[DG170775]

Guys,
I'm building a Gaming Rig for my Friend, and need some tips / advice on the Graphics card, we have a budget of £200 for the Graphics card.
Considerations:
1. Good Overclocker
2. Quiet and Cool operation, don't like noisy graphics cards
3. Might consider adding another same card in the future for dual GPU setup
4. Decent/moderate Power consumption

Some of the choices that fall within / around the budget are:
1. MSI N560GTX Ti Twin FrozrII OC (~£180)
2. ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II 1GB (~£180)
3. MSI HD 6950 Twin FrozR II OC 2GB (~£192)
4. Sapphire HD 6950 2GB (~£200)

I'm also reading that the BIOS in the 6950 can be flashed to make it a 6970, more thoughts on that, please...

Also, please suggest any better cards around the price range, that I may have overlooked..

 

[andrewmchugh]

MSI HD 6950 Twin FrozR II OC 2GB (~£192) Seems a good buy but I dont thing that will unlock, the Sapphire HD 6950 2GB should have a fair chance of unlocking.

 

[DG170775]

Good suggestion: How do I find out if the 6950 I'm buying will unlock or not?
Because my inclination towards the 6950 is strongly because of the BIOS flash option to move towards 6970..

 

[neonraver]

I just got the 6950 2GB Twin Frozr III for £206 and it unlocked fine. From scan.co.uk. It was on a today only offer but they crop up regularly on there. Good card and it keeps nice and cool.

 

[KillServ]

aria.co.uk normally have some good deals on the 6950's

 

[DG170775]

Yup, I'm looking at all of them for deals, ARIA, SCAN, EBUYER, DABS, OVERCLOCKER, etc

Good to hear that they unlock too...

Among the 6950 2GB ones, is MSI the best? What about the Sapphire & XFX versions? I'm assuming that they too unlock well...

Edit: I do see that neonraver has the XFX unlocked too...

 

[neonraver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DG170775;15303529
Yup, I'm looking at all of them for deals, ARIA, SCAN, EBUYER, DABS, OVERCLOCKER, etc

Good to hear that they unlock too...

Among the 6950 2GB ones, is MSI the best? What about the Sapphire & XFX versions? I'm assuming that they too unlock well...

Edit: I do see that neonraver has the XFX unlocked too...

I've got both of them in my system now and the TFIII runs about 20 degrees cooler at idle and 10 degrees cooler at load. The fan on the XFX card is pretty poor at lower speeds, and at higher speeds its LOUD. It is however reference, but the TFIII does unlock just fine so it doesn't matter that it's not reference. Kind of wish I had two TFIIIs now but I can't complain.

 

[Razi3l]

Sapphire cards also unlock, avoid XFX and MSI is great. Even at stock the 6950 is faster than the 560 Ti. Go for the 2GB (MSI/Sapphire) and try to unlock. Even if it doesn't it should still overclock and the extra shaders only give ~5% more performance at the same clocks so don't worry too much.

The 560 Ti gives poor performance for what you pay.

 

[Spacedinvader]

MSI HD 6950 Twin FrozR II OC 2GB (~£192)

Where?!? I'm about to get one and the cheapest I can find is £240

 

[DG170775]

Ok, Bumping the thread again..

Would HD 6950 still be the best bet, considering the launch of BF3 game ..
People can correct me if I'm wrong, but, isn't this game optimised for NVIDIA?? Or am I wrong?

If I have to go for an NVIDIA Card, then, in comparison with 6950, what's the equivalent card from NVIDIA?

 

[antipesto93]

yes hd6950 would be the best, due to its price v performance when compared to nvidia