage all the time, which is shy of the 1.28gb so it's pretty much maxed out since most people with 2gb cards say even at 1080p, BF3 vram usage is in the 1.6-1.8gb. I play BF3 with Ultra texture settings, medium FXAA and 2x MSAA and HBAO on. I get a consistent average of 90fps and drops to 60 at worse and highs of 130 when in buildings. No microstutter at all, buttery smooth.

However, once I take the MSAA to 4x, all hell breaks loose on my game, especially with the new expansion maps. I would average around 80, but when intense firefights happen, it drops down to 30s for a couple seconds and I get a micro stutter effect where it would get unplayable because the 30 fps would get so choppy. I need to look away from the action for it to get back up. Sometimes it would happen randomly and it's quite annoying. I would be running and just take a turn and my frames suddenly tank from 80 down to 30 for 2 seconds and jumps back up, creating a bad lagging, stuttering effect. Turning down MSAA from 4x to 2x removes this completely.

Now, I don't know if it's GPU power, or VRAM limitation from the 4x MSAA or what since even with 2x MSAA, my VRAM usage is already maxed out and it's buttery smooth so I don't know what's up with 4x MSAA.

I don't own a 6970 so I don't know how much smoother it would be with 2gb of vram vs the 570s 1.28gb, but I'm satisfied with the 570s. Granted I paid $700 for video card setup, and can't even max out BF3 with 4xMSAA, but I'm sure if I went CFX 6970 route, I would also run into problems too. I just keep telling myself that.
 
WiL11o6 said:
Here is my experience with my SLI 570 1.28gbs with 2500k @ 4.5ghz @ 1080p.

I only really play BF3 and the occasional Skyrim, and some Batman AC. In BF3, my VRAM usage is always maxed out. It sits at around 1150mb usage all the time, which is shy of the 1.28gb so it's pretty much maxed out since most people with 2gb cards say even at 1080p, BF3 vram usage is in the 1.6-1.8gb. I play BF3 with Ultra texture settings, medium FXAA and 2x MSAA and HBAO on. I get a consistent average of 90fps and drops to 60 at worse and highs of 130 when in buildings. No microstutter at all, buttery smooth.

However, once I take the MSAA to 4x, all hell breaks loose on my game, especially with the new expansion maps. I would average around 80, but when intense firefights happen, it drops down to 30s for a couple seconds and I get a micro stutter effect where it would get unplayable because the 30 fps would get so choppy. I need to look away from the action for it to get back up. Sometimes it would happen randomly and it's quite annoying. I would be running and just take a turn and my frames suddenly tank from 80 down to 30 for 2 seconds and jumps back up, creating a bad lagging, stuttering effect. Turning down MSAA from 4x to 2x removes this completely.

Now, I don't know if it's GPU power, or VRAM limitation from the 4x MSAA or what since even with 2x MSAA, my VRAM usage is already maxed out and it's buttery smooth so I don't know what's up with 4x MSAA.

I don't own a 6970 so I don't know how much smoother it would be with 2gb of vram vs the 570s 1.28gb, but I'm satisfied with the 570s. Granted I paid $700 for video card setup, and can't even max out BF3 with 4xMSAA, but I'm sure if I went CFX 6970 route, I would also run into problems too. I just keep telling myself that.
Click to expand...

Thats basically my experience with the 1 GB 560 ti (@1680x1050). The memory is full without it and when I enabled it (AA) the fps tank like that. It's got to be the memory limitation as the same thing happens with SLI from what I've gathered.
 
Mmk, so it seems like maybe I should get a 2gb card or just wait. Maybe I'll just take a gamble and get a 6950 and if it unlocks it unlocks, if it doesn't it doesn't. For Batman (basically the only PhysX game I want to try) I can put in my GTX460 as a 2nd card and see if I can get it working. Then at least it'll save me about $100 so if I want to get a card next generation as well it wont break my wallet... too much...
 
wand3r3r said:
Thats basically my experience with the 1 GB 560 ti (@1680x1050). The memory is full without it and when I enabled it (AA) the fps tank like that. It's got to be the memory limitation as the same thing happens with SLI from what I've gathered.
Click to expand...

Exept that from what I gather AMD cards including the 2GB models also take a big hit from MSAA with that game. I wouldn't be so quick to point my finger at vram as the cause.
 
nVidia cards perform better in heavily tessellated DX11 games, and give you PhysX support. Their drivers are also better than AMD's.
 
I've had 10 ATi cards in the last 12 years and 2 nVidia. At this point in time having just upgraded from a 4870x2 to a GTX 580 my recommendation would be get the GTX 570, if for no other reason than I can't stand the ATi drivers or that horrible CCC.
 
Get the GTX 570.

I play BF3 on Ultra at 1080 no problems whatsoever.

I play Crysis 2 on Ultra with the high-res texture pack, no problem whatsoever.

It outperforms the 6970 on the majority of benchmarks. It would be silly to get the 6970, especially when it's easy to find 570s for 30-40$ cheaper.
 
Went with a 6970 last year for the triple monitor support. 3x 24" displays really makes desktop work interesting, and I've never ever run out of space for various open tabs, programs, etc. Haven't had any major driver issues, and the card is quiet and performs well. I couldn't really ask for more.
If you just have a single screen, then it probably doesn't matter which card you get. So just buy on price, whatever you can get the better deal on, as gaming is going to be virtually identical on either card.
 
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