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Upgrade from HIS HD6950 ICEQ to GTX 680?

shawsy109

shawsy109

shawsy109

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Joined
11 Feb 2012
Posts
1,086
Location
Up north.
I have this system

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-213-OE&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat=1892

With said radeon card when I play bf3 on ultra sometimes drops to 30 or below, id like higher consistent fps and would like to upgrade, gaming at 1920x1080p

I play other stuff, bit of WoW, some Skyrim, and Diablo 3 when it arrives, but bf3 is the game I spend literally hours on each day. The Radeon does a good job, But I want that little more ommmph, should I go for a 680? Or maybe wait and see what the next Nvidia offering is toward the end of the year?
 
I guess I would consider it yes, Like i said, Just want more ommmph in game, more consistent frames all the time, just played some bf3 multiplayer and sometimes the drops go to 30 ish fps. if a 580 or 7950 would do that then great.

Having said that though, id like to be kind of future proof for a good while as I dont want to spend again in 18 months.
 
For one game I would drop the settings a little, you are paying a hell of a lot of cash to get higher IQ for just one title.

OC your 6950 to the max it can go(try for 950MHz on the gpu but don't push the vram to far or it will decrease max gpu clocks, add a little voltage too if needed for stability also) and it won't be far off a stock 580 in general terms although it won't catch up to the performance given by Nvidia in BF3.

You have got 4Gb ram, this is holding you back also in regards to BF3, 8Gb is recommended, I would also invest in a SSD before I thought about upgrading your gpu as you will notice a huge difference in day to day runnig your PC in general.
 
Upgrade to 8GB and you will see a difference with BF3. Tbh the gains from going to anything like a 7950/70 are really not worth the cost in my opinion. At 1080p a 6950 is a great card and more than capable of giving superb results.
Saying that a 7950 can be had for £313 but if it is worth the upgrade cost to me is doubtfull. I would grab an extra 4gb of Ram and see how this improves things first.
 
Ah I should have stated, I have 8gb installed and also have an OCZ agility 3 120gb SSD. Also im not to clued up on OC'ing gfx cards. I dabbled a little on my old pc but no idea how to push the 6950 to the speeds mentioned above.
 
RanxZy said:
At 1080p a 680 could be considered overkill for BF3. Have you considered a GTX 580 or a 7950?
Click to expand...

what on earth do you mean by overkill?? its hardly gunna breeze through on ultra with 4xmsaa is it. the more frames the better. I say get two of the buggers.
 
What level of AA are you using? The thing is AMD card's performance (frame rate) get hit pretty hard on BF3 when AA is applied. As suggested above, you should first try to overclock your 7950 first...and if it is still not good enough for you, you could considering lowering the MSAA from 4x down to 2x...trading slight decrease on the AA quality for higher frame rate.

My friends who got a GTX560Ti 2GB (which is more or less on par with the 6950, and slightly better in BF3) he overclocked to 950MHz on the core clock, but still would need to use only 2xMSAA max if he wants to hold around a minimum of 38-42fps on the 64 player server maps. Simply put, neither the GTX560Ti or 6950 has enough grunt for Ultra plus 4xMSAA on mutiplayer. Also, it might worth experimenting what setting you could drop from Ultra to High without you really noticing the difference in terms of graphic quality.
 
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What is the point in upgrading from something like a 580 or 6950? All current games will run perfect maxed out on either. So why does anyone need a 680 if they already have a top card? Willy waving I suspect :p I'll be happily staying with my 480 until it can't keep up :)
 
IvanDobskey said:
What is the point in upgrading from something like a 580 or 6950? All current games will run perfect maxed out on either. So why does anyone need a 680 if they already have a top card? Willy waving I suspect :p I'll be happily staying with my 480 until it can't keep up :)
Click to expand...

For the same reason that people go from 480 to 480 SLI. For more performance.

I for one am thinking of an upgrade but will probably get another 6970. Why? Because I have a 120Hz monitor and I'm not getting the best out of it on BF3 unless I ran it on lowest settings. So it's not just willy waving. Yes 6950/570/580 can play every game but if it's mulitplayer action some people demand more than 50fps on decent gfx settings.
 
