Jump on it....or buy another card?

[Face2Face]

Hey Guys,

I found my self an ASUS EAH6950 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5 Radeon HD 6950 2GB used for $180.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121431

I currently play Skyrim with the High resolution pack and some GTA 4. Sounds like the 2GB of memory will really help out in both games with AA cranked.

Should I jump on this card or save a little more and buy a 7850 or comparable card. I don't care about power consumption, just performance.

let me know what you guys think. Thanks

 

[KingFatty]

Hmm, going from a 6870 to a 6950 doesn't seem like enough of an improvement to be worth the price? It's more of a side-grade that won't really help?

Looking at the video card hierarchy chart here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

It looks like, in order to get a noticeable boost in performance according to this chart, you should jump 3 levels. But moving from the 6870 to the 6950 is only 1 level difference, so not worth it unless the upgrade is nearly free.

Can you sell your 6870 for $160 or more, to offset the cost of the 6950?

 

[Greenlepricon]

I doubt you'll get $160 for a 6870, but I don't see the deal going on anymore. I agree that that's definitely a sidegrade. Skyrim can use a ton of ram though, so I'm not sure exactly how that will impact it. From what I understand it still won't be worth the extra cost since your frames probably won't go up much. I recommend a 7850 (at minimum) if you do upgrade, but it may be worth waiting for the holiday season if you want to save some cash.

 

[Face2Face]

Good point guys. I could sell my 6870 for $100-$120. Skyrim is the main reason I want 2GB of ram. Think it is a waste of my time?

 

[Greenlepricon]

It depends on what kind of upgrade you're looking for. If you can get the 6950 or 7850 for less then $100 after selling your old card, you're still getting a great deal. I prefer to keep cards for longer periods of time so that the difference is apparent, but you'll be plenty happy with the upgrade. You're sure to notice something with twice the ram hopefully. I know Skyrim hits vram pretty hard, especially with those packs Keep checking on the used deals cause some of them are pretty good, and if you get a good card you're sure to notice some kind of difference

 

[Face2Face]

I would have around $70-$80 out of pocket for the 6950. Skyrim is my main focus. It runs good with everything maxed at 1080P, but only 2X AA. I would like to run the AA maxed out completely. I will give it some more thought. Thanks for your help.

 

[Termie]

I would have around $70-$80 out of pocket for the 6950. Skyrim is my main focus. It runs good with everything maxed at 1080P, but only 2X AA. I would like to run the AA maxed out completely. I will give it some more thought. Thanks for your help.

Yes, you'll get a huge jump going from 1GB to 2GB in Skyrim/4xAA specifically: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6159/the-geforce-gtx-660-ti-review/14

Look at the 6970 vs. the 560Ti, which is about comparable to 6950 vs. 6870 in terms of the delta in processing power. That's a 50% jump, and it's almost entirely due to VRAM.

Because the 6950 is hard to find, however, consider the 7850, which can be had for about $210AR: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6159/the-geforce-gtx-660-ti-review/14

 

[Face2Face]

Yes, you'll get a huge jump going from 1GB to 2GB in Skyrim/4xAA specifically: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6159/the-geforce-gtx-660-ti-review/14

Look at the 6970 vs. the 560Ti, which is about comparable to 6950 vs. 6870 in terms of the delta in processing power. That's a 50% jump, and it's almost entirely due to VRAM.

Because the 6950 is hard to find, however, consider the 7850, which can be had for about $210AR: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6159/the-geforce-gtx-660-ti-review/14

Thanks for the info. I did find a 6950, the one in the first post. Worth jumping in it? vs, the 7850?

 

[Termie]

Thanks for the info. I did find a 6950, the one in the first post. Worth jumping in it? vs, the 7850?

I think that's a bit much for a used 6950, and I'm not a huge fan of the triple-slot cooler.

If you're willing to buy off of the FS/FT forum here, check out this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2262775. He's got a 6970 for sale for $190 and I know he's an honest guy.

And by the way, this guy is looking for a used 6870: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2263143

 

[Face2Face]

Cool, thanks for the info.

 

[KingFatty]

Well, also consider that would you be happy with your 6870 if it theoretically could become a 2 GB card?

Even if you have 2 GB of ram, if the GPU itself is not capable of supporting the extra FPS, then you won't see better performance.

In my view, a 6950 2 GB is just about the same as a theoretcial 6870 2 GB, where the GPU will be bogged down whether you have 1 GB or 2 GB of ram.

In fact, my recollection of all the reviews of the 6950 was that it's not worth it to get the 2 GB of ram unless you are doing crossfire to get 2 GPUs to be fast enough where 2 GB of ram is worthwhile. With just one GPU, it's going to bottleneck before the RAM becomes an issue, so if you aren't going crossfire, then get the 6950 1 GB. But it's such a sidegrade to go from 6870 1 GB to 6950 1 GB.

 

[notty22]

^^^
I've read user results benefiting from a 2gb card in Skyrim from a gtx 560 user.

It may not run high fps but it won't stutter to zilch and back.

 

[Face2Face]

I am happy with the general performance even with 4X AA enabled. The problem is what Notty22 was saying --the dips. walking out of breeze home, the dips and stops are really annoying. even with no AA this still happens, just not as bad. I guess I really would like 2GB of ram so the dips would stop.

 

[Majcric]

It's not the question you asked. But I would at least get the 7850. That is too much for a used 6950, imo.

 

[RussianSensation]

I would spend $207 on a Sapphire Dual-X HD7850 2GB. It should have nice overclocking headroom. That 6950 you linked doesn't unlock I am sure. The 7850 OC will be faster and use way less power. Also, you'd get 2 year warranty for that extra $27, a much cooler card, DX11.1 for Windows 8, improved anisotropic filtering performance.

OCed 7850 > 6950 and actually comes close to a GTX580.

Without any overclocking, a stock 7850 is 18% faster in SKYRIM with AA than 6950 is:

HD7850 can often hit 1100-1150mhz!

 

[Face2Face]

Hmmm... Looks like I am going to jump on a 7850 when the price drops come into play. Thanks everyone for your help and not letting me a buy a used 6950.

 

[MentalIlness]

A HD 7870 almost 200% faster than a HD 6870 in Skyrim ?