HD6950 1GB or 2GB???

[Glendor]

I'm planning on a Crossfire setup, and probably even TriFire setup once the GPU prices drop a bit more, for my 3 display (19" portrait / 24" landscape / 19" portrait) gaming desk.

I'm seeing some great prices on factory overclocked 1GB HD6950 video cards, and could probably swing two of them now and nail a 3rd when the price drops further. Or, I could get one HD6950 / HD6970 2GB card now, and have a slower path to 2x or 3x crossfire.

Should I go with the factory OCed 1GB with the plan for cheap 2x & 3x Crossfire or get the 2GB cards? I saw a review that said the 1GB cards actually scailed the same, and even better, than the 2GB cards.

Glendor...

 

[Powermoloch]

You'll be better off getting 2 GB because of the resolutions you'll be planning to use

 

[fffblackmage]

If you're planning to use multiple monitors for Eyefinity, then definitely get the 2GB cards.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Even though that's not crazy resolution I would still get the 2GB version.

 

[apoppin]

I'm planning on a Crossfire setup, and probably even TriFire setup once the GPU prices drop a bit more, for my 3 display (19" portrait / 24" landscape / 19" portrait) gaming desk.

---

How are you planning to do that? CrossFire doesn't work the way you describe for gaming.

What monitors do you have? You cannot put TN panels in portrait very well? *ideally* for GAMING, all the displays are the same size and resolution and they are all the same orientation - portrait OR landscape

 

[dma0991]

You should get the 2GB version instead as it would come in handy in an Eyefinity setup. Ideally it would be best to have 3 monitors of equal size and model/brand for the best Eyefinity experience.

Although you could do a triple Crossfire but I suggest against it as 2 cards are already more than sufficient for most games and not a good plan considering newer 28nm cards are coming out soon.

 

[Ray_Rogers2019]

6950 2GB since you'll be able to unlock it to 6970. It's what I'll be doing in the future.

 

[pw38]

6950 2GB since you'll be able to unlock it to 6970. It's what I'll be doing in the future.

Better get one soon then.

 

[SZLiao214]

For that many screens i would go 2gb. The price difference isn't that huge either.

 

[Dark Shroud]

+1 For 2gb model.

 

[yacoub]

newer 28nm cards are coming out soon.

The 7000 series? That won't hit before Q3, September-ish.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

2GB. They're cheap (as low as ~$215 after rebate), can be unlocked and it doesn't hurt having the extra VRAM.

 

[Throckmorton]

Question for the folks recommending 2GB... Do you have any proof that running 3 monitors causes the framebuffer to increase enough that 2GB is necessary? Is there an equivalent to Rivatuner for ATI cards that can show you memory usage?

 

[yacoub]

2GB. They're cheap (as low as ~$215 after rebate), can be unlocked and it doesn't hurt having the extra VRAM.

Link please for 2GB for $215. Thanks.

 

[dma0991]

The 7000 series? That won't hit before Q3, September-ish.

That's early by my standards so September-ish is what I would consider released soon.

 

[RussianSensation]

Question for the folks recommending 2GB... Do you have any proof that running 3 monitors causes the framebuffer to increase enough that 2GB is necessary? Is there an equivalent to Rivatuner for ATI cards that can show you memory usage?

There is some mention of memory bottleneck in Hard OCP's review (took me about 2 min to google). At the same time, since the OP is looking to CF or even Tri-Fire, it simply makes sense to spend $20-30 more for the 2GB version of the card. In addition, you can unlock the 2GB versions, which makes the 1GB version largely irrelevant, at least at this time.

 

[yacoub]

There is some mention of memory bottleneck in Hard OCP's review (took me about 2 min to google). At the same time, since the OP is looking to CF or even Tri-Fire, it simply makes sense to spend $20-30 more for the 2GB version of the card. In addition, you can unlock the 2GB versions, which makes the 1GB version largely irrelevant, at least at this time.

You can unlock the extra SPs on the 1GB versions just as well, according to the massive techPowerup thread where all the 6950 BIOS flashing discussion is going on. You just don't flash a 1GB model with a 6970 BIOS, you simply edit the BIOS it comes with (extract, update, and reflash it).

