Probably gonna get a 6950

Pighardia · 30 May 2011 at 21:56

As title says i am probably going to get a 6950 at some point as i was using crossfire 5850's but i had to RMA one of them and i have the opton of a refund, so i thought i might sell the second and get a new card.

A few questions-

1. Am i right in thinking that the Twin Frozr II can not be flashed whilst the Twin Frozr III can?
I was thinking of the twin frozr as they are very quiet.

2. Quietness really is the most important thing for me (when idle anyway) so anyone know which the quietest model would be?

3. Any other suggestions really, would prefer ATI as i have a crossfire board, but might be persuaded by an Nvidia card?

cheers

Kouba · 30 May 2011 at 21:58

Nah I wouldnt risk getting the Twin Frozr III to flash as it doesnt even seem possible anymore, what with the new batch.

arc@css · 30 May 2011 at 22:12

Hi,

What resolution do you support? Other system specs, psu etc..?

Mr Krugga · 30 May 2011 at 22:12

Doesn't matter if you can flash it or not, really. You'll get one of the quietest high-end cards on the market that is really overclockable and has no overclocking limits once flashed. Two BIOS profiles, one with Silence setting that will suit your needs.

2GB vRAM if you game at higher resolution.

Best value if you go Crossfire (look at Anandtech Bench data, Crossfire 6950s eat everything out there).

There are some good deals on the Twin Frozr III, you can get one here with Dirt 3 for £205 and I bought my card from elsewhere for £190.

There's some chance that the card will unlock too.

Pighardia · 30 May 2011 at 22:15

Mr Krugga said:
There are some good deals on the Twin Frozr III, you can get one here with Dirt 3 for £205 and I bought my card from elsewhere for £190.

There's some chance that the card will unlock too.

I was looking at that deal actually.

i do all my gaming on my 1080p TV, which i find great, i also use a 1900x1200 23" monitor but i only use it for RTS's etc such as Starcraft, Civ5.

I have the Antec Truepower 650w PSU and a 965be @4.2ghz

Mr Krugga · 30 May 2011 at 22:18

Pighardia said:
I was looking at that deal actually.

i do all my gaming on my 1080p TV, which i find great, i also use a 1900x1200 23" monitor but i only use it for RTS's etc such as Starcraft, Civ5.

I have the Antec Truepower 650w PSU and a 965be @4.2ghz

At that resolution you may find GTX570 to be a better choice but you'd have to pay a hefty extra on top of the price for an aftermarket cooler.

It's down to your budget really and how long you are planning to play at this resolution/keep the card for.

Pighardia · 30 May 2011 at 22:25

£120 refund for my 5850, and probably get £75 for the other one, so £200 for a new card will probably be a good deal i'd say.

I have been wondering lately about V-ram. i know people say that you don't need more than 1gb really, but i have started to think that maybe a 2gb card might be better for the future. I will easily keep this card for 3 years i would think.

At 1080 a 6950 should handle everything for the foreseeable future shouldn't it?
And then i could always throw in another one in a few years if i need to. Should be a bit cheaper then too, might pick one up 2nd hand for <£150

opethdisciple · 31 May 2011 at 01:11

To get the most out of some games you defo need more than 1Gb of ram.

Just one example is Dragon Age 2. If you wanted to use the high res texture pack, then you need a card with more than 1Gb of ram.

Also the settings Im currently playing Shogun 2, requires more than 1Gb of ram.

pv123 · 31 May 2011 at 09:22

opethdisciple said:
To get the most out of some games you defo need more than 1Gb of ram.

Just one example is Dragon Age 2. If you wanted to use the high res texture pack, then you need a card with more than 1Gb of ram.

Also the settings Im currently playing Shogun 2, requires more than 1Gb of ram.

My 570GTX on DA:2 with the texture pack and max settings runs it without any problems (60fps locked by v-sync).

Mr Krugga said:
Best value if you go Crossfire (look at Anandtech Bench data, Crossfire 6950s eat everything out there).

This is not true Crossfire 6950s don't eat everything out there - they are good value but they don't eat everything out there.

Mr Krugga · 31 May 2011 at 09:41

opethdisciple said:
To get the most out of some games you defo need more than 1Gb of ram.

Just one example is Dragon Age 2. If you wanted to use the high res texture pack, then you need a card with more than 1Gb of ram.

Also the settings Im currently playing Shogun 2, requires more than 1Gb of ram.

