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Best 6950 card?

Otaku Punk

Otaku Punk

Otaku Punk

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Joined
18 Nov 2005
Posts
150
Location
Leamington Spa
I'm about to buy a 6950 (for a new SB build) and I'm trying to decide between the different manufacturers. As I understand it there's no differences between them in regards to speed or chance of unlocking, but they vary with price. Is it a case of simply buying the cheapest or do some have better bundles, noise levels or warranty?

I was leaning towards either the sapphire or asus, am i purely looking at price to choose between them?

Thanks for any help guys!
 
Otaku Punk said:
I'm about to buy a 6950 (for a new SB build) and I'm trying to decide between the different manufacturers. As I understand it there's no differences between them in regards to speed or chance of unlocking, but they vary with price. Is it a case of simply buying the cheapest or do some have better bundles, noise levels or warranty?

I was leaning towards either the sapphire or asus, am i purely looking at price to choose between them?

Thanks for any help guys!
Click to expand...

They are all reference boards at the moment. Sapphire is AMD/ATI's closest partner, not sure how much difference that makes. I've heard Asus RMA in the UK isn't great, but no experience with it personally.

I went with Sapphire as have had 2 cards with them previously and never had an issue.

They also have the prettiest art of a girl on the sticker that you can't see once the card is installed.
 
Bundled items such as adaptors, cables, etc. can be different.
Reference design on them all also includes the reference cooling so same performance in every aspect. Asus boast a use of better materials but for now it just seems to be an aluminium shell around the heatsink instead of plastic and although they have pictures of the heat dissipation on their site, to me it just looks like the heat is more evenly spread across the shroud instead of significantly lower.

Can't be disappointed with either brand as long as the warranty length (2 years?) is the same.

Check youtube videos of people unboxing each brand to see what you get in the box.
 
Sapphire came with:

Driver CD
Small Sticker
2 * HD to 6 Pin Power
1 * mini display port to DVI
1 * VGA to DVI
1 * DVI cable
1 * Longish Xfire connector
1 * Manual with 2-3 pages in English

It flashed to 6970 no probs.
 
Nelly said:
Gigabyte is the best warranty - UK RMA base, replacement within a couple of days.
Click to expand...

Retailer should deal with it in the first year, and if it doesn't break in the first few weeks it (most likely) won't break for a couple of years.
 
sldsmkd said:
Retailer should deal with it in the first year, and if it doesn't break in the first few weeks it (most likely) won't break for a couple of years.
Click to expand...

28days.jpg


If it's within the first 7 days you can just get a refund anyway, if it's after 28 days their more than likely to ship the item in question off to the manufacturer for replacement or repair.

I would rather it be Gigabyte their shipping it too and not some company in Hong Kong or China. ;)

As an example I had some G.Skill DDR RAM which had to be shipped off I left it too late before I did the RMA i.e. past 28 days, the Ram was sent to Holland and I didn't get a replacement for over 2 months.

Good job I had some other ram to keep me running.
 
Went HIS myself as it was the cheapest at the time and they are all the same reference model anyway.

Installed in 2 mins, flashed to 6970 and not one issue since.

I really don't think it makes any difference which one you get, only the warranty differs.
 
Ah yes, forgot about that one, the one I've recommended in another thread. :D As a general rule I would probably choose Gigabyte but in this instance a +1 to the Twin Frozr. :) Great price. Out of interest where is the RMA location for MSI?
 
I was thinking the same thing for the 6870. There's an Asus, XFX, 2 Sapphires and a PowerColor. I don't know which one to choose or the differences apart from price and looks. Anyone know?
 
Probably all the same, but I'd go sapphire on impulse if it was me.

As for 6950, well I went HIS as Gibbo said somewhere else that he thinks they are still on the original batch (so good chance of flashing to 6970 if no new 'lasered' ones have come in yet).
 
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