Which 6950?

[Tudz]

G'day all,

I'm looking at getting a 6950, these are sort of the choices...

1GB Powercolor, $250AUD
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1179&products_id=16876

OR, I could pay $30 more and get a 1GB Gigabyte with that 3x fan set up...
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?sort=2a&products_id=50393

Or for the same price as the Gigabyte ($280) I could get a HIS with a stock cooler and 2GB memory...
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1179&products_id=16852

There's a few other options here, but the above seem the best value...
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=193_1179

I'm not overly concerned if it doesn't unlock (it'd be nice if it does, but I wont be crying if it doesn't). More importantly I really need something quiet. Its not just a gaming PC but I spend more time working on my PC than gaming, so I'd rather something as close to silent as possible. People have said the Gigabyte coolers are really good, though then I read a 6970 review with that cooler and they didn't say it was quieter than other 6970s. The VTX3D ones are also cheap, but I haven't heard brilliant things about their quality control and there's no reviews for them (maybe they're not available overseas? Not sure).

What do you guys think?

 

[Goomz]

Find the best deal you can on a 2GB reference (stock) model and unlock it imo.

 

[Tudz]

The cheapest reference 2GB model is 16% more expensive than the 1GB models with a custom cooler. Then if I got a reference 2GB I'd also have to buy an aftermarket cooler because I can't stand PC noise when I'm trying to work... it'd probably end up costing almost as much as an actual 6970, lol.

 

[Riddleofsteel]

Anything wrong with the sapphire cards? I can't find xfx (real reference model) cards in stock anywhere at a good price. I've seen them for sale on the forums but they always get snapped up.

 

[Tiporaro]

As far as noise, ive been running the xfx 2gb reference card and haven't noticed the sound at all.

I personally opted for the 2gb model to unlock and for the off chance that I'd run a higher res in the future. If you're definitely going to be at ~1920x1080 resolutions and the unlocking isn't worth the up charge, then the 1gb models are a great value.

 

[Tudz]

As far as noise, ive been running the xfx 2gb reference card and haven't noticed the sound at all.

I personally opted for the 2gb model to unlock and for the off chance that I'd run a higher res in the future. If you're definitely going to be at ~1920x1080 resolutions and the unlocking isn't worth the up charge, then the 1gb models are a great value.

When you say you haven't noticed the sound at all, how loud is the rest of your system? My system basically doesn't have any fans spinning faster than 900rpm, and they're all quiet fans (Scythe GTs, Noctua, Nexus). I'm pretty sensitive to fan noise when I'm trying to work, but if the reference cooler is quiet enough not to bother me then I can probably go for a 2GB reference card, they aren't too much more $$$.

At the moment I have a reference 768mb GTX460 which is sort of as loud as I want to go, I wouldn't want anything that idles louder than the GTX460. Load noise doesn't bother me.

 

[Tiporaro]

Well, I just looked up some reviews that had db measurements in them at guru3d. Based on their measurement of the 460s reviewed and the 6950 they appear to be relatively comparable and quiet at idle.

As for my system, I have GT AP14s on my H60 rad, and case fans always stay undervolted/on low, so I don't feel the 6950 is particularly noticeable at idle. Now, at load i do know it's there, but I'm ok with that.