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MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 1024MB v MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK 1024MB

meathman 007

meathman 007

meathman 007

Associate
Joined
11 Jun 2007
Posts
128
Hi guys,

I think I have narrowed down the new graphics card for my Dell T7400 workstation (Spec here) to two:

Option 1:

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE HALO 2 & Assassins Creed 2 PC Games [N560GTX-TI OC]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-MS

Option 2:

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Lara Croft Game

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-126-MS

============================================

Obviously there is a significant price difference between the two. However, if we were to leave that fact aside for a minute, what would be the fundamental differences between the cards? I am interested in both 'normal' PC use like video processing, general Windows 7 tasks etc and gaming.

Here is a comparison of the two cards:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/330?vs=290

However, I think that is just the stock cards against each other and not the MSI models...

Any advice appreciated.
 
The GTX560 is going to be the all-round faster card. The HD6870 needs a high overclock just to keep pace with a stock GTX560, so the MSI one you've linked will be faster.

The HD6950 is actually more competitive with the GTX560.
 
Instead of the 560, look at the 1gb 6950. it is faster at stock, will overclocked well (although it doesn't unlock to a 6970) and can be had for cheaper
 
I think for the price those 6870 HAWX are really good value but considering you can get a HIS 6950 1GB for £170 that is what I would get as it is faster than the 560 and overclocks well too.
 
Yeah, the MSI is faster than the 6950s and just about on par with the 6970, however if you where to get the GB SOC 560, it would destroy a stock 6950 (1GB and 2GB), beat the 6970 and the standard 480, pretty much neck in neck with a standard 570.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_560_ti_soc,1.html

And another review on first page of google results beginning with H.

Comparison of the 560s now, as you can see from this, the GB soc 560 comes out on top, however the MSI 560 is still a nice card, just not as good performance:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...tx-560-ti-roundup-asus-evga-gigabyte-msi.html
 
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The Bit-Tech review is laughable at best. They test 3 games. Overclock that 6950 and the answer is clearer. heck you can even unlock the shaders on those 1GB cards!
 
Troezar said:
What about if you also OC the 6950/6970/480? You have to compare stock with stock and OC'd with OC'd...
Click to expand...

Yes, true, a 570 and 480 would beat the 560SOC easily when OC, 6950 would be just below the 560 SOC, 6970 oc would probably beat the 560SOC just about (could be wrong now, those are just my thoughts), however if cooling/temperature and power consumption is also a concern, then the 560 still beats them all for those factors, especially noise levels at load, even when it is fully OC already. Plus I don't know about you, but personally I want to get something, which involves me not having to mess about and get a stable OC, check temps, increase volts/clocks more or less, make sure it is stable etc. Or flash a card and end up messing it up. I just want to put the card in and play games on max settings :p

Also what resolution do you use as that is a very important factor?
 
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I would be using 1920 x 1200 - I have dual Dell 2408 monitors.

I dont think I will go down the over-clocking route at all. So with that in mind, how does that impact on my questions above?

Thanks.
 
Nexus18 said:
Plus I don't know about you, but personally I want to get something, which involves me not having to mess about and get a stable OC, check temps, increase volts/clocks more or less, make sure it is stable etc. Or flash a card and end up messing it up. I just want to put the card in and play games on max settings :p
Click to expand...

I feel exactly the same way. I simply dont have the knowledge to go through the whole over-clocking process.

I am just looking for the best possible card with a max budget of about £200 including delivery. So stock speeds etc is very important.
 
You're right resolution is important as the 6950 has 2GB of memory, useful above 1080 res. I did notice on Techpowerup the reviews of the two cards shows approx 20-40W more power consumption by the 560 depending on load.

There is also the unlock potential of the 6950. I've been looking at all the cards in this price range and eventually decided the 6950 has sufficient pluses to win out over the 560. That said I wouldn't be looking at a reference 6950 ;)
 
Ezyryder said:
The Bit-Tech review is laughable at best. They test 3 games. Overclock that 6950 and the answer is clearer. heck you can even unlock the shaders on those 1GB cards!
Click to expand...
Is this confirmed, or you 'think so'? Haven't really look up about shader unlock for the 6950 1GB...

Also, 560 such as the MSI Twin FrozR the card with custom cooler will run much cooler and quieter than a reference 6950, not to mention out of the box it is faster than the 6950 1GB since it has factory overclock on it already.
 
TBH, any of those cards (6950, 560) are perfectly fine for performance in games at that resolution (that's if your just gaming on the one monitor), you don't need any more than 1GB of VRAM:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Prod...3.216.219.221.228.229.230.231.232.233.234.235

Personally the 560SOC would be my choice as there is no messing about with anything and you get a silent/cool running, low power consuming GPU, which has standard 570 performance out of the box for £220 (it was £209 for the last week) and beats standard 6950s easily as you can see from those reviews that I have linked you too and if you don't want to spend above £200, then the MSI one should be fine as well, just not as good performance in games as the SOC GB model.

However if you are planning on adding a 3rd monitor later on, with nvidia cards, you would need to buy another GPU card, where as with ATI, you only need to have the 1 card to run 3 monitors.
 
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Ezyryder said:
The Bit-Tech review is laughable at best.
Click to expand...
Couldn't put it better myself, they are getting loads of stick in their forums for being biased, even changing the games they use to bench to suit nvidia cards!:eek:

I haven't heard of any 1Gb cards unlocking shaders myself though.

If you don't want to mess about with bios then there is always the powercooler 6950 pcs++, custom cooler on it and when you flick the bios switch the shaders are unlocked!:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...6950-pcs-graphics-card-review-conclusion.html

9f36b519a3473a15e05d47fe5ca4528d.jpg
 
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