GTX 560ti or HD 6850 ?

[anee1712]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: within next 2 weeks

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Casual Gaming, COD, BF3, NFS Run, etc. watching Movies, light photo editing

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Nvidia GeForce 9400 GT 1GB and i've upgraded my PSU to Corsair 750TX 750W

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Upgraded my system to ASUS P8Z68 V-Gen3 Mobo, Intel Core i-5 2500k 3.3Ghz, G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB, Corsair 750TX 750W

PARTS PREFERENCES: No preference, but i'm considering the Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6850 and the EVGA Nvidia GTX 560 Ti

BUDGET: i can stretch my budget to a maximum of $300

OVERCLOCKING: Don't really know., haven't done it so far.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Dell 1980 x 1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: i won't be upgrading again anytime soon, so it must last for atleast next 3-5 years. also if any other card is better suited for my requirements please suggest.

 

[Triton05]

The new GTX 560Ti 448 core is pretty decent. Worth the extra bit of $$ IMO.

Almost on par with the 570's.

 

[ddan49]

560 Ti is much, much better. I would recommend MSI Twin Frozr 1GB OC at about $200 ($190 with rebates)

 

[JackNaylorPE]

560 Ti is the easy choice if ya have $200 to spend:

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

$ 140.00 6850 (371/634) $ 0.38 - $ 0.44
$ 200.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.40 - $ 0.46

Strongly suggest buying a factory overclocked version for two reasons:

1. Just about all of them have oversized coolers which help you get a pretty good OC over and above what the factory provides. MSI, EVGA, Asis, Gigabyte, XFX, Paliit fit this category

2. About 1/2 of them have improved PCB's with beefed up VRMs of 7 phases or more which allow extreme overclocks. Asus DCII TOP, Gigabyte and MSI Hawk fit this category....the Twin Frozr has only 6 phases.

Here's an example of what 7 phase VRM and oversized cooler can do:

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1201&page=17

1070 is a 30+% OC over the reference 820 MHz ..... that's a bit warm for my tastes, at least in SLI ..... I set my builds at 1020 Mhz and drop down to 980 if room has no AC in summer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425

 

[Triton05]

Make sure its a 448 core.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130758

EVGA ^ makes a nice one.. 259 after rebates!

 

[anee1712]

Best answer selected by anee1712.

 

[anee1712]

Thanks a lot guys! appreciated!

 

[geekapproved]

They are not even in the same class.

HD6950 1GB is the card that competes with the GTX560ti, however it's been discontinued and replaced by the newer HD7XXX series.

 

[ddan49]

Does 448 core really make that much of a difference? Meaning, more than 5fps at non-extreme resolution?

 

[sirencall]

6950 2gb is the choice for that price, it crossfire scales a lot better and can be unlocked to 6970....Toms always picked it over the 560 ti for that reason.