So I just bought a GTX 560Ti...

[latexblanky]

Hey guys, I purchased a GTX 560Ti from my local compusa store to replace my aging HD4870. The main reason I'm upgrading is to get the best possible visuals from skyrim, BF3, and most other new games at 1920x1200. I haven't opened or installed the card yet because I want to make sure it was a good buy, or should I return it and get a HD6950/70 or a GTX 570. Here's the rest of my system.

CPU- Q6600 G0 @stock (will OC to 3.2-3.4)
Mobo- Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
PSU- 650w cooler master
RAM- 4gb of Mushkin DDR2
Case- NZXT Tempest

Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'd really like to have everything ready to go ASAP so I can play skyrim right away next week. Thanks in advance guys!

 

[cjbee]

Spend the extra money. If you're serious about gaming at that resolution, get the best you can afford. I'm thinking you'll be disappointed with that 560ti for those games + that resolution.

 

[lehtv]

On your resolution, 6950 2GB would be a better buy for only a bit more $. It'll be slightly faster at stock, usually unlockable to 6970, and the extra VRAM is good to have. 1GB just doesn't always cut it these days.

As with Oblivion, I'd expect user-made high-resolution textures to appear on the Skyrim mod scene in due time. Oblivion's high res mods can hog up close to 2GB VRAM. (Just one example - other relatively VRAM-hungry games include Rage, Crysis 2, BF3, Civ 5 @ DX11, GTA4...)

 

[latexblanky]

On your resolution, 6950 2GB would be a better buy for only a bit more $. It'll be slightly faster at stock, usually unlockable to 6970, and the extra VRAM is good to have. 1GB just doesn't always cut it these days.

As with Oblivion, I'd expect user-made high-resolution textures to appear on the mod scene in due time. Oblivion's high res mods can hog up close to 2GB VRAM.

I actually went to compusa planning on buying a 6950 2gb, but they didn't have any 6950s or 6970s in stock so it was either the 560Ti or 570. I didn't want to bother with ordering and waiting so I just grabbed the 560Ti while I was there. What is your opinion on the GTX 570? I may run back up there and swap the 560Ti for it. Or if it would be worth it to order a 6950/70 I guess I could do that. How much of a bottleneck would I get with these cards on my Q6600 if I overclock it to 3.2-3.4Ghz?

 

[saratoga172]

I actually went to compusa planning on buying a 6950 2gb, but they didn't have any 6950s or 6970s in stock so it was either the 560Ti or 570. I didn't want to bother with ordering and waiting so I just grabbed the 560Ti while I was there. What is your opinion on the GTX 570? I may run back up there and swap the 560Ti for it. Or if it would be worth it to order a 6950/70 I guess I could do that. How much of a bottleneck would I get with these cards on my Q6600 if I overclock it to 3.2-3.4Ghz?

570 is a very good card. Does better than the 6950 in some reviews and gets slightly beat in some. Overall if you don't want to wait 570 will cost a bit more but will give outstanding performance.

 

[cjbee]

I actually went to compusa planning on buying a 6950 2gb, but they didn't have any 6950s or 6970s in stock so it was either the 560Ti or 570. I didn't want to bother with ordering and waiting so I just grabbed the 560Ti while I was there. What is your opinion on the GTX 570? I may run back up there and swap the 560Ti for it. Or if it would be worth it to order a 6950/70 I guess I could do that. How much of a bottleneck would I get with these cards on my Q6600 if I overclock it to 3.2-3.4Ghz?

If you're comfortable with overclocking, get a 2GB 6950 and save your money. It will overclock to ~6970 speeds + more depending on your card and how much you're willing to push it.

Otherwise, the 570 is a good card.

 

[Mem]

On your resolution, 6950 2GB would be a better buy for only a bit more $. It'll be slightly faster at stock, usually unlockable to 6970, and the extra VRAM is good to have. 1GB just doesn't always cut it these days.

As with Oblivion, I'd expect user-made high-resolution textures to appear on the Skyrim mod scene in due time. Oblivion's high res mods can hog up close to 2GB VRAM. (Just one example - other relatively VRAM-hungry games include Rage, Crysis 2, BF3, Civ 5 @ DX11, GTA4...)

