5870 vs 6950 Decision!

Compound · 15 Dec 2010 at 08:27

Right I need some help deciding which card to get.

I was all set on getting the 6950 but now I cannot decide after reading the reviews.

For the resolution I game at (1920 x 1080) the 6950 does not seem to offer a significant performance advantage. Would the 2Gb offer future proofing at my res?

However, the improved tessellation does look good, and maybe more games will come out to take advantage of it.

Anyway, if it was your dosh, what would you choose?

straxusii · 15 Dec 2010 at 08:37

It's really close, I think the better power, 2GB and tesselation just shades it for the extra £30

It is also a lot quieter than 5870

d_brennen · 15 Dec 2010 at 08:42

6950, easy. Potential to add a second later on too. The CF scaling looks really good

ssmacc · 15 Dec 2010 at 08:48

I'm in the same boat...anyone know what the in store free game is with the 6950? (Might be a deciding factor for me – it’s that close)

Compound · 15 Dec 2010 at 08:52

It would be a much easier decision if it was clearly faster in most games but generally from what i'm seeingthe 5870 comes out on top

It's really only the 2gb and other features that are swaying me towards the 6950

ssmacc · 15 Dec 2010 at 08:57

Have you thought about the 6870? I know its slightly slower than the 5870, but from what i read it uses less power and scales better...plus HDMI 4.0 etc. (as a bonus)

Just a thought...(decisions, decisions...)

Compound · 15 Dec 2010 at 08:59

I did look at a 6870 but i think i rueld that out and got it down to these two.

However, I still personally think that over the next few months driver optimisations will give the 69XX cards a nice performance bump. Here's hoping anyway.

Andrew_McP · 15 Dec 2010 at 09:41

I cracked and ordered a 5870 last week (at the lower price, which made it more attractive than today). It's fast, cool, and eats no more power than the 192 core GTX260 it replaced (my E8400 system draws 300w under extreme load).

But I know that if I was buying again today I'd be getting a 6950. Partly because the price gap is smaller than it was last week. Partly because I run three screens for racing/flight sims, and I think the 2Gb would be very useful. But mainly just because it's the latest iteration of AMD's technology. I'll be keeping the card for 2+ years, and over that time the extra money is relatively trivial.

Having said that, the benchmarks are not -- so far at least -- enough to tempt me to sell on the 5870 while it's still in pristine condition. :-)

Andrew McP

RavenXXX2 · 15 Dec 2010 at 09:52

6950 all the way.

pieman109 · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:19

I've just ordered an HIS HD6950 2gb. For the past two weeks I've been without a g/c, just running with onboard graphics atm, appears to be the one to get to get in this new lineup. I was looking at the 6970 versus the gtx 570 but I couldn't justify the extra dosh atm with chrimbo an' all, but I can always Xfire at a later time anyway. Strikes me that this card is priced very close to the 6870 which I reckon will have to come down in price if its gonna sell at all.
I've read through most of the info posted here wrt these new cards and from an enthusiast's point of view its a bit of a disappointment, would've expected a bit more performanc outta these cards really.
Lastly whats the deal with these 10.12 drivers I've been reading about? have the review sites benched using these or the 10.11 which apparently offer less performance. Are these 10.12 beta, official, any good, better than the 10.11?

Mr Krugga · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:35

pieman109 said:
I've just ordered an HIS HD6950 2gb. For the past two weeks I've been without a g/c, just running with onboard graphics atm, appears to be the one to get to get in this new lineup. I was looking at the 6970 versus the gtx 570 but I couldn't justify the extra dosh atm with chrimbo an' all, but I can always Xfire at a later time anyway. Strikes me that this card is priced very close to the 6870 which I reckon will have to come down in price if its gonna sell at all.
I've read through most of the info posted here wrt these new cards and from an enthusiast's point of view its a bit of a disappointment, would've expected a bit more performanc outta these cards really.
Lastly whats the deal with these 10.12 drivers I've been reading about? have the review sites benched using these or the 10.11 which apparently offer less performance. Are these 10.12 beta, official, any good, better than the 10.11?

Well you know, it's all down to justifying an upgrade for most people over here. I'm still undecided whether to get one of these, GTX570 or wait for the next generation. If I was for a new card right now, HD6950 would be an obvious choice.

