HD 6950 Crossfire question

[WitlessBandit]

Hey everybody, I have a new system I just built with an i5 2500k on a GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD4 and 8gb DDR3 1600 and am planning on getting a new 700w eXtreme Power Plus Coolermaster Crossfire ready PSU and I need some advice on a video card. I am going to be using this system for almost only gaming and I plan on eventually getting 2 video cards for a crossfire, however I am only buying one now and I have a decision to make. Do I get he HD 6950 2gb or 1gb version? I have heard that when setting up a crossfire the 2gb hasn't got enough of an advantage over the 1gb version to spend the extra $60 per card. Is this true? I don't want to short change myself nor spend unnecessary money.

Thanks

 

[unplugged23]

That depends on exactly what you want your machine to do, and how long you want it to last. I'm building a machine with 6950's now too, and are using them mostly as budget 6970's. So for me, the extra ram will keep me close to 6970 performance at $50 less per card, and "future proofs" the machine a little bit which is great for those of us that don't build a machine or more every year. Anyways, that's just the route I'm going. Hopefully that helps.

 

[randomkid]

Hey everybody, I have a new system I just built with an i5 2500k on a GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD4 and 8gb DDR3 1600 and am planning on getting a new 700w eXtreme Power Plus Coolermaster Crossfire ready PSU and I need some advice on a video card. I am going to be using this system for almost only gaming and I plan on eventually getting 2 video cards for a crossfire, however I am only buying one now and I have a decision to make. Do I get he HD 6950 2gb or 1gb version? I have heard that when setting up a crossfire the 2gb hasn't got enough of an advantage over the 1gb version to spend the extra $60 per card. Is this true? I don't want to short change myself nor spend unnecessary money.

Thanks

If you do not plan to game with more than 1920x1080 display resolution, then 1 GB VRAM is fine. If you plan to go higher ( 2560x1446) or setup eyefinity (triple screen at 5760x1080), then go for the 2GB version.