gtx 570 or 6970?

When I finally get my school refund I was planning on getting a new graphics card but Im torn between these two.

GTX 570 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613

HD 6970 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517

The 570 comes with a free game and is cheaper, but I hear that the 6970 is one of the best cards to get right now. I only need one card and I do not plan to crossfire/sli. Which is better in price/performance?

^ basically this. For single card, get the 570 and OC to match a 580, or for dual cards, the AMDs scale better.

^ basically this. For single card, get the 570 and OC to match a 580, or for dual cards, the AMDs scale better.

wis3boi

ok. Any tips on how toOC a graphics card? I have no idea.

[QUOTE="wis3boi"]

^ basically this. For single card, get the 570 and OC to match a 580, or for dual cards, the AMDs scale better.

Star67

ok. Any tips on how toOC a graphics card? I have no idea.

If you are going to buy a factory overclocked 570, either get a EVGA classified or Asus Direct CUII. They come with more VRMs, which are needed for overclocking, while reference 570s don't have enough.

The HD 6970 is a far better GPU than the GTX 570 because of the following reasons:

• HD 6970 is usually faster in games
• HD 6970 scales much better in a multi-GPU setup
• HD 6970 has more VRAM
• HD 6970 has MLAA which can provide anti-aliasing on nearly any PC game out there (even those games that don't normally support anti-aliasing). Nvidia has no such all-games-encompassing anti-aliasing solution. And anti-aliasing (in general) is a much bigger deal than Nvidia's Physx.

The HD 6970 is a far better GPU than the GTX 570 because of the following reasons:

• HD 6970 is usually faster in games
• HD 6970 scales much better in a multi-GPU setup
• HD 6970 has more VRAM
• HD 6970 has MLAA which can provide anti-aliasing on nearly any PC game out there (even those games that don't normally support anti-aliasing). Nvidia has no such all-games-encompassing anti-aliasing solution. And anti-aliasing (in general) is a much bigger deal than Nvidia's Physx.

Baurus_1

The HD 6970 is a far better GPU than the GTX 570 because of the following reasons:

• HD 6970 is usually faster in games
• HD 6970 scales much better in a multi-GPU setup
• HD 6970 has more VRAM
• HD 6970 has MLAA which can provide anti-aliasing on nearly any PC game out there (even those games that don't normally support anti-aliasing). Nvidia has no such all-games-encompassing anti-aliasing solution. And anti-aliasing (in general) is a much bigger deal than Physx.

Baurus_1

Not Again....

1. No its not usually faster, both cards trade blows , out of 20 games gtx 570 comes out on top 12 of 20 times.

2. It does not scale that much better, granted the 6000's series scales a bit better it doesnot mean its a blow out lead You can take GTX 480 SLI vs 6970 Crossfire and they both trade blows with each other so it safe to assume that SLI GTX 570 will do the same.

3. That is true

4. Boy o Boy, give it up on the MLAA.... MLAA is not that great and you have to adjust the settings profile everytime you go and from games. Also Nvidia has a much better Driver package then AMD allowing custom settings with every game and no need to disable or enable it every time you game. And MLAA screws up the sharpness on text in games. MLAA is not the best AA solution. And why are you comparing AA to Physx? In games I rather have Physx over MLAA any day

The HD 6970 is a far better GPU than the GTX 570 because of the following reasons:

• HD 6970 is usually faster in games
• HD 6970 scales much better in a multi-GPU setup
• HD 6970 has more VRAM
• HD 6970 has MLAA which can provide anti-aliasing on nearly any PC game out there (even those games that don't normally support anti-aliasing). Nvidia has no such all-games-encompassing anti-aliasing solution. And anti-aliasing (in general) is a much bigger deal than Nvidia's Physx.

Baurus_1

The two 570s I mentioned can smoke any 6970.

Not MUCH better, but just a bit better, the 570s can still be faster even with less scaling.

There are 2560MB versions of the 570

I've used MLAA and it isn't anything incredible, FXAA has been proven to be better. And don't compare it to something it has nothing to do with.

