RMA accepted for GTX295. Go for 6970 or GTX 570?

[3DVagabond]

Well, no free games, so that could sway it for some, but the price must of come down a bit since you last checked.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...^14-131-385-TS

I agree, if I was paying money for these cards, the 6950 would be the better option. As long as someone wasn't afraid to unlock and overclock. I'll also agree that for a majority of games 1Gig of RAM is sufficient. When it costs so little to get the extra gig though, why not. That's why you never see anyone recommend the 6950 1gig. Maybe Crysis 2 will make you happy (or make you wish) you got it. We need to figure the strength of Cayman as resolution increases as well.

 

[badb0y]

So you basically just answered my question. Crysis is 4 years old, so what has changed? Suddenly you can play that same game for the billionth time with 2 extra settings maxed instead of on high and that makes 2gb of video ram suddenly a requirement?
When the 5870 1gb and gtx480 1.5 gb were going head to head last year, why was this argument not sooooo important then? Was 1gb of ram ok for Crysis then but not now? Is 1.25 gb of ram on the gtx570 now not enough @ 1080p?

This is all just BS to suddenly make everyone think we need more vram. Metro 2033? Crysis? old games that need more vram, ok I'll bite............. What newer games that people havent played a billion times need more vram?

Ok I got one F1 2010. Thats one!

See:

I play @ 2560x1600, and my mobo (Asus Rampage Formula x48) supports Crossfire only, so i was thinking to jump to ATI, and in the near future get another ATI to run Crossfire (while we wait for the new LGA 2011 to make the "big" jump)

You don't need 2 GB at 1080p but at higher resolutions I would rather have it then not and kick myself if another game like Crysis comes out and I can't crank the settings and as for multi-monitor gaming, that should be obvious.

Also he is getting this card from a RMA and there is no reason he should pick a GTX 570 over a HD 6970:

The performance difference overall is 5% but if I had the choice to get a card for free I would get the AMD 6970 given the choices the OP has.

As for buying a card I would make the same decision I already did, buy a HD 6950 unlock and overclock it.

 

[Skurge]

See:

You don't need 2 GB at 1080p but at higher resolutions I would rather have it then not and kick myself if another game like Crysis comes out and I can't crank the settings and as for multi-monitor gaming, that should be obvious.

Also he is getting this card from a RMA and there is no reason he should pick a GTX 570 over a HD 6970:

The performance difference overall is 5% but if I had the choice to get a card for free I would get the AMD 6970 given the choices the OP has.

As for buying a card I would make the same decision I already did, buy a HD 6950 unlock and overclock it.

I'm not sure what he is arguing about really, and this isn't the place. The OP is not paying either card so price is irrelevant, He plays at 2560x1600 where the 6970 is much faster and is fighting with a 580 will the 570 is fighting with a 6950, the OP only has a crossfire mobo and wants to add another card later. The 6970 has better scaling than a 570 and with crossfire the extra ram IS an advantage cause you can use more AA and which point even the 6950 handily beats the 570 and the 6970 trades blows with a 580.
http://translate.google.com.na/tran...era&hs=iMT&rls=en&channel=suggest&prmd=ivnsfd

So I see absolutely no reason to recommend a 570 in this situation.

 

[SoMBrA]

Hello everyone!

I don't think he's buying, it looks like an RMA situation for a GTX295.

Yes, the GTX 295 died 3 months before warranty end!

I would like to give my opinion and experience with bot, AMD and Nvidia cards, never thought this would be a "drama" thread!

For the last 5 years I've been jumping from ATI-NVIDIA, and i had good and bad experiences with both companys.

ATI X800 i had to change the card 2 times because of artifacts (don't know if was 3rd party problem or the actual design of the card), never had drivers issue that i can remember.

ATI X1950PRO i think this was the best ATI card i ever had, but died a month ago, it was on a old computer, just for downloads.

GTX 285 Never had a problem with this one, overall the best Nvidia card i had (better than the GTX295 imho... price/performance wise)

GTX 295 Been waiting for some drivers that could help me with some games not runing how they should. Had to disable internal SLI to get better performance etc.. Very high temperature (not a problem really) and sometimes after closing a game, the coolers would remain at very high speeds, needed to reboot just to let the card know that the game was already closed lol. The last 6 months is very i'be been waiting for some "major" drivers update but once the hardware is getting old both companys will do the same, minor updates to improve performance on new games or solve problems etc...

