560ti 448 core - 6950 with a possible bios switch?

wait for the hd 7000 series if you can. if you cant play a game with decent fps, lower down the details a bit.
But it will be a worthy wait, and between 560ti and unlockable 6950, i chose 6950.

Both cards are great choices for SLi or CrossfireX. The HD 6950 scales a little bit better than the GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores but you may run into more driver issues. Also consider that AMD might be slow in releasing CrossfireX drivers for new games. Take Skyrim for example, CrossfireX users have to wait 2 weeks until both cards could be utilized in the game while nVIDIA's drivers worked on day one.

Having said that, you can't go wrong with either and your power supply is just fine for 2 HD 6950's or 2 GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores.

Thanks for the replies guys! Looks like the 7000 series will be released early 2012 if i am reading right? I should wait but i am an impulse shopper lol.. I do get decent fps in most games i play, haven't bought BF3 yet as i was going to upgrade and buy at the same time, guess i could just get the game and see what this lil 6850 can do with a mild overclock. Anyways again thanks for the replies!

That's a good idea. Try the game with your HD 6850 and if you are happy with the performance then there's no need to upgrade unless you just want something better because you can. I wouldn't hold your breath for the HD 7000 series because they will be pretty expensive at first, the higher end cards will be at least.

Ya i saw the estimated prices, I like gaming and building but with a new house and all cant really afford over 300 unless i save for a few months and saving these days is really hard for me   I do have one more question hope you may be able to help.

Say i do go with 6950's and the first card i get the shaders unlock to 6970 specs, then later on down the road i add the same card but the card cant be unlocked (or vice versa) will they be able to run together still?

First, with the factory OC'd models at the same price as the reference models, not getting a card without the better cooler / VRM would be a waste. In a single card configuration, at 1920 x 1200, it's a tossup. The Asus Cu TOP 560's 495 fps in Guru3D's game test suite is so close to the Twin Frozr 6950's 484 fps to make the difference meaningless.

However, in SLI, those Asus 900 Mhz 560's (also models from EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte) go to 862 fps whereas the Frozr can only manage 759....that's a pretty big (100+) difference making the 560 the easy choice if you are using two cards. If ya thinking 6970's, keep in mind that the twin 6970's only manage 825 fps.

As for the 560-448, I was a strong proponent for the card pre-release. But the fact that it's a "limited release" has me concerned it might be tough to find one when ya ready to add the 2nd one. Also, with the 560-448 being based on the 570's architecture, and the 570's VRM being the weakest in the 5xx line, (google "fried 570")* not top mention the price being higher than was anticipated..... now that it's out, I having a hard time getting behind the 560-448.....at least when compared against the 900Mhz 560's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...

* Just to be clear, although their are claimed exceptions, most of the failed 570's have not been "frying" as long as users did not exceed the manufacturer's published voltage limits. Can't blame the manufacturer when ya blow up ya card for over volting it ..... but that being said, over volting other cards in the 5xx line has not produced this level of failures.