HD 6950 2GB (unlocked shaders) Xfire or 570 GTX SLI

hv43082 · Apr 12, 2011

So I have 2 6950's with unlocked shaders and 2 570 GTX. Cost is $55 higher for the 570's. Having a hard time deciding which to keep. Help me out guys. And please no fanboyism. Will be gaming at 2560x1600.

arroyo · Apr 12, 2011

Two unlocked HD6950 easily suppress two GTX570. Crossfire scaling is also better.

Loosenut · Apr 12, 2011

I agree with Arroyo but then again, might be my fanboyism coming out...

crow1001 · Apr 12, 2011

570 SLI for better multi-GPU support through the drivers. Any performance difference between the AMD and Nvidia setup is going to be negligible as you're really not going to notice the difference gaming, clock the 570s to 820 core and you have 580 SLI performance. Best to to go with the setup that will give you less hassle so that would be Nvidia.

Lionheart · Apr 12, 2011

I believe that the HD 6950's will have the slightly better crossfire scaling but the GTX 570's will the better Multi GPU driver support, so I guess you have to decide on which one you want bro, in the end, they will smash any game out there but I have a feeling at that high resolution the GTX 570's might run out of memory on sum extreme titles, but not a big deal really :toast:

Bo$$ · Apr 12, 2011

tough call, take which ever brand you prefer/had more experience with.

there is a chance The shaders on those cards may be slightly defective so, the unlock would be useless. it's more of a risk on the ATI cards

Mussels · Apr 12, 2011

i say 2x6950.

Frizz · Apr 12, 2011

Don't know why but 6950's seem like they were made for crossfire, the overall performance isn't that impressive but when you pair em up it scales to almost 100%, not sure what you'll need the power for but I'd definitely go with 2x 6950's.

overclocking101 · Apr 12, 2011

personally I wouldnt buy cards with the expectations they will unlock and flash sucessfully their have been tons of reports that unlocking the 6950's causes instability, and or driver problems.

95Viper · Apr 12, 2011

Since, it sounds like you already have them and they are un-locked, tested and working.
I will go with the 6950s.
And, your PSU and AL Gore will be grateful, too.

hv43082 · Apr 12, 2011

It's a tough call. I was having some random lock up and bsod when using the 6950's and MSI afterburner. Must be some incompatibility with Catalyst preview 11.4. Never had a problem like that with Nvidia. And what's the deal with AMD cards taking forever to load BFBC2 maps? It's much faster with Nvidia card. Also I am getting the occasional screen flickering in BC2 with AMD cards.

Zubasa · Apr 12, 2011

hv43082 said:
It's a tough call. I was having some random lock up and bsod when using the 6950's and MSI afterburner. Must be some incompatibility with Catalyst preview 11.4. Never had a problem like that with Nvidia. And what's the deal with AMD cards taking forever to load BFBC2 maps? It's much faster with Nvidia card.

The loading time problem was fixed quite a while ago with later drivers.

cadaveca · Apr 12, 2011

Zubasa said:
The loading time problem was fixed quite a while ago with later drivers.

Yep, I'm usually one of the first to laod into a map, no nV cards in my house at all right now. :laugh:

I say 6950's, due to extra framebuffer. If it was 1GB 6950's I'd say stay with 570's, but the 2GB vram is the trump card.

LDNL · Apr 12, 2011

hv43082 said:
It's a tough call. I was having some random lock up and bsod when using the 6950's and MSI afterburner. Must be some incompatibility with Catalyst preview 11.4. Never had a problem like that with Nvidia. And what's the deal with AMD cards taking forever to load BFBC2 maps? It's much faster with Nvidia card.

Basicly having the same problems but just with one card. Can't have Afterburner,Trixx or any kind of OC tool open while playing BC2 or itll freeze after a couple of minutes of gaming. The map loads arent slow just the slideshow I get after that for a couple of seconds and no its no because of the AV.

cadaveca · Apr 12, 2011

LDNL said:
Basicly having the same problems but just with one card. Can't have Afterburner,Trixx or any kind of OC tool open while playing BC2 or itll freeze after a couple of minutes of gaming. The map loads arent slow just the slideshow I get after that for a couple of seconds and no its no because of the AV.

Yes, you are right, it is NOT AV problem..it's punkbuster. You cannot have third-party tools running at the same time as BFBC2, as many that report FPS access teh game data to get FPS, and as such, are recognized as intruders.

