AMD Radeon 6950 or Geforce 560TI

[johnhunts]

Hello,

Im after a bit of advice on which card i should purchase. Im a first time builder and have no experiance in GPUs. My rig will be used mostly for gaming, Battlefield 3 ect.

My budget is £200, maybe pusing £220.

Any help apperciated.

Cheers

 

[sosofm]

The 560Ti and 6950 are almost the same in performance , but 560Ti is cheaper. Choose one of these 560Ti:
Asus GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1GB GDDR5
http://www.ebuyer.com/254405-asus-gtx-560ti-directcu-ii-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-mini-hdmi-pci-e-engtx560-ti-dcii-2di-1gd5 £167.92
MSI GTX 560 Ti 1024MB DDR5 TWIN FROZR II OC Edition
http://www.ebuyer.com/280613-msi-gtx-560-ti-1024mb-ddr5-twin-frozr-ii-oc-edition-dual-n560gtx-titwinfrozrii-oc £176.90
MSI is overclocked by the producer.

 

[johnhunts]

Thanks for your reply. Is there any difference between a 2gb and 1gb version? The TI looks the better option to be honest. Do they both have similar overclocking potential?

Thanks again.
John

 

[inanition02]

Does your board support Crossfire or SLI (if that's something you might want to do in the future) or both?

Definitely only get the "TI version" if you get the 560 (the non-TI is a different card and more comparable to the 6870). A 2gb card will have more room for textures, so would be better for gaming above 1080p (and slightly better at that res).

OCing potential between 1 and 2gb cards should be the same. Between the 560 TI and 6950 is a toss-up OCing wise - it really depends on the model you get. If you want to overclock, make sure you get one with a good custom cooler, not the reference design (for either board).

 

[Phoenixlight]

I'd get the 6950 instead for the extra VRAM, it'll be better for future games.

 

[ricardois]

Since i wanted 3D Vision compatibility and i also like physx, Nvidia made my mind...

 

[sunnk]

both are almost same and good in performance but the hd 6950 performs well in gaming in higher resolution and gtx 560ti performs better in overclocking so whichever is cheaper u should go with that card.

 

[inanition02]

AMD has it's own 3D solution, actually.

 

[Memnarchon]

Hello. Since your budget is around £200 wouldn't you want a better gpu?

Palit GTX 560 Ti 448 Core 1280MB GDDR5 £209.99inc. vat

This card is awesome and it has good o/c potential. A recent article at tom's:

more info: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core Review: GF110 On A Diet

And from Techpowerup:

 

[ricardois]

AMD has it's own 3D solution, actually.

it has the 3D solution but it is not the same, it is more close to the nvidia 3dTV... and still no Physics unit;

 

[ricardois]

AMD has it's own 3D solution, actually.

it has the 3D solution but it is not the same, it is more close to the nvidia 3dTV... and still no Physics unit;

 

[johnhunts]

Yes my motherboard supports SLI. That maybe something to think about a few months down the line. Ive been researching for hours on net regarding this subject and have found conflicting reviews, if both will do the job I'll go for the cheapest.

Thanks for your help people.
John

 

[billybobser]

There's also the potential to get a 6970 out of a 6950, though I'm not familiar with it myself.

 

[johnhunts]

Hello. Since your budget is around £200 wouldn't you want a better gpu?

Palit GTX 560 Ti 448 Core 1280MB GDDR5 £209.99inc. vat

This card is awesome and it has good o/c potential. A recent article at tom's:
http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/4/316840/original/OC Battlefield.png

more info: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core Review: GF110 On A Diet

And from Techpowerup:
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_560_Ti_448_Cores_DirectCU_II/images/perfrel_1920.gif

Very interesting, might be worth throwing the few extra £ at it for that sort of performance. If it can handle bf3 at those frame rates I'd imagine it will play pretty much anything. Defiantly something for me to think about.

 

[maxinexus]

If you can get reference design 6950 there is a high probability you can flash it to 6970. I have done it it is easy. I run 2 in CF. However I got 2 more for my wife's comp and these were nonreference design and I was unsuccessful in flashing it to 6970.
Anyway, I would go with 69501gb. If you want 560TI go for it but you don't even notice Physx in games.

 

[inanition02]

If you can get reference design 6950 there is a high probability you can flash it to 6970. I have done it it is easy. I run 2 in CF. However I got 2 more for my wife's comp and these were nonreference design and I was unsuccessful in flashing it to 6970.
Anyway, I would go with 69501gb. If you want 560TI go for it but you don't even notice Physx in games.

Supposedly AMD has been using a laser to physically sever the connections to the disabled cores on the newer 6950 boards (the original runs just used firmware to disable them). That's why recently produced 6950s (reference design or not) are less likely to unlock - and more likely to brick.

 

[internetswag]

2gb of VRAM only helps at resolutions above 1080p

The Radeon 6950 is better than the 560 ti, just like the 6870 is better than the 560.

However, they are close enough to not make any significant difference in any game you play (barring physX). Therefor choose the one you want to choose.

AMD (GPU) Fanboys will tell you to choose the 6950
Nvidia Fanboys will tell you to choose the 560ti

Benchmarks will tell you the 6950 is better.

AMD CPU fanboys will never know what it's like to play a 6950 unbottlenecked xD

 

[johnhunts]

I was going to get the HIS Radeon 69502gb for £199 but after talking to people on here, and the post by memnarchon I'm pretty much sold on the 560ti 448core due to the massive overclocking performance. Especially as its only £9 more than the HIS.