AMD Radeon HD 6950 1 GB

[W1zzard]

In order to complete their lineup in the $250 segment, AMD has released a 1 GB version of the HD 6950. This makes the card $40 cheaper, yet does not impact performance in any way as our testing shows. We also saw great overclocking potential on our card which makes this card a tweaker's dream combined with the HD 6950 to HD 6970 modding potential.

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[Ghost]

Wow, no performance difference vs 2GB version even @ 2560x1600.

 

[KainXS]

good card i guess, id buy it.

 

[Sasqui]

Wow, no performance difference vs 2GB version even @ 2560x1600.

No kidding... are there any applications out there that would fill the 1GB to the point of swapping?

 

[Over_Lord]

why does the power consumption increase soo much?? 1GB card should guzzle lesser power shouldn't it than the 2GB one?

 

[DarkOCean]

why does the power consumption increase soo much?? 1GB card should guzzle lesser power shouldn't it than the 2GB one?

Because of the higher stock voltage this one have 1,19v and the 2gb version had 1,11v .

 

[DanTheMan]

Wow, good card at a great price considering no drop in performance from big 2G brother. I wonder if AMD will do a 1 GB version of 6970? BTW - Great review W1zzard!

 

[cadaveca]

No kidding... are there any applications out there that would fill the 1GB to the point of swapping?

Lots, when running 3 monitors and AA.

 

[Sasqui]

Lots, when running 3 monitors and AA.

First hand?

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Wow Nice review! W1z
If my 2gb model hadn't unlocked I think I'd be more tha a little annoyed with the extra cost...I'm a little bit more than surprised that this card held it's own with less memory at higher resolutions

 

[cadaveca]

First hand?

Yep. Pretty much and DX10/11 title and multimon needs 1280mb+. Seems pretty obvious, as otherwise, nVidia would have made GTX590 with 570 GPUs, IMHO. 1GB cards just aren't enough for Eyefinity.

 

[Vargtass]

If anyone can confirm unlock of shaders - this will be my next GPU.

Nice review W1zzard.

 

[dieterd]

Am I onlyone a bit confused about that 6950 1gb is reviewd here only now? I mean on many other portas that happend in end of januarry and that priceing is also not updatd, cuz now hd 6870 costs less like 20-30$ from hd 6950 1gb price (in my mind it still has no chance vs this HD 6950 1gb). In many other test there were no issues with more power draw or more heat (vs 2gb version). and in all other tests preformance is exacty the same for both 1gb and 2gb

 

[OneCool]

Maybe less memory = tighter memory timings?

It is odd to see it out perform the 2gb version in just about everything

 

[Swamp Monster]

And odd that voltage is also higher, I wonder why is that.
But anyway, great review and great performance!

 

[Sasqui]

Yep. Pretty much and DX10/11 title and multimon needs 1280mb+. Seems pretty obvious, as otherwise, nVidia would have made GTX590 with 570 GPUs, IMHO. 1GB cards just aren't enough for Eyefinity.

Important point to distiguish the two cards. Thx.

 

[Salsoolo]

Am I onlyone a bit confused about that 6950 1gb is reviewd here only now? I mean on many other portas that happend in end of januarry and that priceing is also not updatd, cuz now hd 6870 costs less like 20-30$ from hd 6950 1gb price (in my mind it still has no chance vs this HD 6950 1gb). In many other test there were no issues with more power draw or more heat (vs 2gb version). and in all other tests preformance is exacty the same for both 1gb and 2gb

same here
didnt wizz review it when the card was out?

 

[DaC]

Finally a worth card to upgrade from the hd4850.... it just needs to drop to around $180 and lower now... which a top card hadn't hit for a long time since HD4xxxx

 

[halfwaythere]

I'm not questioning w1zzards methods but the choice of drivers for the amd cards is a bit strange. Also a 3.8Ghz Bloomfield might be holding some of these babies down a bit hence the lack of difference between models.

In the end this card ends up where its supposed to be, the 560 territory. I'm not sure they are advertising the unlocking feature enough since a couple of AIBs are using the switch to actually switch between an 6950 and a 6970 and are guaranteeing the unlock-ability.

 

[DanTheMan]

W1zzard, do you know if AMD will release a 6970 1 GB card?

 

[HalfAHertz]

And odd that voltage is also higher, I wonder why is that.
But anyway, great review and great performance!

Because it's a leakier chip. Considering that all four versions off the 6900 series use exactly the same chip, AMD have decided to designate the best binned chips for the 6990 and the worst binned ones for the 6950-1GB.

 

[20mmrain]

Great review as always.... But the only Problem I have with it is.... I have not seen this 6950 1gb OEM version anywhere for sale. Everyone of the 6950 1gb cards I have seen are designed from the distributer (XFX/Sapphire/HIS/EXC.....). The good news is I noticed most of them are using the same types of PCB as each other. But the bad news is it is different from the PCB shown in this review. Which makes it tough to water cool if someone was interested. Also on most of the 1gb cards I have noticed the VRM's are on the other side then the VRM's shown on this review.

Hey if someone can show me were to pick up the OEM versions of the card that would be awesome....But if you can't find one don't expect the PCB and Chips location to be the same. Just a heads up.

***Edit****
I take that back it looks like the 6950 1gb Direct CU might have a similar PCB and VReg location as to the OEM AMD Radeon 6950 1gb card. But I don't know if it is the same. I didn't look that close at it.

 

[cadaveca]

Important point to distiguish the two cards. Thx.

Sure is. the lower cost of the 1GB cards makes them an attractive option for those jsut runnig a single monitor. There are a couple of game, striaght out, that need 2GB, like GTA4, etc...but those are few and far between when running one monitor.

 

[dir_d]

This card is win, best card for the money as of right now.

 

[CDdude55]

Looks like a nice card for a nice price.

Still gonna keep my GTX 470 for now though, as it's still a great performer in games. So i'll probably wait till the next gen cards arrive.