Gaming Comp - Final update

6950 ===> unlock it takes 5 minutes if that====>1gb model is 204.99 and 2 gb is 249.99====> i like how you talk to me like i dont know anything...esp when i have the hardware that i talk about....bud

cheapest 6950 I could find
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150524

Even with the rebate, its still more than you posted. Literally can't find that good of a deal anywhere, unless its been sold used.

Gonna have to side with reflex on this, I just don't see newer 6950s being unlockable.
 
Last edited:
Constant updating of drivers
New to the AMD drivers
Crossfire issues
Microstutter
Unknown overclocking routine


i say screw 2 6950's they are not worth it. I am going with my ASUS 580. i am ordering it tomorrow, wish me luck
 
not gonna argue with the decision, 580 is a good choice, but just to clear up some "myths"

Constant updating of drivers: AMD is on a monthly release cycle. This is no less frequent than nVidia. I really don't see your problem here.

New to the AMD drivers: not really sure what you mean. But I'm guess it is that you have never used CCC or something? I mean for the 1 minute you will use it in your life, it works fine. I personally think it is more organized than NCP, others think the other way.

Crossfire issues- most games support it some don't, most get it patched in by updated CAP packages. Valid point on your part though, single card eliminates this.

Microstutter- really hard to notice unless you are getting consistently low frame rates, CFX has come a long way since X1800, for the most part microstutter is un-noticeable. Again though, single card has 0% microstutter.

Unknown overclocking routine: google it? It is literally the same as nvidia now that nvidia linked the shader and core clock like AMD. you move a slider, raise volts stress test.
 
newer 6950's are not unlockable and almost impossible to find nowadays, BUT 2x6950 hands down hand the GTX 580 its butt in any and all gaming. The micro stutter is doesnt exist as long as your pushing frames past your hertz on your monitor simple as that. Too late for my post though haha.
 
Last edited:
not gonna argue with the decision, 580 is a good choice, but just to clear up some "myths"

Constant updating of drivers: AMD is on a monthly release cycle. This is no less frequent than nVidia. I really don't see your problem here.

New to the AMD drivers: not really sure what you mean. But I'm guess it is that you have never used CCC or something? I mean for the 1 minute you will use it in your life, it works fine. I personally think it is more organized than NCP, others think the other way.

Crossfire issues- most games support it some don't, most get it patched in by updated CAP packages. Valid point on your part though, single card eliminates this.

Microstutter- really hard to notice unless you are getting consistently low frame rates, CFX has come a long way since X1800, for the most part microstutter is un-noticeable. Again though, single card has 0% microstutter.

Unknown overclocking routine: google it? It is literally the same as nvidia now that nvidia linked the shader and core clock like AMD. you move a slider, raise volts stress test.



No I have never used ccc, I had ati a long time ago and hated it.

And the 6950 do unlock but they have to be the toxic or the frozor

I don't want to.shell out another 100 bucks for 2 6950

The 590 is 700+ I font have that

And the 6950 have confirmed microstutter it is very noticeable and I don't wanna deal with all the issues of crossfire. If I would've got crossfire and had a hint of microstutter in anything I would get rid of em so.
 
So to sum up: Those trying to convince Bane to change his mind about the 6950 is a waste of time, especially since it is his build and he has final say on what he wants to buy and use.
/end GPU discussion

How long till we get some pics of the build, Bane?
 
Just to clairify I have 2 systems one with 2x6950's bios unlocked (With a gtx 260 for physx) and one with 6990+6970 tri fire and the micro stuttering is 100% able to be eliminated.

By running the game at a setting where your graphics cards are able to output more than the monitors refresh rate (that is, the maximum FPS the monitors are capable of; the pixels on your screen can only change so fast) microstuttering is eliminated completely. Most monitors have a refresh rate of 60 or 70Hz, meaning you would need 70 or 80 FPS to eliminate microstuttering. Also, running the game in Split Frame Rendering (SFR), with the top half being rendered by one card and the bottom half being rendered by the other, will eliminate microstuttering, but opens the door to tearing and a performance hit. I don't know if SFR is even still supported...

