Hardware ATI Radeon HD 6970 2GB Review

Ah, Thanks for that. I was a bit like WTF when I saw such an old game in their testing but using it as an Open GL test is useful in this instance.

 

Found a typo, performance analysis, 2nd paragraph

"It was a bit of an anti-climax, then, to see the HD 5970 2GB perform only averagely"

I think you meant 6970 I was hoping for a bit more from these cards, but never mind.

 

If you check out Anandtech they have a Ray Tracing benchmark up, would be nice to have Ray Traced games

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/23

 

Good tip

 

Would this card be able to play minesweeper with all the options maxed out and largest grid?

 

The 2GB of video memory supplied with the 6970 should have been given more attention. Given that Crysis (original) can use 1GB at 2560x1600 with just 2xAA, the 1.3/1.5GB in the top-end Nvidia cards looks lacking (the best on the Nvidia side of things seems to be Gainward's 460GTX with 2GB).

 

You are my new god! The cooler design isn't an issue for me, as i'll be watercooling anyway

Too bad only one game is tested with CF/SLI on 5760x1080: F1 2010. AMD puts in a clear win over nVidia in this benchmark, with the single card/single screen results seem to put nvidia and AMD pretty even. Still, it's only one game, so it might be cherrypicked for driver compatibility.

 

Market will need time to react and settle though, pricing in Germany:

HD 6950 270euros
HD 6970 330euros
GTX 570 340euros
GTX 580 470euros

 

Greetings!

The 6950 is the choice there.

 

Looking at the benchies upgrading from a HD5870 is not worthwhile.

I feel let down by the HD6970 and will not be buying one.

Makes more sense to buy another cheap HD5870 off ebay for £190 ish and Crossfire it up.

 

The more i look at it, the more i'm thinking 6950 CF will be the way to go. Anybody with green glasses that can change my mind?

 

What has became a sorry state of affairs now, is the red camp fans moaning about the quality of the Bit-Tech reviews.

Funny how it suits them just fine when the conclusions fall in their favour. Just accept that these cards just aren't what the AMD marketing department said they would be. Better hope for a better showing on the next generation because this batch feels a bit like a floppy at a playboy mansion party.

 

HH do L4D2 in 3D

To summarise ... ATi 3D is still limited to single card solutions and DX9 ...

Swinging back towards Nvidia ... I'm getting dizzy.

 

Disappointed? What on earth are you talking about, and just WHAT were you actually expecting AMD/ATI would come up with? The cards still offer decent value for money and improve over the HD5-series on some areas.

Thanks for the review, and I sure wouldn't mind having one or two of those on my rig.

 

Ok guys, Ebuyer got a stock of 5 XFX 6950's in. I've ordered one @ £223 but its not arriving till next week so I qualify for free delivery. The cheapest one scan have in stock is £249.

I'll let you know how it works out.

 

Well it's a GTX570 for me then!

 

Nice review BT, I've been eagerly awaiting this, thanks!

Yeah it's a little disappointing not to see AMD/ATi's latest flagship thrash the 580. Was I the only naive ATi fan-boy hoping for that hehe?

However, from reading this review and a few others on the interwebs, it does perform well in a number of games that I'm interested in (Stalker, Crysis, Metro 2033, Bad Company 2) and it would be a significant upgrade from my 4870 @ 1920x1200.

As others have said, I will wait for the pricing to settle before I make my move. Hopefully in the new year we'll see some bargains.

 

With the 2GB of memory and improved performance, I would have liked to see an eyefinity test against the previous gen.

Now, I wish I had that kind of setup, but I'm happy with my 6870 supporting 3/4 monitors at a time without issue, even if I only game on one.

Now if only they had put this massive vapor cooler on the 6870 Ah well.

 

I suppose you are talking about me among others, so allow me to respond. I admit to having slightly red-tinted glasses, but my criticism on bit-tech's reviewing style has been the same since halfway last year, not exactly a bad time for ATI as you might remember.

 

Actually, if you read across the www, you'll find that results and therefore conclusions vary! Some sites, Hardocp finds the 6970 matches or beats the 580 in most games and the 570 in all at 1920x1080 and above. Anand mirrors Bit-techs and the rather meh! conclusion.

I don't think anyone is questioning Bit-Tech's methods. I would simply ask what driver version was the 'release' driver? Was it the one on the CD, out of the box 10.11 8.7something or the newer 10.12 8.5 whatever? And if was the older one, is there any chance of Bit-tech re-runing some of the game benches for the AMD cards with the newer one?