Red vs green

[axlrose]

Looking to upgrade for BF3. I was planning on some version of two 6950's because they offer 2gb versions. I see there are a few 2gb versions of the 560 ti now that I hadn't seen before.

Thoughts on one vs the other?

Thanks.

 

[nforce4max]

Red has better overall performance for the price as well better built cards than Nvidia. However poor drivers for crossfire and other bugs leave much to be desired.

Greed great driver support and doesn't suffer hardly at all when it comes to microshutter even though the THG article is fearmongering. The hardware standpoint well good luck because current gen cards tend to have a lot of issues with thermal degradation of the power vrm and sometimes the vram thus short life span.

Both have poor OpenGL support ie low performance compared to older DX10 era cards in some applications.

Go with ATI/AMD this round if you want them to last you a few years.

 

[axlrose]

Off topic a bit, but do I get what I need to run crossfire/sli with the cards?

 

[Lutfij]

do I get what I need to run crossfire/sli with the cards?

depends on the package - and those items are known as "bundled accessories"

they should be mentioned in the site you're purchasing from or atleast on the site that have them advertised.

I see there are a few 2gb versions of the 560 ti now that I hadn't seen before.

2GB of vram is for people who want to run a multimonitor setup or one LARGE res'd displays

right about now, 1GB is all you'll need. 1.5GB to be the max. if you want future proofing, then getting the highest card(affordable in your budget) is the way to go...contrary to what i just said, you could also hold out until the later of Q1 2012, then you'll see the beautiful(or failed) heads of the 7xxx(AMD)/GTX7xx(nvidia) series of cards.

 

[axlrose]

What difference would it make if you are running a 52" tv monitor? Doesn't it still run at 1080p? That's less than the 1920x1200 of small monitors right? At any rate, I use a 30" monitor that does 2560x1600 native. Do I really just need 1.5 gb of ram? I was thinking the 4gb of ram would be nice with the large resolution.

 

[Lutfij]

2560x1600

now you're talking - yes you do need the 2GB of Vram to run your games on that screen.

if you can afford two 6970's then whats stopping you from getting a GTX 590/AMD 6990?

4GB's is good for multimonitor setups of ^that^ res

 

[axlrose]

6950's or 560ti's. Hoping to keep it to about $500.

 

[Lutfij]

BOOM!!!

 

[jyjjy]

2GB of vram is for people who want to run a multimonitor setup or one LARGE display e.g a 52" TV/monitor

You should really stop saying this. As even the OP seems aware it isn't the size of the display that matters, it's the resolution. TVs are almost all 1080p at this point, no matter the size.

 

[Lutfij]

corrected

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Depends on resolution......At 2560 1600, I'd suggest 2GB 6970's .... at 1920 1200, the extra memory ain't helping and the 900 Mhz 560 Ti's stand alone.

At your $500 budget limit, twin 6970;s would be like $700 so that's out. Two 900 MHz 560 Ti's start at $410 but Id spring for the highly OC'able (1000Mhz is cake) Asus models @ $460

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425

 

[nforce4max]

It is getting to be far to easy to max out 1GB in some games these days without even being 1080p let alone any thing higher.

 

[axlrose]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683

What about 2gb 560 ti's vs 'highly oc'able' 1gb 560 ti's?

 

[axlrose]

Is the general consensus that two 6950's would run cooler and be more reliable than two 560 ti's?

 

[17seconds]

Is the general consensus that two 6950's would run cooler and be more reliable than two 560 ti's?

If that were true, it would be the first time I have heard on these forums that Crossfire is more reliable than SLI.

 

[axlrose]

So maybe I'd be better off with the 2gb 560 ti's?

 

[nforce4max]

Not really, Fermi cards won't last long enough for 2gb editions to really be worth it. I suggest ati despite crappy drivers and poor quality software.

 

[17seconds]

Heat, noise, etc. for 6950's in Crossfire:
http://www.behardware.com/articles/747-19/report-graphics-cards-and-thermal-characteristics.html

 

[axlrose]

Just read a long post elsewhere on the forum about the incredibleness of this card and now I'm waivering on the 2gb 560 ti again. I think I'm going to just have to flip a coin soon. I switch from 560 ti to 6950 daily...

HELP?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102951&Tpk=toxic%206950

 

[axlrose]

Your Answer:
Matthew,

Glad to hear you were able to resolve the issue. The 790i is capable of running AMD cards in Crossfire. If you have any further questions please contact us again.

Regards,
EVGA

That's what I just received from EVGA. I think I'm going to go for the toxic 6950's with dual bios that unlock to a sort of 6970 with a flip of a switch.

Best PCIe Card For ~$530:
2 x Radeon HD 6950 2 GB in CrossFire (Check Prices)

Excellent 2560x1600 performance
2 x Radeon HD 6950 2 GB in CrossFire
Codename: "Cayman"
Process: 40 nm
Universal Shaders: 2816 (2 x 1408)
Texture Units: 176 (2 x 88)
ROPs: 64 (2 x 32)
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 800
Memory Speed MHz: 1250 (5000 effective)
DirectX/Shader Model: DX 11/SM 5.0
Max TDP: 400 W (2 x 200 W)

100312-3SR Radeon HD...
Amazon.com
$264.99
TigerDirect
$269.99

Recent tests performed by our very own Thomas Soderstrom confirm that the Radeon HD 6900-series features vastly improved scaling performance in CrossFire compared to previous-generation boards. As such, a pair of these cards represents a realistic pinnacle for our recommendations. At $530, two Radeon HD 6950s handily beat the GeForce GTX 580, and even come very close to catching the pricier Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590.

Read our full review of AMD's Radeon HD 6950 for more information on the card and its accompanying architecture.

 

[axlrose]

In a holding pattern. Got the two toxics and unlocked the shaders on both. But I can't get crossfire to work. Latest tech support is saying crossfire can't be done on my board. That means three people that said it can and now one person that said it can'tsto it's apparently going to higher authority as I now own two of them...

 

[axlrose]

Yeah, so after tech support telling me four times that crossfire worked on my board, I purchased he cards and they then told me, no they don't. Thanks to newegg.com for saving the day, and I'm now running two 2gb 560ti's in sli at 2560x1600 and rockin' the ultra...

 

[monsta]

The 790i is definately not capable or compatible with crossfire , EVGA have done this to another OP and he had to return his cards.
790i is an Nvidia board, it is only capable of SLI, I also have a 790i so I know what I'm taking about.
EVGA really need to stop giving out the wrong advice!