Is a 2GB 6950 overdoing it?

[jaywald]

I want to play games like Crysis and BF3 on high/ultra setting at 1920x1080, I thought I would need a something pretty high end to do this, like a 6950 which I was planning on buying. However I have seen several comments that say 6850/70's will do what I require is this true and if so what sort of settings and FPS am I looking at?

 

[Max1s]

Well I have a 6950 2GB personally, and I play at your standard 1080p. Crysis 1 gets good frame rates on highest settings. BF3 gets OK frame rates at highest settings, and I find myself playing at "auto" settings. The 6950 is just enough.

 

[danawesome89]

Yeah, 6950 will probably do a good job, but I wouldn't say it is overkill unless you are wanting to turn some of the settings down.

Although make sure you shop around on prices. I don't know how much the 6950 is that you are looking at, but you might be able to get a 7850/7870 for similar price. It's worth checking anyway.

 

[dudewitbow]

the 6950 is the recommended gpu for battlefield 3, personally stated by EA ಠ_ಠ

 

[Kamen_BG]

For those settings the HD 6950 is really just enough.Its not overkill at all.
Its true that a HD 6850 will play Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 but at one setting below a HD 6950.Here are two articles about the games you said you were going to play.

http://www.behardware.com/articles/826-3/crysis-2-performance-across-45-graphics-cards.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-8.html

Still though if you can get a HD 7850 1GB for the price of a HD 6950 2GB than go for it!

And to the people who say there is no HD 7850 with only 1 GB of memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150617

And to those who think 1GB is not enough
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7850_RoyalQueen/28.html

 

[jaywald]

The 6950 2GB I was going to get was £170 but I found 2 7850 2GBs for £181 and £188. I'm going to get a 7850 but which one?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11200-00-20G-HD7850-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B007JRGRPO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343488709&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-DirectCU-Graphics-Express-4840MHz/dp/B007OYS4R6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343488709&sr=8-2

 

[jaywald]

Is the 7850 really better because GPUreview.com disagrees.
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=639&card2=678

 

[jaywald]

This might sound stupid (because it is) but I'm going to get the Asus version purely because it's longer, I think it makes it look more expensive and powerful.

 

[Earnie]

For those settings the HD 6950 is really just enough.Its not overkill at all.
Its true that a HD 6850 will play Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 but at one setting below a HD 6950.Here are two articles about the games you said you were going to play.

http://www.behardware.com/articles/826-3/crysis-2-performance-across-45-graphics-cards.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-8.html

Still though if you can get a HD 7850 1GB for the price of a HD 6950 2GB than go for it!

And to the people who say there is no HD 7850 with only 1 GB of memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150617

And to those who think 1GB is not enough
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7850_RoyalQueen/28.html

1 G is not enough,Even through GPUz i am regularly between 1.5-2G of VRAM in BF3(I also play at 1920X1200)Thats why the have 3G cards and A 6G card comming out.

here's some invormative discussions.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/343467-33-vram-video-card


http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102987

 

[Deemo13]

The 6950 is pretty awesome and I wouldnt say its over-doing it.

 

[esrever]

Is the 7850 really better because GPUreview.com disagrees.
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=639&card2=678

don't use synthetic benchmarks to check performance. They often have no correlation to real life performance.

The 7850 should be a few % faster than the 6950 and run a with much less power consumption.

 

[Deemo13]

The 7850 is a couple of percent better than the 6950 and I think only requires 1 6-pin.

 

[Earnie]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=510

 

[danawesome89]

To sum it up quickly:
The 6950 and 7850 have very similar performance.

The 7850 will usually be slightly faster.

The 7850 also does this while consuming much less power, and it can often overclock extremely well.

There are a few situations where the newer architecture in the 7850 will be significantly better.

So basically, if they are a similar price, it is worth it to grab the 7850 as it is slightly better while consuming less power. You will make up a small increase in price with lower power consumption over time.

 

[jaywald]

To sum it up quickly:
The 6950 and 7850 have very similar performance.

The 7850 will usually be slightly faster.

The 7850 also does this while consuming much less power, and it can often overclock extremely well.

There are a few situations where the newer architecture in the 7850 will be significantly better.

So basically, if they are a similar price, it is worth it to grab the 7850 as it is slightly better while consuming less power. You will make up a small increase in price with lower power consumption over time.

You perfectly summed it up 7850 here I come (when I get paid)

 

[danawesome89]

You perfectly summed it up 7850 here I come (when I get paid)

Glad I could help. I think you will be pleased. I really like my 7850.