Radeon HD 6970 Question

[viper1884]

hi im looking to purchase a 6970 sometime in the near future since the release of the 7000 series will drive the price down.

my question is what brand should i buy there are lot of different choices on new egg and i was hoping to get some input from people who have owned a card from these brands or if people have information based on sources and not hear say?

[Sephiracle]

I have an ASUS. I only picked it up because I got a really good open box deal for it. I haven't been able to do any overclocking with it, seems to just not be a very stable card, in addition this thing is fucking huge. I would've preferred to get the MSI one since it was the next best option but I couldn't manage to get one on sale.

[GG you got me]

I have an ASUS. I only picked it up because I got a really good open box deal for it. I haven't been able to do any overclocking with it, seems to just not be a very stable card, in addition this thing is fucking huge. I would've preferred to get the MSI one since it was the next best option but I couldn't manage to get one on sale.

Hey Sephiracle. Back when I used to own ATI cards, I usually had better luck deleting ALL of the CCC related stuff, and using only ATI Tray Tools. I was able to attain more stable overclocks at higher clocks partly due to ATI Tray Tools' better access to voltage increases. If you haven't tried this yet, might be worth a shot.

[Nellah]

XFX cards get double lifetime warranties. That tided me over to getting an XFX 6950 instead of another brand.

[viper1884]

<--OP thanks for the quick replies keep them coming

2 more questions

1 what about cooling for the card some brands have 2 or even 3 fans on them i assume for over clocking ( which is why i assume the XFX card has a lifetime warranty withe the stock looking fan and others are limited) is it worth considering that or is it over rated.

2 i will also need a new power supply im pretty sure, i have a the stock PS that came with my XPS 8100 its only a 350W top mount. anyone recommend a PS that could eb used my current computer and in a future build that could support a dvd HDD SDD and (future) crossfire for 2 6970s that wouldn't break the bank? some thing preferably below 75 but $100 max.

thanks again for the quick replies

[Sephiracle]

Hey Sephiracle. Back when I used to own ATI cards, I usually had better luck deleting ALL of the CCC related stuff, and using only ATI Tray Tools. I was able to attain more stable overclocks at higher clocks partly due to ATI Tray Tools' better access to voltage increases. If you haven't tried this yet, might be worth a shot.

Thanks for the tip, I haven't tried tray tools out yet, the ASUS one seems to only have the voltage unlock with their hideous interface but I haven't checked that one out yet, I should give it a shot.

---------- Post added 2012-02-03 at 07:10 PM ----------

<--OP thanks for the quick replies keep them coming

2 more questions

1 what about cooling for the card some brands have 2 or even 3 fans on them i assume for over clocking ( which is why i assume the XFX card has a lifetime warranty withe the stock looking fan and others are limited) is it worth considering that or is it over rated.

2 i will also need a new power supply im pretty sure, i have a the stock PS that came with my XPS 8100 its only a 350W top mount. anyone recommend a PS that could eb used my current computer and in a future build that could support a dvd HDD SDD and (future) crossfire for 2 6970s that wouldn't break the bank? some thing preferably below 75 but $100 max.

thanks again for the quick replies

Lifetime warranty is a gimmick. Most cards have multiple year warranties, and by the time those are up you usually are going to need to upgrade the card anyways.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139021 is probably what I'd look into in your price range. You don't really need to worry much about the power consumption of drives, they don't eat nearly as much power as gpus do.

[Milkshake86]

Honestly im just waiting for the price drop to grab another 6950 and unlock it. This way I'll finally have the chance to put CFX in this damn machine, /pray no more malfunctions around the house!!!!

[Nidor]

I currently have 2 of them in my build, they're doing really good for my use and run Eyefinity with most games at Highest/Veryhigh settings. They are watercooled however and I could not do this with the stock reference cooler on them. So my advice is simply, do not buy one with a reference cooler on it, unless you are going to watercool it. The reference cooler is loud and not the best.

[fatalaeon]

i Have an HiS and love it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161372 is the one im sporting, its only the 6950 but have zero fps issues in wow/swtor/skyrim.

[GG you got me]

Honestly im just waiting for the price drop to grab another 6950 and unlock it. This way I'll finally have the chance to put CFX in this damn machine, /pray no more malfunctions around the house!!!!

Very few unlockable 6950's left =(. What a cool card though.

[Deleted]

Wont the 7870 be around the same price and have better performance than the 6970? Might want to look that up before spending your cash as i don't think the prices will drop so fast.

[Milkshake86]

Very few unlockable 6950's left =(. What a cool card though.

All sapphire 2gb 6950's are 100% unlocked on second bios and flashable to 6970 bios for all the tweaks.

---------- Post added 2012-02-04 at 07:50 PM ----------

Wont the 7870 be around the same price and have better performance than the 6970? Might want to look that up before spending your cash as i don't think the prices will drop so fast.

When Nvidia releases the new series 100% guarnteed all last gens drop atleast $20-$30, keep in mind a brand new 460 only cost's rougly $140 atm and in sli is still a strong setup. I am fairly certain the 6970 will hold wait for a bit as a good choice for people with budgets.

[GG you got me]

6970 should continue to be good because it comes standard with 2gb of VRAM and is a plenty fast card so you're talking access to huge resolutions, and when prices drop xfiring it will be a legit option compared to 7970. All the top-end single gpu cards of this generation have been solid choices. The 560ti/6950/570/6970/580 should all continue to be strong cards, even stronger in sli/xfire formats. No duds really.

[viper1884]

Wont the 7870 be around the same price and have better performance than the 6970? Might want to look that up before spending your cash as i don't think the prices will drop so fast.

according to This comparing a 6970 vs a 7870 shows the 7870 as behind the 6970

and according to This it looks like the 7870 wont be out to march don't know if i would want to wait that long anyway plus who knows what the price will be

[Dedweight]

XFX cards get double lifetime warranties. That tided me over to getting an XFX 6950 instead of another brand.

The XFX card is nice, I have it currently, though the only thing I didn't like about it is it can run loud and hot if you don't have the proper airflow. Mine literally sounded like I had a Vacuum cleaner running all the time with it until I broke down and spent an extra 40$ for a much better case. The card still runs fairly warm and loud with the new case and better airflow than I necessarily like and may still get an aftermarket cooler to toss on it.

[Deleted]

7870 wont be out to march don't know if i would want to wait that long anyway

I doubt the 6970 will drop much in price before then anyway. And @ GG you got me. The 7870 will also come with 2gb VRAM, http://www.tomshardware.com/news/AMD...ard,14596.html