Which flavour gtx 480 or 6950

tommybhoy · 25 Feb 2011 at 10:30

OCPete said:
I am in exacty the same scenario. Leaning towards the GTX480 due to not having to reflash (save time and hassle), and I have good case airflow so not worried about the heat.

It's quicker to flash than installing the driver, where's the hassle in that? Each to their own though.

OCPete · 25 Feb 2011 at 10:56

tommybhoy said:
It's quicker to flash than installing the driver, where's the hassle in that? Each to their own though.

What about each of them overclocked? Would the 6950 @ 6970 struggle to keep up? :confused:

Ezyryder · 25 Feb 2011 at 10:57

What resolution do you guys play at?

OCPete · 25 Feb 2011 at 11:00

Ezyryder said:
What resolution do you guys play at?

1680 * 1050 (monitor)

or 1920 * 1080 (lovely 40inch Bravia HDTV)

Jack Bauer · 25 Feb 2011 at 11:03

Im at 1920by1080

tbh, I would enjoy flashing and overclocking the ATI, however, if I didnt get 480 type speeds I would be disapointed.

Ezyryder · 25 Feb 2011 at 11:37

At 1680x1050 the 480 will be faster than the 6950@70.

At higher resolutions though the results are even and the 6950@70 will pull ahead at resolutions at and above 1920x1200.

I reckon with the MSI you will be able to manage 920-950 Mhz core clocks with 6970 but the 480 will overclock further than the 6950@70 at the expense of a lot more juice and more noise.

If you are looking into Double Card set up the 6950@70 are much faster and scale better than the 480 SLI combo, and they will also use less juice.

OCPete · 25 Feb 2011 at 11:52

Ezyryder said:
At 1680x1050 the 480 will be faster than the 6950@70.

At higher resolutions though the results are even and the 6950@70 will pull ahead at resolutions at and above 1920x1200.

I reckon with the MSI you will be able to manage 920-950 Mhz core clocks with 6970 but the 480 will overclock further than the 6950@70 at the expense of a lot more juice and more noise.

If you are looking into Double Card set up the 6950@70 are much faster and scale better than the 480 SLI combo, and they will also use less juice.

Thanks as that's made my mind up!

I will game @ 1680*1050 & 1920*1080, but NOT higher.

Moving away from dual card so not interested in SLi / Xfire.

Not worried about heat/power/noise.

Done.

Woo Hoo! 480 coming my way! :-)

Jack Bauer · 25 Feb 2011 at 11:56

Opposite effect for me, now I really dont know which one to get. Im going to order within 30 mins give or take, so it may just be which ever I click on at the time.

OCPete · 25 Feb 2011 at 12:10

Bought! DPD Sat delivery. GAME on!

Now to sell the pesky 460s.

Jack Bauer · 25 Feb 2011 at 12:16

last question before I order, bit of a spesific one. Anyone know if the newer ATI cards still suffer from directx 9 trouble in css, mainly in A site on nuke? I play a lot of css and im sick of using directx 8.

arc@css · 25 Feb 2011 at 13:04

Jack Bauer said:
last question before I order, bit of a spesific one. Anyone know if the newer ATI cards still suffer from directx 9 trouble in css, mainly in A site on nuke? I play a lot of css and im sick of using directx 8.

What exactly do you mean? Do you mean the crash to desktop issue since the big update last year? If so, turn off multicore rendering in the options page. What card and driver are you using to need you to use dx8?

Ezyryder · 25 Feb 2011 at 13:05

I have played CSS with the 6950 with no problems but if you are a bit more specific I might be able to help

Stu_Allcott · 25 Feb 2011 at 13:09

Davey_Pitch said:
I had the same choice to make, and ended up going for the GTX480, as from the benches it seems to perform better in the games I'd be more likely to play (such as Civ 5). As there is so little between the cards generally you should probably use something similar to help you make your own mind up.

it does work for civ 5, but ive been finding that if you play the largest map type its using up so much of my computer thative had to either not play that type of lower the settings from max

Jack Bauer · 25 Feb 2011 at 13:17

sry will explain further.

On my current ATI 4890 and a few other ati cards at that time, in rafters in A site on nuke (happens in other maps as well but this is the problem one) the lighting effects from the roof windows make it hard to see the crows nest in the corner. This was put down to a source bug by ATI and was never fixed. To get round this you have to play in directx 8 mode.

Im wondering if it is still present on the current ATI cards?

Quick edit: I havent check it since the main css update so it may have been sorted then.

Found a pic of it

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad218/adrian_vol/de_nuke0000.jpg

Ezyryder · 25 Feb 2011 at 13:27

I can probably check this weekend if you are prepared to wait!

Jack Bauer · 25 Feb 2011 at 13:29

cheers but Im not

Im in that child like mode at the moment, its a bit like christmas.

Jack Bauer · 25 Feb 2011 at 15:45

Went with the 6950 in the end, plus a few other bits.

arc@css · 25 Feb 2011 at 15:53

Iirc its always been difficult to see that area well, though I didn't realise there was a bug. I always thought it was just a useful spot to hide in since the darkness benefits the player using it.

Tom|Nbk · 25 Feb 2011 at 18:05

Ezyryder said:
At current prices the 6950 for £198, unlock it and overclock it and be done with it!

Why faff on when you can get a 480 for £195 no need to flash and it will beat the 6970.

Ezyryder · 25 Feb 2011 at 18:39

the faff is as difficult as overclocking in AB but a 480 doesn't always beat the 6970 at least not at higher resolutions. You can look at benchmarks yourself - they are even.

Also when I posted that the 480 was 208 not 195