Micro stutter has been around as long as 2x GPU's were possible and the truth it all you have to do is top fps OVER what your hertz is on your monitor and its fixed or force SFR mode. Most people don't know this or like to base their opinions on people that would rather complain then fix the problem.


I would never drop money on the toxic or frozor cards as they are too close to the pricing of a 6970 which at that point i would just fork over the extra 60 dollars total to have a much better stable OC with the cards without as much wattage usage.

As item # N82E16814127588 which is frozor does NOT unlock at all most people RMA them to receive tier 1 released cards that do unlock, doubt you want to do that.
item#N82E16814127562 DOES unlock but it is a 50/50 chance there and it costs 289.99 up front. If you RMA these you will not receive tier 1's

These two above are all MSI, now onto the toxic's sad and true the toxic lines DO unlock but your chances are less than 10% that they do with NO chance of RMA, they use the antillies chip which is physically disabled on the card to not being able to unlock the bios. You might get lucky with good stock but i doubt it.

Best way to catch how the stock is doing is;
1.Call them (if they think there gonna get a sell more or less they'll help you)
2.Check review DATES that model will have to been changed to the antillies chip due to AMD's instructions.
3.Have good ties into the industry.


But aside from that your mind is made up and I don't blame you just trying to help you along your way. Now before I get a trashing (haha) ill throw some good things your way

Evga is an amazing company with a step-up program and a good warranty

With nvidia you'll be able to use physx which is a nice plus but ehh

Going with one card opens you up for SLI later if you need to upgrade [The reason why a lot of people push for the 6950 crossfire is even without the bios unlock your only gonna be 10-20 fps ( with the unlock its a whole nother story) slower then 580 SLI at 1/2 the cost]

In the end I take the time to write this not to be a jerk but to help you and maybe somebody else something they may have passed over some things while building a computer. It's your money you do what you want with it! :biggrin:

I hope this helps more for anybody who's reading.

PS: I prefer nvidia but they dropped the ball this series


TIP: Take that ram and downclock the speeds under 2000mhz and lower latency as DDR3 has diminishing returns after 2000mhz if not used in a tri-channel setup.
 
Well after seeing the post before me while i was typing just made my post null and void haha moving on! yes pics when your done would be sweet
 
Just to clairify I have 2 systems one with 2x6950's bios unlocked (With a gtx 260 for physx) and one with 6990+6970 tri fire and the micro stuttering is 100% able to be eliminated.

By running the game at a setting where your graphics cards are able to output more than the monitors refresh rate (that is, the maximum FPS the monitors are capable of; the pixels on your screen can only change so fast) microstuttering is eliminated completely. Most monitors have a refresh rate of 60 or 70Hz, meaning you would need 70 or 80 FPS to eliminate microstuttering. Also, running the game in Split Frame Rendering (SFR), with the top half being rendered by one card and the bottom half being rendered by the other, will eliminate microstuttering, but opens the door to tearing and a performance hit. I don't know if SFR is even still supported...

Micro stutter has been around as long as 2x GPU's were possible and the truth it all you have to do is top fps OVER what your hertz is on your monitor and its fixed or force SFR mode. Most people don't know this or like to base their opinions on people that would rather complain then fix the problem.


I would never drop money on the toxic or frozor cards as they are too close to the pricing of a 6970 which at that point i would just fork over the extra 60 dollars total to have a much better stable OC with the cards without as much wattage usage.

As item # N82E16814127588 which is frozor does NOT unlock at all most people RMA them to receive tier 1 released cards that do unlock, doubt you want to do that.
item#N82E16814127562 DOES unlock but it is a 50/50 chance there and it costs 289.99 up front. If you RMA these you will not receive tier 1's

These two above are all MSI, now onto the toxic's sad and true the toxic lines DO unlock but your chances are less than 10% that they do with NO chance of RMA, they use the antillies chip which is physically disabled on the card to not being able to unlock the bios. You might get lucky with good stock but i doubt it.

