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Help Me Pick A Video Card!

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Zaspera

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I am building a new rig this week. AMD 1090t, ASUS M4A89TD, 8GB G.Skill 1600, Cooler Master HAF X case. I am torn between 2 cards at the moment. I can't decide between the 6850 and the 5850. From what I've noticed, the specs seem about the same, but the 5850 has 2gb of memory. The 6850 got better benchmarks, but only 300 or so samples compared to the 3,000+ the 5850 has uploaded on http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/. Thanks.
 
LGV

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did you consider 6950? . then bios mod to 6970?
 
mlee49

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The 6850 can be unlocked to a 6870 so thats what I would suggest. If you want to save your budget a bit go 5850 but I'd invest in an SSD for sure.
 
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passmark is fairly shitty for determining a good gpu to be blunt. If your buying a gamning gpu look at reviews for said gpu

Tpu review contains gpus Atis 5000 and 6000 range as well as nvidias 400-500 range

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/6.html

has every card in the price range your looking at and i call BS on the passmark test putting a 6950 as nearly 300pts faster then a 6970 lol thats fail.

mlee check your post bro 6850s dont unlock to 6870s not to my knowledge where as the 6950 does unlock to 6970s that will soon change with the new updated PCB which is make it impossible to bios flash the 6950 to a 6970
 
LGV

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Z

Zaspera

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did you consider 6950? . then bios mod to 6970?
Click to expand...

I've never bios modded anything and don't know how to either.

The 6850 can be unlocked to a 6870 so thats what I would suggest. If you want to save your budget a bit go 5850 but I'd invest in an SSD for sure.
Click to expand...

On Newegg.com, the 6850 is cheaper than the 5850 so that wouldn't save my budget.

Tpu review contains gpus Atis 5000 and 6000 range as well as nvidias 400-500 range

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/H...HD_6970/6.html
Click to expand...

Thank you for the link. Checking it out now.
 
LGV

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Zaspera

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LGV

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seems saphire the best bet, asus, gigabyte, yes corsair very good psu, but any 750 watt good for it.
 
GSG-9

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Zaspera said:
What brand would you suggest getting for the 6950? Also, would a Corsair 750hx PSU be sufficient to run the 6950?
Click to expand...

i just grabbed a Gigabyte 6950 from the egg last week. It unlocked fine, I am keeping my clocks lower than the 6970 just because but I did flash the card and up the power by 20% and it seems to be working well.
 
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GSG-9

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Zaspera said:
How is the card temperature-wise?
Click to expand...


What I have been doing is running it with as low of power as I can @ 25% fan speed (silent) and then when I play a game I up the power to +20%. With 20% power and 35% fan speed it gets up there, idles @ 53c. I game with headphones, so I crank the fan speed to around 80%. I have not looked at the temps in game but I think they have been fine (you know... below 90c. :p )

Update: Here is my furmark info thus far (I started running it when I got home)
Idle: 47c
FurMark (MSAAx4, Displacment On, 1280x1024:mad:5min 89c
My Fan speed is on Auto
 
Last edited:
Z

Zaspera

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I think I'm going with the 6950. If I do, I'm going to go with XFX due to their double lifetime warranty.

With the Corsair 750hx PSU, it says it comes with 4x 8pin PCI-E and the 6950 needs 2x 6pin. How do I get around this?
 
LGV

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Last edited:
blu3flannel

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Zaspera said:
I think I'm going with the 6950. If I do, I'm going to go with XFX due to their double lifetime warranty.

With the Corsair 750hx PSU, it says it comes with 4x 8pin PCI-E and the 6950 needs 2x 6pin. How do I get around this?
Click to expand...

That double warranty will come in handy when you want to resell it, whenever you upgrade to the 8950 or whatever. :)
 
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Zaspera

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blu3flannel said:
That double warranty will come in handy when you want to resell it, whenever you upgrade to the 8950 or whatever. :)
Click to expand...

It just means I can register it twice, right?
 
GSG-9

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Zaspera said:
It just means I can register it twice, right?
Click to expand...

Yup, so when you sell it the new owner is still covered, and if you don't register and you don't have issues, you can sell it as having both warrantys again, in case they want to sell it.
 
O

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crazyeyesreaper said:
passmark is fairly shitty for determining a good gpu to be blunt. If your buying a gamning gpu look at reviews for said gpu

Tpu review contains gpus Atis 5000 and 6000 range as well as nvidias 400-500 range

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/6.html

has every card in the price range your looking at and i call BS on the passmark test putting a 6950 as nearly 300pts faster then a 6970 lol thats fail.

mlee check your post bro 6850s dont unlock to 6870s not to my knowledge where as the 6950 does unlock to 6970s that will soon change with the new updated PCB which is make it impossible to bios flash the 6950 to a 6970
Click to expand...

Yep! CrazyEyesReaper is typically correct. This is the way I would go. Check those reviews.
Choices are ATI 5xxx and 6xxx series or nVidia 4xx and 5xx series.

Note: as said..only using BIOS can the HD 6950 be can unlock to 6970... once the Printed Curcuit Board Stock or soon to be Mfgr changes ,,the newer HD 6950 won't have that capability.
 
LGV

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Over50 said:
Yep! CrazyEyesReaper is typically correct. This is the way I would go. Check those reviews.
Choices are ATI 5xxx and 6xxx series or nVidia 4xx and 5xx series.

Note: as said..only using BIOS can the HD 6950 be can unlock to 6970... once the Printed Curcuit Board Stock or soon to be Mfgr changes ,,the newer HD 6950 won't have that capability.
Click to expand...


HE got ASUS M4A89TD so he better go with AMD GPU, just incase CF. dont confuse hem.
He chose 6950 allready price/performance/compability/bios mod posibility the best
he will buy it ASAP so no changes on PCB for sure.
 
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LGV said:
HE got ASUS M4A89TD so he better go with AMD GPU, just incase CF. dont confuse hem.
He chose 6950 allready price/performance/compability/bios mod posibility the best
he will buy it ASAP so no changes on PCB for sure.
Click to expand...

I'm an AMD guy so I will always own an AMD processor and an ATI video card. I've never CF'd and probably won't be doing that anytime soon. I'll be purchasing the card from newegg tomorrow at the latest.
 
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HD 6950 best price/performance with the HD 6970 coming close.. Either one is a fine card...
 
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what are u buying the video card for and @ what resolution? asking for a video card recomendation without that info is kinda pointless.:p
 
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poohbear said:
what are u buying the video card for and @ what resolution? asking for a video card recomendation without that info is kinda pointless.:p
Click to expand...

1920X1080 - ASUS VH242H 23.6"






HD 6950 is the best option :toast:
 
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I would get a 6950 (and do it soon), and flash it to 6970. Best performance to price ratio. Lol..
But if you're choosing between 6850 and 5850, go for 6850 because if you ever decide to cross-fire, a 6850 CFX will give you much better performance than a 5850 CFX.
 
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GSG-9 said:
Yup, so when you sell it the new owner is still covered, and if you don't register and you don't have issues, you can sell it as having both warrantys again, in case they want to sell it.
Click to expand...

But not registering is risky because the standard warranty is only something like 1 year after which you have to pay for your replacement card. If you're the kind of person who upgrades their video card every year anyway it's not a problem but if you hold your cards longer than that, you're better off registering.
 
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