6950 vs. 560 ti

[EPbaseballer14]

The graphics card is the last item left on my build to buy. I really have no preference between ATI or nVidia but I've been leaning towards ATI. Both cards that I'm looking at are the MSI Twin Frozr II editions of the card.
These are the two cards:

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II OC Radeon HD 6950 2GB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127562&cm_re=twin_frozr_ii-_-14-127-562-_-Product

MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&cm_re=twin_frozr_ii-_-14-127-565-_-Product

Should I be worried that the 560 ti only has 1GB of GDDR5 memory while the 6950 has 2GB? In the future I'd eventually like to get more than on monitor. The monitor I bought is an Asus ML248H http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236111

Lastly, I am not going to unlock the 6950 to 6970 speeds. All suggestions are appreciated.

 

[majin ssj eric]

The 6950 is slightly more powerful and has the extra memory advantage. The 560Ti is $30+ cheaper and has the advantage of Nvidia's superior driver support. I personally prefer Nvidia to AMD in terms of driver support and the fact that more games are optimized for Nvida hardware than AMD.

If you just want the flat-out most powerful between the two its the 6950...

 

[EPbaseballer14]

I'd agree with the AMD driver issues. Right now I have an ATI mobility Radeon HD 5470 (yes I know it's bad) and the driver support is absolutely horrendous. Half the time CCC doesn't even work, with multiple error codes. The rest of the time games won't run because the "driver needs to be updated" even though the driver is the most recent update from AMD.
My next question is this, which card will last longer? Also what is the difference between 1GB and 2GB?

 

[dwarf10]

when you unlock the 6950 to 6970 then it's going to be a beasty! really simple process... I would definitely go with 6950 if I were you!

 

[iam2thecrowe]

I'd agree with the AMD driver issues. Right now I have an ATI mobility Radeon HD 5470 (yes I know it's bad) and the driver support is absolutely horrendous.

i disagree since most people run amd/ati cards without issue.

 

[jednx01]

Well, I just got dual 6950s. These cards are beast! Go for the 6950s. If I had to, I would totally get these cards again. If the two cards were equal price and performance, I would get the nvidia card because they usually have better drivers, but the 6950s are overall better cards imo.

 

[Jeteroll]

6950, if you have the cash.

 

[EPbaseballer14]

Yes I do have the money but the CCC is so bad. I just need to decide whether I want the better card with bad, unoptimized drivers. Or a little worse card with very good drivers. Also, @dwarf10 like I said in the original post, I will not be unlocking this 6950 to 6970 speeds...

 

[bystander]

Driver issues on mobility cards are a problem with either brand. Mobility cards just don't get much support.

I've not had many issues with desktop cards. Every once in a while I've had issues with a driver version, but you can always find one a month older that will work. It's not like Nvidia has no issues with drivers. According to Steam data, Nvidia cards crash a lot more often.

I think you would be happy either way, but the 6950 is faster, and has a new form of AA that is quite handy with a lot of these console ports that don't have AA support.

 

[Tamz_msc]

I think that people who have problems with AMD drivers generally have trouble during installing/updating/uninstalling their drivers.NVIDIA driver installation is better IMO.Other than that, they're basically the same, and bystander is right in pointing out that Morphological AA is a nice addition that AMD has.

To the OP, get 6950 2GB as its a faster card overall.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Here is an amazing review of the gtx 560! in hardwarecanucks conclusion it is stated:

When compared against its immediate competition, the GTX 560 Ti simply steamrolls the HD 6870 1GB at the resolutions which most gamers use and even runs neck and neck with the higher priced HD 6950 1GB. These statistics may look great but its performance against the GTX 470 is what really shows the kind of strides NVIDIA has been making with their refreshed cards.
By now it should be obvious that a 2GB frame buffer just isn’t needed on a card in the sub-$300 market but what this seems to be lacking is bandwidth. Even though the battle between the HD 6950 1GB and GTX 560 Ti swings back and forth from one game to the next, the NVIDIA card almost always looses out in bandwidth limited situations. In our opinion, GF114 has the Cayman Pro beat hands down from an architectural perspective but it lacks a real finishing punch at slightly higher resolutions.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/40119-nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-1gb-review-20.html

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

There is one thing i love about Nvidia and that is their architecture combined with CUDA cores steamrolls AMD.(You can make fun of me, I am a Nvidia fan boy.)
I have great respect for Ati and there Eyefinity technology is an amazing feature but to me i still stand loyal to Nvidia.Yes at higher resolutions you have to go for Ati

 

[dalauder]

Everything I've heard says the 6950 2GB. It scales better with dual cards, it's equal off the bat, it has a 2GB frame buffer, AND IT UNLOCKS TO A 6970!

