# Need advice for HTPC upgrade: GeForce 560 Ti 448 or Radeon HD6950 2GBs



## 15th Warlock (Dec 1, 2011)

Hello guys, I'm about to upgrade my HTPC video card, as my SLI 285s are still fast for gaming, but don't support DX11, and wanted your advice. 

I haven't had a Radeon card since my old X850GTO (or was it X800? I don't remember ) and was wondering if AMD's current offering in the form of the HD6950 2GBs was a good candidate for the upgrade, due to the possibility of flashing to a 6970, and the excellent scaling in X-Fire. The only cons for me are the lack of PhysX and not having any experience using AMD's 3D gaming and BluRay solution. 

The other alternative would be the recently launched GTX 560 Ti 448 cores, which seems like a very good deal in the price/performance department, plus I'm already familiar with Nvidia 3D Vision for gaming and watching movies. The cons are the relatively small memory buffer compared to the 6950, and the fact that the card will see a limited release, limiting the possibility of going SLI in the future. 

So having mentioned the pros and cons, what do you guys think would be the best choice? Bear in mind that I'll use this in an HTPC case with limited air circulation, so thermals and accoustics are also a concern. I also plan to definitely go multi GPU at some point in the future. 

Do you guys have any suggestions?


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## 15th Warlock (Dec 1, 2011)

So here's an idea of how much room I have inside this HTPC case:







Looks pretty crowded huh? good thing my H100 radiator is outside the case and thermals for the CPU are not affected:






The case has pretty poor ventilation, so I need a card that can preferably blow its hot air out of the case in the rear, as it has no venting whatsoever:






So far I haven't found any GTX560 Ti 448 or HD6950 that fits the bill, do you guys have any idea of which card would be better? I'm even starting to consider a GTX570, I want a powerful DX11 system and the option to go SLI or X-Fire later on, what do you guys recommend?


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## radrok (Dec 1, 2011)

If you can't wait I think a 6950 is your best bet, they unlock like crazy and performance is up to the task on 1920x1080 though 3D gaming support is not as good as Nvidia.
Physx titles are so few that I honestly wouldn't care about it. I still have to remember a title that used Physx (Mafia?) on my old 480s SLI.

Your best bet is to wait December to see what AMD/ATI has to get out of the oven, really


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## theJesus (Dec 1, 2011)

Wait, why in the world do you need that much performance in an HTPC?  Hell, the IGP on your 2600K should be enough for an HTPC.


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## de.das.dude (Dec 1, 2011)

ur htpc is faster than my gaming rig


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## Jetster (Dec 1, 2011)

Those are gaming cards. You can run a HTPC on your onboard graphics and a i3 CPU

I have one and it works great.

Also that case does not have the best air flow. Sorry it just kills me for some reason when people build a gaming rig and call it a HTPC

Put those awesome parts in a decent case and buy a cheep AMD dual core and a 6550 GPU for a HTPC


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## assaulter_99 (Dec 1, 2011)

Fist thing you gotta explain is what you gonna do with it. You only said watching movies, which for these cards, are utter over-kill. Is it for gaming too?


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## radrok (Dec 1, 2011)

Probably he called it HTPC even though he's gonna use it for gaming, I hope atleast 
You certainly won't use graphics horsepower to watch movies


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## AsRock (Dec 1, 2011)

I think some thing like a 5770 would be perfect for  HTPC. How ever my AMD setup and my Intel setup ( 775 ) take about the same power while idle.  Even though one has a 4250 ( on-board and my intel setup has a 6970 ( which i think is way more than needed for a HTPC )..

So 5770 or even a 6770.


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## 15th Warlock (Dec 1, 2011)

Thanks for your replies guys  

Yes, I'm sorry if I wasn't specific enough about the purpose of this rig, I'll use this "HTPC" primarily for 1080p 3D gaming and watching 3D blurays, and secondarily for use as a media server and video editing rig, that's why I used the term "gaming HTPC" in the poll's question  I call it an HTPC mainly because I use it in my gaming room, sorry for the confusion 

My current setup is fast enough for most current games in 3D, but it's missing DX11 acceleration, so games like BF3 and Crysis 2 default to lower image quality settings, that's why I wanted to update my video cards and give these 285s to my little brother for his rig. 

I'm still looking for a mid~high range card in the $250~300 neighborhood that can give me good 1080p 3D performance and exhaust the hot air out of the case like my current 285s do, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated, once again, thanks for your input 

EDIT:




radrok said:


> Your best bet is to wait December to see what AMD/ATI has to get out of the oven, really



Yes, the 7000 series are to be released in a few days if I'm not mistaken right? That may even drive down the prices of current cards as well, I think I'll probably follow your advice, thank you


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 1, 2011)

Got a vote for a 6950 as they aren't as power hungry but seeing 2x 285's in an HTPC  

Maybe that doesn't matter to you as much.


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## theJesus (Dec 1, 2011)

I'm sorry, I completely overlooked the word "gaming" in the poll 

Anyways, I would go with the 560 Ti 448, just for the sake of not having to use new drivers lol
They're both so close in performance that I don't think you can really go wrong with either one.


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## erocker (Dec 1, 2011)

HIS H695F2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI...


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## 15th Warlock (Dec 1, 2011)

What do you guys think of this deal:

XFX Radeon HD6970 2GBs $299.99 after MIR

This card should be faster than my current SLI 285s, right?


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## Cold Storm (Dec 1, 2011)

Mmmm XFX... I like... 

I think you'll see a good improvement over the sli set up.. plus I know your crossfire sooner or later..


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## 15th Warlock (Dec 2, 2011)

OK, I ordered the XFX card, I think it's a great deal for a 6970, haven't had an Ati card since... Well since they used to be Ati  I'm excited 

Do you guys have any experience with the Radeon 3D implementation? Is it good compared to NVidia's? I also have an old GeForce 430 laying somewhere and intend to use for PhysX, there's a hack for that too, am I right?

Anyways, thanks for your help guys, I have high expectations for this card


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## stefanels (Dec 2, 2011)

get that 6970... it's fast enough for a HTPC


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## AsRock (Dec 2, 2011)

15th Warlock said:


> Thanks for your replies guys
> 
> Yes, I'm sorry if I wasn't specific enough about the purpose of this rig, I'll use this "HTPC" primarily for 1080p 3D gaming and watching 3D blurays, and secondarily for use as a media server and video editing rig, that's why I used the term "gaming HTPC" in the poll's question  I call it an HTPC mainly because I use it in my gaming room, sorry for the confusion
> 
> ...



6950  then.  Reason being is the idle power usage is dam low.  I am running a old 775 intel system with 2 SSD'd and 3 HDD's with a 6970 and whole system idles 95w.  Although when gaming goes up to 350w give or take ( while gaming ).  Ooh and 5 120mm fans + a 92mm fan.

Or just wait for the 7 series as they might be even better for power saving.


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