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powercolor 6950 2gb any good?

rob77

rob77

rob77

Associate
Joined
3 Mar 2009
Posts
412
Been looking to upgrade my graphics from a hd 4890 and seen this card? I was going to go crossfire but this caught my eye. They seem to be going pretty cheap and I just wondered if they are any good? Or is there a reason they are cheap? Is it possible to unlock it to a 6970 by flashing the bios?

Cheers
 
Apparently a lot less of them unlock these days, but if you've seen a cheap one, yes definately be worth it. Will be twice as fast or so in most modern titles. The 2GB 6950 is a moderate step up from the 6870, and even this was twice as fast as a 4870, and the 4890 wasn't THAT much faster than them.
 
Wow fast reply Alex thanks :)

It's the noise that is putting me off crossfiring the 4890 and this seems to be a lot faster than my current card. A worthy upgrade do you think? How is the noise levels on these?

Cheers
 
Hi,

Just recently posted on sombody elses thread about this thi it was called what 6950.

So its easy for you, i brought one about a fortnight ago, unlocked easily using the RBE Method, temps are great but the fans are a little noisy (compared to the sapphire dual fan)

Then today my 2nd one arrived again unlock easy using the same method, now running xfire, top card still remains under 62c

Hope that helps
 
Thanks Banksy

I have just seen the thread. How noisy would you say once it ramps up? My 4890 is quite noisy but bearable
 
Erm i game with a headset, i cant hear them with it on.
Erm its hard to say really, depends how close to your head the case is and what case you have.
Should be bareable but there will be lots of coolers that are quieter!
As sombody else said you have to pay more money for quieter coolers.
My xfire only set me back 330 new so i cant complain!
 
Thanks for all you helpful comments guys it really is appreciated :)

The one I am looking at seems to have the dual fan design but I have sent them a message to confirm. Hopefully it is as this will be quieter than the reference design I think.
 
Well i will cool better, also with powercolor if it has the dual bios switch it has a much higher sucess rate of unlocking as they used the referance pcb for that model. (cant remember the source for that info though!
 
BaNksY IV said:
Hi,

Just recently posted on sombody elses thread about this thi it was called what 6950.

So its easy for you, i brought one about a fortnight ago, unlocked easily using the RBE Method, temps are great but the fans are a little noisy (compared to the sapphire dual fan)

Then today my 2nd one arrived again unlock easy using the same method, now running xfire, top card still remains under 62c

Hope that helps
Click to expand...

whats the rbe method please?
 
You have a similar spec PC to me banksy. I have my 2500k @ 4.5ghz also so you'll have an idea of the performance i'll receive. Could I just ask, are your powercolor cards the reference design or the twin fan version? If so did you buy from ocuk? I've been looking at the 560ti also but if I can flash this card it will be much better than the ti

Cheers
 
Both of mine are the twin fan design.
When i had just the single one i could play bf3 on all high settings and no msaa smooth as butter, it could run higher settings but for me smoothness comes slightly ahead.
Skyrim would play on very high settings at acceptable framerates but dipping when outside but this is a common problem encountered on most card with this game.
Unfortunatley i did not buy from ocuk.
The 560ti you are looking at is that the 1gb or 2gb version?
In benchmarks the 1gb will look very close to a 2gb 6950 but if you play vram intensive games you may come across stuttering which does not show in benchmarks.
A 2gb 560ti is a good alternative if you can get it for a good price.

I can only vouch though for the performance of the 6950 as i have not seen 560ti in action

I did come from a 5770 and the difference was night and day

And now i have xfire the difference is night and day again!
 
Thanks banksy :)

The 560ti I was looking at was only the 1gb version. It was the asus one that comes overclocked and includes bf3. It comes in at about a fiver cheaper than the 2gb powercolor 4950 so nothing between them really I would just get a free game with the nvidia.

I've been reading and heard that if I want to game at higher resolutions than 1900x1200 then 2gb is better to go for. I didn't know about micro stuttering thanks for mentioning that. At the moment I'm running at 1900x1200 but may want a larger monitor in the future so 2gb would be future proof for me. Plus the fact I can flash the card to a 6970 is kinda swaying my decision. I'm just waiting now on them getting back to me to confirm that it is the custom design and not the reference one.

Cheers
 
Glad to help, just remember though unlocking is not a dead cer and does carry risks.
Now unless your working a night shift aswell get to bed! Haha
 
Hi Banksy

Have just ordered my 6950 and should be with me tomorrow all being well. Could you provide a link of which bios you flashed your cards to. I don't know whether it's best to flash a powercolor one or another

Thanks

Rob
 
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