What is it with your current setup that you are you not happy with - resolution, screen size, framerates?
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gtx560 or 6950?
- Thread starter KiiYzOo
- Start date
What is it with your current setup that you are you not happy with - resolution, screen size, framerates?
Associate
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- 1 Dec 2010
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- Winchester, UK
I had the same question a few days ago and I just ended up going for 6950 2GB edition because it's only 20 quid more anyway. Better across the board and possibility of being flashed. As much as I like the sound of PhysX I'm more concerned with framerates 
Soldato
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- 8 Aug 2010
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- Oxfordshire
^^^
Yeh i'd go for the extra 1gb vram as well...
Yeh i'd go for the extra 1gb vram as well...
Soldato
- Joined
- 8 Aug 2010
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- 6,453
- Location
- Oxfordshire
I'd take Gigabyte GTX 560 TI SOC over Radeon 6950 judging by OcUK's pricing.
That's only my desire to switch back to Nvidia for some time.
I doubt many GTX 560s will be able to do more than 1GHz on core, that Gigabyte does 1040-1050MHz on core and that is fairly enough to compete with both Radeon 6970 and GeForce 570. On the plus side you get an efficient cooler, guarantee of a very high stable overclock and decent 3 years warranty with Gigabyte.
Some might be tempted to try their luck and push their 6950s over stock 6970s performance and possibly get ahead of the Gigabyte 560 SOC by some 5%. You'd still need to spend some £30 or more to get as good cooler as the one supplied with this card.
Let's hope that the current prices will drop by some £10 in the next few weeks and make these cards even more competitive.
Radeon 6950 1GB is just around the corner and offers virtually the same performance at 1920x1200 as the 2GB version (despite some people claiming to use more than 1GB VRAM when high levels of AA are applied...). Hopefully the price difference will be higher than it is currently in the US ($10-20). These cards won't unlock to 6970s but may be better suited for some gamers.
And then there are some decent price drops on 6870/6850s, making the former sold for approximately £150 using the current exchange rate and applying 20% VAT.
That's only my desire to switch back to Nvidia for some time.
I doubt many GTX 560s will be able to do more than 1GHz on core, that Gigabyte does 1040-1050MHz on core and that is fairly enough to compete with both Radeon 6970 and GeForce 570. On the plus side you get an efficient cooler, guarantee of a very high stable overclock and decent 3 years warranty with Gigabyte.
Some might be tempted to try their luck and push their 6950s over stock 6970s performance and possibly get ahead of the Gigabyte 560 SOC by some 5%. You'd still need to spend some £30 or more to get as good cooler as the one supplied with this card.
Let's hope that the current prices will drop by some £10 in the next few weeks and make these cards even more competitive.
Radeon 6950 1GB is just around the corner and offers virtually the same performance at 1920x1200 as the 2GB version (despite some people claiming to use more than 1GB VRAM when high levels of AA are applied...). Hopefully the price difference will be higher than it is currently in the US ($10-20). These cards won't unlock to 6970s but may be better suited for some gamers.
And then there are some decent price drops on 6870/6850s, making the former sold for approximately £150 using the current exchange rate and applying 20% VAT.
Those claims are true though and benchmarks really do not show the reality, at the end of the day it is your decision and not a lot of games over the 1GB of textures but some do and it can only get worse from now on.
You can find a Gigabyte 6950 2GB for less than £230 and they are probably going to be even a bit cheaper in a weeks time. That evens the warranty bit. Also most if not all 6950s can do 950 Mhz overclocked and ALL OF THEM can unlock the cores.
It is true though that the fan is louder but you get 2GB of VRAM and if you can not see the benefits even at 1920x1200 (where some 570 users have reported problems in Metro and Stalker) then that is your point of view.
You can find a Gigabyte 6950 2GB for less than £230 and they are probably going to be even a bit cheaper in a weeks time. That evens the warranty bit. Also most if not all 6950s can do 950 Mhz overclocked and ALL OF THEM can unlock the cores.
It is true though that the fan is louder but you get 2GB of VRAM and if you can not see the benefits even at 1920x1200 (where some 570 users have reported problems in Metro and Stalker) then that is your point of view.
do you think that a powercolor version for £225 is good?
