Looking for alternative to Crossfire AMD Radeon HD 6950 2GB

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daemaro

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So as the title says Im having a PC built and I had decided on two AMD Radeon HD 6950 - 2GB - HIS IceQ X Turbo. Well the site sold out of them and no ETA on when they will have more. So I need to look into alternatives.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: February 10th

BUDGET RANGE: 580$ max

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, The Old Republic, Diablo 3, all on max settings if possible, good performance for future games.) watching videos, browsing the internet.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: No current GPU, power supply will be upgraded to match what I decide on.

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
Case:NZXT Tempest EVO Gaming Case - Black
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-2600K Processor (4x 3.40GHz/8MB L3 Cache
Memory: 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair
MoBo: [SLI] ASUS P8Z68-V -- 3x PCI-E 2.0 x16, On-Board Bluetooth, Lucid Virtu Technology

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Only able to use the parts from www.ibuypower.com custom PC section.

PARTS PREFERENCES: No real loyalties. I've heard Nvidia cards run hotter but as long as I'm not going to burn something out I'm fine with one.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe, my biggest fear is things overheating.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe, as long as it doesn't overheat. I'm perfectly fine with a single card though since I'm not running higher resolutions or dual monitors I think?

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Like I mentioned before my main concern is overheating. I can only use the cards listed on www.ibuypower.com which are:

AMD Radeon HD 6450 - 1GB [-$9]
AMD Radeon HD 6570 - 1GB [+$15]
AMD Radeon HD 6670 - 1GB - Free Upgrade to 6750 1GB More Options[+$21]
AMD Radeon HD 6750 - 1GB More Options
**Gaming Sale** Free Upgrade from 6670 1GB[+$21]
AMD Radeon HD 6770 - 1GB More Options[+$60]
AMD Radeon HD 6790 - 1GB More Options[+$80]
AMD Radeon HD 6790 - 1GB - HIS IceQ X Turbo - Core: 900MHz More Options[+$126]
AMD Radeon HD 6850 - 1GB More Options[+$96]
AMD Radeon HD 6850 - 1GB - HIS IceQ X Turbo - Core: 820MHz More Options[+$146]
AMD Radeon HD 6870 - 1GB More Options[+$123]
AMD Radeon HD 6870 - 1GB - HIS IceQ X Turbo - Core: 920MHz More Options[+$176]
AMD Radeon HD 6950 - 2GB More Options[+$246]
AMD Radeon HD 6970 - 2GB More Options[+$341]
AMD Radeon HD 7970 - 3GB More Options
The world’s first 28nm GPU architecture[+$580]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 - 1GB More Options[+$121]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 - 1.5GB More Options[+$439]
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 - 1GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti - 1GB More Options[+$80]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti - 1GB - EVGA Superclocked - Core: 981MHz More Options[+$99]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti - 2GB More Options[+$146]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 - 1GB - FREE Upgrade to GTX 560 2GB More Options[+$166]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 - 2GB More Options
**Gaming Sale** Free Upgrade from GTX560 1GB[+$166]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 1GB More Options[+$207]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 1GB - EVGA Superclocked - Core: 900MHz More Options[+$236]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 2GB More Options[+$256]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 - 1.2GB More Options[+$326]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 - 1.2GB - EVGA Superclocked - Core: 797MHz More Options[+$355]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 - 1.5GB More Options[+$466]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 - 1.5GB - EVGA Superclocked - Core: 797MHz More Options[+$495]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 - 3GB More Options[+$596]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 - 3GB More Options[+$780]

The ones that say "more options" are available in crossfire and SLI. Just when you think you have your PC plans nailed down they sell out of the cards you want.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

daemaro

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My choices for PSU would be:

850 Watt - Corsair CMPSU-850AX [+$190]
850 Watt - Corsair CMPSU-850TXV2 [+$139]
850 Watt - XFX Core Edition PRO [+$118]
1000 Watt - Extreme Gaming Series [+$99]
1000 Watt - CoolerMaster Silent Pro [+$166]




I'm almost certain I'd break something and I can't afford to replace it if that were to happen.
 

daemaro

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So say the XFX looks like a pretty good choice? or one of the corsair? I only considered the 1000 Watt's to give me a little more wiggle room with power allocation.

