Sapphire 6950 Toxic Edition in stock @ Newegg

Not really. The HD6950 can be up to 50% faster than the HD6850, it's a much bigger card, and also has a 2GB version, which the HD6850 does not. They're very different. The HD6870 and HD6950 are much closer.
 
So... add another 6850, or get a 6950. 1920x1200 res. Specifically for BF3.

My XFX 6850 is about half the speed of my Toxic 6950 card in pretty much everything. (granted the XFX is the 775mhz version, and the 6950 is unlocked)

here's one test I did
Results of 6850 vs 6950 with [email protected]

6850 w/Intel 2500k @4.8ghz
Crysis Warhammer
Resolution: 1920×1080 (HD WideScreen) Ulra High Quality
Result(1): Minimum= 16 FPS Average= 23 FPS Max= 27 FPS

Sapphire Toxic 6950 @ 6970 speeds w/Intel [email protected]
Crysis Warhammer
Resolution: 1920×1080 (HD WideScreen) Ulra High Quality
Result(1): Minimum= 30 FPS Average= 38 FPS Max= 45 FPS

I'm planning 2 6950's unlocked for BF3 since it's going to take GTX580 in SLI type speed for ultra settings (or dual unlocked 6950's), and that's for 1200p (1920x1200 resolution)

My sons are hooked up with i3-2100 and the 6850 (19" low res monitor, hey he's 5, it's pretty good for his age) .. and a 1055t (undervolted) with the 6850 for play on a 720p 46" plasma in his room (yeah, he's spoiled too)
 
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Thanks. I have a 2500k too, but only at 4.2gig and a MSI P67A with 8gigs of ram. With a MSI Cyclone 6850 at 860/1100 stock overclock. Pretty happy with it in every other game so far. But I dont want slow downs in BF3 at all.

Guess Ill see what the benches are this week, I should be my beta key tomorrow too. Id like to see some Crossfire results compared to single 6950 results too.
 
Not really. The HD6950 can be up to 50% faster than the HD6850, it's a much bigger card, and also has a 2GB version, which the HD6850 does not. They're very different. The HD6870 and HD6950 are much closer.

Oh whoops, you're right. I was thinking of the 6870.

So, now here's a question...Should I wait for this card to get in stock, or should I consider just buying a GTX 570? How much difference in performance is there between the two? Because right now there is an MSI 570 with a $50 rebate which brings it down to the same price as the Toxic card after rebate.
 
It was instock for half a second and then out of stock again... I think people are calling the customer support and reserving them... as they say they are getting a shipment but on that date they are OOS again.
 
I wasn't aware you could do that...

Doesn't seem fair, really.

It was in-stock about a week ago for a good chunk of time, I was hoping that would happen again today.

I guess if it doesn't go in-stock by the rebate expiration then maybe I'll just pick up a GTX 570 or something, I dunno.
 
For a good chunk of time ??? You mean like ... 30 minutes ?? I've been checking every day and obviously missed out on the Monday shipment, but its gotten to the point now that I'm eying up other cards rather than wait another week for them to sell out in 10 minutes.

HIS IceQ X Turbo 6950 looks like a nice alternative at this point. Funny thing is, 5 minutes after I order something other than the Sapphire, they will then become available again ;)
 
Yeah, honestly I've been looking into just getting a GTX 570 or something for the same price. From what I've read/heard it will provide similar performance, and they're actually in-stock.... :p
 
So are other HD6950s, people seem to forget that sometimes. One of the MSI 6950s also unlocks apparently.
 
I've been thinking the same, and I'm kinda bummed that I passed on the Zotac 570 Amp last week in hopes that the Toxic would come back in stock.
What keeps me from buying is the fact that I never bought ATI/AMD for any main PC build, so this seemed like a good time to see what the other 'team' offers. I am also in no rush for the video card, as I am only playing older games currently.
 
Yeah, I've been nVidia for awhile now, and was willing to give AMD a shot....that said, I keep reading that AMD cards have some problems with ArmA2, which is a game I play often...so I'm thinking I might be better suited going nVidia again. Dunno yet, I guess I'll watch the stock on the Toxic and make a decision before the rebate runs out. :cool:

So are other HD6950s, people seem to forget that sometimes. One of the MSI 6950s also unlocks apparently.

True, but it looks like that one is also out of stock. I'm guessing pretty much all of the "guaranteed" unlockers are continually OOS.
 
I think it just easier to buy a reference card or an already unlocked card than it is to get this Toxic card, with the hopes that it would be the unlocked version. I would of loved to have an unlocked version of this card but I gave up. Instead I just picked up a MSI 6950 2GB Twin Frozr III unlocked card. Would of loved to have this card still.
 
I think it just easier to buy a reference card or an already unlocked card than it is to get this Toxic card, with the hopes that it would be the unlocked version. I would of loved to have an unlocked version of this card but I gave up. Instead I just picked up a MSI 6950 2GB Twin Frozr III unlocked card. Would of loved to have this card still.

That's what I was thinking of getting as well. I give up on the Toxic card. It's never available! The MSI 6950 with 2GB is a rock solid card. Good pick up!
 
I just picked one up from a seller on eBay for $289 shipped and apparently he sells multiples, I assume he has a shop or something.
 
MSI, there are Toxic's on eBay but a little pricey compared to Neweggs price or compared to buying the MSI.
 
I might order me the MSI on Friday from Newegg. I was also going to order up the 2500K and new mobo as well. Can't make up my mind what I want to do!
 
