Msi gtx560 frozr II or hd 6950

[robbiep28]

Hey Guys,
I'm looking for a new graphics card for my new build.Which card should I get, the gtx 560 twin frozr II or the 6950. If I get the 560 I planning to overclock to 1GHz core and if I get the hd 6950 I'll flash it to the 6970 (I'd buy a reference card). My resolution is 1080p. I don't really give a *** about phyx and eyefinity I'm just looking for the card that will run faster on 1080p on Battlefield games, CoD games, sc2 and eventually Diablo III and Battlefield 3. I have no brand preference I just want to know which card is better. Oh and Btw I'll be getting an xfx 750w black edition (80 plus silver) so I'd say it can run both cards even in SLI. kthxbai.

 

[Flightsimluke]

Get the ATI card. ATI ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!

 

[17seconds]

1080P is the resolution that the GTX 560 was designed for. These charts are for the stock Twin Frozr at 880 mhz. As you know, they can overclock past 1 ghz, and when they do, they scale better and show much better performance gains than overclocked 6950's/modded 6970's. The Twin Frozr cooler produces the best temperatures and comes with high-end components for better overclocking.

Most of the games you listed significantly favor Nvidia cards, particularly the COD games.

Nice gains when overclocking:

Temperatures are outstanding:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_560_Twin_Frozr_II/1.html

 

[Onus]

Check benchmarks. The HD6950 is generally the stronger card, but as matto17secs points out, certain games (e.g. Blizzard's) favor nVidia's architecture. The 560Ti also runs a little quieter and cooler, even though it consumes a little more power under load.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=330

 

[HostileDonut]

Yeah, as much as I hate Nvidia, I would get the TFII version over a hd6950, unless the hd6950 has a TFII version.

 

[robbiep28]

Ok, another thing in benchmarks why do they list games in 1900x1200 and 1680x1050, why don't they just list it as 1920x1080?

 

[robbiep28]

Yeah, as much as I hate Nvidia, I would get the TFII version over a hd6950, unless the hd6950 has a TFII version.

The 6950 does have a tf II version just it doesn't have a dual bios switch so it risky to flash it.

 

[HostileDonut]

Ok, another thing in benchmarks why do they list games in 1900x1200 and 1680x1050, why don't they just list it as 1920x1080?

Because it's not 1080p. It's 1200p. =P

 

[HostileDonut]

The 6950 does have a tf II version just it doesn't have a dual bios switch so it risky to flash it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127555&cm_re=hd6950-_-14-127-555-_-Product That would be good.

 

[robbiep28]

I just found out on that msi have released a twin frozr III for the 6950 and when overclocked it out performs the 6970 hmmmm interesting...

 

[HostileDonut]

I just found out on that msi have released a twin frozr III for the 6950 and when overclocked it out performs the 6970 hmmmm interesting...
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/MSI/HD_6950_Twin_Frozr_III/images/perf_oc.gif

Yes, that is true, but the card costs $300.

 

[17seconds]

I just found out on that msi have released a twin frozr III for the 6950 and when overclocked it out performs the 6970 hmmmm interesting...
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/MSI/HD_6950_Twin_Frozr_III/images/perf_oc.gif

That's pretty good, just a little bit slower than the MSI GTX 560 Twin Frozr.

 

[robbiep28]

damn, but will msi be releasing a gtx 560 twin frozr III in the near future?

 

[HostileDonut]

That's pretty good, just a little bit slower than the MSI GTX 560 Twin Frozr.

It really depends on what game.

 

[robbiep28]

So guys, bottom line which card is better in general : gtx 560 tf II or 6950 flashed to 6970.

 

[eyefinity]

The 6950 is the far better card. It's faster than the 560 at stock, and if you are gonna flash it to a 6970 then it's a total win, there is no way a 560 can compete. The 560 is in the 5870's class, not the 6950's.

 

[17seconds]

It really depends on what game.

You are correct. The best recommendation usually comes down to which card performs best on which games that you actually play. Even then, 144 fps vs. 147 fps is still trivial. That's why I have switched to looking at things like fan noise, temperatures, and scaling to help with recommendations.

