Gtx 560 or ati 6950

[mrclownface]

i cant decide between the gtx 560 oc ti card or the ati 6950 1 gig card,which one is the better card or are they both as good as each other

 

[CraigHarrison]

okay its like this ..
with the 560Ti ..
you gady OCed card that comes close or marginally outperforms the 6950.
you get a card with PhysX ..which is good if you play (for ex) - Metro 2033, UT3, Batman Arkham Assylum, etc
You get Nvidias simple and easy to setup 3D
with the 6950 ..
you get a stock card ..so if you OC it ..its going to blow the 560 AMP (or whichever one) out of the water.
the 6950 can also be unlocked into a full blown 6970 (with exactly the same performance) ..you can also OC after that ..now although it wont OC as well after the unlock ..you end with a card thats actually a little better than the 6970 even (at stock)
you should however remember that ..1) youre pushing 225w into two 75w connectors (6pin) ..the 6970 on the other hand uses a 6pin and an 8pin ..which is rated for 75w (6pin) and 150w (8pin)
however if it gets bricked the 6950 has a second BIOS to which you can fall back ..therby if bricked you can revive it so to speak ..
also with the AMD card you get AMDs Eyefinity ehich is great if youll (and only if youll) get more than one moniter ..you can use 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 displays simultaniously on an AMD card ..youd 2 Nvidia cards to use 2 moniters.
So ..there ..thats it in a nutshell ..a big nutshell ..
out of the box ..the Factory OCd 560Ti will be better than the stock 6950. if you further OC both to the max ..the 6950 will be way better.

 

[CraigHarrison]

wait ..damn ..you said 1GB ..?? you cant unlock the 1GB version into a 6970.
but the OCd 560 is more expensive. Both the 6950 1GB and the 6950 2GB variants have almost identical performance except at beyond HD resolutions like 2560x1600 ..the extra vRAM that the 2GB version has will give it the edge.
the 560Ti Factory OCd would be better.

 

[mrclownface]

okay its like this ..
with the 560Ti ..
you gady OCed card that comes close or marginally outperforms the 6950.
you get a card with PhysX ..which is good if you play (for ex) - Metro 2033, UT3, Batman Arkham Assylum, etc
You get Nvidias simple and easy to setup 3D
with the 6950 ..
you get a stock card ..so if you OC it ..its going to blow the 560 AMP (or whichever one) out of the water.
the 6950 can also be unlocked into a full blown 6970 (with exactly the same performance) ..you can also OC after that ..now although it wont OC as well after the unlock ..you end with a card thats actually a little better than the 6970 even (at stock)
you should however remember that ..1) youre pushing 225w into two 75w connectors (6pin) ..the 6970 on the other hand uses a 6pin and an 8pin ..which is rated for 75w (6pin) and 150w (8pin)
however if it gets bricked the 6950 has a second BIOS to which you can fall back ..therby if bricked you can revive it so to speak ..
also with the AMD card you get AMDs Eyefinity ehich is great if youll (and only if youll) get more than one moniter ..you can use 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 displays simultaniously on an AMD card ..youd 2 Nvidia cards to use 2 moniters.
So ..there ..thats it in a nutshell ..a big nutshell ..
out of the box ..the Factory OCd 560Ti will be better than the stock 6950. if you further OC both to the max ..the 6950 will be way better.

well it sounds like the gtx 560 ti oc is a better option,do you think a good 600watt power supply(silverstone)will take care of a core I5 gtx 560 oc gaming system ok,and what brand gtx 560 would you choose??...i was thinking either msi or gigabyte

 

[jfby]

Based on what CraigHarrison said does it look like the 560 is better? If you are not going to further OC or you prefer PhysX then 560 is better, but overall potential (PhsyX not withstanding) lies with the 6950.

 

[shrkbay]

if i had to choose the 560 i'd go for GIGABYTE SOC, it's best/one of the best 560s available, but the MSI TWIN FROZR II is also nice one... avg performance is better with 6950 and 2GB versions can be unlocked as CraigHarrison said, ... so i won't say second time all what was said above, 600W is enough for both cards, not all games have Physx there are only few of them, i personally don't give a sh*t about PhysX and Eyefinity, but if you will want to upgrade to a bigger screen or add a monitor, 6950 will perform better than 560, 6950 has also lower power consumption, so it will save you 10$ yearly... in OC comparision 6950 wins and even if you "flash" it into 6970 it will OC to 900-950 core which is very close to 580

 

[beltzy]

These are both great cards- since you're looking at spending over $200 I'd definitely recommend you go sample 1 or 2 reviews for each card- then you'll have the same performance information as folks responding to your post. It shouldn't take more than about 1/2 of your time.

The reality is that these cards are fairly comparable and if you don't already geek out on performance charts, etc then you probably won't notice much difference between them overall. Each has strengths in certain titles and weaknesses in others, but the performance picture isn't terribly far apart overall. The decision could come down to something as simple as brand loyalty or a great deal on a particular SKU.

Some things to think about:
- The 5XX series of NVidia cards has a reputation for being very, very quiet in operation (important if you have a case with mesh materials or if you hate the sound of rushing air).
- The AMD 69XX cards are known for great value and outstanding crossfire scaling, but also being pretty dang loud when doubled up. Tthe 6950 2GB BIOS flash that was mentioned is also pretty infamous in the enthusiast community- allows you to turn a $250ish 6950 into a $330ish 6970.

