MSI GTX 560Ti Hawk 1Gb or MSI Radeon HD6950 2Gb

Hi Folks,

Firstly, would like to say thanks to everyone for the help and advice I've gleaned by skulking around in the forums as a visitor so far. However, the time has come for me to step out of the dark and actually ask for your assistance. Here goes!.....

Given the choice, which would be the prefered card?:

MSI GTX560Ti Hawk 1Gb

or

MSI Radeon HD6950 2Gb

I understand that both cards perform around the same mark (the Hawk slightly lower and performance at this level due mainly to the already aggressive factory OC). My consideration is more to do with which would provide greater future proofing? Would the 2Gb on the 6950 not serve me better in the long run? Surely it's only a matter of time before games demand 1Gb as minimum and 2Gb as standard?

The other consideration is noise. I know the Hawk can be fairly intrusive when OC further still, but chances are I'll keep the card at it's stock settings for the main, so not too much of an issue. However, how does the 6950 compare?

I can pick up either card for around the same price here in the UK (give or take a few £'s). So it really comes down to which is going to give the best value for money and provide the longest life in terms of future proofing.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

edit: It may also help to know I'll be running my PC via HDMI through my TV. Native res is (1280 x) 720p at present, but will be buying a new 1080p TV in the near future. I may run at higher res if it'll handle it, but native will probably be the standard setting used.

 

thats the problem with non high end nvidia cards. the cards are powerful but are lacking in video memory. the 560 does come in 2 gb models as well. I would go with a reference 6950 and unlock it

 

I'd recommend MSI 6950 2GB with the Twin Frozr II or III cooler. One of these: http://eu.msi.com/product/vga/#?fp=Radeon HD 6000 Series&sk=Radeon HD 6950 . Unlocking the extra shaders is not nearly as important as having the Twin Frozr cooler IMO.

 

I think you answered your own question. If you're concerned about future proof then get a 2gb card, which means the 6950 from the two choices you gave. That is if frame buffer is your only deciding factor.

 

Ok, that's helpful so far - thanks guys.

@ Extreme1979 - re: the frame buffer comment - would you suggest there is another factor worth considering here apart from that? I assume you mean the mystical locked 8th shader on the Radeon and the overall lower clock speeds? If so, I guess this is part of my dilemma - do I opt for the aggressive OC and additional processing power or go for the tamer option with the additional memory?

In reality, how long before we start seeing 2Gb as standard?

 

I'm sorely tempted by the MSI 6950 Power Edition, but can't help feeling like I'm being done out of it's true potential with the locked shader. I know it could do a lot more despite the decent factory OC.

 

The 6950 at stock will outperform the oveclocked 560 ti in most cases, then you have the 2gb ram and in all honesty the 560 ti is an extremely nice card but the 6950 was designed to be a high end card for higher resolutions making The 6950 more future proof.

Also you might want to consider the GTX 570, it doesn't cost that much more than a 6950 these days and will perform better than a 6950 at stock, though the 6950 can ofcourse be unlocked and then iy's pretty much on par with a 570, though with more ram.

 

Thanks for that BlackZero. I've just had a quick look at the 570 and it is very impressive........however, I then stumbled over MSI's OC'd 570 version for not much more.....hmmm, decisions, decisions!

 

if you can pick it up for an equal price, then definitely take the HD6950. It is faster than GTX560Ti.

 

6950 2gb of course! Try and find a reference model. You'll surely be able to find one at your local CompUSA, Fry's or MicroCenter -- not so much online anymore. Unlocking the extra shader cores and uping the voltage, core and memory clocks will give you a card that, pound for pound, will beat a GTX 570 in pretty much every game and benchmark.

I have 2 XFX 6950 (ref. model) that I unlocked to 6970's and I couldn't be any happier with their performance. Not to mention, they are on par with every 6970 benchmark I've seen, only $100 less! P49k+ 3DMark Vantage scores!

 

I've got a 6950 Twin Frozr III PE/OC since around 3 month. You don't need Afterburner for a custom fan profil if you use the silent mode switch. ~44% fanspeed with 65°C @ full load is pretty quiet and cool for me. I unlocked the shaders (write me a PM if you want a guid and the needed custom BIOS) and got around 5% more performance, not much but hey, i'd never say no to free extra performance. The only thing that is annoying is a gentle buzzing sound of the coils or capacitor or whatever @ 90%+ load. But (sadly) you can have that with every card out there. Overall i'm pretty happy with my card

 

That is so nice. I wish I had that... My 560 Ti 1ghz goes up to 85% fan and 78°C at full load. It does perform at the level of a GTX 570 though, I just wish it was a bit cooler and quieter.

 

Have you tried to undervolt your card? You will not get much from it but even 2°C cooler and a lower fan speed is great. And what about your airflow and cablemagment? My system got a lot cooler and quieter when i installed an extra exhaust fan at the top.
Edit:

Lol nvm

 

Lol, according to Guru3D's VGA charts, there is about 2 FPS difference between the 6970 & GTX 570...

The 6950 avg about 5 FPS more than the GTX 560...still I'd go for more ram. I actually have the same dilemma as the OP, all cards I looked at seem to have either 1GB or 2GB vram, nothing in between.

 

GTX 580 1.5Gb

 

I recall trying undervolting but the card will not be stable at any lower, and I'm not willing to go below 1000mhz because that's what I paid for...

My cable management is ok: http://i.imgur.com/7pJ9T.jpg

All those fans I have in the case are at low RPM for quietness... When the card gets hot I just open the front door for better airflow.

 

Yeah I did see that, it would be nice except that in NZ the 580 is $800 (I can hear you laughing..) which is more than I want to spend.


The 560Ti 1GB is $389 - unfortunately I cannot find a 2GB 560 here, then there is the 570 1.2GB @ $570 and finally the 6950 2GB @ $439...

So as you can see the 6950 seems to be the best option, except I don't want an ATI card because I don't like their drivers...

Sorry about thread hijack btw...

 

I haven't had any issues with the drivers.

 

^Is it possible to unlock the 6950 without doing a voltmod? I'm paranoid about voltmodding cards due to past disasters..lol

I really need the vram as I use 21" CRT's @high res...

 

If a 6950 is unlockable you can do it without touching the clocks/voltage.

Can't you turn them up at gaming with a fan controler? You don't need quiet fans then when your card is at 85% anyway