I read no current MoBo currently supports a PCIe 3, so the 7970 won't go to waste right?
 

daemaro

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[SLI] ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 -- 2x PCI-E 3.0 x16
[SLI] ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3 -- 2x Gb LAN, 2x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0

RIGHT! They actually have those on their list. :) Didn't even see it somehow.

PCI-E 3.0 slots aren't by chance compatible with PCI-E 2.0 cards as well are they?

Also I imagine the 7970 will beat out a 6950 crossfire? Especially since I'm only going to be single monitor gaming?
 

daemaro

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It's good to know if for some reason the 7970 dies I can fall back on my lame spare GTS450 until I can purchase something else. :)

It seems pretty decided then 7970 seems to be the way to go. Any information you could give me on safely overclocking a 7970? Limits etc?

I'm happy to being very close to wrapping this up finally, have had so many bumps.
 

daemaro

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They're out of just that one which was 2gb and came preclocked, they still have the regular 1gb 6950's but I don't know if they are as good as the 7970 and they're also sort of old technology now. Where as I could potentially crossfire another 7970 in the future.

They only offer the 1.2gb GTX 570's. 7800 I haven't heard anything about and they don't offer it.


Do you think it would be a good idea to go with the 1000 Watt - CoolerMaster Silent Pro, I know it didn't review AS good but it would be better to have enough wattage than not enough right?
 

noidis

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You're not really going to need 1000 watts with what you're looking at. And the 850 gives you more then enough wiggle room.

I'd personally prefer a PSU that reviewed better. Especially as you're probably going to be using just a tad bit over 600w if that.
 

daemaro

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I was thinking the same but the case I'm getting has a lot of fans (im really afraid of overheating) and some LED lights and the card alone suggests 800 watts (on that site), so I was just wondering if I should shoot above 850 some.

I think I'll go with the XFX Core Edition PRO though. :)
 

ultrabob

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I bought the corsair hx850 psu. I did a bunch of research and it will def handle 2x 6950's in CF. I went with the MSI 1gb 6950 Twin Frozr 3. Very impressed with the build quality overall. I opened the afterburner utility and just cranked the memory and core speeds all the way up as far as it would go on the slider. LOL it has been running perfectly stable too! i ran Prime for over an hour, 3dmark11, 3dmark Vantage, SuperPi, and Metro 2033 for about 90 mins. I was running it on max settings @ 1080p on directX10 and i was getting 40+fps.

2 of these in CF would be INSANE!

oh btw, i have NOT unlocked the extra shaders yet, just OC'd and according to this

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-8.html

My Vantage scores SHOULD have been around (2gb 6950) 18300/20800
however, with my overclock i was getting 22730/24056

that puts it ABOVE the 2gb 6970, the 480, AND the stock 570! pretty impressive. i would just stick 2x 1gb 6950's in there and call it a day! imo
 
If the 7970 is an option for that build then I say go with that and then add a second one latter on. I'm sure the 7970 will be cheaper latter once nVidia launches their next gen of cards, but of course that won't happen till March or so. Considering it's die size though I don't think you'll see it for less than $300 till it's past it's final days :D
 
Just so you know two 6950s should generally be faster than a single 7970, but not by much. Also being able to add that second card latter on when you need more power (which is hard to imagine now but I thought the same when I got a 5870) is a great upgrade option, when the card is cheaper of course :p
 

TheApocalypse

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To me it would make more sense to stick with either one 6950 or 6970 because at the resolution using crossfire won't really benefit you that much more unless you were planning on playing at much higher resolutions like a 3 monitor set up. This also allows you to get a higher quality power supply (like a modular 600W psu with a silver rating)
 
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