 

[RussianSensation]

You can unlock the extra SPs on the 1GB versions just as well, according to the massive techPowerup thread where all the 6950 BIOS flashing discussion is going on. You just don't flash a 1GB model with a 6970 BIOS, you simply edit the BIOS it comes with (extract, update, and reflash it).

Oh really? I was under the impression you cannot unlock 1GB versions of cards. Good to know. Still when making an investment for 6950 CF or Tri-fire setup for 3 monitors, I'd definitely lean towards spending a little bit extra for games like BF3, etc.

 

[yacoub]

Oh really? I was under the impression you cannot unlock 1GB versions of cards. Good to know. Still when making an investment for 6950 CF or Tri-fire setup for 3 monitors, I'd definitely lean towards spending a little bit extra for games like BF3, etc.

I agree with that assessment for the specific circumstance of a multi-monitor situation. However the out-of-pocket price for the 2GB models is still a bit high right now (generally around $260 and up). High not compared to MSRP, but relative to the GPU landscape and the performance the 6950 offers in games at 1080p with max detail settings.

Even factoring in any MIRs it's not too appealing when the most affordably priced model appears to be an XFX model with quite a number of pretty poor reviews noting early failures in a much higher ratio than any other models (hence it being the lowest price perhaps) and the knowledge that if you can only get ~60fps or less in a current FPS like BF:BC2, it's possible you'd be dropping ~$260 now only to find in six months that BF3 is barely playable, and that possibility is a big disincentive to spending the extra money for the 2GB model and perhaps even to getting the 6950 in general.

One can find lesser cards in the $150-190 range that offer enough performance to play most current games at high detail settings, yet provide the benefit of a reduced cost at this time so that one can put more money toward getting a 7000 series card this fall for BF3 if it turns out to need it, versus shooting your wad now in a gamble that a 2GB 6950 will be enough to run it 1080p max settings smoothly.

 

[FalseChristian]

I'd definately get the 2GB model. It will help for future games and it will have a better resale value when you're gonna upgrade to the 7950 or 8950 (just guessing what the next generation of AMD's GPUs will be called).

 

[bryanW1995]

2gb, but you need to address Apoppin's concerns about the 3 monitor setup. He's probably got more trifire/xfire/eyefinity/etc experience than anyone else here. You might have more problems than you realize.

2gb is better for unlocking/using custom bios b/c of the dual bios. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I've been lucky enough that I've never had to blind flash my card. I don't want to try it now, either, and the dual bios renders that a moot consideration. Also, in an xfire and tri-fire setup at eyefinity resolution and lots of AA/AF, many games will start to run out of vram if they're limited to just 1gb.

 

[RussianSensation]

High not compared to MSRP, but relative to the GPU landscape and the performance the 6950 offers in games at 1080p with max detail settings..... it's possible you'd be dropping ~$260 now only to find in six months that BF3 is barely playable

I actually think the opposite. For $260, HD6950 unlocked into an HD6970 is only 7% slower at 1080P than the $440-450 GTX580 in Crysis 2 (a game that heavily favours NV cards). Since GTX570 still costs more than the 6950, 6950 unlocked into a 6970 is still one of the best performance cards for the $$. HD6970 performs even better when you start scaling resolutions and multiple monitors. Sure you can argue that HD6870 or HD5870 are even better values and I won't necessarily disagree. At the same time 2x HD6950s unlocked into a 6970 in CF will destroy a single 580 for not much more $.

Also, HD7000 series prob won't launch until September 2011. You can always resell the 6950 card if the performance is not sufficient. You can play the waiting game forever. Once HD7000 series comes out, Kepler will be "around the corner". Suddenly it's almost November-December 2011.

 

[yacoub]

2GB. They're cheap (as low as ~$215 after rebate), can be unlocked and it doesn't hurt having the extra VRAM.

Link please for 2GB for $215. Thanks.

Does it exist?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Does it exist?

Was a deal a couple of weeks ago, IIRC for a HiS card.

 

[yacoub]

Ah okay. Right now the only 1GB card that's even that cheap is the XFX 1GB model that's had a concerning number of failures reported

Here's where I found it for $215: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...653&CatId=7005

Reviews: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...yMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo