Best Reference Model For 6950

[medulum]

Current Specs:

CPU: I7 950
Motherboard: ASUS x58 Sabertooth
RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws 8 GB DDR3 1600
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro M1000 Series Modular 1000W 80 Plus Bronze
HDDs: WD VelociRaptor 300gb 10000 RPM and a WD Green Caviar 1TB
Resolution: 1920x1080 and I run a secondary 1440x900 but do not use for gaming
Targeted Games: All Blizzard games (not the main reason I want to grab one of these) and everything else.


Right now I'm not exactly sure which supposed reference model I want to purchase for a HD 6950 (2GB models only) with the intent of flashing it to a 6970.

MSI Twin Frozr HD 6950 (Is this even a reference model?)

Power Color HD 6950 (Is this even a reference model?)

Sapphire Flex HD 6950 (Is this even a reference model?)

Sapphire HD 6950 (Is this even a reference model?)

This list isn't ignoring the rest of the known flash-able brands (MSI, ASUS etc) but the reason they are not listed is mostly due to stock limitations and such. In addition, the goal is to eventually Crossfire these in a year if not less, so the ASUS version taking up 3 slots is out of the question. In general I would love to purchase one of these off of Amazon rather than Newegg since California 9.75% tax is a killer, but if necessary that's fine.

I wouldn't mind taking into consideration a 560 ti since they seem to be quite similar based on charts and such. Basically I'm really open to any opinion at this point.

 

[beltzy]

None of those are reference models. Reference model means the specific cardmaker (Sapphire, XFX, etc) copies the exact design from AMD (or NVidia). Below is a link to a reference card- note that it has a fan on the end of the card, blowing air through the card and out the rear of the case. The only difference among the specific brands is the logo on the card and the quality/level of support they provide (warranty and such).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161359&cm_re=6950_2gb-_-14-161-359-_-Product

Reference cards become harder to come by the longer the card is on the market as all the brands begin rolling out their non-reference designs.

As far as I know, you should be able to flash non-reference cards just try to do some research on the specific card. Make sure it has the BIOS switch and look for success stories (and lack of horror stories) about flashing. Cheers.

 

[mlcaouette]

I think the non-reference cards only have a single bios. tigerdirect has a couple reference models left, here they are:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7092103&CatId=2306
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7101568&CatId=3669