Before that i had Voodoo 2, Matrox card, and some Nvidia when they bought 3DFX but can't remember right now.

The point is that from time to time, both companys end up doing mistakes (hardware, drivers, etc) so i tend to change companys and get what's the "best" for me at that time.

By the way don't know who said about me using CS5, 3DMax etc but never said that, just asked for games, i like to play Shooters, and MMO.

 

[badb0y]

Hello everyone!



Yes, the GTX 295 died 3 months before warranty end!

I would like to give my opinion and experience with bot, AMD and Nvidia cards, never thought this would be a "drama" thread!

For the last 5 years I've been jumping from ATI-NVIDIA, and i had good and bad experiences with both companys.

ATI X800 i had to change the card 2 times because of artifacts (don't know if was 3rd party problem or the actual design of the card), never had drivers issue that i can remember.

ATI X1950PRO i think this was the best ATI card i ever had, but died a month ago, it was on a old computer, just for downloads.

GTX 285 Never had a problem with this one, overall the best Nvidia card i had (better than the GTX295 imho... price/performance wise)

GTX 295 Been waiting for some drivers that could help me with some games not runing how they should. Had to disable internal SLI to get better performance etc.. Very high temperature (not a problem really) and sometimes after closing a game, the coolers would remain at very high speeds, needed to reboot just to let the card know that the game was already closed lol. The last 6 months is very i'be been waiting for some "major" drivers update but once the hardware is getting old both companys will do the same, minor updates to improve performance on new games or solve problems etc...

Before that i had Voodoo 2, Matrox card, and some Nvidia when they bought 3DFX but can't remember right now.

The point is that from time to time, both companys end up doing mistakes (hardware, drivers, etc) so i tend to change companys and get what's the "best" for me at that time.

By the way don't know who said about me using CS5, 3DMax etc but never said that, just asked for games, i like to play Shooters, and MMO.

Thanks for the clarification, the point of the thread got kind of lost in all the bickering lol.

 

[3DVagabond]

By the way don't know who said about me using CS5, 3DMax etc but never said that, just asked for games, i like to play Shooters, and MMO.

That might have been my error (at least for the Max part). There were two threads going. One person had 2 monitors and gamed on one while modeling on the other. (ADD, I'm guessing :joke: )

Sorry if I got confused. :\

 

[SoMBrA]

Thanks for the clarification, the point of the thread got kind of lost in all the bickering lol.

I like to read everyone opinion, i think the thread discussion was good anyways!

That might have been my error (at least for the Max part). There were two threads going. One person had 2 monitors and gamed on one while modeling on the other. (ADD, I'm guessing :joke: )

Sorry if I got confused. :\

You were 50% right, i use CS5, and from time to time I tend to spend lots of hours with photo retouching but just as a hobby, didn't know that GTX 570 works better there!

I have another question, I read (not only here) that for Crossfire / SLI configuration with these new cards my current CPU / Platform won't be enough (LGA 775 - E8500 currently), do you think that getting another 775 CPU (Q9550 - Q9650) will be enough? (with OC of course)

My current e8500 i got it to work @ 3.800 for 24/7, never tried to push it to the limit but maybe i should try?

 

[load81]

Castiel has a point, "Still wouldn't touch a 570 because of the weak VRM issues."

Very few 570's must of shipped with bad vrm's because there are plenty of 570's heavily overclocked doing just fine for over 3 months. Someone at OCN has a reference EVGA overclocked at 1020/2200 with 1.2 volts. Plenty of other 570's are clocked close to that in a thread there with pics. Also some people in the dead 570 thread at OCN were proven to be lying about even owning a 570. With no proof and not hearing about 570's frying on other forums I dont see a problem. But yeah the only time I would recommend a 570 over a 6970 is at 1900x1200 and below.

 

[3DVagabond]

I like to read everyone opinion, i think the thread discussion was good anyways!



You were 50% right, i use CS5, and from time to time I tend to spend lots of hours with photo retouching but just as a hobby, didn't know that GTX 570 works better there!

