HD6970 - Will my system bottleneck it ?

[jyjjy]

Even with just the 9600GT you should see a nice benefit over your current system when gaming, especially in the more cpu intensive games you listed like SC2 and BF:BC2.

 

[pining]

that's very good to hear hehe 😀.

So I guess I'm going to build the system first without the card hehe 😛.

Gonna order the components tomorrow .. gotta put my money on the bank first ghehehe .

Thanks !,

Bobbie ~

 

[pining]

Hmmm .. I've got another question about the gpu brands and stuff ...

Do different brands use different drivers or something ? and would one brand have a higher possibility to unlock than other ones ?

Please tell me ! 😀

Thanks !,

Bobbie ~

EDIT: Oh darn .. sorry for the double post :/

 

[jyjjy]

They all use the same drivers which you should get directly from AMD(always ignore the driver disc that comes with the card);
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
The probability of a successful unlock appears to be nearly 100% and brand does not matter.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/159

 

[purple stain]

What are you getting again? list...

 

[pining]

What are you getting again? list...

err this is what I'll order :

Corsair PSU CX 600WATT ( here ) [ORDERED] [RECEIVED]

AMD Processor Phenom II X4 955 Black E, sAM3 ( here ) [ORDERED] [RECEIVED]

Corsair Value Select RAM ( here ) [ORDERED]

Asrock M3A770DE ( here ) [ORDERED]

and probably

Club 3D Radeon HD6950 ( here ) it's the cheapest of most brands .. idk if that means any difference in anything.. xd ( as the prices range from 255 to 280 )

.. I think buying the gpu will be delayed even more cause my headphones broke :/ (I use my headphones everywhere all the time lol) so yeah that sucks..

,

Bobbie ~

 

[salmon]

Hey Bobbie,
Good to see all the help you're getting.
One thing i noticed, which i dont think anyone has picked up on yet, was that your current computer is an Acer. If its like most of the generic pc's you buy from big stores, the case will likely not be able to fit the GPU you have chosen or the full size ATX motherboard.
Check if your motherboard has 4 expansion slots, if it does, you will need to buy a new case to accomodate the new board.
Regards,
Matt

 

[jyjjy]

Even if the case can handle everything a new one is a decent idea. Then you can just leave your old computer intact. At this point it seems you will just be using the drives and it is good to have a back up computer or you could sell it or give it to someone who needs it. A case doesn't need to be very expensive(unless you want it to be.)

 

[pining]

Haha 😛 it's totally true that my acer case has like 4 slots or something ( the mobo does ).

But I have another very slow pc but with a bigger case .. it's a cooler master case with like 7 slots , which I think is quite a bit bigger .. no idea if it will fit though hehe 😀

I will most probably receive my mobo and RAM today.. I was already getting the older hardware out of the case 😉

no idea what length the gpu really has , but I read somewhere about 32 cm .. there's enough space for that 😀

Now all that's left is to wait for the other components arrive .

Thanks !,

Bobbie ~

 

[jyjjy]

It sounds like the cooler master case would be fine.

 

[pining]

Yep it is 😀

Received all components (except the gpu obv.) .. trying to get internet to work , and then upgrade all drivers again lol , reinstalled windows 7 again lol.

one thing I do dislike is the stock fan of the processor .. I am most probably going to replace that with a different ( more silent ) one..
does anyone has an idea which fan would be silent but cooling it well ?

Thanks !!,

Bobbie ~

 

[salmon]

I would recommend the Noctua NH-C12P SE14 as it is whisper quiet if you have the fan on its lowest speed. However, it might be a bit overkill for you, so perhaps something like the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ would suit your needs.

 

[purple stain]

The haf 922 has a mount of a huge 200mm fan on the side and top so your temps should be low even if you go with a cheaper cooling soultion.

 

[pining]

Okay , I have bought the Noctua NH-C12P SE14 and I like it allot hehe 😛

Now I still haven't bought the graphics card xD, I noticed that the HD6970 has about the same price as a GTX570 ?
So I was wondering, is there a big difference between the two ? I mean as far as I can see the HD6970 has 2GB of RAM while the GTX570 has like 1280mb ?

So yeah, which one is better ? haha and I assume my pc could support one (lol)

thanks !,


Bobbie~

 

[salmon]

Hey Bobbie.
Honestly, both cards are pretty similar performance wise.
The 570 wins in some games, the 6970 wins in others.
The 570 does consume a fair bit more power (around 80 watts more, but it should be fine with your powersupply)
Also, a pair of 6970's perform better than a pair of 570's, if you ever go down that route so maybe keep that in mind.

 

[pining]

I've also read the 6970 made much noise , but the 570 wasn't so noisy? is that true ? 😛
Also read that ATI drivers weren't so good and nvidia cards have physx (don't know if that actually makes a big difference in games xd)

lemme know your opinion about it !

thanks !,


Bobbie~

 

[salmon]

both cards have the same noise output, and AMD have really stepped their drivers up so thats a non issue as well. Physx is also only useful in a handful of games, as most games have their own physics engines.

 

[shrkbay]

even the 6950s are almost as good as 570s and avg *including all the games which are just made for nVidia* 6970 is like 5% better, and yeah Ati has improved their drivers, noise and heat are more or less the same by these cards

 

[bigman8291]

The best value that you will find in a graphics card is the 6950 HD. This is simply because the card is virtually identical to the 6970, the only thing required is a quick flash of the 6950's bios to 6970 bios. If you're worried about this process it is posted on youtube, very simple indeed. If you prefer Nvidia, the 560 Ti 2GB is equal in performance to the 6970 HD but closer to the price of the 6950 HD

 

[ionut19]

If you prefer Nvidia, the 560 Ti 2GB is equal in performance to the 6970 HD but closer to the price of the 6950 HD

You wana put money on that?

 

[shrkbay]

^lol that's what i thought first.. 😀

 

[pining]

wait , so you guys recommend the 6950 over the 6970 and 570 ?
I'm gonna look at some benchmarks lol 😛 wanna be sure ghehe

Tell me your opinion !

Thanks !,


Bobbie~

 

[shrkbay]

560<6950<570<6970, if you flash the 6950 it will be like 2-3% worse than the normal 6970, but that's easily improvable by overclocking

 

[bigman8291]

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_Amp_Edition/images/perfrel.gif
take a gander

 

[salmon]

Well, here are a few benches for you to look at.
The 6950 is pretty close to the 6970, but for you the extra $50 (its $50 difference in Aus, dont know about US pricing) might not be worth it if the 6950 is already hitting 60fps.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/206?i=306.292.293.330
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/213?i=306.330.292.293
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188?i=292.293.306.330
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/216?i=292.306.293.330
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/238?i=292.306.293.330

Hope that helps.
Regards,
Matt