AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB

[PAGETITLE=Introduction][Top Ad] To help fill out the mid-range GPU segment, both AMD and NVIDIA released models last week that directly compete with each other. NVIDIA's solution is the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, a card that reintroduces the legendary "Ti" branding and one that the company hopes will become "the next 8800 GT". On AMD's side, the company took its Radeon HD 6950 2GB and dropped it down to 1GB, in order to improve pricing, and of course to better compete with NVIDIA's latest release. In our look at NVIDIA's latest card, we surmised in our final thoughts that AMD at this point in time is a bit ahead of NVIDIA when both performance and pricing are taken into consideration. Throughout all of our tests, AMD's card was consistently faster, at around +10% on average, and for a $20 premium ($270), it seemed to be a winner. Not to mention, AMD's offering is also more power efficient and runs a bit cooler. Soon, we'll be taking a look at both cards again from an overclocking perspective, since when both cards are pushed to their max, the end results could change quite a bit. But for this article, we're going to be taking a look at AMD's latest Radeon HD 6950 1GB, and compare it throughout to the 2GB version, which we re-benchmarked using the latest 11.1 Catalyst driver. Before we dive into a look at the card and also our results, let's recap AMD's current line-up: Model Core MHz Mem MHz Memory Bus Width Processors Radeon HD 6970 880 1350 2048MB 256-bit 1536 Radeon HD 6950 800 1250 2048MB1024MB 256-bit 1408 Radeon HD 6870 900 1050 1024MB 256-bit 1120 Radeon HD 6850 775 1000 1024MB 256-bit 960 Radeon HD 5970 725 1000 2048MB 256-bit 1600 x 2 Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 850 1200 1024MB 256-bit 1600 Radeon HD 5870 850 1200 1024MB 256-bit 1600 Radeon HD 5850 725 1000 1024MB 256-bit 1440 Radeon HD 5830 800 1000 1024MB 256-bit 1120 Radeon HD 5770 850 1200 1024MB 128-bit 800 Radeon HD 5750 700 1150 512MB - 1GB 128-bit 720 As AMD has released four different models from its Radeon HD 6000 series over the course of the past couple of months, not all of the models listed above would make the most sense for purchase today. Of course, pricing comes into consideration there, but for the most part, AMD is focusing on its HD 6000 series, and unless you can get cards from the HD 5000 series for an unbeatable price, it's best to look forward. For our testing, AMD sent us a generic-looking sample... one that came complete with "ATI" branding and production tag, and didn't even include the name on the card face. For that reason, I'm opting to show off stock images instead, as they simply look better. Our sample features an identical design; its aesthetic features are just a bit different. Although the card we're looking at here includes less memory than the original HD 6950, it doesn't seem that power metrics changed much at all. AMD still recommends at least a 500W power supply to power one, and 700W could be assumed for CrossFireX. Like the others from the HD 6000 series, this card includes two DVI ports, an HDMI port and two mini-DisplayPort ports. Out of the box, you can use up to four displays with this card, but with a DisplayPort extender, you could bump that up to six. On the following page, we'll take a quick look at our test machine and our methodologies, and then jump straight into our test results after that. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Test System & Methodology] At Techgage, we strive to make sure our results are as accurate as possible. Our testing is rigorous and time-consuming, but we feel the effort is worth it. In an attempt to leave no question unanswered, this page contains not only our testbed specifications, but also a detailed look at how we conduct our testing. Test Machine. The below table lists our testing machine's hardware, which remains unchanged throughout all GPU testing, minus the graphics card. Each card used for comparison is also listed here, along with the driver version used. Each one of the URLs in this table can be clicked to view the respective category on our site for that product. Component Model Processor Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition - Quad-Core @ 4.05GHz - 1.40v Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME - F13j BIOS (08/02/2010) Memory Corsair DOMINATOR - 12GB DDR3-1333 7-7-7-24-1T, 1.60v ATI Graphics Radeon HD 6970 2GB CrossFireX (Reference) - Catalyst 10,12 Beta Radeon HD 6950 2GB CrossFireX (Reference) - Catalyst 10.12 Beta Radeon HD 6970 2GB (Reference) - Catalyst 10,12 Beta Radeon HD 6950 2GB (Reference) - Catalyst 11.1 Radeon HD 6950 1GB (Reference) - Catalyst 11.1 Radeon HD 6870 1GB (Reference CrossFireX) - Catalyst 10.10 Radeon HD 6850 1GB (Reference CrossFireX) - Catalyst 10.10 Radeon HD 6870 1GB (Reference) - Catalyst Oct 5, 2010 Beta Radeon HD 6850 1GB (Reference) - Catalyst Oct 5, 2010 Beta Radeon HD 5870 1GB (Sapphire) - Catalyst 10.8 Radeon HD 5850 1GB (ASUS) - Catalyst 10.8 Radeon HD 5830 1GB (Reference) - Catalyst 10.8 Radeon HD 5770 1GB (Sapphire FleX) - Catalyst 10.9 Radeon HD 5770 1GB (Reference) - Catalyst 10.8 