Upgrade from GTX260 Core 216 in SLI

[nikolarun]

Hi All,
I currently have 2x PHY GTX 260 Core 216 cards in SLI running on i7-860 with 16gb ram, 2x raptors in Raid-0.
I have 2x 24" Dell U2410 at 1920x200.
I would like to upgrade to a single card, at the moment the games I play from time( Racing games mostly ) to time give me OK frame rates, but I would like to have a bit of AA etc.
I can sell the cards for around £100.
Question is should I go for a 6950 2gb ( flashed to 6970 ) about £210 or a 560 TI for around £180 ?
Or even a lower spec card like a 6870 for around £150.
Basically I need a bit more power but not that much more.

 

[nikolarun]

Just to add I don't plan to make use of eyefinity on the 2x screens, I normally disable the 2nd display before I fire up a game

 

[lozotheatheist]

I would personaly go for the 6950 for a few reasons. First off, You said you want to have some AA and like to play racing games. With the 2gb over the 1gb you will see a boost in what numbers you can see when you play games with 4,8,nd even 16QMSAA. But if you want sheer power i would go with the 560, You save some money.

 

[spentshells]

6950 2 GB is what I would suggest. It is really a good thing you are not looking for a major upgrade Im not sure this will be one.

You will gain but Im not seeing this as a huge boost.

 

[nikolarun]

It will consume less power than having 2x cards, and It should throttle down properly. The nvidia drivers are super bad when you have 2x screens and SLI, once card always seems to be in full power mode.

 

[nikolarun]

so 2x 260's will give me similar performance to 1x 6950 ? I thought I'll get a bit more.

 

[megamanx00]

Yeah I wouldn't expect for a 6950 2GB to be a big upgrade from your current setup. It might be a small improvement but don't expect any single GPU card to be a big upgrade from your current setup. A 6870 is more of a side move and might even be a little slower (the 5870 is a little faster but just below a GTX 295 which is about as fast as two OC'd 260 sp216s in SLI) and a 560Ti would probably be about the same.

 

[nikolarun]

So in the end, The money I could save on electricity bills by running one card ,I will end up spending on the new card. I might keep this set-up for another year then
The 260's OC pretty well, but they get hot and loud so I tend to keep them at stock.

 

[megamanx00]

Yup pretty much.

 

[nikolarun]

Thanks for all the help.
It will be helpful to see some benchmarks comparing 260's in SLI against a 560ti or 6950 on a similar system to mine, the TG charts don't seem to cover it.

 

[nikolarun]

I've just seen this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy0y5NH5Ikc&feature=player_embedded ) and F1 2010 looks awesome on 3x tfts.
I might try and get another 24" screen and go for the 6950.

 

[gnomio]

896mb ram on 1920. Have you tried GTAIV at that resolution?

 

[nikolarun]

Don't play GTA 4 but I was going to go for the 2gb 6950