Thanks for the input. Which 6950 from MSI is the unlocked one? Wondering where I can pick up one rather then at the egg. I'd like to go Newegg, I'm just itching to upgrade.
 
Not sure if that one unlocks or not...I guess many of them have the chance to, but there are certain models which seem to have a higher success rate.

It does say that that particular model doesn't have the BIOS switch, so it's probably riskier to try and unlock anyway.
 
This is the one I was looking at. Not sure if it's unlocked or not. I wonder if anyone has information on it. I'll have to read the reviews to see what others might be saying.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127562

That model has a single bios that is not writable. You can try and do a gum trick mod to manually flash it with it's own bios edited in RBE to unlock the 6970 shaders. It also was a model that didn't sell very well because of it. This is one reason MSI made the twin frozr 3 unlockable and come with a dual bios switch.

This is a pic of the mod in action and below the pic is a link to the great thread started by Lorien on this forum

dscn2654p.jpg


http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1621938

What I like about the twin frozr 2's is since they didn't sell that well they more than likely have gpu's from the older batch which were definitely not laser blocked. Nothing is guaranteed but I like your chances with a card like that using a mod like the gum mod. Note that people have bricked that card flashing a 6970 bios to it so do not flash one of those. I'd do as I suggested before and flash it's own bios after you mod it in RBE to add 6970 shaders and save it.
 
Completely overpriced waste of $... just buy a $210 6950 2GB and flash it to a 6970... then download the simple registry hack and voila, powertune past 840 mhz
 
Keep checking. The notify feature on newegg sucks too. I kept going to the site and got lucky a couple weeks back. Never received the in stock notification from newegg.
 
Someone in another thread mentioned that they called Newegg about these and Newegg said they didn't have any shipment coming in the foreseeable future. Take that as you will, but at this point I think most people looking to upgrade soon have moved on to other options.
 
Well newegg.ca doesn't have the frozr 3. what other 6950 is good and also unlocks? also doesn't newegg say that they deactivate products that they dont plan on getting any shipments on?


Tigerdirect has the frozer 3 however it is $311 with tax/shipping that comes to $360 in cdn, also does anyone know for sure whether the msi 6950 iii has a bios switch that comes preloaded with the 6970 bios?

Ugh IDK what to do I absolutely have to max out BF3
 
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Well newegg.ca doesn't have the frozr 3. what other 6950 is good and also unlocks? also doesn't newegg say that they deactivate products that they dont plan on getting any shipments on?


Tigerdirect has the frozer 3 however it is $311 with tax/shipping that comes to $360 in cdn, also does anyone know for sure whether the msi 6950 iii has a bios switch that comes preloaded with the 6970 bios?

Ugh IDK what to do I absolutely have to max out BF3

The twin frozr iii power edition has a dual bios switch but it does not come with a unlocked bios. Instead they suggest you download a special MSI sanctioned bios and even released a guide on how to do it. http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/msi_r6950_twin_froz_iii_power_edition_unlocking,1.html

IMO that's kind of pricey for a twin frozr iii I think it's best to wait for a toxic. They have to be coming in stock real soon. I'm gonna make a guess and say some time this week. Maybe by wednesday.
 
IMO that's kind of pricey for a twin frozr iii I think it's best to wait for a toxic. They have to be coming in stock real soon. I'm gonna make a guess and say some time this week. Maybe by wednesday.

Week before last it said "ETA: 9/26/11". Never came back in-stock, still hasn't.
 
Well newegg.ca doesn't have the frozr 3. what other 6950 is good and also unlocks? also doesn't newegg say that they deactivate products that they dont plan on getting any shipments on?


Tigerdirect has the frozer 3 however it is $311 with tax/shipping that comes to $360 in cdn, also does anyone know for sure whether the msi 6950 iii has a bios switch that comes preloaded with the 6970 bios?

Ugh IDK what to do I absolutely have to max out BF3

Well if you're only buying a single 6950/70 you're going to be disappointed I'm afraid.
 
Well if you're only buying a single 6950/70 you're going to be disappointed I'm afraid.

No, I plan on getting 2 of them, I currently have an xfx 6950 1gb, It's pretty meh though, I can run the bf3 beta on high without aa on, and get 40+ fps, 70+ inside, with aa on I get min 30 fps mostly around 40ish.
 
Firstly though, that's only on high, not ultra. Secondly, that's without AA, which is quite demanding. Thirdly, that's only the Paris Metro map which is much less demanding than Caspian Border. 40fps on high with no AA on Paris Metro might only get you 15fps on ultra in Caspian border with AA.
 
Firstly though, that's only on high, not ultra. Secondly, that's without AA, which is quite demanding. Thirdly, that's only the Paris Metro map which is much less demanding than Caspian Border. 40fps on high with no AA on Paris Metro might only get you 15fps on ultra in Caspian border with AA.

I played caspian with aa and settings maxed, the minimum fps I was getting was 30. Sometimes maybe dipping to 25. also anyone know if the toxic 6950 will still come with deus ex and dirt 3?
 
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The twin frozr iii power edition has a dual bios switch but it does not come with a unlocked bios. Instead they suggest you download a special MSI sanctioned bios and even released a guide on how to do it. http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/msi_r6950_twin_froz_iii_power_edition_unlocking,1.html

IMO that's kind of pricey for a twin frozr iii I think it's best to wait for a toxic. They have to be coming in stock real soon. I'm gonna make a guess and say some time this week. Maybe by wednesday.

I'm going to just throw in the fact that in addition to having a BIOS switch, my twin frozr III's run extremely cool under load. I'm talking 65C @ 99% after 4 hours of playing BF3.
 
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