AMD Radeon HD6950/6970(Cayman) Reviews

[Pantsu]

That math don't works also for HD5850 vs HD5870, 1 years ago
/snip[/IMG]

3% for 320-5D vs 288-5D.

This is the reason why 6870 was so much more efficient, Cypress isn't bound by shader performance, and the same applies to Cayman, the bottlenecks are elsewhere.

[flyck]

That math don't works also for HD5850 vs HD5870, 1 years ago



3% for 320-5D vs 288-5D.

And power consumption:

I'm looking at the review from xbitlabs.

Well the mathematical difference there is better since the power consumption of the overclocked 5850 is very close to the 5870 an not 80W lower for same performance.

[WintersSC]

So what would you recomend, 6970 or 570? Im VERY confused...

[zalbard]

According to Anandtech, the 6970 goes head to head with the GF480...I think this is pretty impressive..I don't know why some of you folks in here find this card to under-achieve.....this card was intented to compete against the 480 and so it does......and remember, in CF mode these cards are very powerfull....what did you most expect to see from these cards anyway? they are still under the 40nm technology....blame the semis...for the delay of course.

That's exactly the way it is.

So what would you recomend, 6970 or 570? Im VERY confused...

If your res is above 1920x1080 then I'd definitely get 6970, if it's below then it's your call, both perform about the same in current games... Although, if you want to future proof some with extra VRAM and/or are hoping for performance increases via drivers then AMD is the way to go. If you like PhysX then Nvidia is.

[kite7]

So what would you recomend, 6970 or 570? Im VERY confused...

Given that they are priced similarly, I'd go with the GTX 570 anyday since it performs better in pretty much every test.

[tbone8ty]

Hmm u cant buy a gtx 580 so cayman is the fastest gpu in the world :p

[flyck]

So what would you recomend, 6970 or 570? Im VERY confused...

6950 clearly

consumes alot less then the ones you mention. performs only a tad slower.
(5% on high resolution and everything enabled against the 570gtx).

Oced is still consumes less power and performs simulary with the 6970. If there will ever be a driver optimization/improvement, the 6950 will enjoy it also.

and ofcourse the price which is also lower.

And if you later on add another 6950 you increase performance by 80-99%.

[Gilgamesh]

So what would you recomend, 6970 or 570? Im VERY confused...

Both together in Msi Hydra

[WintersSC]

Thank you all, whell I did consider the 6950 too, but Id want to jump to the 70, no matter the power supply really since im getting a TX850. And instead of 6950 i would get a 5870 cuz some shops are selling it for 250 euro.

I dont like 3D since I have an almost lazzy eye, and I cant handle that extra finely if it uses glasses so not a choice for me

Despite the physx, the MLAA is more atractive for me.

So I decided Im getting the 6970! Hope with my new Megahalems and the couple of Nidec GT I can raise the q9450 up to 3,6!

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

I hope this winning trend AMD making gpus.

For the few of us running games at 2560x1600, these cards in crossfire are a win (most of the time). If I hadn't bought a 470 in September, I'd be looking at the 6970 now.

[tbone8ty]

Will a 6970 be able to run on my psu?

It's a corsair 520hx I think it has 19x3 12v amps

[Andi64]

So what would you recomend, 6970 or 570? Im VERY confused...

IMHO the question is between 6950 and 570, cause they offer the best price/performance. I'm not sure wich one I'll buy, though, but I'm sure I'm choosing between those two.

[zalbard]

Will a 6970 be able to run on my psu?

It's a corsair 520hx I think it has 19x3 12v amps

Sure, it will.

[Glow9]

And if you later on add another 6950 you increase performance by 80-99%.

LOL What?

[bamtan2]

So what would you recomend, 6970 or 570? Im VERY confused...

"If we have to recommend a graphics card today, they would be the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, GeForce GTX 570 and the AMD Radeon HD 6950."

"When the 5870 is done and gone the 6950 will be a reasonable successor, but for the time being the 5870 at $250 currently is a steal of a deal if you don’t need the extra performance or new features like DP1.2."

the less expensive the card, the better the deal. so get a cheap 5850 or 5870 or new 6950 or 570

and if you have the money for a 570................ get a 570

[Sgt.McRuff]

Remember when w1zzard came to conclusion that lower temps = lower power draw on 480gtx?

(Source: TPU)

I would be interested to see same testing done on 6970.

[Motiv]

So what would you recomend, 6970 or 570? Im VERY confused...

If you game @ 1080p, then the 700 currently looks a better deal. If you game at higher resolutions, then the 6870 looks pretty good value.

The only unknown at this point is the driver maturity. It is a relatively new architecture for AMD, so there could yet be more performance to come. If that's the case, then get the one you can afford, as they're all good cards.

[[XC] hipno650]

If you game @ 1080p, then the 700 currently looks a better deal. If you game at higher resolutions, then the 6870 looks pretty good value.

