XFX/Sapphire 6950 2GB or Gigabyte 560Ti SOC?

[G-Force]

560Ti SOC 1GB is the cheapest of the three cards at €250.The Sapphire 6950 is the cheapest of that range available for €262 along with an XFX model which is the same price both 2GB of memory.I've heard of the Bios flash that is possible with these cards to bascially unlock it to a 6970 but ive also heard of the dangers that accompany it.Is there another way to unlock the shaders of the 6950 without raising the TDP to 6970 levels? Or should i just go for the 560Ti? Also these cards are going to be part of a brand new system I am building myself with Ubuntu as an OS so if anybody has used it or any experience with it plz tell me your rating of it compared to Win7 and its €100 price tag.

 

[adamjamesroe]

Yes the HD 6950's can flash to HD 6970's however the GTX 560 Ti is a better bet, basicaly equal on performance to the HD 6970(if anything its a bit better) and cheaper also it supports more features such as PhysX and CUDA etc.

 

[DragonPC]

I would go for nvidia for this one but is the 6950 a referrence card? if so think it cant be flashed:/

 

[Aurus_OC]

It depends on what you use your computer for. If it is for gaming the 560TI is most likely to be your best bet at 1920x1080, however if you want to game on more monitors the 6950 may have an overhead, because of the larger memory.

If you want to use 3 or more displays at the same time, which is great for productivity

the 6950 wins, imho, because you don't need a second card. Although for that purpose a 6870 would be just fine aswell. I wouldn't suggest flashing the BIOS of the 6950 to a 6970, because you run the risk of loosing more than what you actually gain... imho.

 

[ciksas]

Get the 560Ti. If you flash a 6950 with a 6970 bios you will automatically raise the TDP(more shaders, higher clocks, with more volts going through it) Flashing should apparently be safe because off the dual bios on the card(at least I saw dual bios on a powercolor card, maybe the aren’t standard? I’m 90% they are)

 

[JezEngland]

Loads of problems with AMD's 6000's. Forums are painted with it. The flash will destroy the card, it'll die sooner, there is less power sockets than the 6970, the chip wont run healthy, warranty probably gets VOID, crossfire problems, game compatability, optimisation and CRYSIS 2 next month!

560Ti is here to shape your destiny

its reputation is good. Get a 560

 

[G-Force]

Thanks for the replies, looks like im going for the 560Ti since im only going to be using 1 monitor for quite some time! and it performs slightly better than a stock 570!

 

[realneil]

Thanks for the replies, looks like im going for the 560Ti since im only going to be using 1 monitor for quite some time! and it performs slightly better than a stock 570!

I just had the MSI 560Ti delivered yesterday, and it's proving a nice card to game with. (very smooth)

I have no complaints with it so far.