JackNaylor will come by here and say otherwise though--although I've yet to see him post a comparison between an unlocked HD 6950 2GB and a GTX 560 Ti.

The Morphological Anti-Aliasing is supposedly pretty good on the new Radeons.

EDIT: @zulfadhli--note that the OP's comparing a 6950 (2GB, I think) to a 560Ti. You searched for a review that made the 560Ti sound great and still don't have a quote that says it beats the 6950. I'd have to say your post shows the 6950 must be superior. And, when overclocking/unlocking a 6970* beats an OC'd GTX 560Ti.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Everything I've heard says the 6950 2GB. It scales better with dual cards, it's equal off the bat, it has a 2GB frame buffer, AND IT UNLOCKS TO A 6970!

JackNaylor will come by here and say otherwise though--although I've yet to see him post a comparison between an unlocked HD 6950 2GB and a GTX 560 Ti.

The Morphological Anti-Aliasing is supposedly pretty good on the new Radeons.

EDIT: @zulfadhli--note that the OP's comparing a 6950 (2GB, I think) to a 560Ti. You searched for a review that made the 560Ti sound great and still don't have a quote that says it beats the 6950. I'd have to say your post shows the 6950 must be superior. And, when overclocking/unlocking a 6970* beats an OC'd GTX 560Ti.

From the pure architecture of Fermi and joined with CUDA cores that has support of most of Adobe's video editing software i think Nvidia really has the edge this time.I wont argue at all.I love that ATi give NVidia a run for their money but i dont know how can i really at all recommend the Ati.I do some video editing by the way.That is why I love Nvidia.Sorry ATi..I hope you do better next time.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Everything I've heard says the 6950 2GB. It scales better with dual cards, it's equal off the bat, it has a 2GB frame buffer, AND IT UNLOCKS TO A 6970!

JackNaylor will come by here and say otherwise though--although I've yet to see him post a comparison between an unlocked HD 6950 2GB and a GTX 560 Ti.

The Morphological Anti-Aliasing is supposedly pretty good on the new Radeons.

EDIT: @zulfadhli--note that the OP's comparing a 6950 (2GB, I think) to a 560Ti. You searched for a review that made the 560Ti sound great and still don't have a quote that says it beats the 6950. I'd have to say your post shows the 6950 must be superior. And, when overclocking/unlocking a 6970* beats an OC'd GTX 560Ti.

But even if he did buy the 6950 2g i wouldnt mind.It would help the competitiveness in the market.Yes AMD has the higher market share when it comes to graphic computing but to me I still love NVidia.

 

[majin ssj eric]

Can we all just be honest here? At the typical 1920x1080 resolution, either of these cards is able to overwhelm a 60hz monitor anyway. Any differences will be noticed only by FRAPS, not your eyes. With that being said, I would think the obvious answer would be to go with whichever card is cheaper and that is the GTX 560Ti....

 

[dalauder]

Really, both of these perform similarly to my overclocked GTX 470. I CANNOT run EVERYTHING at max settings at 60fps. Now I can run everything on high/very high settings, but in two years, I'll really feel like it's lacking (so I'll upgrade/SLI).

If it's a $20 price difference, I still think the 6950 2GB is worth it. But I'm biased because I'd buy it just so that I could unlock it. Someone had a link for a GTX 560Ti for $215 two weeks ago--I told everyone to buy that that week.

If you are big on 3D ready monitors, video editing, and PhysX (& don't have an old 9600GT) then NVidia is the way to go. If you're a stickler for AA and like unlocking stuff, then the 6950 2GB's the way to go.

 

[EPbaseballer14]

Best answer selected by EPbaseballer14.

 

[Derbixrace]

i'd get the 6950 2GB, i have not had any problems with the ATI drivers and i have been using ATI since the 4870 512MB released.

you will have an advantage with 2GB memory if you like to use much AA and AF.

that 6950 twin frozr II should be a pretty nice OCer too.

 

[Novuake]

There is one thing i love about Nvidia and that is their architecture combined with CUDA cores steamrolls AMD.(You can make fun of me, I am a Nvidia fan boy.)
I have great respect for Ati and there Eyefinity technology is an amazing feature but to me i still stand loyal to Nvidia.Yes at higher resolutions you have to go for Ati

There is virtually no difference between Nvidia CUDA cores and AIT stream processors!
They just had a naming convention.