The dual-card problem is fixed by changing registry entry for "enableULPS".

hv43082 · Apr 12, 2011

cadaveca said:
Yes, you are right, it is NOT AV problem..it's punkbuster. You cannot have third-party tools running at the same time as BFBC2, as many that report FPS access teh game data to get FPS, and as such, are recognized as intruders.

The dual-card problem is fixed by changing registry entry for "enableULPS".

Can you elaborate on the enableULPS fix for dual card? Does it make the load time faster or do away with the random flickering?

2DividedbyZero · Apr 12, 2011

hv43082 said:
Can you elaborate on the enableULPS fix for dual card? Does it make the load time faster or do away with the random flickering?

errr no . ULPS disables the crossfired card when not in use - Ultra Low Power Saving.

disabling ULPS sometimes fixes problems when trying to OC the crossfired card.

cadaveca · Apr 12, 2011

hv43082 said:
Can you elaborate on the enableULPS fix for dual card? Does it make the load time faster or do away with the random flickering?

It does neither. Afterburner doesn't work right with two cards, and can cause BSOD's, unless the registry is modified.

It is merely a "bugfix" of sorts, for multi-card clocking using afterburner.

Flicker, I am unsure of the cause...driver problem most likely; I have it as well. I have found that if I move very little when it occurs, the screen remains black, but the HUD overlay is still rendered. Slight movement causes the image to come back, and a bit more movement makes it go black again...so continuous movement appears as flicker.

But, this problem does not occur with single card. it's present on both 5870's, and 6950's, for me.

I actually experience far less flicker on BFBC2 with shaders unlocked on the 6950's. :confused:

2DividedbyZero · Apr 12, 2011

i don't disable ULPS and I have no problem overclocking my cards with AB, even when reported as disabled in GPU-Z due to ULPS. Some people have an issue, some don't

cadaveca · Apr 12, 2011

2DividedbyZero said:
i don't disable ULPS and I have no problem overclocking my cards with AB, even when reported as disabled in GPU-Z due to ULPS. Some people have an issue, some don't

I suspect that the app recognized you have a crossfire-native card, and makes adjustments due to that. I have tried both matched reference, and a mix of reference and nonreference, and I have resigned myself to NOT use 3rd-party apps, and merely edit bios for high clocks in CC, and volts, due to no luck EVER for me, without the ULPS fix.

2DividedbyZero · Apr 12, 2011

fair one m8, i still have 2 cards though remember- and no issue so it is a wiered one regarding AB, CCC, crossfireX and ULPS

hv43082 · Apr 12, 2011

cadaveca said:
It does neither. Afterburner doesn't work right with two cards, and can cause BSOD's, unless the registry is modified.

It is merely a "bugfix" of sorts, for multi-card clocking using afterburner.

Flicker, I am unsure of the cause...driver problem most likely; I have it as well. I have found that if I move very little when it occurs, the screen remains black, but the HUD overlay is still rendered. Slight movement causes the image to come back, and a bit more movement makes it go black again...so continuous movement appears as flicker.

But, this problem does not occur with single card. it's present on both 5870's, and 6950's, for me.

I actually experience far less flicker on BFBC2 with shaders unlocked on the 6950's.

So I'm not the only one experiencing the flickering issue. Afterburner works perfectly with Nvidia cards. I hope AMD will have a fix on the next release of Catalyst. If not, I am staying with Nvidia simply due to better driver and less problem.

2DividedbyZero · Apr 12, 2011

"simply due to better driver", oooooooooooooooooooooooookay

DanishDevil · Apr 12, 2011

I have had some pretty crippling driver problems with AMD lately, so I went nVidia and haven't had a problem since. I'm staying away from AMD for a few months until they can work out the bugs that have been affecting my system with 6950s. For that reason alone, my vote's for the 570s.

If your expansion slots can handle it, look at the ASUS Direct CU II versions of both. They are INCREDIBLE.

erocker · Apr 12, 2011

hv43082 said:
So I have 2 6950's with unlocked shaders and 2 570 GTX. Cost is $55 higher for the 570's. Having a hard time deciding which to keep. Help me out guys. And please no fanboyism. Will be gaming at 2560x1600.

I don't understand why you're asking us when you have both sets of cards in hand. Everyone's experiences and hardware setups are different. Use what you think works best for you. Aside from that look at reviews and features for both sets of cards and make your decision.

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HD 6950 2GB (unlocked shaders) Xfire or 570 GTX SLI

2x6950 2GB (unlocked shader) or 2x570 GTX

2 x HD 6950's

2 x 570 GTX's

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