Is the 6950 still unlockable?

thesh0gun

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I've heard only the first versions of the 6950 are unlockable, is this true?

I'm planning on buying a gtx 570 but if I can get a 6950 to unlock to 6970 then it would be a better price.
 

kyle382

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I can tell you that your chances are much more slim than they used to be. I think the sapphire 6950 was having the greatest success last i checked.

I'm not a diehard nvidia fan, but there are a lot of good opportunities there right now and I would definitely go with the 570. Get a evga 560 448core classified if your feelin a bit cheap or a 560ti if your wallets a stretching thin. With an i5 2500k OC'd im running ultra settings in bf3 with the 448 core.

My room mate has a simliar setup with a 570. The only difference is you dont really need to OC the 570 AT ALL with most modern games. the 560ti series needs and likes OC'n. If you fear overclocking, get the 570.

 

esrever

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you can still find a few cards arround that can unlock with the bios switch but they are pretty rare and like $30 more expensive than the normal 6950.

I'd suggest not getting the 560ti 448 core since the 570 is just a few buck more. The 448 core barely beats the 6950 at stock. You can OC the 570 just as well as the 448 core so its not really saving money if you OC the 448 core.
 

buzznut

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I also suggest you go with the 570. The unlockable cards have dried up at this point, I'm not saying its impossible but unlikely so its not a safe bet.

Playing BF3 at highest settings in 1080p requires a GTX570 at the least, so at this time the HD 6950 should be considered a mid range part especially when considering the HD 7950/7970 and upcoming nVidia cards.
 

blazorthon

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6970 has better value than the 570, but the 570 is ever so slightly faster. Definitely not enough to justify it's increased price, not even enough to tell the difference between it and the 6970 most of the time, but a difference none the less.

Although the 6970 is still better because of it's RAM capacity advantage. It's even better for multi-GPU setups. The 560 TI is a little cheaper and uses less power than the 6950, it's not just slower than the 6950. The two are listed as having similar value by Tom's.

In general, Nvidia has less value than AMD so it's almost pointless to buy Nvidia right now. Nvidia doesn't have low end cards and their mid range cards suck so they only compete in the high end, where Nvidia tends to have less value than AMD.

If value is the main thing in question, go for an older model like the GTX 400 cards or the Radeon 5000 cards with similar performance to what you want. I guarantee that the Radeon 5970 will outperform any similarly priced cards. The last time I saw it on Newegg it was selling for $330 and it competes with the GTX 580.
 

blazorthon

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Well I think it really comes down to a per game baisis between GTX 570 and 6970 and I am highly considering a 560ti for an upgrade cause $210 is a great deal for it and OC its looking like better than stock 448 performance.5970 is a bit faster than a GTX 580

It comes down to a per game basis with all similarly performing cards. The 560 TI is a good card, $210 is a decent deal for it, but I've seen them go for $185 on Newegg. Whether or not the 5970 is faster than the GTX 580 doesn't effect my statement about it, they are very close and the 5970 was AMD's only competition with the 580 until the 7950 came out. They are also on a per game basis. The 5970 was cheaper than the GTX 580, it was in the Radeon 6970 price range for a while. That's value similar to the value of two 6800/6950s or a 560 TI, otherwise unheard of right now among the high-end cards.

I'll say that the 560 TI overclocked can beat a stock 560 TI 448 core, but a lot of hardware can beat more expensive solutions when the cheaper one is overclocked and the more expensive solution is at stock. If you overclock the 448 core then it will beat the regular 560 TI every time.
 

blazorthon

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I didn't forget to throw in the 6870X2. It only has 1GB of memory per GPU so it fails in resolutions above 1080p and sometimes even at 1080p. I do not recommend getting a card that fast with only 1GB of RAM per GPU.
 

esrever

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1gb does not fail at 1080p. The 580 only has 1.5 gb of ram.
 

amuffin

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1gb is plenty for 1080P
 

kyle382

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yes, the only 448 worth getting is the evga classified. It has an upgraded vrm, decent heatsink and DOES actually OC a bit better than a stock 570, which will cost you around $30+ more. Intersting that the classified is often the cheapest card in the 448 lineup. take advatage.

As blaze mentinoed the 560ti can be had for below $200. Those cards overclock rediculously and are a great bargain for budget builders.

Cheers to the guy who flamed my comment about the 448 and then changed it after seeing others supporting the card. what a nobfest.
 

blazorthon

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1080p plus AA can go well over 1GB. Tom's proved this with an article almost completely dedicated to the 6870X2. If the 6870X2 had 2GB of RAM per GPU it would be a great card at a great price since it's faster than a 5970. I've heard of a 6850X2 that has 2GB per GPU, but I've never seen it. I think it's only in the Asian markets. It was called the Colorfire 6850X2 4GB.

There is a huge difference between 1GB and 1.5GB of RAM. Why else do you think that there are so many 3GB cards out now? There are plenty of 3GB GTX 580s and all of the currently out 7900 cards have 3GB. 1.5GB was enough when the GTX 580 came out and for most things it's still enough, but 1GB is NOT enough anymore. Some games use at or above 1.25GB or RAM, I've heard of at least one game that was redesigned to utilize exactly 1280MB so the GTX 570 could handle it perfectly.