 

[ubercake]

If you ever plan to get two, go with the SLI option and the GTX560. AMDs drivers for crossfire will give you high fps, but you'll start to see intermittent flickering video while gaming with crossfire. This is a non-issue in SLI.

I find more value in a flawless implementation of a 2-card setup rather than paying less for a flawed implementation. It just depends on what you're willing to compromise.

Single-card/single-gpu AMD implementations work great just as do Single-card/single-gpu, but if you think you'll go with more gpus one day, I recommend SLI (I've had both crossfire and SLI setups this year).

If you think you'll be sticking with a single-card implementation with your build, look up your favorite games in different reviews and choose the card that will give you the best framerates at your monitor's resolution:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/18

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-gf114,2845-9.html

 

[beltzy]

If you ever plan to get two, go with the SLI option and the GTX560. AMDs drivers for crossfire will give you high fps, but you'll start to see intermittent flickering video while gaming with crossfire. This is a non-issue in SLI.

I find more value in a flawless implementation of a 2-card setup rather than paying less for a flawed implementation. It just depends on what you're willing to compromise.
/quotemsg]

I don't think making that kind of generalization is fair or accurate. No doubt that some users may have issues with crossfire implementations, just like some users will have some issues with sli. If there was a measurable problem with crossfire, it would be mentioned in any of the dozens of crossfire reviews out there, or crossfire vs sli articles out there. It's not- there are no studies on it or numbers referenced here. I don't think I've seen a single mention of more prevalent issues with crossfire than with sli in any review or article. If there's some basis for the comment, I'd be interested to see it.

Currently crossfire scaling is simply better than sli. A pair of 6970's outperform a pair of 580's that cost about $300 more. There may be reasons why someone would choose the 580's over the 6970's (like having a personal poor experience with an ati/amd setup in the past) and that's fine. However, personal experience should not serve as a barometer for a product line. Both Nvidia and ATI make great products- making claims to the contrary (from either camp) should be backed up with some sort of facts.

 

[ubercake]

If you ever plan to get two, go with the SLI option and the GTX560. AMDs drivers for crossfire will give you high fps, but you'll start to see intermittent flickering video while gaming with crossfire. This is a non-issue in SLI.

I find more value in a flawless implementation of a 2-card setup rather than paying less for a flawed implementation. It just depends on what you're willing to compromise.
/quotemsg]

I don't think making that kind of generalization is fair or accurate. No doubt that some users may have issues with crossfire implementations, just like some users will have some issues with sli. If there was a measurable problem with crossfire, it would be mentioned in any of the dozens of crossfire reviews out there, or crossfire vs sli articles out there. It's not- there are no studies on it or numbers referenced here. I don't think I've seen a single mention of more prevalent issues with crossfire than with sli in any review or article. If there's some basis for the comment, I'd be interested to see it.

Currently crossfire scaling is simply better than sli. A pair of 6970's outperform a pair of 580's that cost about $300 more. There may be reasons why someone would choose the 580's over the 6970's (like having a personal poor experience with an ati/amd setup in the past) and that's fine. However, personal experience should not serve as a barometer for a product line. Both Nvidia and ATI make great products- making claims to the contrary (from either camp) should be backed up with some sort of facts.

Good argument.

I can only go by personal experience which is not in any way motivated by marketing for any particular companies or suppliers to further my own purposes. This is where information from personal experiences can be used to enhance knowledge gained through information provided by the professionals.

 

[jfby]

Beltzy - to my knowledge no scientific study has been done showing that AMD has more issues in multiple card setups than NVIDIA cards, but looking on the forums that I've seen it seems to be the case. Mr. Clownface did come here looking for advice, which on most forums will be colored by peronal experiences. Ubercake in offering his opinion couldn't personally recommend a crossfire setup and that is fine. I scoffed at the naysayers myself and took the plunge, and though I get great performance at times, at other times it suffers issues I still haven't figured out (my question thread here http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=314296&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0).

If I chimed in about multi-card setups my advice would be to do your research and be prepared for headaches at getting it running and keeping it smooth, and having certain games preferring buffering/VSYNC where as others run poorly with those settings enabled, and some games don't accept SLI/crossfire at all.

 

[jgr_bgpc]

To answer the original question, take a look at the charts.

You can see that, overall, the 560 and the 6950 are around the same level - fair to say you wouldn't tell the diffence in a game. So I would say you would be happy with either.

As a side note, you can grab evga OC'd 560 for $230 after rebate on Newegg right now.

 

[ubercake]

Beltzy - to my knowledge no scientific study has been done showing that AMD has more issues in multiple card setups than NVIDIA cards, but looking on the forums that I've seen it seems to be the case. Mr. Clownface did come here looking for advice, which on most forums will be colored by peronal experiences. Ubercake in offering his opinion couldn't personally recommend a crossfire setup and that is fine. I scoffed at the naysayers myself and took the plunge, and though I get great performance at times, at other times it suffers issues I still haven't figured out (my question thread here http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=314296&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0).

If I chimed in about multi-card setups my advice would be to do your research and be prepared for headaches at getting it running and keeping it smooth, and having certain games preferring buffering/VSYNC where as others run poorly with those settings enabled, and some games don't accept SLI/crossfire at all.

Also, from my personal experience, I've had zero headaches with SLI. I had many headaches with crossfire. Also, I never have to run vsync with anything in SLI. I run titles including BFBC2, Crysis 2, MOH, Rift, L4D, HAWX, Bound in Blood, and NBA2K11.

Again, just trying to offer my advice based on my personal experience with both technologies.