Help me Choose card 6950 or 6970

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_VenomX

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#1 _VenomX
Member since 2009 • 1614 Posts

So I'm making a SB build. everything is perfect all I need is to choose if I'd get a HD 6950 or HD 6970

I know about flashing 6950, but I'm scared to **** my pc and ofc my warranty voids if I flash it though I dont have any expirience with the new GPUs since my last GPU was 9400GT... yea :P

-Get a 6950? if yes from what manufacturer should I get.. I might get the Sapphire card

-Get a 6950 and flash it? Afraid to break it :( but still :P.. If yes, What manufacturer too.. Still thinking Sapphire since Powercolor is a fail at flashing

-Get a 6970 instead,I might get the MSI one since its $340 which is the cheapest.

Thanks for helping, For somereason I made a thread about this last night I cant find it though. :(

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Janus67

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#2 Janus67
Member since 2005 • 316 Posts
I'd get the 6950 and flash it. I thought powercolor was the practically guaranteed flasher, am I wrong with that? http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159
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_VenomX

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#3 _VenomX
Member since 2009 • 1614 Posts

Actually theres people who had powercolor and cant flash it.

But it will void the warranty which I fear the most

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blaznwiipspman1

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#4 blaznwiipspman1
Member since 2007 • 16905 Posts

go for the 6950 2gb or 560 ti. Both are excellent cards at stock but if you can unlock/overclock then its all good.

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Kamuikankatsu

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#5 Kamuikankatsu
Member since 2005 • 596 Posts

I just ordered a 6950 yesterday, and should be getting it in the mail in the next day or 2. I went with VTX3D for the manufacturer, all the reviews of them and the card seemed pretty good, and apparently there's not much problems when it comes too flashing it. either way, its only like 80mhz and a 50mhz difference on the core and mem speeds from the 6950 to 6970.

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eBusiness

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#6 eBusiness
Member since 2009 • 405 Posts

Get an HD 6950 and don't flash it. You can overclock it if you like, but the performance gain from opening binned components is minute, so just leave that part and be happy.

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_VenomX

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#7 _VenomX
Member since 2009 • 1614 Posts

I just ordered a 6950 yesterday, and should be getting it in the mail in the next day or 2. I went with VTX3D for the manufacturer, all the reviews of them and the card seemed pretty good, and apparently there's not much problems when it comes too flashing it. either way, its only like 80mhz and a 50mhz difference on the core and mem speeds from the 6950 to 6970.

Kamuikankatsu
Nice to hear, Plans on OC/Unlock? the difference is just the core and speed mems between the two?
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_VenomX

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#8 _VenomX
Member since 2009 • 1614 Posts

Get an HD 6950 and don't flash it. You can overclock it if you like, but the performance gain from opening binned components is minute, so just leave that part and be happy.

eBusiness
Im getting an "Ok" Case since Im saving. I heard that its hot at stock speed :(, Dont have experience with OCing but what is the -safe- temp ?
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eBusiness

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#9 eBusiness
Member since 2009 • 405 Posts

[QUOTE="eBusiness"]

Get an HD 6950 and don't flash it. You can overclock it if you like, but the performance gain from opening binned components is minute, so just leave that part and be happy.

_VenomX

Im getting an "Ok" Case since Im saving. I heard that its hot at stock speed :(, Dont have experience with OCing but what is the -safe- temp ?

On overclock.net they suggest 95 deg as max safe temp, you better make sure the card stay below that limit during normal operation. The card should (no guarantees) shut down before taking damage from an overclock, so there is room for messing around. But stay away from the voltage regulation, that is a maker of dead cards.

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Redfet01

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#10 Redfet01
Member since 2004 • 83 Posts

strongly suggest getting a Sapphire 6950 2gb and flashing to unlock shaders only, then overclocking to 6970 clocks or whichever speeds make you happy :) I have a 6950 and it has flashed without any problems, been using for a month or so.

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_VenomX

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#11 _VenomX
Member since 2009 • 1614 Posts

[QUOTE="_VenomX"][QUOTE="eBusiness"]

Get an HD 6950 and don't flash it. You can overclock it if you like, but the performance gain from opening binned components is minute, so just leave that part and be happy.

eBusiness

Im getting an "Ok" Case since Im saving. I heard that its hot at stock speed :(, Dont have experience with OCing but what is the -safe- temp ?