All the same, for this thread, one of the games in question is COD4, where there is an ever so slight difference in favor of the GTX 560 Twin Frozr.

From techpowerup.com:

Fan Noise/OC Temp
MSI 6950 TFIII: 38 Dba/71c
MSI 560 TFII: 39 Dba/66c

OC Scaling (% FPS gain/%OC)
MSI 6950 TFIII: 10.1%/14% = 72% scaling
MSI 560 TFII: 9.3%/10% = 93% scaling
(This is a typical result due to the fact that Nvidia clocks shaders at 2X the core speed, while AMD clocks shaders at 1X the core speed.)

 

[17seconds]

So guys, bottom line which card is better in general : gtx 560 tf II or 6950 flashed to 6970.

The MSI Twin Frozr cannot be flashed to a 6970.

 

[robbiep28]

You are correct. The best recommendation usually comes down to which card performs best on which games that you actually play. Even then, 144 fps vs. 147 fps is still trivial. That's why I have switched to looking at things like fan noise, temperatures, and scaling to help with recommendations.

All the same, for this thread, one of the games in question is COD4, where there is an ever so slight difference in favor of the GTX 560 Twin Frozr.

From techpowerup.com:

Fan Noise/OC Temp
MSI 6950 TFIII: 38 Dba/71c
MSI 560 TFII: 39 Dba/66c

OC Scaling (% FPS gain/%OC)
MSI 6950 TFIII: 10.1%/14% = 72% scaling
MSI 560 TFII: 9.3%/10% = 93% scaling
(This is a typical result due to the fact that Nvidia clocks shaders at 2X the core speed, while AMD clocks shaders at 1X the core speed.)

Ok thanks i thing i'll go with the 560 since the games I play favour them

 

[17seconds]

The 6950 is the far better card. It's faster than the 560 at stock, and if you are gonna flash it to a 6970 then it's a total win, there is no way a 560 can compete. The 560 is in the 5870's class, not the 6950's.

So you are going to make these claims despite the fact there are several charts on this page that have already refuted them?

 

[cburke82]

If you go for a slower card because you get 150 FPS in wow VS 120FPS you will not see the extra FPS and if you play other gams you will have a less powerfull card. Not it costs less so there is that and with OC scales better. However with test done here in toms the new AMD cards scale better in crossfire than the new Nvidia cards do in SLI. And you will see a much greater improvement in perfomance in the future adding a second card than any OC will ever give you.

 

[HostileDonut]

I would go for the card that gives the most performance because of future games. Also, the hd6950 has 2gb, which means it is future-proof. Or, as future-proof as you can get.

 

[Onus]

Ok thanks i thing i'll go with the 560 since the games I play favour them

So it appears, so I believe you will have made the right choice.

 

[eyefinity]

So you are going to make these claims despite the fact there are several charts on this page that have already refuted them?

Take a wild guess?


Bad Company

The 6950 beats the 560 ti in Battlefield 2, it's close but a win at 1080p. Obviously the 6970 beats it by even more.

Anandtech gets results even more clearly in favour of the 6950/6970. A total victory.

Call of Duty.

Here the 560 ti performs better than the 6950, but loses to the 6970. However, it's close enough that an overclocked 560 ti could maybe beat the 6970.

I just want to note that the 560 ti falls badly behind at the next resolution up, because it's not as powerful a card.

Struggling to find SC2 benchmarks with both cards. So far it's 2 wins to the 6950, 1 definite one maybe. A 560 ti overclocked will not beat a bios unlocked 6950 in bad company but it might stand a chance in CoD.

In most other games the 6970 will slaughter the 560 ti.

 

[17seconds]

Sadly Eyefinity, despite all your hard work, we have not been considering a reference model GTX 560, but instead a MSI GTX 560 Twin Frozr with a factory overclock and an intended target overclock of 1 Ghz. If we wanted reference performance numbers, those are represented on the blue colored bars in the previous charts above.