It's down to these three...

spudgun79 · 20 Apr 2011 at 17:21

I'm sure I'm not the only that has been trying to decide on these (mainly the 480 and 6950 until I saw the SOC 560ti) So I shall be buying one of these three.

Which one? Vote now! (with reasons and advice if you can be bothered, as I'm struggling to decide) I'll be buying i2500k rig for gaming with 24" monitor

as always, any input greatly appreciated...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-077-GI

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-079-GI

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-119-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

Stoner81 · 20 Apr 2011 at 17:25

I don't like ATI cards so for me (personally) that rules out the 6950, I would go with the GTX480 since it is on par with the GTX570 or even the 580 when OC'd (so I hear).

Stoner81.

opethdisciple · 20 Apr 2011 at 17:26

For no other reason other than just fancy, if it was me choosing between them 3 gpu's, I would get the 480.

Simply becuase its the faster of the three, and was once the flagship card in nvidia's line up.

cmndr_andi · 20 Apr 2011 at 17:29

My vote is for the Gigabyte GTX 480 Super OC. Its one heck of a fast card, and the cooling system and board really is what the GTX 480 should have been at launch.

Tediore · 20 Apr 2011 at 17:34

The SOC.

I ordered one, and unfortunately it had to go back because of buzzing capacitors under load, however it was a great card. Cool, quiet, and very fast. I'm very tempted to order another now they're back on special offer.

Phatzy · 20 Apr 2011 at 17:38

I'd say the 6950>6970 good price aswell

gropingmantis · 20 Apr 2011 at 18:01

1. get the 6950
2. unlock to 6970
3. ????
4. profit

I really feel I should justify my statement but at this price point why would anyone not suggest a card that can be easily unlocked to a £100 more expensive card?
vs
A stock overclocked, loud, hot, power hungry card.

edit: although if it really is as good as the 580 and you can find actual factual evidence to support the fact that the custom cooler keeps it quiet and cool then perhaps the 480 maybe worth a shot....if you have a decent PSU

Predicament · 20 Apr 2011 at 18:35

the GTX 480 SOC

on par with the GTX 580;

trisp · 20 Apr 2011 at 21:21

480 is best performance in that price range go for that.

coupe69 · 20 Apr 2011 at 22:15

gropingmantis said:
1. get the 6950
2. unlock to 6970
3. ????
4. profit

I really feel I should justify my statement but at this price point why would anyone not suggest a card that can be easily unlocked to a £100 more expensive card?
vs
A stock overclocked, loud, hot, power hungry card.

edit: although if it really is as good as the 580 and you can find actual factual evidence to support the fact that the custom cooler keeps it quiet and cool then perhaps the 480 maybe worth a shot....if you have a decent PSU

Have a look here at Bjorn3Ds review of the Gigabyte 480 SOC which they say is on a par with a stock 580, and can even surpass 580 performance with a further increase in clockspeed!

As for factual evidence of cool and quiet, will this do?

Taken from here

The Gigabyte 480 SOC is one hell of a card for the price!

gropingmantis · 20 Apr 2011 at 22:35

Bargain then.

I stand corrected. GET THE 480

Cleeecooo · 20 Apr 2011 at 23:02

SOC any day. Had 6970 now have SOC. SOC is better in every way (apart from the fact my SOC is in taiwan atm lol

)

Trusty · 21 Apr 2011 at 01:44

As mentioned, SOC any day of the week.

Kurisu Makise · 21 Apr 2011 at 04:36

GTX 480 Super OC!

Troezar · 21 Apr 2011 at 06:45

Reading around haven't a number of people had to RMA DOC 480's ?

Marine-RX179 · 21 Apr 2011 at 07:27

Troezar said:
Reading around haven't a number of people had to RMA DOC 480's ?

True that some were having stability problem, but at least if that happens, you can send it back for a replacement or a refund; whereas for 6950 2GB, if you are unlucky enough to get a card that won't full unlock to 6970 (i.e. the memory or GPU is not up to running at 6970's standard), you are stucked with the card...unless you flash it back to the original bios and send it back under DSR...which would mean you'd have to pay postage out of you own pocket.

Even if the 6950 2GB managed to unlock to a 6970 without problem, with its reference cooler it would still be louder than the GTX480 SOC, and not to mention not as fast.

The GTX480 SOC is very fast right out of the box (provided that it is stable and work), whereas 6950 2GB have to take multiple risk and put your luck to the test:
i) Hope the shader would unlock and stable with no artifact
ii) Hope the memory would cope with running at 6970's memory standard
iii) Hope the card can overclock well, as clock speed of anything less than 1GHz it will lag behind the GTX480 SOC

If anyone got a good enough PSU, and except for those that think with the possibility going down the Crossfire route in the future (i.e. motherboard only support Crossfire no SLI), I don't see the point of getting the 6950 2GB over the GTX480 SOC.

REDNINEAPB · 21 Apr 2011 at 07:28

The 480SOc

yes some have been RMA'd however I understand that OCuk have sold over 300 of these in the last 2 months I have 1 and no problems, fitted one into a new build for a mate last weekend and again no problems.

Trusty · 21 Apr 2011 at 08:56

Marine-RX179 said:
I don't see the point of getting the 6950 2GB over the GTX480 SOC.

Yeah, unless you need the Vram.

HeX · 21 Apr 2011 at 09:04

coupe69 said:
Have a look here at Bjorn3Ds review of the Gigabyte 480 SOC which they say is on a par with a stock 580, and can even surpass 580 performance with a further increase in clockspeed!

As for factual evidence of cool and quiet, will this do?

Taken from here

The Gigabyte 480 SOC is one hell of a card for the price!

I've owned the 480 SOC, and it is by no means quiet under load. It's quieter than the stock 480, but then so are most aircraft.

This review gives a better indication of what the 480 SOC is actually like vs other cards under load:

The Windforce cooler is one of the noisier coolers when it gets under load. Fortunately it's very quiet when idle. At least it's only noisy when you throw some headphones on or pump up the sound for your game, which will ultimately help drown out that fan noise.

If you want a quiet GPU, the 480 SOC is not one to go for. If you want great performance and don't care about noise, heat, and power draw then it's superb, and you can't beat it for value for money.

If you do care about those things then the 560ti SOC is the quietest and coolest of the bunch, with excellent performance.

The 6950>6970, sits between them performance wise, but has a louder cooler than the 560, but quieter than the 480 SOC.

Marine-RX179 · 21 Apr 2011 at 09:06

Trusty said:
Yeah, unless you need the Vram.

It's been proven that GPU grunt is more important than VRAM. Even in the worst case scenerio on running out of VRAM such as 2560 res in Metro2033, the 6950 1GB is only 3-4fps lower than the 6950 2GB, and for 1920 res is most demanding games...the frame rate difference between 1GB and 2GB 6950 is minimal, and is only like 0-1fps differences at most times.