The only unknown at this point is the driver maturity. It is a relatively new architecture for AMD, so there could yet be more performance to come. If that's the case, then get the one you can afford, as they're all good cards.

i would say that the biggest unknown is solid OCing of the 6970/6950 so far there seems to be a brutal limit on ocing in CCC. the GTX 570 Oc's like a champ and can gain 10-20% after ocing which puts it above the GTX 580 constantly. until the 6970 and 6950 get true app support for OCing we will never know how high they can go... because 950mhz on the core of a 6970 just plain sucks and makes only a minimal performance difference...

i would love to see HWC do a CrossFire and SLI comparison on the 6970 and 6950 compared to the GTX 480, 570 and 580 on both standard resolutions and triple monitor surround setups. that would be really great! the 69XX's seem to be very strong as the res get cranked up so it would be interesting to see how the Nvidia cards hold up...

[Pantsu]

I'd say go with GTX 570 if you play on 1080p or lower. Performance is better, OC is better, noise is lower, price is lower (at least the msrp). Otherwise if you plan on SLI/CrossFire or triple monitor setup go with the Radeon. Or just take a look at the performance in games you play and pick the one that's better. Or available to buy, since at least in here 570 availability is near zero.

[DilTech]

I've read through so many posts on this forum, and I find it odd that when people say that it would be the end of Nvidia, or doom and gloom for Nvidia or anything bad about Nvidia it is fine. It seems around here we'll grab at anything that would make our assumptions "seem" valid but will ignore anything that might counter our assumptions or beliefs.

I know that I'll be labelled as a troll for stating my opinion, not because it is my opinion but because I seem to be stepping on toes. As they say: "If the shoe fits, then you should wear it."

This is something that's become increasingly apparent as time goes on. I have a feeling it'll only get worse. How someone can have that much of an alliance to a hardware company who literally wouldn't even let them walk past the front desk will forever remain a mystery to me.

Hardocp (Kyle the bar bouncer) has a no bull approach.
if he approves, you know its good stuff.

You know.... I remember when hardocp's reviews pretty much always showed NVidia winning, and in fact showed quite a bit of bad light on ATi. This site was ready to boycott them entirely, automatically dismissing anything [H] had to post.... My, how peoples minds change when a website pumps up their side instead.

Yep, 10.12 was sure the miracle driver, wasn't it guys?

Anyway the driver argument is an argument I will never understand. People... Have we NOT learned our lesson here about "potential increases via driver performance?" Better yet, ask those people with HD 2900XT's if they ever saw that potential unleashed. Yes, drivers will increase performance somewhat, but increases occur for both sides.

Looking at what we are presented with today, things become pretty clear. NVidia surprised AMD with the GTX580 and GTX570, there's really no arguing against that when you look at the last minute price cuts of the 69xx series.

Now, what I really want to know is...how will AMD manage a dual gpu out of cayman? That's going to take a rather strong feat to pull off. If they manage it without stripping it down too much, I will surely tip my hat to them.

p.s. SkyMTL, can we expect a overclocked vs overclocked review of the 6970 vs GTX 570 from you in the near future?

[SKYMTL]

p.s. SkyMTL, can we expect a overclocked vs overclocked review of the 6970 vs GTX 570 from you in the near future?

Crossfire / SLI scaling article first in the new year. I need a break until then since I've been pushing myself way too hard.

[Solus Corvus]

I'll admit I feel a little letdown. But that's just a feeling. I was hoping for something that beats the card I have had for a year and neither company has been able to deliver so far. But the reality is that these cards are inline with their strategy for the past few years. They could use a price drop, and that's about it. They never promised us 580/5970 beating performance. It was all in our minds.

[Lanek]

Crossfire / SLI scaling article first in the new year. I need a break until then since I've been pushing myself way too hard.

Send me the cards, i will do the test for you, you will just have to fill the text between the graphs ..

[[XC] hipno650]

Crossfire / SLI scaling article first in the new year. I need a break until then since I've been pushing myself way too hard.

would that article happen to include Eyefity vs Surround testing? at say 5670x1080? because if it did, I might just make the 10 hour drive to Vancouver to shake your hand in person.

rest well man excellent review, I really appreciated how you took the time to explain every change that was made to the core compared to Barts and the 58XX's looking forward to the CrossFire review

oh and to the people supporting [H] take one look at their testing methods, I don't mind if they want to do a few benches at the max settings for each GPU as a bonus but you can't use that as a basis for card performance, overall comparison must be done in an Apples to Apples approach with each GPU running identical settings they have started to add in Apples to Apples testing but they need to use it as their primary test (not just some last minute add on) if they want to be taken seriously

[Scorpio[pt]]

so the question is is it worth upgrading from a 5870 to 6970? ( i am starting to read the reviews now lol )