What to do with 2 6950s? Bitcoins? XFire? Sell for 7970?

[thilanliyan]

So I ended up being given a 1gb 6950 and I already have a 2gb 6950. I'm not that interested in XFire, I would rather have a good single card. In my case I think the only worthwhile upgrade would be a 7970 if I sell the 6950s.

I am also thinking of keeping both as bitcoin cards but then 1 7970 would do well in that too and be more power efficient (?).

Would XFire actually be worth it considering the 1gb card? The only really intensive game I'm playing right now is Witcher 2.

So any suggestions/advice? Thanks.

EDIT: Anyone been doing any bitcoin mining with a 7970? Results?

 

[Chiropteran]

Sell and buy a 7970.

 

[nanaki333]

if you're only gaming at 1080p, then the 6950 xfire would be faster.

 

[chimaxi83]

In the case of Crossfire, since one card is 1GB and the other is 2GB, a Crossfire setup will only give you 1GB effective RAM. To have 2GB both cards have to have 2GB.

If you already knew that, then my bad :biggrin:

 

[nOOky]

If you're only interested in a single card then if you can afford it a single 7970 would be my choice. 6950's in Crossfire are very powerful though, why not try installing both cards and run it through a couple games and see how you like it? Micro stuttering seems to either really bother some people, or some don't really notice it at all. I would rather have 2 2 gig cards though, it would bother me to run a 1 gig with a 2 gig. It depends on your resolution too I guess.

 

[KingFatty]

Also consider economics - each of the 6950s are depreciating in value, so the longer you hold them, the more they will both depreciate, especially seeing a big drop in value when the 7950 comes out (or any of the 78XX series). So, you carry twice the burden of the depreciation compared to having a single card.

If I were you, I'd sell now while they still have a good value, before the 7950 prices are announced, and let someone else incur the additional depreciation. Then break the glass seal on your emergency back-up card that you can use until you buy a 7950 later.

 

[3DVagabond]

Sell! Sell!

Single card setup is far more elegant a solution. No dual card scaling, driver, stuttering, more effective VRAM, and once you O/C both the 7970 can come close to keeping up in overall performance.

 

[Barfo]

Sell both. Get a GTX 580.

 

[MrK6]

Also consider economics - each of the 6950s are depreciating in value, so the longer you hold them, the more they will both depreciate, especially seeing a big drop in value when the 7950 comes out (or any of the 78XX series). So, you carry twice the burden of the depreciation compared to having a single card.

If I were you, I'd sell now while they still have a good value, before the 7950 prices are announced, and let someone else incur the additional depreciation. Then break the glass seal on your emergency back-up card that you can use until you buy a 7950 later.

Exactly. That, and 1GB of vRAM on 6950 CF is going to gimp it, so sell the cards and get a better solution. I also agree with the sentiment that a single car will be a better solution, and the 7950 possibly could be a winner. Hold off until reviews are out and grab either the 7950 or 7970, depending on performance and pricing.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I'd try it out and see how it runs. Otherwise the 7970 is the way to go.

Yuck you have bulldozer. I'd sell both and go Intel.

 

[thilanliyan]

I think I'm gonna end up selling them both and get a 7970...I don't think the 7950 would be enough of an upgrade.

Yuck you have bulldozer. I'd sell both and go Intel.

Lol I just bought this m/b in the hopes of upgrading to piledriver...yes I know it's a gamble. In retrospect I should have gone to a 2500k, but at the time that I changed m/b I had a 1055T which I was going to keep but had to sell the CPU with my old m/b. If I had known I was going to change CPU/mb/and ram then I would have definitely gone to a 2500k.

Oh and no nV cards for me...I do some bitcoin mining, plus my old Maze4 waterblock actually fits on ATI cards, whereas it doesn't on most newer nV cards.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Sell and buy a 7970.

this. single card solutions always have less headaches associated with them.

 

[badb0y]

Maze4 might not fit the AMD 7970 because they have this shim around the GPU.

 

[thilanliyan]

Maze4 might not fit the AMD 7970 because they have this shim around the GPU.

Yeah I was going to make a spacer.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I would sell and see what the 7950 has to offer (assuming 1080P) or maybe just keep the 2GB 6950.

 

[badb0y]

Yeah I was going to make a spacer.

Sell them and buy the HD 7970, it's a great card and under water it OC's like a beast.

 

[Crap Daddy]

Keep them, crossfire and when Kepler comes out prices on the 7000 series will decrease dramatically. Then buy one.

 

[thilanliyan]

Keep them, crossfire and when Kepler comes out prices on the 7000 series will decrease dramatically. Then buy one.

This was something I was considering also...I figure the prices on a 7970 are so high right now because there's no competition.

Maybe I'll sell the 1gb 6950 and just hold on to my 2gb. Sigh...back to square one lol.

 

[Neon001]

I also have two of the 2GB unlockable (reference) 6950 cards. I had thrown them up for sale and got a couple nibbles (no firm committments yet), but I'm almost having second thoughts. Given what people are finding as far as the inconsistency of OC potential with different bins of 7970 cards, I can't be certain to get one that even OCs modestly. Without this, the edge of the single card 7970 setup kind of disappears, and it's still gonna be a decent price premium over what one could sell two 6950 cards for, at least for a little while.

I'm starting to wonder if the guy that suggested waiting for Kepler and seeing the landscape then is right. Then again, I've also read that Kepler is behind schedule and there's a possibility that it won't release for another 5 months or more. If that were true, I'd be inclined to make my move now.

 

[Madpacket]

I would sell. A 7970 will do 650 MH/S at around 250 total system watts (measured from my killawatt) on a modern system which is much more efficient than dual 6950's so don't hang on to them for that reason. Also for gaming you will not suffer from any microstutter (reason I got rid of my 6950's) issues which is a very real problem and super annoying.

To be blunt, replacing my dual 6950's with one 7970 has made my gaming experience much more enjoyable and I'm happy I no longer need to crack open the window due to the excessive heat the dual 6950's were putting out.

 

[thilanliyan]

Is the 650MH/s at stock or overclocked? If so what OC?

I no longer need to crack open the window due to the excessive heat the dual 6950's were putting out.

No problem with that here in Saskatoon...it was minus 40 celcius (-40C) last week lol...I was keeping my comp on and crunching to keep the room warm :biggrin:

I think the allure of a single card system will shift me towards a 7970...just wondering if I should wait for Kepler (who knows when that's coming) to come out or buy soon.

 

[Leyawiin]

Yuck you have bulldozer. I'd sell both and go Intel.

Seriously. An HD 7970 would be wasted. He might as well sell one of the HD 6950s and just go with a single card with that CPU and resolution.

 

[thilanliyan]

^I game at 1920x1200...not 1024x768

And I have my CPU at 4.4GHz with the capacity to push it more if needed. I don't think I'll be bottlenecked.

 

[Madpacket]

Is the 650MH/s at stock or overclocked? If so what OC?

On my reference Gigabyte 7970 I mine at @ 1105mV / 1100 Mhz core / 685 mem @ 1500 mV.

At these settings I can't really do anything but mine (3D gaming requires more mV to be stable) but I've been mining for days without issues.

Saskatoon is crazy cold

 

[thilanliyan]

On my reference Gigabyte 7970 I mine at @ 1105mV / 1100 Mhz core / 685 mem @ 1500 mV.

At these settings I can't really do anything but mine (3D gaming requires more mV to be stable) but I've been mining for days without issues.

Saskatoon is crazy cold

Thanks for the info! Helps me with my decision.

And yes Saskatoon is cold...thankfully it has warmed up a bit to only about -10C