Radeon HD6850 VS. Nvidia GTX460

Zulthus · 2011-09-01, 12:08 AM

Alright. So with BF3, Planetside 2, Skyrim, and many more coming out soon, I think it's time for an upgrade from my old HD5670.

This is NOT necessarily for Planetside 2. Thing is, I'm not a "hardcore" gamer, so I don't really want to spend more than $200 on a new video card.

So to all the tech pros, which card is better OVERALL to run the newer games on a 1680x1050 resolution?

Thanks in advance.

Mutant · 2011-09-01, 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by Zulthus

Alright. So with BF3, Planetside 2, Skyrim, and many more coming out soon, I think it's time for an upgrade from my old HD5670.

This is NOT necessarily for Planetside 2. Thing is, I'm not a "hardcore" gamer, so I don't really want to spend more than $200 on a new video card.

So to all the tech pros, which card is better OVERALL to run the newer games on a 1680x1050 resolution?

Thanks in advance.

HD 6950 > GTX 560 Ti > GTX 560 = HD 6870 > GTX 460 = HD 6850

Normal people would not really see any difference between each step. But from 560Ti to 6850 is a reasonable jump.

you will strugle to get a 6950 or 560 Ti under $200.

The 560 is said to overclock nicely but cost more than the 6870 and gives about the same performance at stock clocks.

If you can hold out for a few months we are quite likeley to see some new offerings from AMD around this segment. The drop from 40nm to 28nm should realy give some nice price/performace improvements.

Goku · 2011-09-01, 03:41 PM

What Mutant said. Wait a couple months for the newer cards. You are best off waiting till at least BF3 comes out for a new card as we will know then what will run good on it. Buying now for multiple games we have no idea about isn't a good idea. It is safe to say BF3 will probably be the most demanding of all them unless we have red alert interlinks in PS2.

Zulthus · 2011-09-01, 04:01 PM

Newer cards seem to be around $600-700 at release, depending on the brand. I won't be getting one since I don't play that much. I'm looking for a good $200 card, so was looking to compare these two.

Goku · 2011-09-01, 04:31 PM

AMD is releasing newer cards at that price bracket actually first. Not $700.

Zulthus · 2011-09-21, 04:40 PM

So I found the two cards I've narrowed it down to - I'll leave it to the experts to decide which one is better.

Radeon HD 6950

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125385

AFAIK Radeon makes much more powerful single cards than Nvidia, and this card has about twice the raw power of the next card, GTX 570.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130613

This I'd only really want for PhysX, but it's only an eye candy thing. So it's a bit of a tough choice between the two. I've heard that both can max out pretty much all current games on a 1680x1050 monitor.

Which one is better, or is it down to personal preference?

Goku · 2011-09-21, 05:02 PM

Actually neither of those cards are twice as strong to one another. The 570 wins in most games, but costs quite a bit more. Performance gap is about then 10%-20% depending on the game. PhysX is more of a gimmick, so do not worry about that. The only big game coming this year that has it is the new Batman one I think.

I wouldn't go with either of those two and instead do this for $240 and $210 after a $30 MIR. Comes with Deus Ex: Human Revolution for free as well. Pretty damn good deal if I do not say so myself. I never have seen a 6950 2GB that low I think.

Zulthus · 2011-09-21, 05:06 PM

It seems cheap because it probably is. XFX tends to make their cards very cheaply, and I've had two of them die within 6-7 months. Not really a fan of Deus Ex either... so I guess what I'd go for is the Gigabyte on Newegg. They got alot of good reviews on there. But the XFX failures are just from my experience.

Goku · 2011-09-21, 05:30 PM

Bad luck? I have had XFX cards since the 7900 GT (2005) and never once did one die. Which cards did you have and did you even ram?

anyway I would be looking at the 6950 2gb as it is not that much more expensive and is worthwhile.

Zulthus · 2011-09-21, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by Goku

Bad luck? I have had XFX cards since the 7900 GT (2005) and never once did one die. Which cards did you have and did you even ram?

anyway I would be looking at the 6950 2gb as it is not that much more expensive and is worthwhile.

The ones I had that died were the

5670
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150467

GT520
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150555

Both pretty bad cards, two of my first, but I still have never had another video card die aside from those two. I've looked up some people's experiences with the card, and it indeed does seem like it was bad luck. It might be worth a try, although I really prefer ordering from Newegg. I'll think on it.

Goku · 2011-09-21, 06:15 PM

Hmm. I will say XFX has made shitty cards prone to dying too. I have not seen any issues with that one either. If you want it I suggest jumping on it now, who knows if it will sell out or the price may go back up. You can also sell that game code on ebay for like $25 if you do not want the game or even a friend that may.

Zulthus · 2011-09-21, 07:20 PM

Well, I've placed an order on the Amazon 6950... hopefully it does not disappoint!

**Malorn** · 2011-09-21, 08:19 PM

I had a similar dilemma recently, but given the current hardware ecosystem and the fact that we are about 6 months off from the next cycle of new video cards I went with best bang-for-buck as an interim solution and picked up 2x 6850 in crossfire. It had one of the best results for BFBC2 and with v-sync the frames never drop below 60 in any situation at 1920x1200 with everything maxed out and 8x AA. Cost about $400 and should be more than sufficient for BF3. My plan is to upgrade the entire PC when a real CPU upgrade is released and after a new set of graphics cards comes out either this spring or the following spring.

Zulthus · 2011-09-21, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by Malorn

I had a similar dilemma recently, but given the current hardware ecosystem and the fact that we are about 6 months off from the next cycle of new video cards I went with best bang-for-buck as an interim solution and picked up 2x 6850 in crossfire. It had one of the best results for BFBC2 and with v-sync the frames never drop below 60 in any situation at 1920x1200 with everything maxed out and 8x AA. Cost about $400 and should be more than sufficient for BF3. My plan is to upgrade the entire PC when a real CPU upgrade is released and after a new set of graphics cards comes out either this spring or the following spring.

I might have considered crossfiring as an option if my mobo supported it. I'd have to buy a new one AND a new power supply to support two of those cards.

Goku · 2011-09-21, 08:55 PM

Zulthus what PSU do you have atm?