Need some advice on a GPU card??? AMD 6970 or Nivida GTX 570 ???

[mordenk]

First I would like to say that I am not a total newbie...but I have not built a rig in a few years.....so here goes my question.....

I am building a rig for everyday use but it is starting to turn out to be more of a performance build.

I have bought everything for the rig except for the GPU. i am stuck between the Power color 2GB DDR5 (dual fan, factory OC) AMD 6970 or the GTX 570??? There both are ruffly the same price and my budget is $400 CND for a video Card.

My rig is as follows (So far);

Asrock 890FX deluxe5 motherboard
16 GB CORSAIR Vengeance OC memory DDR3
Phenom II 1100T Black Edition Six Core Processor - 3.30GHz
LG 12X Blu-ray burner
60 GB WD SSD
2TB Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB
Coolmax 1000W power supply (both SLI and Crossfire Ready)

The motherboard supports:
Supports ATIâ„¢ Quad CrossFireXâ„¢ , 3-Way CrossFireXâ„¢ and CrossFireXâ„¢
This is why I am leaning towards the 6970.

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Roark]

Sorry if this makes your decision even harder, but AMD boards can be made to SLi.

the sli [patch] is a software thing

all you need on your hardware is 2x pci-e x16 lanes that has room

amd boards do not come with sli bridges anymore you will have to get one youself and make sure its the proper length

Quote from Overclock.net forum.

 

[mordenk]

This in deed makes the decision harder...lol...thanks for the information....I appreciate it.

 

[95BlackGA]

Search about unlocking the 2GB 6950 cards to 6970s. A lot of the 2GB versions of the 6950 can be unlocked to 6970's, just by flashing a new BIOS. Also, where are you shopping at? Newegg.ca is showing both the 6970 and 570 at $350CND, just not the PowerColor brand. I would choose EVGA or XFX over PowerColor any day of the week. The reason is because of the Lifetime warranties from both EVGA and XFX compared to the 2 year warranty of PowerColor.

I HIGHLY suggest the 6950 2GB, as it's $300 roughly, and can be unlocked to a 6970.

 

[mordenk]

Yup newegg.ca.....I was looking at the power color or msi for the dual fans and factory OC....but the XFX looks nice as well..I was also looking at the 6950...but I figure for 80 bux more...I don't have to take the chance of flashing the bios over (in case something goes wrong... read a few reports of people bricking there 6950...).

Not sure if I would ever actually use the crossfire function or SLI function as I am not a heavy gamer....but would like the option to play some newer games like Cryis 2 ...etc occasionally.

I appreciate the help and suggestion "95BlackGA"....

 

[95BlackGA]

Yup newegg.ca.....I was looking at the power color or msi for the dual fans and factory OC....but the XFX looks nice as well..I was also looking at the 6950...but I figure for 80 bux more...I don't have to take the chance of flashing the bios over (in case something goes wrong... read a few reports of people bricking there 6950...).

Not sure if I would ever actually use the crossfire function or SLI function as I am not a heavy gamer....but would like the option to play some newer games like Cryis 2 ...etc occasionally.

I appreciate the help and suggestion "95BlackGA"....

I would highly doubt you would need to crossfire for Crysis 2. I can **** near max it out on my 4870, which is marginally slower than any of the cards listed here.

 

[mordenk]

That's what I was hoping...again thanks.

 

[Baez]

A little off-topic; I would stick with NCIX for buying the parts. Much better service here in Canada and you can price match.

 

[mordenk]

I bought my memory and CPU from there...NCIX...Also bought some parts from tigerdirect and Canada computers...I go with who ever has the best deal at the time for the part I want. I have not had any bad experience from any of them.

Right now newegg has the best deals on GPU out of all the sites...plus I was given a promo code with my last order for free shipping on my next order over 100.

 

[Yerfdog]

Well, at this moment:
570:
Newegg.com - PNY VCGGTX570XPB GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $300
Very High, 4xAA, 16xAF, Airfield Demo at 35 FPS and 1920x1200 res

6970:
~$325
32 FPS