Please help me decide

[jtr1888]

OK, for whatever reasons, Im buying a 6900 series card today, my budget is £200

I can get for this either

1 x 2GB Brand ned XFX 6950 XXX OC 830Mhz 2 yr wty

or

1 x 2GB Previously owned XFX 6970 stock clocked

Which way should I go, please help

btw, because of mixed reports, I am not interested in flashing the bios on the 6950

To add, my other dilema is that hopefully within the next 2 months, I will be Crossfiring, which would then mean buying new cards all round & here in the UK, the 6970 goes for around £260 - so if I go 6950 now, cheaper later if u know what I mean

Thanks & hope u can reply quickly as Im ready to go lol

 

[rolli59]

I would take the card that has warranty!

 

[jtr1888]

Thats what I was edging towards + the fact that Id save £60 on a 2nd card, off to buy lol, cheers for the push 😉

 

[rolli59]

Yes that is another reason to go with the HD6950 since 2 x HD6950 in CF is really powerful and not a big difference from 2 x HD6970.

 

[jtr1888]

cool, thanks, this is all new to me, 2 weeks ago I only had a crappy Dell 530 since then, Ive bought all the components to build my own machine for gaming primarily, this was the last step, the GPU yeah baby, BF3 beta here I come 😉

 

[purple stain]

What are your full system specs?(CPU,RAM,etc.)

What brand is your PSU?

I would agree,go with the 6950.If your planning on crossfiring then a 6950 crossfire is plenty.You won't really see much of a difference in performance with a 6950 crossfire vs a 6970 crossfire.I always say if your already over 60FPS then why would you need more?

 

[jtr1888]

ok, here goes, dont shoot me down as done on a budget, the big build on Friday

HAF X 942 Case
Crosshair IV Formula Mobo
Phenon II x6 1090T CPU
4GB Ripjawsx 1600Mhz Ram
Corsair TX850 V2 850w PSU
Collermaster 212 Plus HSP
& added extras like 2 x red led collermaster 200mm megaflow fans & some white cathodes lol

I think thats it, hope not too shabby 😉

 

[jtr1888]

212 plus HSF obviously, not sure what a HSP is lol

 

[ilysaml]

you're really good to go with this rig, but why would you go crossfire now while the AMD 7K series is coming out, a single HD 6970/50 will do the job and max out BF3.

what resolution are you gaming at ?

 

[purple stain]

You could save yourself some money on that and it be even faster.If all you will do on this PC is gaming then I would suggest going for Sandy Bridge build.Unless that Crosshair mobo you've chosen is the AM3+ version in which you would plan to upgrade to Bulldozer.

2500k

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

MSI

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130582

Asus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759

The MSI board will make the total outcome cheaper than your previous build but the Asus board is fully loaded with features and well worth the extra money,imo.

 

[jtr1888]

planning on crossfire for eyefinity, not just gaming, I have pc linked to lounge via HDMI thru wall & remote operated for media use & although I may or may not xfire, at least it will be an option. Yes, 7x cards are coming, I doubt I'll be able to afford one of those as cant afford a 6990 yet lol

 

[jtr1888]

Cheers purple but boat has sailed, IV Formula is in my hands already. Got to add, my total outlay for all the above has been pretty good all for £650 which is aroung $1000

 

[ilysaml]

what you don't know is a high end GPU such as HD 7950 will perform better than HD 6990, the new XDR2 technology is twice faster than GDDR5

 

[jtr1888]

oh & to add above, will do 1080p for now inc on an Epson 1080p LCD PJ especially for F1 etc (yes I have an official Playseat too lol)

 

[jtr1888]

what you don't know is a high end GPU such as HD 7950 will perform better than HD 6990, the new XDR2 technology is twice faster than GDDR5

What I do know though is that 7950 isnt out now & I want it now lol

 

[purple stain]

I've played on a 1080p projector before it's effing nice.And you've got the seat,lol.

Either way the Crosshair IV has the 890 and the 990 chipsets so you will be able to use Bulldozer.Thought it would be the 790.

You should be fine gaming with the 6950's in either way.Everything else looks good then.The only thing I would have changed is gotten 2000mhz RAM but it's no biggie.

 

[ilysaml]

if you're going Eyefinity with 3 monitors i'd suggest 3-way HD 6950s in CF as they will help you achieve better fps in such a a high resolution... 5750×

always give a room for upgrading you don't need to through away you're $ 700 GPUs
when they are not able to max out metro 2034.. LOL

 

[ilysaml]

and it's really ridiculous not to go with AM3+ Mobo and benefit from the upcoming bulldozer architecture, even though the 890 & 790 chipset will be able to support it, but nobody knows if it will be a full native support for the whole AM3+ architecture or not

 

[jtr1888]

Cheers peeps, looking forward to getting away from the drone of xbl noobs & ps3 fan boys (yes got both of those too lol) I suspect somewhere on this forum is a setup section, maybe I'll post some pics of my gear when its all up & running, is it xmas already lol

 

[purple stain]

and it's really ridiculous not to go with AM3+ Mobo and benefit from the upcoming bulldozer architecture, even though the 890 & 790 chipset will be able to support it, but nobody knows if it will be a full native support for the whole AM3+ architecture or not

The 890 and 990 are basicly the same chipset.Only difference is that the 990 chipset supports SLI and is without a doubt fully compatible with any revisions and future processors.I'm pretty sure that anything that will work for the 990 will work for the 890.

 

[joshybo7]

not sure if you still need advice, although i;d go with the warranty card as well, sound like you have an awesome setup here

 

[jtr1888]

Cheers Josh, all ordered now, I now have to wait for delivery, got a free Powerfreakz EVO2500 portable charger thrown in too, Brucie bonus 😉 - yes thats a UK expression based on someone called Bruce Forsyth lol

 

[jtr1888]

Cant see a section for photos, am I blind or is there not one ?

 

[joshybo7]

you english and your witticisms haha, j/k

 

[jtr1888]

Ignore - Ive found the Homebuild section, now, where did I leave my car keys lol