What motherboard and power supply are you working with? If your budget is more like $500, then go with twin HD 6950s. It seems a better option to me.chrisgayle1

TC said there was no need to Crossfire/SLI. TC wanted to know which singlecard would be best to go with.

Like others have said they trade blows performance wise. One thing about the VRAM is that there is maybe 2 or 3 games that will use 1.5GBs of VRAM at 1920 x 1080 res. So some of that VRAM on the 6970 will go unused. The majority of games don't even use 1GB with the highest settings at 1080. If your monitor is higher than 1080 then the 6970 would be the better choice (though you would want a multi gpu setup for best performance). Otherwise, it comes down to which one you can get the better deal on.jtcraft

Will you just admit that the 6970 is better and stop trying to spin the issue?

Wow, you Nvidia fanboys are just not willing to admit that any AMD GPU is better, are you?

[QUOTE="jtcraft"]Like others have said they trade blows performance wise. One thing about the VRAM is that there is maybe 2 or 3 games that will use 1.5GBs of VRAM at 1920 x 1080 res. So some of that VRAM on the 6970 will go unused. The majority of games don't even use 1GB with the highest settings at 1080. If your monitor is higher than 1080 then the 6970 would be the better choice (though you would want a multi gpu setup for best performance). Otherwise, it comes down to which one you can get the better deal on.Baurus_1

Will you just admit that the 6970 is better and stop trying to spin the issue?

Wow, you Nvidia fanboys are just not willing to admit that any AMD GPU is better,are you?

Look who's talking. You make threads with big bold claims with absolutely nothing to back them up. You say a video card is better than another and you don't post a single benchmark to back up your claim. Also, I never said Nvidia was the better choice. I believe I recommended him to get the video card that he could get the best deal on. Since your to lazy to post benches I will do it for you.

Anandtech 6970/570 Comparison

Hexus 6970/6950 Review

Guru3D 6970/6950 Review

Tech Power Up HIS 6970 Review

if it was between the 570 and the 6950 id say the 570, but since its the 6970.

GET THE 6970!

6970 is the better gpu, but watch out. The amd fanboy has already sharpened his swords lol.

well I was just going to get the reference model 570, but as someone said in a earlier post the best 570 to get is the one above the reference model. But that puts the price the same for both the 570 and 6970 now. If thats the case Ill go with the 6970 since it has more VRAM.

As a 6970 owner who previously owned Nvidia, I'd say go for the GTX 570.

looking at the prices seems like a GTX 570 is you best bang for the buck

I own a GTX 590(but I bought it because Nvidea cards are far better for scientific applications and CUDA programming and can be softmodded to match half a core on the Quadro 6000 workstation gpu) but I can tell you for a fact that the HD 6970 is the best bang-for-the-buck you'll get, and it can handle heavy OC's. That being said, you can't go wrong with the GTX 570 or the HD 6970 and the GTX 570 is good enough for just about any game so if you prefer Nvidea, go with it. If you have no preference go with the HD 6970 since it is actually the better card for gaming, not for general purpose.

The HD 6970 is a far better GPU than the GTX 570 because of the following reasons:

• HD 6970 is usually faster in games
• HD 6970 scales much better in a multi-GPU setup
• HD 6970 has more VRAM
• HD 6970 has MLAA which can provide anti-aliasing on nearly any PC game out there (even those games that don't normally support anti-aliasing). Nvidia has no such all-games-encompassing anti-aliasing solution. And anti-aliasing (in general) is a much bigger deal than Nvidia's Physx.

Baurus_1

570,

I just prefer Nvidia over amd, and they are about the same, and nvidia in the past has had better drivers

6970 has more vram and better scaling. Lets just say this much 6970 Crossfire = 580 sli >570 sli. Thats right, the 6970 crossfires to the same performance as a 580 sli, without doing any overclocking whatsoever. AMD really nailed the 6xxx series scaling ability. But since you said you only want single cards, then either the 570 or 6970 are a good choice. The 6970 is a better choice since it has more ram in my opinion.