6950 over a 6870

[zod96]

I've got a 6870. I can return it and get a XFX dual fan 6950 for about $30 more. Is the 6950 that much a better card than the 6870? This would be for BC2 and possible BF3 later...

 

[happy medium]

I'd do it for 30 bucks .

 

[Bartman39]

Take a look here and also factor in if you can unlock the shaders on the 6950HD then its not really a question...

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=639&card2=635

 

[notty22]

The dual bios / reference 6950's are almost all gone. Taking a quick look at newegg, they are almost all custom versions.
Which is not all bad. Just get a model with good cooling/ for o/c potential.

 

[zod96]

Is the 6950 the true replacement for the 5870?

 

[happy medium]

Is the 6950 the true replacement for the 5870?

I would say the 6970 is.

 

[Spikesoldier]

1gb or 2gb?

 

[alcoholbob]

And even then the 6970 is only 10-15% faster than the 5870.

 

[WMD]

And even then the 6970 is only 10-15% faster than the 5870.

Yup most non tessellation games only saw around 10% increase from 5870-6970. Besides some of performance are from the increased core and memory clocks. Same with 6870 they clock it to the moon to make up for the reduced shaders in the end it can barely outperform (~5%) a 5850. I think the 6 series are the most unimpressive series from AMD in terms of performance jump.

 

[zerocool84]

Yup most non tessellation games only saw around 10% increase from 5870-6970. Besides some of performance are from the increased core and memory clocks. Same with 6870 they clock it to the moon to make up for the reduced shaders in the end it can barely outperform (~5%) a 5850. I think the 6 series are the most unimpressive series from AMD in terms of performance jump.

They didn't need to do much because competition didn't bring that much more.

 

[mosox]

The XFX dual fan is cool and quiet, not much of an OCer though. Lifetime warranty if you register the card on the XFX site within 10 days.

 

[Makaveli]

They didn't need to do much because competition didn't bring that much more.

This

And AMD had planed for these Cards to be 32nm or 28nm and guess who screwed up yet again. So they had to revise the chip and launch it on 40nm. If things had worked out to plan I think the gap would have been much larger.

 

[RussianSensation]

Is the 6950 the true replacement for the 5870?

No and neither is the 6970. A 'true' replacement for the 5870 will be HD7970.

I've got a 6870. I can return it and get a XFX dual fan 6950 for about $30 more.

I would do it. 20% more performance for only $30 more.

 

[pw38]

I love my 6950. I went with the 1GB version because I will never go above 1080p since my gaming computer is connected to my HDTV. I saved 30 bucks and bought a game instead lol.

 

[Powermoloch]

for $30? in a heart beat.

 

[videoclone]

YES DO IT!! ... big jump for little $$

 

[happy medium]

Looks like he did it I just seen his 6870 for 160$ in the for sale forum.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2161682

It looks like the 6870 has a Artic cooling twin pro on it. Why would he sell that? The cooler is worth about 30 bucks right?

edit:
Make that 46$ for the cooler.
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/22/accelero-twin-turbo-pro.html?c=2182

Makes me wonder where he is getting a 6950 2gb for 190$ shipped.

I don't think it's worth it, I take it back.
I say keep the 6870.

 

[WMD]

No and neither is the 6970. A 'true' replacement for the 5870 will be HD7970.



I would do it. 20% more performance for only $30 more.

I don't think it is that big of a jump. For tessellation games it maybe worth it but for BFBC2 no. Only 6% according to here:

http://www.tweakpc.de/hardware/test...rce_gtx_560_ti/benchmarks.php?benchmark=pfd11

 

[nOOky]

If the OP doesn't overclock it might be worth $30, but if indeed the HD6870 has better cooling I'd try overclocking the heck out of that first considering the XFX he would get isn't known for stellar oc'ing. I guess I don't see that much of a jump to justify swapping out the cards for $30, heck I'd keep what I have in that case and see what develops when the next series of AMD cards comes out...