GPU Upgrade for BF3 - Need Advice!

[7earitup]

Hey guys - long time no see!

With Battlefield 3 coming out very soon, I am looking to milk my system a little more by just replacing the GPU. I can currently play BF3 on all low settings with the system listed in my signature, but the FPS dips a lot in areas with a lot of smoke and a lot of firefighting. My CPU barely warms up so I am assuming this game is very GPU heavy.

I am looking at two different cards:

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127562

or

MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127608

Which one will last me the longest? I have seen many people point to the 6950 since it is newer and outpaces the 560 ti by a decent margin in many tests, but I am still not sure. I will be playing Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Guild Wars 2 when they all release.

As usual, thanks for all the advice!

 

[3DVagabond]

Unless you want CUDA or PhysX I'd go with the 6950. They're typically a bit faster than the 560ti and, between these two, should have more O/C'ing headroom. the 6950 can also push the RAM faster (It's a lot faster to begin with, 5GHz vs. 4GHz). Excellent crossfire scaling, should you need it or possible Eyefinity on a single card (admittedly with reduced IQ on more demanding games). 6950 TFII's have a decent rep for unlocking too.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Heh those two from MSI look very similar. I'd get the 6950 personally.

 

[Silverforce11]

6950 = 6970 minus a few SP with little impact, if you don't mind to OC. It's most crippled just in the low core and ram clocks, up it to 6970 speeds and you essentially have a 6970. Most 6950 can OC much more than 6970 speeds.

A gtx560ti has 380 cuda cores, a gtx570 has 480 cores.. the gap is too big to "catch up" with an OC.

 

[smakme7757]

I'm pretty sure there is a BIOS mod/flash you can do to 6950s to 'unlock' them into a 6970. If course it's all down to if the card can handle it or not, but from what i've heard reversing the process is easy as pie so you have nothing to loose and everything to gain!

 

[Arachnotronic]

I'd go with the 560 Ti since my experience is that the drivers for NVIDIA are slightly better.

 

[superccs]

I was playing the beta with my 460gtx clocked to 800mhx, and it was a very decent experience. My GPU usage was maxed the whole time (using high settings 1080p). I dont have fps numbers though.

I think you are looking good if you go with either of those MSI cards, MSI has been rocking the last 2-3 years IMO, but I would prefer the 6950 for reasons similar to those explained above.

 

[Keysplayr]

Both are fine choices. They perform nearly the same. One is a little cheaper than the other.

 

[Keysplayr]

6950 = 6970 minus a few SP with little impact, if you don't mind to OC. It's most crippled just in the low core and ram clocks, up it to 6970 speeds and you essentially have a 6970. Most 6950 can OC much more than 6970 speeds.

A gtx560ti has 380 cuda cores, a gtx570 has 480 cores.. the gap is too big to "catch up" with an OC.

GTX560Ti has 384 cuda cores, and actually is a different GPU than GTX570/580. It has been shown that a GTX560Ti can usually get to GTX570 performance without too much difficulty.

This guy is having a bit of trouble with an unlocked 6950 with an o/c. It may have damaged his card and maybe you can give him a hand.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2195666

Sorry for the quick OT, it's just that I just finished posting in the other thread and here you are talking about the same card and overclocking.

Thanks.

 

[Grooveriding]

Both are fine choices. They cost nearly the same. One is a little faster than the other (6950 2GB)

I would get the 6950 2GB, it's the faster card. You can also overclock the 6950 to 6970 performance if that's your thing. BF3 is also really VRAM hungry, so whatever you do make sure you get a card with more than 1GB of memory.

 

[crisium]

I'd save the $20 and go for the 560 Ti. Although still early, BF3 Beta benchmarks have been quite favourable to the 500 series so far.

 

[Keysplayr]

Both are fine choices. They cost nearly the same. One is a little faster than the other (6950 2GB)

I would get the 6950 2GB, it's the faster card. You can also overclock the 6950 to 6970 performance if that's your thing. BF3 is also really VRAM hungry, so whatever you do make sure you get a card with more than 1GB of memory.

I Agree with Crisium.

Most of the time these cards are within a few fps of each other. There are a few exceptions where the 6950 or the 560Ti is a good deal behind the other.

I feel the performance between these two cards is much closer than their prices.

 

[badb0y]

Between those 2 the GTX 560 Ti is a better deal however that is the cheapest GTX 560 Ti with 2 GBs while there are other AMD 6950 2GBs for a cheaper price.

 

[Keysplayr]

Between those 2 the GTX 560 Ti is a better deal however that is the cheapest GTX 560 Ti with 2 GBs while there are other AMD 6950 2GBs for a cheaper price.

