vid card help need!!

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05 STI

New Member
ok so ive been going back and forth on video cards for awhile now, i built a computer not too long ago and am running a xfx 5770 for the time being but want to upgrade for when crysis 2 and deus ex comes out, i just found the new 6970 which looks really good, but is it worth the 110$ more over the 5870, there almost the same thing plus or minus a few things, its just the major thing of one being 1gb and another 2gb, but is it worth the extra 110 bucks, any insight would be nice, thanks guys.

5870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150476&Tpk=5870

6970
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517&cm_re=6970-_-14-150-517-_-Product

my build;
antec 1200 case
amd II 970 black
asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 motherboard
sparkle 1250 watt power supply
g skillz 8gb ram
seagate 7200.12 1tb

prob getting water coolers and what not soon aswell
 
the 6970 is faster but not $110 dollars faster, just get a 6950($299) and unlock it to a 6970.

edit:some come with mail-in rebates which puts them at around $270.i think the 6950 is the best video card out there for price/performance.
 
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ya but the 6950 isnt better then a 5870 and there around the same price aswell, might just go with the 5870
 
the 5870 and 6950 trade blows with each other, but the 6950 pulls ahead 80-90% of the time. the 6xxx offers more for your buck,as in they run cooler, use less power and come with extra features.back to what i meant,you can UNLOCK a 6950 to a 6970 just by updating BIOS to a 6970 and OC to 6970 level.

edit:the 6950 is a 6970 just with a different sticker.

2x edit:here is some benchmarks that show a 5870 vs 6950 and the 6950 pulls ahead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2szPJtqcR70
 
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the 6xxx series CF scale higher than the 5xxx series.i think you get 80%+ with the 6xxx series, and it was like 60-70% with the 5xxx series.
 
What about a second 5770? They are not a bad card to crossfire with. Unless you need only one card in your system, in which case i'd go with the Radeon 6970 or nVidia gtx570. If it ends up being outside your price range by too far compared to a 5870, then I would get the 5870. I'm heavily skeptical and cautious about buying a 6950 just to unlock it. The warranty would likely be voided, and I just don't want to risk whatever else could go wrong with it as a result.

I'm not saying it's impossible to make it work successfully in a system, but for me personally I like to wait until technology has been thoroughly tested for a good amount of time before counting on it in mine. I need guarantees- so if it's still reported to be working successfully after 6-10 months i'd try it. But jumping into that in the early stages just because some cards were reported to run flawlessly with it isn't something I would do, with all due respect.

To me in the end it comes down to what is the best choice for the max budget I can spend.
 
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Well the thing is, 6950s ARE 6970s, they just have a different sticker and some stuff locked via software. With the inclusion of the dual bios system, its almost as if AMD knew this would happen. As far as warranty goes, if for some reason the card bricks, they won't be able to tell what BIOS is on the card, and if its usable, the card can just reset to the default bios by a switch on the card. I know its hard to believe, but its something like a 98% success rate and its about as sure of a thing as you can get from where I stand.
 
5770 are alright but i just want something really good, moneys not too much of an issue, ive spent a decent amount on everything i have so i just want to finish it with good things, and my mb makes oc'in too easy lol
 
Money is no object= GTX 580
Money is kind of an object/lazy=6970 (Or GTX 570)
Money isn't to be thrown away but still want power=6950 with 6970 BIOS
 
CardboardSword said:
Money is no object= GTX 580
Money is kind of an object/lazy=6970 (Or GTX 570)
Money isn't to be thrown away but still want power=6950 with 6970 BIOS
Click to expand...


NOTE: ATI/AMD have changed blah blah blah so now if you get their new shipment you can not flash the bios.

just thought id let you know before you go buy a 6950 and are dissapointed when you cant witchcraft it into a 6970.
 
osnola said:
NOTE: ATI/AMD have changed blah blah blah so now if you get their new shipment you can not flash the bios.

just thought id let you know before you go buy a 6950 and are dissapointed when you cant witchcraft it into a 6970.
Click to expand...

When this thread was still being discussed they hadn't performed the switch yet.
 
I think people were testing out flashing different bios long before the 6950/6970 hack became so popular. I'm sure if you're brave enough, you can still try to do it- it will probably just be as risky as on 5xxx cards from now on though. I wondered when they'd try to fix it, perhaps someone took notice of the money being lost and tried to stop it.
 
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