Radeon HD 5750 1GB (Sapphire) - Catalyst 10.8 NVIDIA Graphics GeForce GTX 580 1536MB (Reference) - GeForce 262.99 GeForce GTX 570 1280MB (Reference) - GeForce 263.09 GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1024MB (Reference) - GeForce 266.56 GeForce GTX 480 1536MB (Reference) - GeForce 260.63 GeForce GTX 470 1280MB (EVGA) - GeForce 260.63 GeForce GTX 460 1GB (EVGA) - GeForce 260.63 GeForce GTX 450 1GB (ASUS) - GeForce 260.63 Audio ASUS Xonar D2X Storage Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11 Power Supply Corsair HX1000W Chassis Cooler Master HAF X Full-Tower Display Gateway XHD3000 30" Cooling Corsair H50 Self-Contained Liquid Cooler Et cetera Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit When preparing our testbeds for any type of performance testing, we follow these guidelines: General Guidelines No power-saving options are enabled in the motherboard's BIOS. Internet is disabled. No virus scanner or firewall is installed. The OS is kept clean; no scrap files are left in between runs. Hard drives affected are defragged with Diskeeper 2010 prior to a fresh benchmarking run. Machine has proper airflow and the room temperature is 80°F (27°C) or less. To aide with the goal of keeping accurate and repeatable results, we alter certain services in Windows 7 from starting up at boot. This is due to the fact that these services have the tendency to start up in the background without notice, potentially causing inaccurate test results. For example, disabling "Windows Search" turns off the OS' indexing which can at times utilize the hard drive and memory more than we'd like. The most important services we disable are: Diskeeper 2010. Windows Defender. Windows Error Reporting Service. Windows Event Log. Windows Firewall. Windows Search. Windows Update. The full list of Windows services we assure are disabled is large, but for those interested in perusing it, please look here. Most of the services we disable are mild, but we go to such an extent to have the PC as highly optimized as possible. Game Titles. At this time, we benchmark with three resolutions that represent three popular monitor sizes available today, 20" (1680x1050), 24" (1920x1080) and 30" (2560x1600). Each of these resolutions offers enough of a variance in raw pixel output to warrant testing with it, and each properly represent a different market segment: mainstream, mid-range and high-end. Because we value results generated by real-world testing, we don't utilize timedemos. The possible exceptions might be Futuremark's 3DMark Vantage and Unigine's Heaven 2.1. Though neither of these are games, both act as robust timedemos. We choose to use them as they're a standard where GPU reviews are concerned. All of our results are captured with the help of Beepa's FRAPS 3.2.3, while stress-testing and temperature-monitoring is handled by OCCT 3.1.0 and GPU-Z, respectively. For those interested in the exact settings we use for each game, direct screenshots can be seen below: Colin McRae: Dirt 2. Just Cause 2. Mafia II. Metro 2033. StarCraft II. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Colin McRae: Dirt 2] It's not that often that faithful PC gamers get a proper racing game for their platform of choice, but Dirt 2 is one of those. While it is a "console port", there's virtually nothing in the game that will make that point stand out. The game as a whole takes good advantage of our PC's hardware, and it's as challenging as it is good-looking. Manual Run-through: The race we chose to use in Dirt 2 is the first one available in the game, as it's easily accessible and features a lot of GPU-pounding effects that the game has become known for, such as realistic dust and water effects, a large on-looking crowd of people and fine details on and off the track. Each run-through lasts the entire two laps, which comes out to about 2.5 minutes. We're seeing some interesting results so far, because overall, it's the 1GB card that's coming ahead, not the 2GB. Things changed a little bit at 2560x1600, but as the 2GB card pushed ahead by a mere 0.3FPS, that change is the definition of "minor". [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Just Cause 2] Just Cause 2 might not belong to a well-established series of games, but with its launch, it looks like that might not be the case for long. The game offers not only superb graphics, but an enormous world to explore, and for people like me, a countless number of hidden items to find around it. During the game, you'll be scaling skyscrapers, racing through jungles and fighting atop snow-drenched mountains. What's not to like? Manual Run-through: The level chosen here is part of the second mission in the game, "Casino Bust". Our runthrough begins at the second-half of the level, which requires us to situate ourselves on top of a car and have our driver, Karl Blaine, speed us through part of the island to safety. This is a great mission for benchmarking as we get to see a lot of the landmass, even if some of it is at a distance. Continuing the results we saw with Dirt 2, AMD's 1GB HD...

AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB

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Rob Williams