Best way to catch how the stock is doing is;
1.Call them (if they think there gonna get a sell more or less they'll help you)
2.Check review DATES that model will have to been changed to the antillies chip due to AMD's instructions.
3.Have good ties into the industry.


But aside from that your mind is made up and I don't blame you just trying to help you along your way. Now before I get a trashing (haha) ill throw some good things your way

Evga is an amazing company with a step-up program and a good warranty

With nvidia you'll be able to use physx which is a nice plus but ehh

Going with one card opens you up for SLI later if you need to upgrade [The reason why a lot of people push for the 6950 crossfire is even without the bios unlock your only gonna be 10-20 fps ( with the unlock its a whole nother story) slower then 580 SLI at 1/2 the cost]

In the end I take the time to write this not to be a jerk but to help you and maybe somebody else something they may have passed over some things while building a computer. It's your money you do what you want with it! :biggrin:

I hope this helps more for anybody who's reading.

PS: I prefer nvidia but they dropped the ball this series


TIP: Take that ram and downclock the speeds under 2000mhz and lower latency as DDR3 has diminishing returns after 2000mhz if not used in a tri-channel setup.


Thank you for this nice post.

I know quite alot about microstutter after i researched a few days ago. And it seems yes your FPS has to be above 60-70 at all time to not see the stutter. but games like crysis 2 and other wont always give you that performance. I never ever ever want to see that microstutter so i going with the 580.

Yes i know how f**kin powerful the 6950 are i was so torn when i had to say no to them. Its amazing how much better the 2 are in CF versus the 680. But solely on the main reason of Microstutter is the reason why i did not invest them them. and the 2 6950 would have been about 90 bucks more. But also games with V sync and triple buffer can get rid of Micro, but not all games have that feature. As well as MMORPG do not have the best graphical features and those are the games i play mostly. So i will not be investing in the 6950 even tho it breaks my heart. I might in the future get a 580 but ptobs not
 
Get 1600 ram and a single 6950 now, then upgrade when 7000 and 600 series released. BOOM.

That ram is noticeably faster then 1600 and I was instructed by a very good source to buy these. And I want the 580 so enough with the stupid 6950's
 
Noticeably faster? In what scenario? Benchmarks? And a 3 slot 580 is not a great investment at this time.

I agree with this statement, benchmarks sure but actual performance nope...i'll leave you with this quote form a direct interview with crucial's hardware lead

"In fact once you get up above the 1,600MHz range, latency and timings can affect memory bandwidth much more so than clock speed. Performance-wise, even Intel's six-core i7 chips will show negligible gains above 1,600MHz or so in a tri-channel X58 setup let alone a dual channel, and the downside of possible stability issues that arise really isn't worth it."

Now seeing how this is coming out the mouth of the 2nd largest memory manufacturer i tend to believe him. I've tested this out on many system as i build PC's on the side and he's pretty much right, its great for e-peen contests or bench marking but for gaming...not much else left there. But i digress nothing we say will defer you from buying what you want we just here trying to help you out. :thumbup:

Oh and for less money you can get 16gb of ram from the same company in the same series with slower speeds that you'll never notice but then again you'll never really notice the 16gb vs 8gb either just gaming

Good luck with the build!
 
Last edited:
Crucial is just mad because they can't make a decent kit without using D9's ;) even then they cant get a decent kit past 1600.

In benches like wprime and superpi ram is a huge factor, High bandwidth ram can make the difference between 1st and 101st place. 01, PCmark, and 3DM (occasionally) will show a significant gain with higher clocked ram.

idk if you are into that thing, but that is why i keep my 2000MHz 8-8-8-24 kit around. I have some pedestrian 1600 CL9 kit i use for everyday use, but the fast kit lets me easily beat out people running processors that are even faster than mine.
 
Last edited:
idk if you are into that thing, but that is why i keep my 2000MHz 8-8-8-24 kit around. I have some pedestrian 1600 CL9 kit i use for everyday use, but the fast kit lets me easily beat out people running processors that are even slower than mine.

Wait... you mean faster? I'm not surprised you'd beat processors that are slower than yours.:lol:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top