AMD 6950 or Nvidia GTX 570

A

adidube

New member
Hello,

I bought an AMD 6950 just about a week back. Also, I was able to unlock the extra shaders and the card is running merry at 880 MHz core & 1375 MHz memory. However, I have 2 questions and would REALLLLLLYYYYYY appreciate if you all could help me out in deciding.

Firstly, the temperatures for the unlocked & overclocked 6950 seem to be high. The card runs at about 85 - 94 degree celsius under heavy gaming load (Dirt 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2). I switched back to the original BIOS to find that the temperatures never cross 82-83 degree celsius. I cannot comprehend whether these temperatures are safe for a 6950 or are these too high ?

Secondly, I also have the option of returning my 6950 and get a GTX 570. The price difference between the 2 cards in my country is about 70 USD. Before buying the 6950, I knew that I will be getting a better performance if I buy a GTX 570, but I wanted to try my luck & unlock the card, which was a success, but I am a little pissed of with the temperatures that the card is running at currently. Therefore, the decision to change the card.

Please suggest what can I do ?
 
Hi there

I also have a 6950 and when i was looking for over clock information for it i came across a few ppl saying that if you flash the bios to the 6970 you can have memory trouble after a few weeks ( as there is a difference in the voltage or something like that as the hardware is slightly different on the cards so i have read so think i am gona avoid that one solution to be honest myself.

I also read that if you manual over clock the gpu and the memory speed it gives a better result better speeds and temps but i think u will need to up the fan speed a bit i think noise is gona be the limiting factor.

I will let u know how i get on still a bit more research before i get started.

I am new to overclocking so maby someone with more xp on this matter can help you more
 
I tried to find the max temp of your GPU on the AMD site but it is not listed. The fan was designed to keep the GPU at safe operating temperatures. Many factors can affect the GPU temps. To find out more I need to know the room temperature and at what percent the fan is spinning at. I also need to know what computer case you have.
 
Thanks Tom & Everybody for the replies so far. Just to get a few facts on the table, my current config is

Core i5 760 @ 3.5 GHz

ASUS p55 Mobo

Corsair 600T case

As far as I knw, the processor runs fine at the current settings. Doesn't cross 50 degree C. The ambient room temp is around 20 degree C currently & still the 6950 runs at 90 degree plus when gaming, so kinda strange.(if these are not the standard temperatures). The fan spins at not more than 50% which is stock AMD setting, so no tweaks there. Also, currently the card is at 40 degree C when I am not gaming & only surfing the net.
 
Sounds like from what you are saying that the fan might be limited to 50%. I would try unlocking that. The temps you are seeing are that of the 6970 while it is under full burn at a 22C room temp. The temps while gaming should be in the lower to mid 80s. I also know that the GPU temps on the 600T run a few degrees warmer than in competing cases. Many people including myself attribute this to a lack of a side fan. I would also try cranking up the intake fan using the fan dial if you haven't already.

I personally would not mess with that 6950 to 6970 BIOS hack stuff. I have read mixed things about it. I would just buy the 570GTX and call it a day. It performs a little better in Dirt 2 than the 6970 and performs about the same in BFBC2.
 
Aditya said:
Hello,

I bought an AMD 6950 just about a week back. Also, I was able to unlock the extra shaders and the card is running merry at 880 MHz core & 1375 MHz memory. However, I have 2 questions and would REALLLLLLYYYYYY appreciate if you all could help me out in deciding.

Firstly, the temperatures for the unlocked & overclocked 6950 seem to be high. The card runs at about 85 - 94 degree celsius under heavy gaming load (Dirt 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2). I switched back to the original BIOS to find that the temperatures never cross 82-83 degree celsius. I cannot comprehend whether these temperatures are safe for a 6950 or are these too high ?

Secondly, I also have the option of returning my 6950 and get a GTX 570. The price difference between the 2 cards in my country is about 70 USD. Before buying the 6950, I knew that I will be getting a better performance if I buy a GTX 570, but I wanted to try my luck & unlock the card, which was a success, but I am a little pissed of with the temperatures that the card is running at currently. Therefore, the decision to change the card.

Please suggest what can I do ?
Click to expand...

Hey,

I just recently had the same problem as you i couldn't decide what to go for GTX 570 or ATI 6950, after a lot of thought i purchased a AFA2 GTX 570 i watch toms review on it and it seemed be a good option, althought it was £288 p&p, it will last me along time because im not a hardcore pc gamer but i want to max out the games i play, i upgraded from 8800GT its massive in comparison but OMG its soo much quieter and powerfull...So id say go for the gtx 570.
 
I also forgot to mention to check the airflow of the stock Corsair intake fan. Corsair has a reputation of including crappy fans with their cases. The stock fans in my Corsair 800D were epic phail. Kind of disgusting since the case costs a crap ton and my cousin who paid less for his HAF 932 got fantastic fans that don't need replacing.
 
You're right as the stock fans are useless in the Corsair cases. However, I do like the white LEDs, therefore decided to stick with them till I get a decent alternative, so guess I can't help it for the time being. I ran a few benchmarks with the fans turned down & again while they were turned all the way up, but it didn't seem to make any difference to the temps.

Is high 80s to low 90s feasible in the long term or will it damage the card ? Technically speaking I do not have issues while gaming at stock 6950 settings at 1080p resolutions, but do wanna squeeze the extra horsepower available for free literally. This was also one of the reasons to buy a 6950 over GTX570 (and also save a few bucks !!)
 
From what I could gather on the internet is that it seems that for the 6970 85-90C is typical under full load and 78-85 for a game like Crysis or BFBC2. I assume these temps were taken in a well ventilated case like the CM HAF at a room temp of 21-23C. I could not find the max temp of the GPU though from any site but someone did mention on another forum it was 104C or 105C which is the same for the 200 and 400 series nVidia cards. Why AMD does not post the max temps on their website like nVidia is beyond me.

The Corsair 600T GPU temps can typically be 8-9C warmer which does not help you much. As long as you are not hitting upper 90s or 100 you should be ok, but you are still running on the hot side as is. I personally would not settle for gaming temps that high especially as those are the temps in a 20C room in the middle of winter. I would be very worried as summer rolls around that you might have some trouble keeping those temps down. If your temps were from benchmarking for an hour or two it would be a whole different story.

I do highly recommend the Corsair 600T to people because they are easy to work in and have easy to clean fliters. When I do recommend it I highly encourage them to replace that intake fan with the NZXT High Performance 20 cm fan. After dealing with the fans on my 800D and H50 I am not taking any chances. It does get kind of loud at full steam but it moves a lot of air.
 
THANX A TON Johannespaul for all the research & suggestions. I did some as well & found that the temps seem to be normal for 6900 series,as they are hotter than what AMD produced earlier.

As far as I am concerned, I guess i'll stick with the 6950, as I do not have major concerns apart from the temp.
 
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