HD 6950 vs my old HD 6870

[rmcoplien]

Just got the HD 6950 and I don't see hardly any difference in Frame rate vs my older HD 6870. My new 6950 is a HIS and it's factory OC's to 840 as well. Why is this?

 

[thilanliyan]

Which games and what resolution? CPU?

 

[SlowSpyder]

What CPU are you using? Was your 6850 already running games at or near 60FPS in the games you play?

 

[Rvenger]

6870 vs 6950 ~ 15% difference. We don't know which CPU you are running and with the games you could be running, you may not notice much of a difference.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=293

 

[MrK6]

The higher the resolution, the faster the 6950. Also, the 6950 series are generally better overclockers, and if they can unlock, all the better.

EDIT: Quick ballpark, take with a grain of salt:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/XFX/HD_7770_Black_Edition_Super_Overclock/26.html

At 1200p and under you're looking at ~15% difference, at 2560x1600 it's more 20%. Again though, the difference is much greater once they're overclocked.

 

[Termie]

Yeah, the simple answer is that this was basically an expensive sidegrade. 15% won't be noticeable in all but the most borderline cases.

 

[Necc]

You should've got another 6870 and CF it with your old one, ofc if your MB allows it.

 

[Jhatfie]

The 6870 is actually a great card for the money. My unlocked and OC'd 6950 runs much faster at 1600p than my 6870 did, but like others have mentioned, without overclocking and at your resolution the difference is generally only 10-20% depending on the game.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Usually you won't notice a difference when upgrading to something marginally faster.

The general rule is don't upgrade unless your going to see a 100% improvement.

Otherwise you won't notice, as you have seen.

 

[Termie]

Usually you won't notice a difference when upgrading to something marginally faster.

The general rule is don't upgrade unless your going to see a 100% improvement.

Otherwise you won't notice, as you have seen.

Well 100% is my rule, but I'd say the general rule is actually 50% improvement. You'd definitely notice that, and in this graphics card market, it's much more realistic. To get 100% improvement for the same price, you'll have to wait 4 years.

 

[Fallengod]

Id have to agree. Chalk it up to a learning experience. Why would you want to upgrade from a 6870 anyways, that is a pretty beefy video card.

Some people get so distracted with the allure of purchasing a newer video card, they forget the real world difference in performance sometimes.

I dont know why you would upgrade to something for like 10-20 fps more. Something like that isnt even noticeable. That is less of a difference than just adjusting quality settings in game. As others said, you should never upgrade unless you are sure you will have a good 50-100% performance increase.

I honestly dont know much about the 6950 but, it sounds like you just happened to make a bad upgrade card decision.

Fear not, you are not alone, I have made those poor upgrade decisions in the past as well.

 

[Justinat0r]

Usually you won't notice a difference when upgrading to something marginally faster.

The general rule is don't upgrade unless your going to see a 100% improvement.

Otherwise you won't notice, as you have seen.

Just out of curiosity, (don't mean to threadjack) do you think that I would see a 50% improvement going from a 5770 1GB card to a 7870 2GB card or alternatively a 6950 2GB?

I got a 5770 when they were fairly new and I haven't really been playing too many games lately, but I am on Skyrim and the performance is disappointing at 1080p.

 

[toyota]

Just out of curiosity, (don't mean to threadjack) do you think that I would see a 50% improvement going from a 5770 1GB card to a 7870 2GB card or alternatively a 6950 2GB?

I got a 5770 when they were fairly new and I haven't really been playing too many games lately, but I am on Skyrim and the performance is disappointing at 1080p.

the rest of your system is important too. if nothing else is a bottleneck then going from a 5770 to a 6950 should give you around a 100% increase.

 

[hardhat]

Skyrim is very often CPU and Storage bottlenecked. If you have a phenom 2, core 2 duo, or less, then look at that problem first. Also, it may be worth getting a SSD instead of a new video card ift you won't be playing with a lot of HD texture mods.

 

[Justinat0r]

the rest of your system is important too. if nothing else is a bottleneck then going from a 5770 to a 6950 should give you around a 100% increase.

i7 860 @ 2.8GHz processor, 8GB DDR3 1066 (I'd put faster ram in but my mobo only supports up to 1066)

Mobo is a Dell 0T568R / T568R (system is a dell studio, it was a gift and I'm trying to make the best of it... lol)

Edit: Actually, I just looked up my PC (Dell Studio XPS sx8100-1986NBC) and according to www.Crucial.com "Each memory slot can hold DDR3 PC3-10600, DDR3 PC3-12800, DDR3 PC3-8500 with a maximum of 8GB Kit (4GBx2) per slot."

PC3-12800 is 1600 isn't it?