I agree with your comments about extra ram,btw you can get 2GB 560Ti,I've one on the way for tomorrow ie MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 2048MB.

Keeping up my Nvidia to AMD to Nvidia to AMD to Nvidia upgrade history.

 

[latexblanky]

Thanks for all the replies so far everyone. I'm definitely going to return the 560Ti in a little while. Now I'm just trying to make the final decision on the replacement card. I can order a 6950 2gb from newegg with 3 day shipping for $272 and it comes with dirt 3 and a $20 mail in rebate, or grab a GTX 570 from compusa when I make the return. To me it seems like the 6950 is the better deal with 2gb of ram and apparently can be unlocked to a 6970. What are some other advantages/disadvantages of the 6950 and 570?

 

[Borealis7]

If you're comfortable with overclocking, get a 2GB 6950 and save your money. It will overclock to ~6970 speeds

pfft! forget overclocking! it might UNLOCK!

 

[Danitondar]

hello my friend
your Cpu is so Weak and limit your Graphic card!
When Your Cpu limit The VGA Card you Cant Give a Good FPS(Frame Per Second)
Of course you Can Overclock your CPU and Give More Frame but not Too Much!

 

[Leyawiin]

The HD 6950 is an excellent card, but so is the GTX 560 Ti. With your particular CPU I doubt you'd notice any performance difference (your resolution isn't that high and fine for a 1GB card). I'm not trying to discourage you from returning the card for the HD 6950 2GB. In an up-to-date PC (like the one's used by review sites) it is about 5% faster, I'm just saying for your use the GTX 560 Ti would be perfectly fine as well.

 

[Grooveriding]

Since you are considering playing BF3, the 560ti is not a good choice with its 1GB of VRAM. You'd be much better served by a 2GB 6950, which I believe is maybe $20 more than the 560ti and a good deal cheaper than the 570.

I wouldn't be comfortable with even the 570's 1.25GB of memory if you are planning on playing at ultra settings.

 

[Leyawiin]

Since you are considering playing BF3, the 560ti is not a good choice with its 1GB of VRAM. You'd be much better served by a 2GB 6950, which I believe is maybe $20 more than the 560ti and a good deal cheaper than the 570.

I wouldn't be comfortable with even the 570's 1.25GB of memory if you are planning on playing at ultra settings.

Isn't the memory leak fixed?

 

[Jhatfie]

At your resolution, the 560ti should actually be okay as you will not be maxing out settings if you want smooth framerates. But like other have mentioned the 2GB 6950 is priced similarly, is slightly faster overall, has more flexability with additional vram and potential to unlock depending on which model you get.

 

[latexblanky]

At your resolution, the 560ti should actually be okay as you will not be maxing out settings if you want smooth framerates. But like other have mentioned the 2GB 6950 is priced similarly, is slightly faster overall, has more flexability with additional vram and potential to unlock depending on which model you get.

I already returned the 560Ti as the 6950 seems like the better deal for only a little more money. I plan on buying this card from newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102945
This is better than the 560Ti right?

 

[Jhatfie]

I already returned the 560Ti as the 6950 seems like the better deal for only a little more money. I plan on buying this card from newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102945
This is better than the 560Ti right?

That is actually the same 6950 I have. Mine unlocked to 6970 shaders with a flip of the bios switch and OC'd to 970/1370 perfecty stable. Great card. Runs pretty cool and quiet. If you can get your 6600 OC'd a bit to 3.2-3.4Ghz or so like you mentioned, you should be in great gaming shape. My son has a Q6600 at 3.4Ghz and a HD6850 OC'd to 970/1150 and it games very well at 1200p, the 6950 you ordered will be even better.

 

[latexblanky]

I'm working on overclocking my Q6600 to 3.6Ghz right now. Will overclocking my CPU and the power consumption of the HD 6950 be too much for my 650w cooler master PSU?

 

[lehtv]

I already returned the 560Ti as the 6950 seems like the better deal for only a little more money. I plan on buying this card from newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102945
This is better than the 560Ti right?

That is a good choice, it runs cool and most units can be unlocked by a simply setting the BIOS switch to a different position . I've read it unlocks the shaders but keeps the 6950 clock frequencies - you'll have to OC it manually.

