6950 or 5870

[silentm]

Hello,im doing a new build and have spent many hrs trying to find just real world input.I have a cpl questions im wondering if you guys can help with.Im currently running a 8800gts 512 gpu,My new build will be for mmo gaming only,some net surfing,Im looking at either the hd 5870 or the hd6950,ive noticed that the 5870 seems like more of a power house than the 6950,however the 6950 is newer tech.my questions are

1:is the 5870still a good buy over the 6950 or since the 6950 is newer tech be the better choice?
2:will the 5870 give me a boost over my current 8800gts?
3:either card i choose will 2gb mem really be better than 1 gig?

couple of side notes,ive looked at the 6970 but is out of my range i feel so i would like to stay with these 2 as options.I will be using 1920x1080p as my res for all gaming.

Thanks for your time and help

 

[bdcrlsn]

The 5870 is a good card, but it does not perform as well in games using DirectX 11 when compared to the 6900 series. At the resolution you will be using, the two cards will perform almost identically, according to Tom's own benchmarks, with the cards trading shots.

The 5870 will give a significant boost over your 8800GTS.

The 2GB is mainly for higher-resolution use. It would probably give you a couple FPS more than 1GB, but its pretty much insignificant. They do have a 1GB version of the 6950 for around $30 cheaper.

All in all, in my opinion, you would be better off with the newer card. It is more future-looking than the 5870 and more power efficient.

 

[silentm]

Thnx for your reply,At a res of 1080p would the 2 gb give me enough of a performance boost to justify the 30$ over 1 gb?Im also planning on using the phenomII x4 955 be,will i have a bottleneck with this cpu?

 

[bdcrlsn]

You should be okay with the 1GB version, it's the same card I was looking to get myself. You should also be okay with the 955, contrary to what people say right now, it's still a good CPU.

 

[Earnie]

I have 2 5870's,great cards,I did try a 6970 and noticed in the game I play BC2,that there was no diff in fps.1vs1 card,A friend of mine has almost the same setup as mine,except he has the 6950,and his again is about on par with one of my 5870's.
however,being as this is a new purchase,definatly go with the 6950,newer tech,better tessalation.also look for one with better cooling other than the reference design.this is the one I would recommecd:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150527

the 2 gigs of memory will never hurt to have.

I also have a 965BE in my backup rig with 2- 5850's.runs just fine,

 

[megamanx00]

2GB is really only if you're going to use eyefinity. It doesn't make much of a difference otherwise. The 6950 is slightly faster overall. If you can turn it to a 6970 though it certainly looks more appealing. The main consideration for a 6950 for future games is the improved tessellation performance. Of course, it seems you can get the 5870 cheaper ^_^, so it's up to you and what you want to spend. A 5870 or a 6950 would be a pretty good upgrade to your single 8800GTS

 

[jay_l_a]

I'm toying with the same decision (except I'm going to crossfire) and I'm thinking that I will go 6950, or maybe 6870. I'm just keeping an eye on the prices and see what happens...