Yeah mate very good price for the 6950 and I wouldn't hesitate at that.
With the extra ram if you do play at higher resolution in the future and more demanding games in terms of textures and also the very good chance it can be flashed to a 6970 I would go for that
I'm not going to correct you on that, it's obvious that some games can make a use of a higher memory buffer but that doesn't mean it's necessary or useful at all for an average user (gaming at 1080p or lower).
You probably misunderstood my post judging by the second paragraph. Radeon 6950s are brilliant cards, not all of them can unlock the shaders though and 1GB ones certainly can't (and that's what I mentioned earlier). There's some memory issues that won't allow some cards reach stock 6970's clocks but it doesn't affect performance by much (5% at most) and the cores overclock generally the same as 6970s (which is some 10% over stock 6970s but you have to take noise of the cooler and temps into account).
GeForce GTX 560 TI would be my choice simply because:
a) it's cheaper
b) it overclocks bloody well
c) I'd fancy a change
I'm not moving to Nvidia camp any time soon though.
That's not my point of view, it is what reviews confirm and what many users report. I appreciate you take a different stand on that matter though.
Get both and let them fight to the death on your kitchen table. You'll have to set up a camera as they will not battle when people are present.
I'd get the GTX 560. The next upgrade would be a screen, then you can weigh up your options to get another GTX 560 or just go for a bigger card if memory limitations come into play after you acquire your new screen. It will be dependant on that for to decide your next move over the GTX 560 you're about to buy. It would be SLI GTX 560 or you might want something else that's out at the time
I'd get the GTX 560. The next upgrade would be a screen, then you can weigh up your options to get another GTX 560 or just go for a bigger card if memory limitations come into play after you acquire your new screen. It will be dependant on that for to decide your next move over the GTX 560 you're about to buy. It would be SLI GTX 560 or you might want something else that's out at the time
wow there are loads of conflicting opinions on here
I found a Zotac gtx 560 for £215 and the cooler on it looks awesome
it's either that the Powercolor 6950
or get another gtx 460.
decisions, decisions.
I wouldn't bother spending extra (£215 is £20-25 over RRP) on that Zotac card, MSI Twin Frozr II was available for £199 at OcUK today and I'm sure there'll be more offers like this soon enough.
Radeon 6950 1GB should retail at £199 and Radeon 6950 2GB can be had for some £215-219 right now, unlockable to a full Radeon 6970 makes the choice pretty obvious to me.
Gigabyte GTX 560 TI SOC is simply an awesome card to have but comparing a stock 6950 with a stock 560, I would take the former any time it was <10% more expensive. And I certainly would invest in a non-reference design when buying a 560.
Get both and let them fight to the death on your kitchen table. You'll have to set up a camera as they will not battle when people are present.
I'd get the GTX 560. The next upgrade would be a screen, then you can weigh up your options to get another GTX 560 or just go for a bigger card if memory limitations come into play after you acquire your new screen. It will be dependant on that for to decide your next move over the GTX 560 you're about to buy. It would be SLI GTX 560 or you might want something else that's out at the time
Thaanks for the comment, I'd love to see them fight to the death
wow there are loads of conflicting opinions on here
I found a Zotac gtx 560 for £215 and the cooler on it looks awesome
it's either that the Powercolor 6950
or get another gtx 460.
decisions, decisions.
The Zotac cooler is not a good one despite its looks. MSI and Gigabyte have the best GTX 560 coolers currently out with their quad pipe beastly heatsinks.
If you arent bothered about the cards looks. The Gigabyte 1 Ghz SOC is the best one of the lot. If your like me and you need a black PCB and sleeker looking one, then the MSI is perfect for that.
If going for a 6950 instead, just go for the cheapest because they are all reference designs (the only reason why I dont like them, and the MSI Twinfrozr 6950 costs too much).
Both the MSI 880 Mhz 560, and the Gigabyte 900 Mhz one can be had for around £200, if you dont want to buy the Gigabyte SoC version either one of these is a great option and you can OC it yourself. The Asus version doesnt have a very good cooler this time around. Its ok, but it isnt worth a penny more than the MSI and Gigabyte version. It should be £10 less tbh.
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