IvanDobskey said:
What is the point in upgrading from something like a 580 or 6950? All current games will run perfect maxed out on either. So why does anyone need a 680 if they already have a top card? Willy waving I suspect :p I'll be happily staying with my 480 until it can't keep up :)
Click to expand...

Willy waving? Yeah thanks for the input. If you read my original post, I am not happy with the drops in fps I'm getting in game. So with that in mind I wish to upgrade. I'm not here waving anything, I wish to purchase the current top end card, either 680, or after doing some research a 7970, especially with the current prices of 7970 on overclockers.

I like to purchase a card that will last me 18months to 2 years before I need to upgrade again. With the 6950 I don't get the feeling that I can do that.
 
[WU-TANG]GZA;21594459 said:
The only alternative if mobo and PSU are up to it is to get another 6950?

The OCZ 650w might be borderline and you have to check if the mobo is xfire capable.
Click to expand...


This is the mobo

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI

Says it is xfire ready. But from what I read, the PSU is right on the limit with regards to being able to power 2 cards, I must admit, this is an option as the 2nd card would be £200-£220 depending were I get it. But 2 cards = heat, more power consumption etc etc, wouldnt a single top end card be better from what I read.

I am so tempted to get a 2nd 6950, only thing holding me back is the fear that the PSU will struggle, also I haven't opened up my case to look, but not even sure the PSU has correct connectors for a 2nd card, although it must if its xfire ready. £220 on a 2nd 6950 or £400+ on a 7970 or 680. The 2nd 6950 gets my vote. But I need to know if the PSU would cope.

EDIT

this is my PSU

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-056-OC&tool=5

Seems I would have to use molex and convert via cables. Still not sure!! Might just flash the cash and get a 7970/680 and be safe rather than buy a 2nd hd6950 and molex connectors hoping that xfire will work.
 
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shawsy109 said:
This is the mobo

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI

Says it is xfire ready. But from what I read, the PSU is right on the limit with regards to being able to power 2 cards, I must admit, this is an option as the 2nd card would be £200-£220 depending were I get it. But 2 cards = heat, more power consumption etc etc, wouldnt a single top end card be better from what I read.

I am so tempted to get a 2nd 6950, only thing holding me back is the fear that the PSU will struggle, also I haven't opened up my case to look, but not even sure the PSU has correct connectors for a 2nd card, although it must if its xfire ready. £220 on a 2nd 6950 or £400+ on a 7970 or 680. The 2nd 6950 gets my vote. But I need to know if the PSU would cope.

EDIT

this is my PSU

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-056-OC&tool=5

Seems I would have to use molex and convert via cables. Still not sure!! Might just flash the cash and get a 7970/680 and be safe rather than buy a 2nd hd6950 and molex connectors hoping that xfire will work.
Click to expand...
The 2nd PCI-E x16 on that board is only x4 lane, so it is not ideal to use for crossfire since you will have limited bandwidth, as while you might get some increase performance in some games, but also could get worse than a single card performance in others. That PSU is also might be pushing it as well...

Performance wise I would say it is worth upgrading to GTX680, but considering the price, it is simply too expensive for what it is. May be wait a bit longer till when the GTX680/7970 drop to around £300 before upgrading.
 
Marine-RX179 said:
The 2nd PCI-E x16 on that board is only x4 lane, so it is not ideal to use for crossfire as you will have limited bandwidth and you might get some increase performance in some games, but also could get worse than a single card performance in others. That PSU is also might be pushing it as well...

Performance wise I would say it is worth upgrading to GTX680, but considering the price, it is simply too expensive for what it is. May be wait a bit longer till when the GTX680/7970 drop to around £300 before upgrading.
Click to expand...

That seems the best idea. The PSU and mobo combined make getting a 2nd 6950 a bad idea after reading lots of different reviews.

But having said that Im such an impatient guy, I will end up splashing the cash on a new card as soon as I have it saved lol.
 
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