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Sapphire 6950

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Oct 18, 2006
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OK guys/gals, I haven't been keeping up with video cards in quite some time and I just ordered this today and I'm now wondering if this is going to be a good upgrade from 2-GTX275's in sli? I know I should have asked here first but I seen it and the upgrade bug kicked in :).
I know it's over kill for my resolution (1680x1050) but so is what I already have. But sooner or later I will be upgrading the monitor to a 1920x1080 and I don't think what I have now will be able to handle the newer games like I want vram wise.

Plus I want some dx11 goodness :).

Thanks in advance.
 
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For DX11? sure. For noise and power consumption? Yep. For performance? Not really. The HD6950 2GB and GTX275 SLI are on roughly level pegging at high resolutions. Down at 1680x1050 in all honesty, the 275s are probably slightly faster.
 
samuelmorris said:
For DX11? sure. For noise and power consumption? Yep. For performance? Not really. The HD6950 2GB and GTX275 SLI are on roughly level pegging at high resolutions. Down at 1680x1050 in all honesty, the 275s are probably slightly faster.
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You really think the 275's would be faster at that resolution? Damn that sucks cause I do notice that in games like Rift and BF3 that they aren't all that smooth when I try to bump things up and while the med/high setting look OK I would like to see it look/run better.

So what would be a good upgrade then, if you don't mind my asking? I know I probably should be asking this in the general hardware section but I figured that it would be seen here better and who else to ask than the guys in the AMD section.
 
Your problem is the low resolution. The Cayman architecture really begins to shine the higher up you go. Their performance at 1680x1050 isn't bad it's just not where it'll be favorable against the competition there. Samuelmorris is right and they should be even except at your resolution slightly slower.

That card has a bios switch that may allow you to unlock the extra shaders to get to 6970 performance. It's the best 6950/6970 card to get IMHO especially at the after MIR price.
 
Lord_Exodia said:
Your problem is the low resolution. The Cayman architecture really begins to shine the higher up you go. Their performance at 1680x1050 isn't bad it's just not where it'll be favorable against the competition there. Samuelmorris is right and they should be even except at your resolution slightly slower.

That card has a bios switch that may allow you to unlock the extra shaders to get to 6970 performance. It's the best 6950/6970 card to get IMHO especially at the after MIR price.
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So if I also upgrade to a 1920x1080 resolution monitor would be a better option with the 6950 then, or is that also to low?
 
03grandam said:
So if I also upgrade to a 1920x1080 resolution monitor would be a better option with the 6950 then, or is that also to low?
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The higher the resolution the slower the performance. However what I mean to say is if you were to compare your 2 GTX 275s on 2560x1600 performance against the new toxic card you got the performance would be about even. The upgrade you did will make you feel like you made a slight downgrade regardless if you buy a larger monitor, unless you choose to play on your GTX 275 SLi setup on the new 2560x1600 monitor for a while then switch over. :)

What I would do is consider getting a second 6950 to go along with that one later on when you can afford it and then get a bigger display such as a 1920x1080 or bigger later on as well.
 
Standalone, the HD6950 is barely 60% faster than the GTX275 at best, and at that resolution, more like 45-50%. You don't need amazing SLI scaling to surpass that sort of a benefit.
 
Thanks guys.

I'm sure I will like the new card, even if it's just for the dx11 and the lower heat output compared to the 2 275's.
It arrives on Tuesday, can't wait :).
 
I bought two from Amazon and they both unlocked to 6970 speeds. There both running at 900/1400 at 1.175v

Just bought them this last week...... Sapphire Dirt3 are looking good for unlocking right now.
 
03grandam said:
Thanks guys.

I'm sure I will like the new card, even if it's just for the dx11 and the lower heat output compared to the 2 275's.
It arrives on Tuesday, can't wait :).
Click to expand...

Certainly, two 275s put out 400W+, whereas the HD6950 is typically around 170W.
 
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