Just on the side note, most people complaining and some of those getting the cards were planning to skip the generation either way. It seems they forgot what they were posting before and can't help the urge to have the latest technology

10.12s are preview drivers as in the 10.12 is a WHQL driver but the CCC is in beta stage (but works very well). We've had like 3 different versions of the driver in the past 3 days thus it's a little confusing to say the least. There is a rumoured driver that brings some essential performance improvements, there was even one Unigine Benchmark showing a driver that isn't released anywhere and the score was 30% higher than with 10.11. We have to wait to see if there's any improvement over the current drivers.

You can download the latest official drivers from here - http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx

Gibbo · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:36

5870 on THIS WEEK ONLY.

Guy · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:50

Gibbo said:
5870 on THIS WEEK ONLY.

Oh noes, I really cannot make up my mind between that 5870 and a 6950

Mr Krugga · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:51

Guy said:
Oh noes, I really cannot make up my mind between that 5870 and a 6950

HD6950 all the way if you have the money for it

Compound · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:55

I think i've made up my mind on a 6950. If nothing else my epeen will grow when i can tell people i have 2gb of RAM

Anyway, with the DPD delivery is it next day?

If not thats great as i am not around tomorrow so Friday would be better for me

Duff-Man · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:56

I would go for the 6950.

You get similar performance, but it's a fair bet that future driver releases will aid the 6950 more then the 5870.

More importantly, you get the potential for excellent crossfire scaling. 6950 x-fire is (IMO) perhaps the best value high-performance solution right now (this is coming from the guy who always warns that multi-GPU solutions are not as powerful as they seem from benchmarks, due to microstutter

). So, if you choose to add another card at a later date you will see a much bigger performance jump.

Compound · 15 Dec 2010 at 10:59

Duff-Man said:
I would go for the 6950.

You get similar performance, but it's a fair bet that future driver releases will aid the 6950 more then the 5870.

More importantly, you get the potential for excellent crossfire scaling. 6950 x-fire is (IMO) perhaps the best value high-performance solution right now (this is coming from the guy who always warns that multi-GPU solutions are not as powerful as they seem from benchmarks, due to microstutter ). So, if you choose to add another card at a later date you will see a much bigger performance jump.

Thats something I will certainly bare in mind when I get my next mobo/CPU combo. By then 6950's will be far cheaper at a guess so I will be able to get a v nice performance boost for little outlay.

pieman109 · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:02

Mr Krugga said:
Well you know, it's all down to justifying an upgrade for most people over here. I'm still undecided whether to get one of these, GTX570 or wait for the next generation. If I was for a new card right now, HD6950 would be an obvious choice.

Just on the side note, most people complaining and some of those getting the cards were planning to skip the generation either way. It seems they forgot what they were posting before and can't help the urge to have the latest technology

10.12s are preview drivers as in the 10.12 is a WHQL driver but the CCC is in beta stage (but works very well). We've had like 3 different versions of the driver in the past 3 days thus it's a little confusing to say the least. There is a rumoured driver that brings some essential performance improvements, there was even one Unigine Benchmark showing a driver that isn't released anywhere and the score was 30% higher than with 10.11. We have to wait to see if there's any improvement over the current drivers.

You can download the latest official drivers from here - http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx

I get the impression that ppl here are tending to ignore/ forget about, the 6950. Everyone keeps going on about the 6970 as being a bit of a let down 'cos it didn't beat the gtx570 outright, and when you look at the cost of the two cards, they're fairly equal in cost in some cases.
I can't see most 5870, 470/ 480, owners bothering to upgrade as the performance increases just aren't there, but for ppl like me with lowend graphics, ie: onboard graphics, then summat like the 6950 becomes an absolute bargain, especially at £220 for the HIS variant. Then theres Xfire to consider, gtx 580 beating performance providing you don't mind spending the same money or thereabouts.

flopper · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:03

at your resolution, a 6850 or a 6870 is good.
However, next year we see, diablo 3, crysis 2, and a ton of other games, and then a 6950 likely be the better edge and deal with those games.

6950, and if you overclock a little, is just perfect.
( I am biased tho, got 2x6950 on route)

Guy · 15 Dec 2010 at 11:29

I took the plunge and got a 6950, I don't think I will be disappointed coming from a 8800GTS 320mb.