Graphics Card Decisions

A

aka.Goliath

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I am stuck with a decision to choose between an ATI radeon HD6870 or a nVidia gtx560. I know that this is a ongoing competition between ATI and nVidia but I was hoping someone could point out the differences between the two and which manufacturer one should choose (asus, gigabyte, msi, club 3D, EVGA). They are fairly closely priced depending on the manufacturer so what other differences are there to choose from?
 
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Those cards get basically identical FPS, so just choose whichever is cheaper. Also if its a reference card then all manufacturers are equal, it may just be the warranty that is different
 
No ways gigabyte looks far better, 3 fans vs 2 why would you choose the one with two fans?

Why is the hawk better it obviously doesn't cool better so what makes it better?
 
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3 voltage controls on the hawk.

custom design with loads of power.

hawk is best 6870 clocker, doing 1050+ core.( depends on how good your core is , most doing 1030 at least)
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/msi-r6870-hawk-powercolor-hd6870-pcs_4.html#sect0
hawk @ 1065 core

http://aphnetworks.com/reviews/gigabyte_radeon_hd_6870_1gb_soc/13
soc only doing 970 core.

and the special ended on the 6870 SOC.
http://www.carbonite.co.za/f15/deal-week-gigabyte-6870-oc-1gb-@-r1899-15339/#post105457
 
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Funny thing when peeps ask about which graphics card to get, it usually is recommended to take the one that can overclock the best, but that to me (Warning: subjectivity in progress) does not make a card great. For me sound and temps and bang for buck are important, stock performance obviously is as well, so before you want our opinion, take your own preference in regard to what you want from a graphics card. For me the R1899 Gigabyte option is the better buy, as i'm currently using the Gigabyte 560ti OC(was on a great special from Take2), and the windforce cooler on it is awesome. But similarly the hawk cooler is also way up there in the cooling chops performance.
 
rebeltech charge R50 for shipping with post office(cheapest option), so its actually more expensive then the take2 one, unless you go collect it at there office.

though fine card still, probably wont clock as good as the rest.
 
hereticangel, your maths is wrong :p
(R1796 + R50) < R1899, so Rebeltech's Club3D card is cheaper then.

I'd still recommend that Hawk above that Club3D card, because it has a better cooler and 1 more year in terms of warranty.
 
A little bit of info for you:

I have a HD6870 (Sapphire, standard version), running at 1GHz core and close to 1100MHz Memory. BEAUTIFUL framerates.

It's not always advisable to go for the cheapest, maybe go for a strong brand like ASUS or MSi. Also their overclocked cards are > than others.
 
Pada said:
hereticangel, your maths is wrong :p
(R1796 + R50) < R1899, so Rebeltech's Club3D card is cheaper then.

I'd still recommend that Hawk above that Club3D card, because it has a better cooler and 1 more year in terms of warranty.
Click to expand...

yeah i just saw 18xx, forgot about the 99 :P

if courier it stop being tards, i should have mine today, and will post back results etc
 
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I've seen in quite a few reviews that the standard Sapphire HD6870 cards reached 1GHz core clock speeds.

@Slayeruser:
The one is the Gigabyte HD6870 OC, and the other one is the Gigabyte HD6870 SOC (Super Overclock).
Its definitely not worth it to pay R500 more for that Gigabyte HD6870 SOC, when you can get the MSI HD6870 Hawk for R1900.
 
Recently bought a Sapphire 6950. Got home all excited about unlocking extra shaders and clocking to 6970, only to learn the Sapphire 6950 (Dirt Edition) could no longer be flashed.

Still - not a bad card at all.
 
ok just got my hawk :P

ran 1000/4800 clocks.

total vantage performance score is
total=20428
gpu= 19k
cpu 25881

max temp of the card is 60c :)

cpu is i7 920 @ 4.2ghz
 
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