That's a load of tosh, don't listen to this guy, I've recently upgraded to R6950 2GB from R5850 1GB and the only difference you'll notice is raw power. Yes, some games can use more than 1GB vRAM but that certainly doesn't mean they require it run well. Maybe in the future, if you're not like one of these posers who will upgrade every six months and will "future-proof" their rigs anyway, maybe then it will be of any use. It might boost minimum and average framerates by a little margin but you'd gain much more from overclocking a similar card with 1GB vRAM than going for one with 2GB. Especially at 1920x1080 the difference is negligible (to the point that it isn't there at all!).

God, the Graphics section of these Forums is going downhill.

BTW, opethdisciple suffers from PJS since he bought his 5870 2GB for quite a bit of money.

pv123 said:
This is not true Crossfire 6950s don't eat everything out there - they are good value but they don't eat everything out there.

How about you give us some examples instead of claiming something that isn't obvious by any means?

Pighardia said:
£120 refund for my 5850, and probably get £75 for the other one, so £200 for a new card will probably be a good deal i'd say.

I have been wondering lately about V-ram. i know people say that you don't need more than 1gb really, but i have started to think that maybe a 2gb card might be better for the future. I will easily keep this card for 3 years i would think.

At 1080 a 6950 should handle everything for the foreseeable future shouldn't it?
And then i could always throw in another one in a few years if i need to. Should be a bit cheaper then too, might pick one up 2nd hand for <£150

Yep, the 6950 should be fine for at least a year at this resolution unless you use stupid amounts of AA/tessellation. It might be pushing it next year so prepare to get another card at some point. You're best of waiting with a single R6950 for the next generation to hit the market by the end of this year and see if it's more sensible to upgrade to Crossfire or ditch the current card.

Phase · 31 May 2011 at 12:41

If your only gaming @low res you dont need 2 6950s, I have two 6950s but only have one fitted atm and that playes Dirt3/Crysis2 everything @5760x1080 with no problems.

lennshow66 · 31 May 2011 at 12:50

Which 6950 would be the best bet to unlock safely? with 2048MB of memory.

Mr Krugga · 31 May 2011 at 13:00

lennshow66 said:
Which 6950 would be the best bet to unlock safely? with 2048MB of memory.

Any revision 1 reference design.

Phase · 31 May 2011 at 13:04

And thats just luck of the draw!

I have had 3 and only 1 unlocked without any problems !
1. was just BSOD all the time ,ok with shader unlock ok clocks to 850/1340
2.was ok with shader ok oc to 1000/1450
3 all good 1000+/1500

Pighardia · 31 May 2011 at 13:04

I have missed the boat a little, as there were a few 6950's on sale last week or the week before i think.
I think i will get one this week or next, and my mobo supports crossfire so if i ever need to add another one in a few years, then i can.

Can a non-flashable card be oc'd close to the performance?

Phase · 31 May 2011 at 13:07

Yup
This is a std 6950 std shader just OC

This one is 6950 unlocked shader and OC

Mr Krugga · 31 May 2011 at 13:27

2.5% performance difference is nothing when you overclock the card anyway.

Phase · 31 May 2011 at 13:32

O ye if i didnt bench i wouldnt bother with the flash.
The only games i play are CSS and DODs

pv123 · 31 May 2011 at 13:53

Mr Krugga said:
That's a load of tosh, don't listen to this guy, I've recently upgraded to R6950 2GB from R5850 1GB and the only difference you'll notice is raw power. Yes, some games can use more than 1GB vRAM but that certainly doesn't mean they require it run well. Maybe in the future, if you're not like one of these posers who will upgrade every six months and will "future-proof" their rigs anyway, maybe then it will be of any use. It might boost minimum and average framerates by a little margin but you'd gain much more from overclocking a similar card with 1GB vRAM than going for one with 2GB. Especially at 1920x1080 the difference is negligible (to the point that it isn't there at all!).

God, the Graphics section of these Forums is going downhill.

BTW, opethdisciple suffers from PJS since he bought his 5870 2GB for quite a bit of money.

How about you give us some examples instead of claiming something that isn't obvious by any means?

Yep, the 6950 should be fine for at least a year at this resolution unless you use stupid amounts of AA/tessellation. It might be pushing it next year so prepare to get another card at some point. You're best of waiting with a single R6950 for the next generation to hit the market by the end of this year and see if it's more sensible to upgrade to Crossfire or ditch the current card.

How about you show me a benchmark where a 6950CF beats a 6970CF, 6990CF, 590CF, etc? As good as 6950CF is it won't destroy everything out there.

Mr Krugga · 31 May 2011 at 13:59

pv123 said:
How about you show me a benchmark where a 6950CF beats a 6970CF, 6990CF, 590CF, etc? As good as 6950CF is it won't destroy everything out there.

Oh, dear...

What I've claimed is that a Crossfire 6950s setup would be enough for any game out there at this resolution and you're trying to argue a moot point.

Use your brain.