HD6950 vs gtx470 vs HD6870, which do I want?

[Digital Dissent]

Hey guys. Im looking for a new card to replace my old 4890, and I cant decide which of these is best. I do some pretty heavy gaming, but mostly between resolutions of ~1600 to ~1900. Ive looked at dozens of reviews on these cards and they are extremely conflicted, some put the 6970 as the clear performance winner, others, the 470, and prices are all over as well. So, Im asking you guys, which would you get? Which will give me the best performance out of the three? An sli or crossfire setup is a consideration in the future as well. Thanks!

 

[shadow187]

With your crossfire mention, the HD6950 is the clear winner. If you take a look at this page, the HD6950's lead increases over the GTX470 as the resolution increases.

Crossfire scaling is also massively improved.

A great example of how well ATI has improved crossfire with their newer generation.

 

[rolli59]

The HD6950 would be the most powerful but the HD6870 the most power efficient and with similar performance as GTX470.

 

[megamanx00]

If you don't care about power draw or heat then just get a 6950. The 6870 though is a great card for the price and i would get that if I was looking for the most cost effective option. The 470 is generally between the two as far as performance, but offers you physX. Of course the 470 also uses a heck of alot more power.

 

[Digital Dissent]

Does anyone even make games for physx anymore? I tried a search to find out and came up emptyhanded. I know mirrors edge does but is the technology really a significant player in the market anymore?

 

[17seconds]

I would get the 6950 if you are into overclocking. If not, then get either the 6870 or 6970 (depending on your price range). If the 6970 is in your price range, and you are considering the GTX470, then you should also consider the GTX570 for about $20 less than the 6970.

Does anyone even make games for physx anymore? I tried a search to find out and came up emptyhanded. I know mirrors edge does but is the technology really a significant player in the market anymore?

Metro 2033, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dark Void, and Mafia 2 are the big current PhysX titles. Unreal Tournament 3 is a nice PhysX blast from the recent past.

 

[Digital Dissent]

PhysX should go open source or die a quick sudden death.

 

[jyjjy]

The HD6950 is certainly the best of the cards you listed. It is also the best in terms of possible future upgrades considering the nice crossfire scaling and the 2gb of memory which will help a lot if you ever want to go for an Eyefinity 3 monitor setup.

 

[Digital Dissent]

Well I can get the 570 for 335, shipped, and the 6950 for 280, shipped. I cant go higher than 335, as thats kinda pushing it already. Whats holding me back is the thought that the 6950 will probably be cheap sooner than then 570, hence making a crossfire configuration quite viable. Then again I look at the benchmark reviews on the 570 and at the lower resolutions I game at its friggin FAST. Then I think back to the fact that I can do an eyefinity config on a 6950 with a single card...but I dont really have space for that anyway...and hence I get caught in this infinite loop. What do you guys recommend at this point? Thanks.

 

[jyjjy]

Either of these cards will destroy at lower resolutions. When you look at benchmarks you should keep in mind that frame rates over your monitor's refresh rate are pointless as they will not be displayed.

 

[Digital Dissent]

Very true, never really thought much about that but I can see it. Still, as far as I can tell, with stabilized drivers the difference between the 6950 and gtx 570 will be about 15% most of the time...thats a guess though. And really the most likely price Ill get the 570 at is 350...which makes for a $70 difference. You think its actually worth it? The added driver support in ubuntu/linux from nvidia cards is somewhat appealing too.

 

[17seconds]

If you are talking about dual cards, two 6950's will get louder and hotter than two GTX570's. The 570's have a new design on the casing that promotes better dual card airflow and the new vapor chamber cooler is really good.

 

[shadow187]

Except that non reference 6950's have yet to come out yet. Keep in mind nVidia went all-out with their reference design to keep it cooled; why do you think only the most exquisite coolers can be used as a non-reference design? nVidia's is too good.

 

[Digital Dissent]

Well it looks like its gonna be the gtx 570 as the 6970 is too expensive and I really want something that will last more than a year after my purchase and not need replacement, as my 4890 has. Perhaps an sli configuration would be a good idea with this later on. Still the 6950 at 15% less speed isnt bad... Damn if the 570's were only just a touch cheaper. Do any of you recommend buy.com for a 570? Its going for $335 with free shipping.

 

[Digital Dissent]

Oh...Uh oh... I just realized that my psu (750w ocz FATAL1TY) would probably not be enough to sli a gtx 570...but would work fine with 6950 cfx's. I suppose at this point it would be more logical for me to just get the 6950 or is one truly fast as heck card a better bet for the long term? The 6950 is still going for $280 and with the new unlockable bios it seems like a good idea...

 

[jyjjy]

The HD6950 is a good deal but I doubt you will need to double up whatever card you get for a long while so I wouldn't worry so much about SLI/crossfire. Unless you plan on going for an Eyefinity/Nvidia Surround setup that is, and if so the extra memory on the HD6950 will also help there.

 

[shadow187]

6950 isn't terribly far off of performance from the GTX570. As long as you're running 1920x1080 or so you're fine.

 

[Digital Dissent]

The HD6950 is a good deal but I doubt you will need to double up whatever card you get for a long while so I wouldn't worry so much about SLI/crossfire. Unless you plan on going for an Eyefinity/Nvidia Surround setup that is, and if so the extra memory on the HD6950 will also help there.

Actually I was hoping to go for a triple 20" setup. Otherwise Ill get trackir (Im really into flight sims), and a nice 23" monitor to go with my 20". The thing is that I have to replace my 4890 now due to it being dx10, but otherwise Id just have crossfired it and all would be good. Now I realised I CANT sli a 570 (which I wanted) since it would blow up my psu and I am so not buying yet another one anytime soon. Since the hd 6950 can be easily modded to run at 6970 speeds (yesterdays news, literally) I really think its my best bet, since Ill be able to have money left for the monitors, and for a future gpu...barring market conditions changing radically...

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, sounds like the HD6950 is your best choice. The extra memory really does help at the high resolutions on a 3 monitor setup and the AMD cards can handle 3 monitors with a single card. Nvidia cards must be in SLI to do so.

 

[Derbixrace]

the 6950 can unlock into a 6970 with ease and the card has dual bios so if the flash goes wrong the card will still work fine. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18221844