Radeon HD6950 2GB: Sapphire FleX or ASUS DirectCU II?

[dpk33]

They're both the same price at $280. Which one is more quiet and/or provides better cooling? Space is not an issue.

 

[superccs]

Why not get the GTX 570... its faster for the price point...

 

[RussianSensation]

Why not get the GTX 570... its faster for the price point...

True. For $20 extra, he can get a factory pre-overclocked 570 that's even faster than a 6970. Plus it's quiet and you get lifetime warranty.

 

[3DVagabond]

True. For $20 extra, he can get a factory pre-overclocked 570 that's even faster than a 6970. Plus it's quiet and you get lifetime warranty.

For $50 less than that card there are also 6950's with lifetime warranty. O/C'd w/custom cooler. Of course you get 2gig RAM and Multi-monitor (Eyefinity) from a single card. Not as high of an O/C, but the 6950 can O/C by quite a bit and doesn't have a rep for burning up, like the 570 does.

Considering the cards selected have extra eyefinity features, I'm guessing eyefinity might matter for the OP? Both of the 6950's the OP chose are also dual bios designs to facilitate unlocking. If the GPU will support it, of course. All for $20 less I think is a better value than a reference 570 that's just had the clocks tweaked.

The Asus card is the one I would choose. Great cooler (The Sapphire Vapor-X cooler is nice also.), eyefinity 6, and really designed for O/C'ing. If you choose to.

 

[RussianSensation]

For $50 less than that card there are also 6950's with lifetime warranty. O/C'd w/custom cooler.

That's a good deal. But a GTX570 overclocked will match or beat a GTX580. So you are getting a card that's about 15-20% faster than an HD6970 at 1920x1200 4AA for 20% more money. That's a reasonable trade-off.

Of course you get 2gig RAM and Multi-monitor (Eyefinity) from a single card.

2GB is not relevant unless you are gaming at 2560x1600 or higher (and even then at 8AA). Generally speaking, 1280mb on the 570 is sufficient for 1920x1200 or below. Neither card is really fast enough in modern games at 2560x1600 anyway. For that, you'd be better off getting HD6870 in CF (or X2).

The only game I know that needs a ton of VRAM at 1920x1080 8AA is Shogun 2. At that point the 6950 2GB can only manage 22 fps, 6970 gets 25 and GTX580 gets 27. So all of them are unplayable imo.

Not as high of an O/C, but the 6950 can O/C by quite a bit and doesn't have a rep for burning up, like the 570 does.

You have a factory pre-overclock and lifetime warranty. So there is little reason to worry. Once the 6950 is unlocked, there is barely any overclocking headroom. Most top out at 950-975mhz (10-11% overclock). Even then, the scaling is very poor. On the other hand Fermi scales extremely well with overclocking (as has been the case with 470 and 480 too).

Considering the cards selected have extra eyefinity features, I'm guessing eyefinity might matter for the OP?

Sure, if you want to run 3 monitors, AMD is the way to go. Then again, 1 6950 will choke in modern games powering 3 monitors imo. In that case i'd be looking at that 6870 X2 card for example.

 

[3DVagabond]

Where did you pull resolutions from? Resolutions are not mentioned by the OP. The OP does clearly state though that he's looking at special Eyefinity models. ie, Flex and CUII 2Gb. It might only be a few games that need more RAM than the 570 has. The counter is, there's only a few games that the 6900's won't run fine in eyefinity. I can pull reviews that show an O/C'd 6970 Lightning performing with the 580. We could go back and forth forever.

Bottom line. The OP asked about choosing between two different cards. Neither of them are a GTX570. None of us know why he chose those two cards, what games he plays, his resolution, or any other system specs. I'm going by what he has asked and trying to answer his questions. Why don't we assume he's chosen the cards he did for a reason, instead of trying to sell him something that doesn't even resemble the models he's chosen. He's not looking at some O'C'd reference design. He's looking at 2 premium models.

 

[Dark Shroud]

Both of those are great cards, I've never had a problem with any of the Sapphire cards I've used over the years. So I would suggest getting whichever has the best warranty.

