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Ok Team OCC....................

 

I've spent the last four days reading every review and comparison I can find pitting the HD 6950 against the GTX 560Ti - and all I can say is that I'm exhausted. I've been contemplating a video card upgrade for a few months now and really had my mind made up that I was going to sell my twin GTX 460 cards and put twin GTX 560s in their place.

 

Then the darned HD 6950 1Gb cards pop up at similar pricing to the GTX 560Ti cards, and now I'm having a booger of a time deciding which route to go. I'm really looking for those of you that went one way or another and reasons you chose the route you did. If you happen to be running the competing cards in Crossfire or SLi that would be even better.

 

Please skip over the standard nVidia has Physx and Cuda and stomps AMD in FAH ppd arguments. And AMD has metamorphing AA or whatever the hell that is. I'm really searching for opinions on gaming performance, pq, overclocking results, noise (a big factor for me) heat, etc.

 

All recommendations are welcomed and appreciated. And for any of you running the HD 6950 I'd like to know your opinions on the 1Gb versus 2Gb argument.

 

Regards,

 

Wev

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I got the 560 myself (only one), and I'm quite pleased with it. It has performed very well so far.

It runs at about 60 degrees, when gaming and in 3dmark. You can see which one I have in my sig.

The noise isn't bad, if you ask me. But I'm also used to having a 200mm fan running at almost max speed.

 

But as Black said. The 6950 can be flashed, so it performs pretty much like a 6970, which is, as far as I know, better than the gtx 560.

But I'm an Nvidia guy, so my vote is for the 650 of course :)

 

Hope my two cents helped a little bit.

 

Ps. I haven't started OC'ing it yet, so I can't give much detail on that.

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You know about the 6950 unlock right? Problem solved! :thumbsup:

I thought only some of the 6950s unlocked - and even then only the 2 GB models.

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I thought only some of the 6950s unlocked - and even then only the 2 GB models.

:withstupid:

 

Wev, if you're plotting crossfire/SLI (which it looks like you are) get the 2GB otherwise get the 1GB. :P

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I thought only some of the 6950s unlocked - and even then only the 2 GB models.

 

He never said what type of 6950 he wanted. So I assumed any. A 6950(unlocked to a 6970) would crush a 560 Ti. So the 6950 would be the best choice.

Edited by Black6464

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Except he did, so I assumed the 1 GB like he said. ;)

It's hard to say, because he started out emphasizing the use of a 1GB (since 560s are primarily 1GB) but since the 6950 popped in the mix he asked if 1GB or 2GB would be better. (though a couple 560s are also 2GB)

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Good evening everyone. Sorry about the late response. We are battling severe storms here in my neck of the woods and power has been up and down all night long. First, thanks for all the input :)

 

Now the story on the HD 6950 2Gb cards and flashing to HD 6970 to unlock the extra shaders. AMD and their partners have pretty well nixed that at this point on all the newer revisions of the 2Gb model. If you were lucky enough to get a reference card early (and one that had the BIOS switch) you could successfully flash those to the HD 6970 card. The primary points being;

 

The HD 6950 had to be a 2Gb model

The HD 6950 had to be built on the reference PCB

The HD 6950 had to have the BIOS switch

 

The majority of the currently available HD 6950 2Gb cards are now on AMD's partner PCBs, and apparently even the ones still being produced on the reference PCB now have the shaders permanently locked. My gut feel if I were going with the HD 6950 was to go with a 1Gb model just based on price to performance ratio. Every single review I've read pretty much shows the 6950 1Gb model performing on par (and in some cases slightly better) than the 2Gb version up to 1900x1200 resolution. Which by the way is my current resolution. However a couple of websites that I respect for their independence and integrity, mentioned that the 2Gb card would be preferable if planning on running eyefinity at some point in the future, and that the 2Gb cards really shined when put in Crossfire because the shader loading took good advantage of the extra 1Gb of available memory - versus the 1Gb card.

 

So really, knowing that I currently game at 1920x1200 with some AA/AF and medium to high eye candy, it's been a hard decision because I'd definitely like to try some multi-monitor gaming when my budget allows. Or alternatively I've had my eye on the Asus 23.6" 3D capable monitor too. Power isn't a problem either way because I've got plenty of juice to run either the SLi or Crossfire setup. Heat isn't much of an issue because I'm cpu watercooled and have twin 140mm side panel fans blowing directly on both video cards and n/b heatsink. Board is the MSI Big Bang xPower x58 running an i7 950 at 4.02Ghz.

 

The 1Gb versions of the HD 6950 and the GTX 560 Ti are a toss up price wise. The 2Gb versions of the HD 6950 carry about a $20 premium for the lower priced brands.

 

And, as I write this I wonder why I'm even considering trading up my GTX 460s in SLi because really they do everything I need them to at my current resolution and in game settings.................. just being bit by the upgrade bug I guess :) All of the reviews I've read show the HD 6950 (1Gb and 2Gb versions) trading blows with the GTX 560 Ti card depending on the game title. Which right now I primarily play BFBC2, Crysis2 and LFD2. However, it seems like the GTX 560 Ti cards scale extremely well when you start pushing the gpu clock speeds. Oh my, what a quandry......................

 

I think I just need to put the wallet up and wait until next year when I can buy any of them for less that $200 bucks.

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