I'm looking to do a computer build for gaming with a 2500k processor and I can't decide on which card I want to go with. I want to play games like Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, COD World at War, etc. I don't really know which card to chose, so any help is appreciated.
They're both pretty similar cards benchmark-wise. Personally I'd go for whichever is cheapest, and depending on weather you plan to crossfire/SLI in the future, which cards are more availible. Personally I've noticed there seems to be a lack of 6950 cards compared to 560Ti cards. So the 560Ti might be a better option on that basis alone seeing as they're fairly close from a performance perspective.
UK price for a 2GB 6950 is £150, and a 2GB 560Ti is around £170-£200. US prices are about the same for both cards.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=47,37&sort=a5
ok thanks, I do some more research and see what kind of deal I can get on either card
i have the 6950 with the bios switch that lets you unlock the 6970 shaders, + oced it and its a beast. Look out for one on ebay and you will not be dissapointed
I have a MSI Twin Frozr II 6950 at the moment, the nice thing about the 6950's is that most of them have the 2gb vram. You will only benefit from this if you are running 1440p+ or you are running games with a lot of customized addons/mods (Skyrim, Mincecraft,etc...). For the games you mentioned they're overall pretty close but Nvidia seems to take the cake by a couple FPS, I also know the Crysis 2 tends to favor Nvidia cards.
When I was playing BF3 on my card, I was able to play on ultra 1080p (2xaa or 0xaa from what I recall) and I never dipped below 30. I think on open maps I'd average around 45 fps which isn't a big deal to me but to some people it is. My GPU's core clock is currently OC'd to 920 for reference and temps NEVER exceed 80c, that's the benefit of the MSI Twin Frozr series is the air cooling.
As mentioned before with the bios switch, that was ONLY on Saphire Toxic series from what I recall and you do run a chance of not actually unlocking it. It's not garunteed but very probable that it will switch.
is that myth real? I bought an ASUS DirectCU II EAH6950 2 GB and I'm pretty sure the switch I have there is NOT for a dual bios...Also I've heard that my specific card can't be flashed to unlock the shaders...
Anyhow, I personally dislike nvidia just for their marketing policies and their closed minds...Since the performance is pretty much on par, but AMD/ATi is usually cheaper, get the ATi (as long as you can live without PhysX). Mine is running SUPER cool (asus has designed this very well) and I have absolutely no lag on any game I played at max settings with a 1080p screen...