On overclock.net they suggest 95 deg as max safe temp, you better make sure the card stay below that limit during normal operation. The card should (no guarantees) shut down before taking damage from an overclock, so there is room for messing around. But stay away from the voltage regulation, that is a maker of dead cards.

What do you men Voltage thing.. So its safe at 95, thanks alot :)
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_VenomX

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#12 _VenomX
Member since 2009 • 1614 Posts

strongly suggest getting a Sapphire 6950 2gb and flashing to unlock shaders only, then overclocking to 6970 clocks or whichever speeds make you happy :) I have a 6950 and it has flashed without any problems, been using for a month or so.

Redfet01
Cool you got the sapphire one>?!
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Redfet01

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#13 Redfet01
Member since 2004 • 83 Posts

yup got the sapphire one cause it came bundled with a free hdmi cable lol, and was one of the lower prices I could find :)

check out this thread for how to flash the 6950

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137136

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tequilasunriser

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#14 tequilasunriser
Member since 2004 • 6379 Posts

Actually theres people who had powercolor and cant flash it.

But it will void the warranty which I fear the most

_VenomX
Some clarification: That PowerColor card was the PCS++ a non-reference 2GB. The non-reference cards don't have unlockable GPUs. PowerColor recently recalled the PCS++ and maintain that it was indeed unlockable. I'm guessing they are looking into their problem. Other reference 2GB cards still have a chance to unlock, namely HIS and Sapphire. Apparently Gigabyte and XFX are shipping revision 2 6950 2GBs that don't flash. That said, look for a reference sapphire or HIS and you'll likely be able to unlock it's GPU. Now, about the warranty. It seems a certain nVidia fanboy that trolls these forums has filled your head with the notion that if you unlock your 6950 it will die and void your warranty. The success rate is extremely high with unlocking these reference cards. The failure rate is extremely low; low enough that the failures aren't even likely due to the unlocking/flashing. The dual BIOS switch is there for a reason. They may not condone flashing/unlocking their cards but they did give you a switch... I can't imagine it's there or decoration. If for some reason your card dies/fries/blows up and you have a 3rd party BIOS on your flashable 2nd BIOS how is the manufacturer going to check to see if you messed with the 2nd BIOS? Are they really going to go through the trouble of repairing your card just to see the software on the BIOS? It's the same with overclocking. If the card is dead they can't tell that you OC'd it. Don't let warranty stop you from an amazing value, and don't let anti-AMD propaganda stop you either.
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Redfet01

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#15 Redfet01
Member since 2004 • 83 Posts

yup agree with the above poster... flashing is not really hard if you follow the instructions in the thread. However having a custom fan curve is recommended if you want to flash your card, programs such as Sapphire Trixx or MSI Afterburner will allow changes to be made to the fan speed of the card.

For me what I did was use a shaders unlocked only bios of the 6950, then overclock the card to 6970 speeds using Sapphire Trixx, as well as making a custom fan curve. There is a batch file in the forum thread I have linked above which does the flashing of the 6950 automatically but it uses a 6970 bios. So what you have to do is find a shaders unlock only bios replace it within the batch file. A bit hard to explain over here you can search through the thread for more information.

Personally the 6950 is the most bang for the buck card right now in the market imo, especially if you game at 1920x1080 resolutions, because 1. it can be flashed to give you 6970 performance for quite a few bucks less 2. the only single GPU card faster than it is Nvidia's 580 which costs a whole lot more ( 6970 is neck to neck with 570 in most cases unless you count HAWX 2 ) 3. no other single GPU card is coming out in the near future, meaning you'll have the fastest single GPU card in ATI's arsenal

Even if you don't want to risk flashing, and have the money, I will still suggest getting a 6950 because it's performance in most cases is a mere 10% lesser than the 6970

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_VenomX

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#16 _VenomX
Member since 2009 • 1614 Posts

thanks alot guys!!

is it advisable to get asap because I will buy it somewhere at april

again,thanks alot

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Redfet01

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#17 Redfet01
Member since 2004 • 83 Posts

hmm buying asap is advisable if you got the funds now, because I'm not sure when revisions will occur to the current batch of cards, which might remove the possiblility of flashing, but that's just my opinion. Currently I feel the prices of the 6950 are pretty low already and would be unlikely to go much lower...but I could be wrong haha