Which one to pick?

[SiroVai123]

Hi,

I'm struggling to decide which GPU to buy. My Budget is between £150-180.

I have been looking at the following cards, all of which have similar bench results, which makes it harder to pick one! I know the Nvidia cards do better in DX11 tesselation but is that a reason to pick one? Help?

GeForce GTX 560Ti - £164.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-130-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

HIS ATI Radeon 6950 - £179.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-028-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

XFX ATI Radeon HD 6870 - £175.00 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-188-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

Radion Hd 5870 - £159.98 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

 

[chaotic_uk]

whats the rest of the system specs ? , what res will you be using ?

 

[cmndr_andi]

Personally, I would suggest going £12 over budget and getting this one.

If you want to stay within budget then the 1GB 6950 gets my vote.

 

[SiroVai123]

whats the rest of the system specs ? , what res will you be using ?

I've listed them here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=19114349#post19114349

 

[Freddie1980]

All of those cards are similarly priced and perform at more or less the same level as each other but in terms of pure value the Radeon HD5870 is the best value given it's arguably the fastest card out of the 4 you selected and it's also the cheapest and comes with a game.

 

[rolypolyman]

This in my opinion is the best bang for buck.

 

[SiroVai123]

whats the rest of the system specs ? , what res will you be using ?

oops, I will be using 1680x1050 rez.

 

[wentalong]

hmm, if i had to choose between them all, it'd come down to either the 6950 or the 5870, the 6970 is the 5870's newer brother, both perform pretty muvh the same except the tesselation on the 6XXX cards is a lot better, so that leaves you with a few options i advise you to do:

get the 5870

or get a 6950 that can unlock to a 6970 (this) (as a 6970's more powerfull than a 5870) however a 6950 isnt,,,

and if you may crossfire in the future i definatley reccommend the 6950 to unlock to a 6950 as scaling is better too, otherwise if your REALY pushed for price, just get the 5870

 

[SiroVai123]

I have decided to go with the MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB and flash it up to a 6970. It performs better in dx11 and is more modern than the older 5870.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

For sub £200 that would be my choice at the moment. Cracking performance for the price.

 

[Selachi]

Personally, I would suggest going £12 over budget and getting this one.

If you want to stay within budget then the 1GB 6950 gets my vote.

 

[tommybhoy]

or get a 6950 that can unlock to a 6970 (this) (as a 6970's more powerfull than a 5870) however a 6950 isnt,,,

You are wrong there, while the 5870 is slightly faster in the odd game by 1-3 fps, the 6950 can better the 5870 by nearly double the min fps(crysis warhead).

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=294

Also consider the fact that you can run higher IQ on the 6950 with much less of a hit on fps than what would happen with the 5870.

While the 5870 is no slouch, the 6950 even without 'unlocking' is the more powerful card.