I have another question, I read (not only here) that for Crossfire / SLI configuration with these new cards my current CPU / Platform won't be enough (LGA 775 - E8500 currently), do you think that getting another 775 CPU (Q9550 - Q9650) will be enough? (with OC of course)

My current e8500 i got it to work @ 3.800 for 24/7, never tried to push it to the limit but maybe i should try?

Not me on the PS. Premier CS5 has the Mercury playback engine that uses CUDA. I don't believe PS does anything with CUDA. nVidia drivers might be a bit better optimized in this instance, though. I use PS and have used it for quite some time. Never noticed any slowdowns with either brand of card as long as I didn't exceed my VRAM. PS isn't really all that taxing in 2D.

You'll be CPU bound in some games with C2 processors. I wouldn't spend too much though on your old platform. I'd look into a complete upgrade when Bulldozer and/or Ivybridge come along. An 8500 @ 3.8 is no slouch. It should hold you over at least for a single card.

 

[SoMBrA]

Not me on the PS. Premier CS5 has the Mercury playback engine that uses CUDA. I don't believe PS does anything with CUDA. nVidia drivers might be a bit better optimized in this instance, though. I use PS and have used it for quite some time. Never noticed any slowdowns with either brand of card as long as I didn't exceed my VRAM. PS isn't really all that taxing in 2D.

You'll be CPU bound in some games with C2 processors. I wouldn't spend too much though on your old platform. I'd look into a complete upgrade when Bulldozer and/or Ivybridge come along. An 8500 @ 3.8 is no slouch. It should hold you over at least for a single card.

I have to be ready for BF3!
Will wait then, i was just thinking that maybe i could try Crossfire but I'm afraid because my current platform maybe its not worth it.

Its a free upgrade im getting with the RMA so spend lets stay about $300 in a couple of months to get another graphic card and run a Crossfire until the next platform is ready?

On the other hand I'm not playing much games... maybe Shogun Total War 2 or some BF:BC2 while waiting for BF3...

 

[MentalIlness]

An 8500 @ 3.8 is no slouch. It should hold you over at least for a single card.

Until I am able to pick up the motherboard again, see sig....I am forced to use a 6870 in a E7200 Core 2 Duo rig, clocked at 4.0Ghz. Which is comparable to a E8500 at 3.8 or so, except for cache....and yes I can say....I am bottlenecked. So he may be as well.

Yes, I have ran benches.

 

[MentalIlness]

Not extreme bottlenecking, but bottlenecking enough to aggrivate someone.

 

[SlowSpyder]

So you basically just answered my question. Crysis is 4 years old, so what has changed? Suddenly you can play that same game for the billionth time with 2 extra settings maxed instead of on high and that makes 2gb of video ram suddenly a requirement?
When the 5870 1gb and gtx480 1.5 gb were going head to head last year, why was this argument not sooooo important then? Was 1gb of ram ok for Crysis then but not now? Is 1.25 gb of ram on the gtx570 now not enough @ 1080p?

This is all just BS to suddenly make everyone think we need more vram. Metro 2033? Crysis? old games that need more vram, ok I'll bite............. What newer games that people havent played a billion times need more vram?

Ok I got one F1 2010. Thats one!

Happy, I think you are trying to pick an arguement where there isn't one. This is an RMA replacement, so cost is irrelevant. The OP plays at 2560x1600, so if you could have either card as a replacement, no cost to you, why wouldn't you get the 2GB card over the 1.2GB card (assuming the cores are roughly as powerful as one another as they are in this case). The OP has a board that does not support SLI, it does support Crossfire. And lastly, AMD's cards seem to pull ahead slightly as resolution increases... at say 1080P the 570 and 6970 are probably very close. At 2560 the 6970 is generally a bit faster.

So in this case, unless the OP needs an Nvidia specific feature (such as a CUDA app) I don't think there is really much to debate.

Enjoy your new card OP, just three months left on the warranty worked out about perfectly.

 

[SoMBrA]

Not extreme bottlenecking, but bottlenecking enough to aggrivate someone.

Good to know, but i think i won't be able to wait until Ivy Bridge so maybe I buy a 2nd card in summer and could use them once i have the new computer ready (i could save some cash on the graphic card while changing the whole platform and get something big after the new build)

...
Enjoy your new card OP, just three months left on the warranty worked out about perfectly.

