Should i unlock a 6950?

[RussianSensation]

Overclocking with either the HD6950 or GTX570 is very easy. You can just use MSI AfterBurner.

I didn't notice your current system specs: CPU, PSU?

What games do you play and at what resolution? A wide variety of genres?

Is there any particular reason you want to spend $300 on a GPU right now? Even without overclocking, HD6950 1GB for $215 or a $195 GTX560 Ti are excellent cards for 1080P.

GTX560 vs. GTX570 vs. HD6950

You can always get a GTX560 for $195 right now instead of a $285 HD6950 2GB/GTX570. Then in late fall, just sell the 560 and upgrade to the newer 28nm GPUs. Just food for thought.

 

[mike204]

Overclocking with either the HD6950 or GTX570 is very easy. You can just use MSI AfterBurner.

I didn't notice your current system specs: CPU, PSU?

What games do you play and at what resolution? A wide variety of genres?

Is there any particular reason you want to spend $300 on a GPU right now? Even without overclocking, HD6950 1GB for $215 or a $195 GTX560 Ti are excellent cards for 1080P.

GTX560 vs. GTX570 vs. HD6950

You can always get a GTX560 for $195 right now instead of a $285 HD6950 2GB/GTX570. Then in late fall, just sell the 560 and upgrade to the newer 28nm GPUs. Just food for thought.

I have a 955 black edition (stock)
870a-ud3
HAF 912
Corsair 650w

The only graphically intense games i play right now are the stalker series, which my gpu cant run on max. (pripyat and clear sky only). 1600x900.
I plan on getting bad company 3 and deus ex human revolution when they come out. I would also probably get a game from the crysis series and borderlands if i got a new gpu. I want to be able to max battlefield also.

Will they be releasing low end 28nm graphics cards? the reason i dont want to wait is i have a feeling they will all be priced high and i just got into gaming computers a year ago so i havent really seen what the price of new graphics cards are. Also, the reason i liked the 570 is because they ran the battlefield demo on a 580 and a 570 OC performs better than the 580 from benchmarks on bad company 2.

 

[RussianSensation]

At your resolution, I think an HD6950 1GB for $215 or a GTX560 Ti for $195 to $200 seem like a much better fit. You can get the EVGA one for $200, and when you register this card within 90-days, you have the option to step-up to a faster card (i.e., GTX570 or next generation 28nm card should NV release them within the next 90 days - probably unlikely).

I don't think another $85 is worth it to spend from a GTX560 Ti on a 6950 2GB or a GTX570 even at your resolution.

It's too hard to say how well these cards will run BF3. If you need more power, you can always sell the card in the fall when BF3 ships and see what the landscape is like then.

With an overclock to 950mhz+, the GTX560 is within a hair of the 6950 2GB or the GTX570 for only $200.

 

[Wag]

I have 3 unlocked 2Gb 6950s running in tri-crossfire. Love it.

 

[betasub]

I have 3 unlocked 2Gb 6950s running in tri-crossfire. Love it.

If you are going to hit us with that kinda stuff, at least provide us with pics

 

[mike204]

At your resolution, I think an HD6950 1GB for $215 or a GTX560 Ti for $195 to $200 seem like a much better fit. You can get the EVGA one for $200, and when you register this card within 90-days, you have the option to step-up to a faster card (i.e., GTX570 or next generation 28nm card should NV release them within the next 90 days - probably unlikely).

I don't think another $85 is worth it to spend from a GTX560 Ti on a 6950 2GB or a GTX570 even at your resolution.

It's too hard to say how well these cards will run BF3. If you need more power, you can always sell the card in the fall when BF3 ships and see what the landscape is like then.

With an overclock to 950mhz+, the GTX560 is within a hair of the 6950 2GB or the GTX570 for only $200.

This should be good, is there an upgrade price or something like that though? I could get a 560 and then in 3 months get a 570.
I know the battlefield demo ran on a single 580 so that's what im shooting for performance wise. And a 570 OC does that.

 

[RussianSensation]

This should be good, is there an upgrade price or something like that though? I could get a 560 and then in 3 months get a 570.
I know the battlefield demo ran on a single 580 so that's what im shooting for performance wise. And a 570 OC does that.

You'll have to pay the difference between what you paid for your EVGA GTX560 and the price of a GTX570/580 at the time of upgrade.

The cheapest GTX570 from EVGA is $310 right now, which isn't that much more expensive than what an EVGA GTX570 sells for on the market.