If you appreciate XFX's (transferable) lifetime warranty, consider this one for the same price as Sapphire 6950 (well, actually less with shipping). I don't know for a fact if it'll unlock. It doesn't have a dual-BIOS switch, but if you have a backup GPU you can still try unlocking it with a traditional BIOS flash. It will probably OC similarly as Sapphire. (FYI overclocking has more impact on performance than unlocking the extra shaders).

 

[Jhatfie]

I'm working on overclocking my Q6600 to 3.6Ghz right now. Will overclocking my CPU and the power consumption of the HD 6950 be too much for my 650w cooler master PSU?

Not knowing which 650W Cooler Master you own, but it should be fine even if you factor in capacitor aging.

Actually now that I think about it, my son's computer has a old 650W Cooler Master Real Power Pro. It has run his rig just fine and with his Q6600 @ 1.4v and 6850 OC'd and the voltage pumped up on it (6850) to 1.2v, it consumes pretty close to the same power as a 6950.

The PSU calculator I looked at, factoring in Q6600 CPU OC, few hard drives (2 7200 and one SSD), 4 x 120mm fans, 6 USB devices, 1 optical drive, 10% capacitor aging, HD 6970, etc. Recommended a 600W with a minimum of 550W.

 

[latexblanky]

Not knowing which 650W Cooler Master you own, but it should be fine even if you factor in capacitor aging.

Actually now that I think about it, my son's computer has a old 650W Cooler Master Real Power Pro. It has run his rig just fine and with his Q6600 @ 1.4v and 6850 OC'd and the voltage pumped up on it (6850) to 1.2v, it consumes pretty close to the same power as a 6950.

The PSU calculator I looked at, factoring in Q6600 CPU OC, few hard drives (2 7200 and one SSD), 4 x 120mm fans, 6 USB devices, 1 optical drive, 10% capacitor aging, HD 6970, etc. Recommended a 600W with a minimum of 550W.

I actually have the same PSU as your son then. Glad to know that it should be sufficient. Now let's hope I can get this overclock figured out...lol. Thanks again for all your help

 

[Puppies04]

Spend the extra money. If you're serious about gaming at that resolution, get the best you can afford. I'm thinking you'll be disappointed with that 560ti for those games + that resolution. __________________

My MSI twin frozr gtx560 ti has yet to come up against anything that won't run perfectly at 1920 x 1080 on high settings, I was even gaming on BF3 on ultra this afternoon (although I run on high normally) and it wasn't having any particular problem keeping up with 1100 core clock 2200 shader and 2350 memory clock. Sure if you are running 2500 x 1600 res you might want to consider getting a faster card but at 1920 x 1080/ 1920 x 1200 a 560 ti is a beast of a card will very nice overclocking headroom. I don't see myself needing any other GPU until the equivalent 600 series card comes out next year.

 

[toyota]

Since you are considering playing BF3, the 560ti is not a good choice with its 1GB of VRAM. You'd be much better served by a 2GB 6950, which I believe is maybe $20 more than the 560ti and a good deal cheaper than the 570.

I wouldn't be comfortable with even the 570's 1.25GB of memory if you are planning on playing at ultra settings.

so in BF 3, you are more comfortable with the SLOWER 6950 2gb just because it has more vram?

the gtx570 EASILY beats the 6970 never mind just the 6950 2gb at 1920x1200 with Ultra settings and 4x AA.



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heck even at 2560 with Ultra settings and 4x AA, the gtx570 is again faster than the both the 6970 and 6950 2gb.



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[GaiaHunter]

so in BF 3, you are more comfortable with the SLOWER 6950 2gb just because it has more vram?

the gtx570 EASILY beats the 6970 never mind just the 6950 2gb at 1920x1200 with Ultra settings and 4x AA.



heck even at 2560 with Ultra settings and 4x AA, the gtx570 is again faster than the both the 6970 and 6950 2gb.

Slower, but less expensive.

And it isn't as if the GTX570 is a very comfortable performer at those settings.

 

[toyota]

Slower, but less expensive.

his comment was based on vram usage for Ultra settings not price. and perhaps you missed the part where the gtx570 also beats the 6970 on Ultra settings which costs MORE than you can get a gtx570 for.

 

[Puppies04]

No it's true I swear, you need at least a million gb of vram or BF3 wont even boot...