Yes, also i almost got the replacement for the same money i spent back in the day for the old GTX 295 (I spent about $50 more on the GTX 295, but that was almost 2 years ago so its like I bought a totally new card hehe)

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The most important thing is when the FPS drop, which is faster

 

[Skurge]

The most important thing is when the FPS drop, which is faster

Well, most demanding games ATM are crysis and metro2033, the 6970 does better in both.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Well, most demanding games ATM are crysis and metro2033, the 6970 does better in both.

What review sight did you get that from?

 

[Skurge]

What review sight did you get that from?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/13
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/15
http://translate.googleusercontent....ByGQ4UbS2bbo1JhCVsgM3ahg#abschnitt_metro_2033
http://translate.googleusercontent....XAJvWSrT43ING0JN-7BA#abschnitt_crysis_warhead
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-9.html
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20126/12
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-6950-6970-review/18

Almost every site actually.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/13
Almost every site actually.

Only one of your sights reports the minimum fps and that's Anandtech. Really that's all that is needed though because it probably will be the same on the other sights, but on the other hand I was talkin about which has a higher minimum frames per second and you posted 6 out of 7 sights that only reported the highest fps, not the highest minimums.

 

[Skurge]

Only one of your sights reports the minimum fps and that's Anandtech. Really that's all that is needed though because it probably will be the same on the other sights, but on the other hand I was talkin about which has a higher minimum frames per second and you posted 6 out of 7 sights that only reported the highest fps, not the highest minimums.

Sorry, I didn't know you were talking about minimums.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/12/14/amd_radeon_hd_6970_6950_video_card_review/5
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...899-amd-radeon-hd-6970-hd-6950-review-21.html

 

[TransistorsX]

Good choice OP, I think that the thing that you won't be seen with your new card is the microstuttering inherent from multi-GPU solutions. Kinda akward that the GTX 295 didn't age very well.

 

[bryanW1995]

"With 2GB of RAM our AMD cards finally break out of the minimum framerate crash Crysis experiences with 1GB AMD cards. Our rankings are similar to our averages, with the 6970 taking a small lead while the 6950 holds close to the 570."

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/13

There's 1 example where the RAM is a limiting factor and as we move forward I expect games to become more intensive than that. The minimum frame rates tank according to the link at higher resolutions.

yeah, that used to be a major weakness for amd with 58x0, now they've turned it into a strength. Is 1.28 gb enough most of the time? sure it is, but when it's not the gameplay experience will really suffer. That's why the 1gb 6950 is stuck in no-mans land; it's not quite as fast as gtx 560ti at lower res, and and higher res it gets smoked by the cards with more ram. Also, going forward having the extra ram is unlikely to be a bad thing. not saying that any of us try to future-proof but again the extra ram won't hurt. Which would you rather have in the future, 2x 1.28gb memory each or 2x2gb memory each, assuming they're roughly equivalent in speed otherwise?

 

[bryanW1995]

I have to be ready for BF3!
Will wait then, i was just thinking that maybe i could try Crossfire but I'm afraid because my current platform maybe its not worth it.

Its a free upgrade im getting with the RMA so spend lets stay about $300 in a couple of months to get another graphic card and run a Crossfire until the next platform is ready?

On the other hand I'm not playing much games... maybe Shogun Total War 2 or some BF:BC2 while waiting for BF3...

keep the current platform, try it out when bf3 comes out, then determine whether the upgrade is worth it. In most games an e8500 @ 3.8 won't be your bottleneck even with 2 modern cards in sli/xfire, though I don't know about bf3 obviously.

 

[RavenSEAL]

keep the current platform, try it out when bf3 comes out, then determine whether the upgrade is worth it. In most games an e8500 @ 3.8 won't be your bottleneck even with 2 modern cards in sli/xfire, though I don't know about bf3 obviously.

E8500 bottlenecks on BC2 lol, it'll definitely bottleneck BF3.

 

[Skurge]

keep the current platform, try it out when bf3 comes out, then determine whether the upgrade is worth it. In most games an e8500 @ 3.8 won't be your bottleneck even with 2 modern cards in sli/xfire, though I don't know about bf3 obviously.

Yeah, by then you would know whats the better buy, Sandy Bridge, Bulldozer or Ivy bridge.