Think about this. If you are not hesitant to sell your videocard in 2011 to upgrade, then 28nm GPUs should be much faster than a GTX580. 580 is just a refreshed 480 (a GPU that was introduced in April 2010). By the time 28nm GPUs are introduced, it will be 1.5 years since the original Fermi architecture. It's probably a safe bet that a $500 GTX680 will be 40%+ faster than a GTX580 if it releases this year. I would say there is a case to be made for a GTX570 if you aren't the type to overclock your 560. But a GTX580 costs $440 vs. $285 for the 570. Is the 580 54% faster than the 570? :sneaky:

Keep in mind, we still don't know how graphically intensive BF3 will be. It may turn out that you'll need a next generation 28nm GPU to max it out. I am sure you'll be upset after dropping $300+ on a GPU today only to find out it's still not fast enough in October. Futureproofing doesn't make much sense to me unless you don't like the hassle of reselling parts. If your overclocked GTX560 won't be able to max out BF3, it's pretty much a given that an overclocked GTX570 won't be able to do that either (since it means the amount of textures, dynamic lighting and shader effects are simply too overwhelming for the current generation). In other words, if you look at how GTX275/280/285 perform in modern games - well they are all pretty much equally unplayable (i.e., 26, 28, 30 fps would separate them).

 

[mike204]

You'll have to pay the difference between what you paid for your EVGA GTX560 and the price of a GTX570/580 at the time of upgrade.

The cheapest GTX570 from EVGA is $310 right now, which isn't that much more expensive than what an EVGA GTX570 sells for on the market.

Think about this. If you are not hesitant to sell your videocard in 2011 to upgrade, then 28nm GPUs should be much faster than a GTX580. 580 is just a refreshed 480 (a GPU that was introduced in April 2010). By the time 28nm GPUs are introduced, it will be 1.5 years since the original Fermi architecture. It's probably a safe bet that a $500 GTX680 will be 40%+ faster than a GTX580 if it releases this year. I would say there is a case to be made for a GTX570 if you aren't the type to overclock your 560. But a GTX580 costs $440 vs. $285 for the 570. Is the 580 54% faster than the 570? :sneaky:

Keep in mind, we still don't know how graphically intensive BF3 will be. It may turn out that you'll need a next generation 28nm GPU to max it out. I am sure you'll be upset after dropping $300+ on a GPU today only to find out it's still not fast enough in October. Futureproofing doesn't make much sense to me unless you don't like the hassle of reselling parts. If your overclocked GTX560 won't be able to max out BF3, it's pretty much a given that an overclocked GTX570 won't be able to do that either (since it means the amount of textures, dynamic lighting and shader effects are simply too overwhelming for the current generation). In other words, if you look at how GTX275/280/285 perform in modern games - well they are all pretty much equally unplayable (i.e., 26, 28, 30 fps would separate them).

Thanks, the 28nm GPU's are set to sell around november right? thats when battlefield should come out. I wouldnt be suprised if battlefield delays though.
Do you know if i get a 560 now, could i upgrade to a 570 for the price difference and then upgrade to a 28 nm graphics card or can you only do one upgrade?
Also, just so u know, the battlefield playthrough video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3b2ST-yQ04
this was run on a single 580, so i know if i get a 570 and OC, it should perform like this, and i take it they wouldnt run a demo on anything less than max settings.

 

[FiLeZz]

3 xfx 6950s flashed to 6970s

They have been good for about 4-5 months now.

 

[OS]

how the f--k do you cool something like that

i have stock 6950s CF, with a slot space between and the top one has touched 100C

 

[Tempered81]

how the f--k do you cool something like that

i have stock 6950s CF, with a slot space between and the top one has touched 100C

I've had just the opposite luck. I have a 6950 (single) and have it overvolted to 1.3v, and pushed to +20% powertune. I can keep an almost silent fan profile even with 6970 shader count and at 1000mhz and barely hit 72C in furmark with auto fan.

It's amazing to me how cool my card is. I've had x1950xt's and 4870's hit 100C tho. I think I got a stellar asic or just a really good heatsink mount.

 

[peonyu]

I haven't seen any evidence to support those claims. It seems like most 6950s whether they be the new cards, 1gb cards, or non-reference cards. The only people that I've seen claim that the flash and modification didn't work are posters with like 2 post that don't really explain what they tried. It could very well be user error in those cases.

Yep, Non ref and [most] 1gb can flash, I did mine. The issue with non-ref really is that alot of them have their bios write protected...So you have to do a hardware mod to disable that. My 1gb card didn't have that "feature" luckily.

 

[Bill Brasky]

beefy comp

Seriously rocks, man. My favorite is that last pic, showing the 3x120 rad totally contained in your case. Pretty slick.

Edit: What case is that?

 

[OS]

I've had just the opposite luck. I have a 6950 (single) and have it overvolted to 1.3v, and pushed to +20% powertune. I can keep an almost silent fan profile even with 6970 shader count and at 1000mhz and barely hit 72C in furmark with auto fan.

It's amazing to me how cool my card is. I've had x1950xt's and 4870's hit 100C tho. I think I got a stellar asic or just a really good heatsink mount.

cooling one card isn't that hard, my bottom 6950 runs ~10C cooler than the top one.
The problem is when you have multiple cards like that one card blocks the HSF on another.
Even worse the top card is now sucking in heat from the card just below it.

 

[FiLeZz]

Seriously rocks, man. My favorite is that last pic, showing the 3x120 rad totally contained in your case. Pretty slick.

Edit: What case is that?

Corsair 800d