I'll start of by saying this is not a bash on either manufacturer, nor should we start. I've been in search of possibly upgrading my current 4870, which I have to say I've been more than thrilled with. I'm just looking into getting something with directX 11. Also I'm only ranking the newest series of cards from both manufacturers. Some older card,(less than 6 months old) would rank higher for gaming and such, but I chose to only do the lastest series, so don't hate.....This is just to help some of those, who are looking at a new card. Basicly, this is not my personal expierence, but what I've searched out on the internet. And yeah don't get me started on flashing a 6950 to a 6970,this is well known, I just used stock core speeds for rankings. We can also add more cards, these were just the top rated for gaming. So here is how I'll rate the cards and anyone is more than welcome to join in and we can always change the rankings;
Rank Manufacturer Model Approx. street price in the US
These are really too new to fully evaluate, but it looks like the 6990 edges out the 590 for top dog. Sorry Nvidia fan boys...... I'd chose the 6990 in this category.
#1 ATI 6990 700.00 Extreme gaming
#2 Nvidia 590 700.00 Extreme gaming
The next three cards were hard to rank, because of testing. Between 3&4 the ranking were soooo close. I don't think I'd choose the 580 for price reasons. And I don't think you can go wrong with either the 6970 or the 570, both excellent cards. While some charts show 1 card better than another it's up and down and usually not a big difference. There have been alot of sites I visted stating that the 580/570 was smoother than the 6970, but how do you measure smoother? I choose tie between the 6970 and the 570 in this category.
#3 Nvidia 580 500.00
#4 ATI 6970 350.00 Tie
#4 Nvidia 570 350.00 Tie
I believe the 6950 is just simply a better performer than the 560 especially if you flash the bios to a 6970. But be careful and be warned that the newest 6950 are not guaranteed to be able to be flashed to a 6970. Considering there about the same price, I'd have to choose the 6950 in this category.
#5 ATI 6950 280.00
#6 Nvidia 560 250.00
And although I said I wouldn't add last years series or models, I have to give props to the 5970, it was on top of the list against everything except for the 6990/590 which is hard to compare, because I couldn't find alot of benchmarks against each other.
Rank Manufacturer Model Approx. street price in the US
These are really too new to fully evaluate, but it looks like the 6990 edges out the 590 for top dog. Sorry Nvidia fan boys...... I'd chose the 6990 in this category.
#1 ATI 6990 700.00 Extreme gaming
#2 Nvidia 590 700.00 Extreme gaming
The next three cards were hard to rank, because of testing. Between 3&4 the ranking were soooo close. I don't think I'd choose the 580 for price reasons. And I don't think you can go wrong with either the 6970 or the 570, both excellent cards. While some charts show 1 card better than another it's up and down and usually not a big difference. There have been alot of sites I visted stating that the 580/570 was smoother than the 6970, but how do you measure smoother? I choose tie between the 6970 and the 570 in this category.
#3 Nvidia 580 500.00
#4 ATI 6970 350.00 Tie
#4 Nvidia 570 350.00 Tie
I believe the 6950 is just simply a better performer than the 560 especially if you flash the bios to a 6970. But be careful and be warned that the newest 6950 are not guaranteed to be able to be flashed to a 6970. Considering there about the same price, I'd have to choose the 6950 in this category.
#5 ATI 6950 280.00
#6 Nvidia 560 250.00
And although I said I wouldn't add last years series or models, I have to give props to the 5970, it was on top of the list against everything except for the 6990/590 which is hard to compare, because I couldn't find alot of benchmarks against each other.