 

[dpk33]

The 570, I would go for if it were around $300. But where I live, it's around $350. Also, that is for the reference design. I would like one with custom cooling, so I can overclock well. That is why I'm looking at the 6950 FleX and Direct CU II. Or would waiting for Radeon 7XXX be a better idea?

I play at 1920x1200 resolution and I'm running a Phenom II 955 OC'ed to 4 ghz. I'm planning to upgrade to bulldozer when it comes out.

 

[RussianSensation]

The 570, I would go for if it were around $300. But where I live, it's around $350. Also, that is for the reference design. I would like one with custom cooling, so I can overclock well. That is why I'm looking at the 6950 FleX and Direct CU II. Or would waiting for Radeon 7XXX be a better idea?

I play at 1920x1200 resolution and I'm running a Phenom II 955 OC'ed to 4 ghz. I'm planning to upgrade to bulldozer when it comes out.

Your CPU is plenty fast for either of those cards. Not sure how much of a benefit you would get in gaming if you upgraded to a Bulldozer. You'd probably be better off grabbing a 2nd videocard.

There is a better Sapphire 6950 card than the Flex. It's this one. Here is quick review of the Dirt 3 Sapphire Edition card:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...rd-review-power-temps-noise-overclocking.html

Excellent thermals and fairly quiet.

If you can't find this version, I'd go for the Asus card instead. Otherwise, that Sapphire Dirt 3 Edition card looks very good.

 

[dpk33]

OK so basically:
Dirt3 Edition > DirectCU II > FleX?

 

[Dark Shroud]

The Flex card will let you do eyefinity without the use of display port adapters.

Otherwise I'd get the other Sapphire card.

 

[dpk33]

So the dirt 3 edition has better cooling and noise than the FleX and DirectCU II?

 

[RussianSensation]

So the dirt 3 edition has better cooling and noise than the FleX and DirectCU II?

The Direct CU II is also triple-slot. I haven't been able to find the Direct CU II being compared directly to the Dirt 3 Edition in a single review. Both the Sapphire Dirt 3 and the Direct CU II have a bios switch which makes it safer to unlock the shaders (but it seems you can't do it on the Dirt 3 edition card anyway - see my comments below).

Here are some reviews of Direct CU II:

1) http://www.geeks3d.com/20110202/tested-asus-radeon-hd-6950-directcu-ii-review-overclocking/

2) http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asus_hd6950_2gb_directcu_ii_review,1.html

3) http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/39...u_ii_overclocked_video_card_review/index.html

4) http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/04/18/asus_eah6950_engtx570_directcu_ii_vid_card_review/

5) http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1233

vs. Sapphire Dirt 3 Edition:

1) http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/sapphire_hd_6950_dirt3/

2) http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...dition-graphics-card-review-introduction.html

3) http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/video-cards/11097-sapphire-hd6950-dirt3-video-card-review

4) http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...e-radeon-hd-6950-dirt-3-edition-969839/review

Regarding the Dirt 3 Edition card:

"It looks as though the shader count has been well and truly locked down. We tried multiple methods, bricking the odd Bios as we went along (thank the maker for the recovery Bios switch), of getting at those hidden shaders but nothing worked." ~ TechRadar

5)http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/41...b_dirt_3_edition_video_card_review/index.html

6) http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1303

" The temperatures are one of the best we've seen on any Radeon 6950 out there, and the fans are barely audible at idle and still wonderfully quiet under full load....other unfortunate downside is that this 6950 can't be flashed to a 6970 like we've seen on a couple other custom 6950 cards." - Pureoverclock

If you plan on unlocking the bios, go for the MSI Twin Frozr III or the Asus instead. The MSI in particular runs just as cool as the Dirt 3 Edition, takes up 2 slots, not 3, and has a high chance of unlocking.

Here is a review from Pureoverclock:
http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1287

 

[3DVagabond]

Hardware Heaven's 6950 Dirt 3 edition card unlocked.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...s-card-review-3dmark-11-2nd-bios-flashed.html

Naturally it's a crap shoot these days on whether a card's going to unlock or not.

 

[timma]

gigabyte GTX 570 SO looks better with 3 fans and bigger viper chamber~

 

[Blue_Max]

I can attest to the amazing build quality of the ASUS DirectCU cards... it's leagues better than any Sapphire card I've had before it!