2x 6959 2gb or 6990?

[tricky_p]

Hello fellow Ananders,

I cant decide! I have the budget for either option but I wouldn't mind saving money where I can. I will be pairing with a 2600K.

Primarily used for gaming @1080p and rendering. I want to run Skyrim and BF3 at highest possible settings.

Also - i would prefer a blower style card to work with my case.

Any advice?

Thanks all

 

[TemjinGold]

How about you wait till those games actually come out?

 

[tricky_p]

Good advice, but I want to be ready as soon as BF3 launches. I'm extremely impatient.

 

[happy medium]

2 6950's for 100$ less

 

[Dark Shroud]

Let me point out the benefits of the 6990, it requires less power connectors and while long leaves more open room in the case for air flow.

That being said if you should look at getting a pair of either of these models.

Sapphire Toxic or MSI Twin Frozr III PE/OC, both are of high build quality and should unlock into 6970s.

 

[happy medium]

If your gonna spend 700$ on a 6990, why not just buy 2 6970's for 600$AR? NO unlocking needed.
Faster performance for 100$ less.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102918

 

[tricky_p]

Any performance benefits to using a single card vs CF in programs like 3d max/rhino?

 

[at80eighty]

space was my constraint, so I went with the 6990 - it pairs great with the 2600k
personally id still wait till those games are out though

 

[happy medium]

Any performance benefits to using a single card vs CF in programs like 3d max/rhino?

Both are crossfire.

 

[Red Hawk]

Any performance benefits to using a single card vs CF in programs like 3d max/rhino?

As happy medium said, technically the 6990 uses the same Crossfire software that two 6950s would use, as the 6990 is two graphics chips on the same board.

As for the difference between crossfired graphics chips versus a single chip of the same theoretical power, normally AMD (or Nvidia for SLI) has to release a special "profile" for each game or application that allows the graphics driver to use both chips. Otherwise the performance in Crossfire is the same as using just of the graphics cards that you are crossfiring. AFAIK AMD only releases Crossfire profiles for games, not other applications. So, you would see very little or no benefit from running those applications on crossfired 6950s (or a 6990, for that matter) over a single 6950. In any case, two crossfired video cards will not surpass a single video card with the same theoretical power (ie two crossfired Radeon HD 5770s, 1600 shader processors total, and a single Radeon HD 5870, also 1600 shader processors total) You also get the problem of "microstuttering" when using graphics cards in Crossfire/SLI. Some people notice it, others don't (or just don't care).

 

[timma]

6950 OC CF+1,bacause have many good fan design can choose~
6990 i will change the fan/fanshink~

 

[3DVagabond]

6950 OC CF+1,bacause have many good fan design can choose~
6990 i will change the fan/fanshink~

+1

Unless you are going to custom cool or water cool the 6990 two 6950's are better overall. The 6990 is just too much heat for the stock cooler to deal with gracefully. Aftermarket cooling for the 6990 just makes it dearer.

I don't know for certain, but I doubt there are crossfire profiles for your pro apps. with consumer cards.

 

[Jacky60]

Get the 6990, it will perform about the same but you'll do much better when you sell it. I sold my 5970 for £350 after buying it for £550 and sold 5870 for £130 after paying £330 for it. I noticed the same with 4870x2 people pay more for dual gpu cards second hand -quite a bit more than twice the slower card.

 

[tricky_p]

Thanks for the tip on the 6990 being a CF card - I had no idea!

All in all it sounds like the 6950's may be the way to go, although the idea of 2x6970s is also intriguing.

the Sapphire toxic just came back at newegg so I copped me one of them to tide me over, but I may wait to buy the second until the games actually come out.

Waiting for the 7xxx's is out of the question. There is no way I can wait 3+ months once bf3 launches.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[Vdubchaos]

I'm pretty sure that even 6870 crossfired beat 6990 ( I could be wrong) and those have been going for under $150.

 

[lehtv]

Well cooled 6950 unlocked + overclocked crossfire > 6990 at lower noise level and less $.

I'm pretty sure that even 6870 crossfired beat 6990 ( I could be wrong)

6990 is two 6970's on one PCB, operating at 830MHz, down from 880MHz.

Also, 6870 only has 1GB VRAM, which is important because in crossfire, the high frame rate allows for higher settings that actually make use of more than 1GB VRAM.

 

[Madcatatlas]

dont forget that the 6990 has the AWESOME switch bringing it up to 880mhz on both cores.

 

[Spikesoldier]

heres another vote for 6950 CF

 

[Jacky60]

Performance will be about the same but 6990 holds value waaay better. They are more expensive now than when I bought mine 6 months ago. You'll get £130 apiece for 6950/6970 because they're way more common -6990 you'll get £350 when you sell it. It's about 1/3 more resale value. In uk 6990=£481 vs 6970= £185 secondhand on ebay search I just did for cheapest.Its a no brainer if performance and cost of ownership are your most important criteria.

 

[tricky_p]

Interesting....

I doubt I will sell the card though. I will most likely hand it down to one of my 'lesser' builds.