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I have $335 for a gpu. Which one?

S

spaceman

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I would prefer to get a 6950 that is unlockable. Are there any brands most likely to do this? I saw the Msi on newegg did not unlock for the one review it got. I know that is not much to base things on but yeah. I need something to run 1920x1200 or 2048x1536 on my G500 crt which i run at 75-85 hz. Thanks for the help on that btw. Cpu is a Q9450 @ 3.6.

Thanks
 
I think the one you're referring to is the MSI TF2 reviewed at TPU. Yes, non-reference designs will not unlock. The reference design ones will unlock with a pretty good rate. Depending on where you live here are the best prices I have found.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150518

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161355

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127555

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Radeon-Ex...YXV2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1297252385&sr=8-3
 
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Is the unlocked 6950 comparable to the 6970 in terms of performance though? I would buy XFX btw.

Money is tight atm. Wife is going to school so yeah. One and a half income.
 
Most 6950 cards can unlock to 1536 shaders. This in itself does not help performance very much, it gives around 5% at most. Assuming that you can clock it up to 6970 speeds by bumping up the voltage, it will be exactly the same in hardware used and performance given. So yes, it has the potential to be just as fast, though some people get the lucky draw and some do not.

EDIT: I made it sound like it's a very subjective thing. It really is not, most people get to 880/1375, some people get close to it, some people pass it, but either way you wouldn't know the difference in-game.
 
You can get a 6970's performance out of a 6950, most of the time. However, you won't really exceed it.
 
XacTactX said:
Most 6950 cards can unlock to 1536 shaders. This in itself does not help performance very much, it gives around 5% at most. Assuming that you can clock it up to 6970 speeds by bumping up the voltage, it will be exactly the same in hardware used and performance given. So yes, it has the potential to be just as fast, though some people get the lucky draw and some do not.

EDIT: I made it sound like it's a very subjective thing. It really is not, most people get to 880/1375, some people get close to it, some people pass it, but either way you wouldn't know the difference in-game.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that the 6950 with shaders unlocked still have their texture units locked. This would mean that an unlocked and similarly clocked 6950 still wouldn't be the same as a 6970.
 
novadaemon said:
I was under the impression that the 6950 with shaders unlocked still have their texture units locked. This would mean that an unlocked and similarly clocked 6950 still wouldn't be the same as a 6970.
Click to expand...
That is incorrect. For your scenario to be true the TMUs would have to be decoupled from the SIMD engines and we know that is not the case.

The TMUs in Cayman are tied to each of the SIMD ALU engines in blocks of 4. So you have an ALU:TEX ratio of 4:1
Cayman XT (Radeon HD 6970) has 24 SIMD engines x 4 TMUs per engine = 96 total TMUs.
Cayman Pro (Radeon HD 6950) has 22 SIMD engines x 4 TMUs per engine = 88 total TMUs.

The term unlocking shaders is not technically accurate because you are unlocking more than just the extra SIMD engines. You are enabling the SIMD engines + the block of 4 TMUs tied to each of them. The picture below is of a full Cayman XT.

caymanblockdiagram.jpg
 
LOL what a revolution it would be if we started talking about it as 'the 6970 has "384 VLIW4 clusters" and the 5870 has "320 VLIW5 clusters" :p.

EDIT: Lorien's post got me thinking that. I'm normal, I'm normal...
 
Haha, yeah. I'm not touching that one even with a 10' pole.
 
Get a used 6970 of of the forums, I've seen them at like $320 shipped. Or get a 6950 and flash it.
 
Been debating the same thing at about the same money. Think I am going to spend $20 more and get a GTX 570.
 
samuelmorris said:
You can get a 6970's performance out of a 6950, most of the time. However, you won't really exceed it.
Click to expand...

Either of my 6950s exceed a stock 6970. Both have the unlocked Shader 6950 bios. GPU 1070 Ram 1425. Air cooler is holding me back a little as I'm currently running a little lower than that but I bench at those settings just fine. Fans have to be loud and fast though Come a month of so when I go water...
 
Looks like I get to pay the heating bill instead of getting a new gpu. yay

Glad I already sold my 5870. Now I can rock this old ass dell business pc for a while. Maybe I can get Diablo or Doom to work on it.
 
spaceman said:
Looks like I get to pay the heating bill instead of getting a new gpu. yay

Glad I already sold my 5870. Now I can rock this old ass dell business pc for a while. Maybe I can get Diablo or Doom to work on it.
Click to expand...

screw the heating bill...just buy a used 480 and OC it...it will function quite nicely as a space heater ;)
 
man you just missed a great deal an open box 6970 for 281.00 @ newegg. Sold quick
 
Open box is kind of a mixed bag though right? Might be ok, might be a good reason why it was returned. Good price though.

Eh, with my luck I will catch some crazy windfall and end up with a whole new rig. I am lucky that way. Be nice and kind to people and yeah..kharma I guess. No worries.
 
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