I wonder if Crucial is right about this...? Hmmmm

 

[Termie]

i7 860 @ 2.8GHz processor, 8GB DDR3 1066 (I'd put faster ram in but my mobo only supports up to 1066)

Mobo is a Dell 0T568R / T568R (system is a dell studio, it was a gift and I'm trying to make the best of it... lol)

Edit: Actually, I just looked up my PC (Dell Studio XPS sx8100-1986NBC) and according to www.Crucial.com "Each memory slot can hold DDR3 PC3-10600, DDR3 PC3-12800, DDR3 PC3-8500 with a maximum of 8GB Kit (4GBx2) per slot."

PC3-12800 is 1600 isn't it?

I wonder if Crucial is right about this...? Hmmmm

You can't overclock, and the ram speed isn't particularly critical. Can you tell us what the label on your power supply says? That will probably determine what you can actually upgrade to. We don't know what the speed of a 7850 will be, by the way, so probably best not to guess too much about that in this thread. As for a 6950, yes, you'd probably get a 50% improvement in just about every game - Skyrim potentially being an exception, but I'll let others give you ideas on that.

Edit: The other thing to check is the space you have in that case. I can't just about promise you a 6950 will not fit. Measure from the back to the start of the hard drive cage.

 

[Justinat0r]

You can't overclock, and the ram speed isn't particularly critical. Can you tell us what the label on your power supply says? That will probably determine what you can actually upgrade to. We don't know what the speed of a 7850 will be, by the way, so probably best not to guess too much about that in this thread. As for a 6950, yes, you'd probably get a 50% improvement in just about every game - Skyrim potentially being an exception, but I'll let others give you ideas on that.

Edit: The other thing to check is the space you have in that case. I can't just about promise you a 6950 will not fit. Measure from the back to the start of the hard drive cage.

The PSU was upgraded to a 600W Coolermaster

And it's not so much the length thats the problem, I actually have a good 12-13". The problem will be the width of the card. My computer was put together so bizarrely that Dell decided to stick the hard drive in between the side of my case and my graphics card to allow for a long graphics card... Really odd.

I'll show you what I mean:

http://i.imgur.com/xSqIg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JLcGK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/i2y4A.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Re5O7.jpg

Also, before anyone says it, I am aware that my case is a cable management nightmare... It's a brand new PSU and I'm working on it... lol

 

[Termie]

The PSU was upgraded to a 600W Coolermaster

And it's not so much the length thats the problem, I actually have a good 12-13". The problem will be the width of the card. My computer was put together so bizarrely that Dell decided to stick the hard drive in between the side of my case and my graphics card to allow for a long graphics card... Really odd.

I'll show you what I mean:

http://i.imgur.com/xSqIg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JLcGK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/i2y4A.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Re5O7.jpg

Also, before anyone says it, I am aware that my case is a cable management nightmare... It's a brand new PSU and I'm working on it... lol

Very interesting configuration. The good news is that most cards are a standard height, based on the PCI spec. Unless you get one with heat pipes sticking out the top, they should be the same height as your 5770.

So now it comes down to whether your actually being CPU-bottlenecked in Skyrim. I'd guess not, but I don't have the game.

 

[Lepton87]

You can't overclock, and the ram speed isn't particularly critical. Can you tell us what the label on your power supply says? That will probably determine what you can actually upgrade to. We don't know what the speed of a 7850 will be, by the way, so probably best not to guess too much about that in this thread. As for a 6950, yes, you'd probably get a 50% improvement in just about every game - Skyrim potentially being an exception, but I'll let others give you ideas on that.

Much closer to 80%-90% than 50% unless CPU bottle-necked. Skyrim after 1.4 patch is much less CPU bound.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/538?vs=510


This is a huge difference.

 

[Termie]

Much closer to 80%-90% than 50% unless CPU bottle-necked. Skyrim after 1.4 patch is much less CPU bound.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/538?vs=510


This is a huge difference.

Sorry, I should have phrased that differently. His original question was whether he'd see a 50% improvement going to a 7850 or 6950. I said "yes" - he would get a 50% improvement. In fact it's greater than that, but he was just looking to meet the 50% threshold, as I understood it.

 

[txsizzler]

To the OP, I don't think you would notice much of a difference between those two, especially if you play at lower resolutions. I am getting ready to upgrade my GTS 250 to something like a 6870 or a 6950 (or possibly a GTX 560Ti or 570), and I have NO DOUBT I will see a phenomonal difference (I have an I7-920 2.67ghz, 6gb ddr3 1333 ram, GS600 Corsair PS), at almost all resolutions (except perhaps the lowest of resolutions).


Ian