That MSI is also factory overclocked to 880/1760 up from 822/1645.

 

[RussianSensation]

A gtx560ti has 380 cuda cores, a gtx570 has 480 cores.. the gap is too big to "catch up" with an OC.

Not true.

A GTX560 Ti with a good cooler can overclock 20% more from factory settings. The problem is at such high overclocks, its power consumption goes through the roof. hehe. But performance wise, it's actually going to end up faster than an overclocked 6950 since GTX570 is slightly faster than a 6970 at 1920x1080 or below.

 

[badb0y]

That MSI is also factory overclocked to 880/1760 up from 822/1645.

Didn't notice that, OP if you plan on OCing it probably doesn't matter but if you keep the cards the way they come, the GTX 560 Ti will be faster:

Not a big margin but it's still there considering one is cheaper then the other.

 

[RussianSensation]

What about the XFX HD6950 2GB? It's $250 after MIR (and qualifies for free 2-day shipping) comes with Dirt 3, and has lifetime warranty. I think that's a better deal than the MSI 6950 since it costs $18 less after you factor in the cost of shipping, you can sell the game or play it, and double lifetime warranty is an added bonus (helps for resale too ).

Also, the $260 GTX570 by Galaxy goes for similar amount to these cards and you get a free Batman: AA game.

GTX570 performs faster than the 6950 2GB in BF3 also. And GTX570 also has overclocking headroom.

 

[paul878]

I would wait a few months, next generation of video card should (hopefully) be out soon.
From plaything the Beta, Dice going to need a few months to iron out all the bugs.

 

[7earitup]

I would wait a few months, next generation of video card should (hopefully) be out soon.
From plaything the Beta, Dice going to need a few months to iron out all the bugs.

I would wait, but the GTX 260 is just not cutting it.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. I still have some time to look at all of the choices. There is still just too many options! lol

 

[7earitup]

I have also been looking at this:

EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

Is it worth the extra money over the 560 ti and 6950?

 

[toyota]

I have also been looking at this:

EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

Is it worth the extra money over the 560 ti and 6950?

why would you pay 70 bucks more for the EVGA card over the Galaxy card?

 

[7earitup]

why would you pay 70 bucks more for the EVGA card over the Galaxy card?

It wasn't a $70 difference, it was $10. I see that they are out of stock now though. EVGA has the best warranty in the industry in my opinion. I have been through multiple cards with them through RMA and there is no hassle involved.

EDIT:
I meant to ask, what is Galaxy's warranty plan like? I cannot find it on their website.

 

[ocre]

Price vs performance the 560 ti is by far the best buy. Considering the fact that it also is nearly identical in performance of the 6950 when averaged out. There are times that the 6950 is on top, but just as many where its the reverse. In reality the difference isnt worth a debate.

So if performance is this close then all you have is price. Most ppl would tell you get the card that has the best price/performance ratio. This is where AMD is supposed to be superior. This is not the case these days, its not a given, not any more. The 560ti has the better ratio. This should be the end of it.........but

I will go further and say that i doubt the 2gb 560 will give you any real advantage here. Not anything that cant be overcome by just a few mhz OC bump wont overcome. I have not seen the results on BF3 but I every case i have seen proved that the 2gb 560 is just a marketing advantage. Nvidia balances their cards in a complete system. Its not like you can add memory to them and it make a big difference. I am not saying there will be no difference, just that its not anything a tiny bump OC cant overcome. We are talking a tid tiny bit here.

Truth: a plane 560ti will give you nearly just as much and save you a whole lot. one like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125401

for $219. The price vs performance is extreme and it will overclock to match cards costing much much more.

If anyone has any proof showing the 2gb 560 outclassing the 1gb then it would be great to see this. Especially in bf3. I would love to see this happen, but so far i have only seen worthless gains, not worth the money!!!!

 

[toyota]

It wasn't a $70 difference, it was $10. I see that they are out of stock now though. EVGA has the best warranty in the industry in my opinion. I have been through multiple cards with them through RMA and there is no hassle involved.

EDIT:
I meant to ask, what is Galaxy's warranty plan like? I cannot find it on their website.

I am confused here. the Galaxy gtx570 after rebate is $260 and the Evga is $330. how is that not 70 bucks difference? even before rebate its 20 bucks cheaper. and if you have had to rma multiple cards then that does not say much for Evga or maybe even Nvidia.

also it says 3 year warranty right on the Galaxy gtx570 listing.

 

[houe]

definitely the galaxy 570 at $260.