Unlocked 6950 CF to 7970 Ghz Edition?

Z

Zorn

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 22, 2005
Messages
452
I currently have 2 unlocked 6950 cards in Crossfire, and I am curious if I will see any benefit moving to a single 7970 Ghz Edition. I am also interested in the games that they are bundling. I have the ability to pick up a Gigabyte 7970 for about $300, and I'm wondering if this is worth doing or a waste of time. Thanks for any input
 
Well if power and heat is a concerned, it'll be better. Plus you could probably sell those 6950s for a decent deal.
 
The 6950's will technically be faster, but you won't have any of the issues that come with running crossfire.
I'd say maybe wait till the new driver comes out that's supposed to fix crossfire and see how you feel about them then. Unless you're just wanting less heat/power, then a 7970 would be the way to go.

I enjoyed my 6950's, they are still pretty tough cards.
 
Do it. You will lose some raw power, but gain a ton of smoothness. You will likely not believe how choppy your Xfire setup was. This coming from a guy currently running 7970 xfire...
 
meh

69x0 x2 is still a pretty burly setup, I'm waiting for the next refresh
 
Are you unhappy with your two 6950's, or do you just have the upgrade itch?

I personally would since that is a great price, and depending on how good of a clocker your 7970 is, performance could near what you currently get with your 6950's in cfx.
 
Assuming I could basically sell both the unlocked 6950's for the same price I could get the 7970 Ghz, would it be worth it?
 
New lineup right around the corner, too late in the game to jump in now. I say wait for the 9000 series.
 
Zorn said:
Assuming I could basically sell both the unlocked 6950's for the same price I could get the 7970 Ghz, would it be worth it?
Click to expand...

Not to dig on AMD, especially since the situation may have improved, but I dropped my HD6950's like a rock when the GTX670 hit retail. Even at that time the AMD cards should have been significantly faster, but one GTX670 blew them away.

My cue was FRAPS reporting much higher framerates on the CFX setup than I subjectively felt I was getting, and the GTX670 was such a good deal considering the lower noise profile of the blowers and the lower heat and power draw.

Now, since I planned on getting a second card all along, I didn't consider the HD7970; the drivers were still borked in CFX, the HD7950 couldn't be had with a blower at all, and the blower on the HD7970 was quite inferior to Nvidia's (partially due to the less efficient GPU).

But my point is, a single GPU with 75-80% of the raw horsepower of your CFX setup will likely 'feel' faster, and AMD cards are solid in single-GPU setups today (a single HD6950 is still a boss at 1080p). The only worry is the noise, and how the cooling is setup if/when you want to add a second GPU later on down the road, assuming AMD actually delivers on their purported CFX driver solution.
 
I'd say wait a little longer then upgrade and then you could sell your 6950s and get quite a bit of your money back. Then you'll be back to one card and good to go from there.
 
Skott said:
I'd say wait a little longer then upgrade and then you could sell your 6950s and get quite a bit of your money back. Then you'll be back to one card and good to go from there.
Click to expand...

The value of the HD6950's is only going to drop over time...?
 
sell one before the new series drop. Once it does...your 6950's will be in the bargain bin online.
 
i would sell those 6950 before previews of next series show up as well. also i would stay away from any crossfire setup until AMD fixes the frame interval mess. CF does not work, And after FTCAT reviews from many independent sites, one even argue that CF has never worked, at all. Right now, if you already have the PSU and MOBO, go 760 SLI for massive upgrade.
 
If you're going to upgrade, sell the 6950's first. Then, depending on budget constraints and how much money you make back, purchase a newer video card.

OR

Sell one HD-6950 and keep the other one. Hold onto it until the newer AMD cards come out, which are rumored to be soon-ish. This way, prices will change (most likely for the better) and then you can sort it out then.

OR... :D

Sell both cards and upgrade to two GTX-760's SLI'd. If you can do it.
 
Like people have been saying, you should be fairly pleased with a stronger single GPU solution. But yeah, the new ATI cards are coming around the corner so you may want to just hold out until then, sell your CF 6950 then get a stronger single card. Some people have been saying SLI 760's and honestly that is fine too. I only have one windforce 760 right now, I may consider getting another sometime later in the future since the performance really is pretty decent for just one 760 as it is. Especially since it's only like $250 a piece.
 
Yeah in my experience, nVidia SLI is way better than crossfire, however, I never had any problems out of a single card solution from AMD. I just sold two 7970's and when I just had one it was great, but crossfire gave me a headache. I've only ever run SLi once with 560 ti's and they were nearly flawless. So for the money, yeah two 760's would be great or wait for the new line of AMD cards and get the big dog. I don't think you could go wrong either way.
 
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