# GTX 570 or Radeon HD 6970?



## Maelstrom (Dec 15, 2010)

I have wanted to upgrade my 5850 for a while now, but I wanted to wait and see how the 6970 did. Now, having seen W1z's review, I am unsure of which card I should get, the 570 or 6970. So I have come to ask for your recommendations. Which would you get and why?

I was thinking of getting either:
1) SAPPHIRE 100311SR Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5...
2) EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB...
If you know of any better deals, link 'em to me!


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## overclocker (Dec 15, 2010)

I would get the 6970 because it will only get better with drivers + it has 2GB of ram, that will help future proof your machine.


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## EarthDog (Dec 15, 2010)

570 would be my choice. but I F@H and it has better tesselation it seems (still).

2GB of ram wont be used for a looooooooong time, unless you plan on rocking gobs of AA in an eefinity setup. Both will get better with new driver releases.

Honestly, cant go wrong with either...


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## Wyverex (Dec 15, 2010)

Personally, I'd take HD 6970, but as EarthDog said - you pretty much can't go wrong with any of the two.

I'd say, go with the one that's better for the game(s) you play often (if there is such a game) and/or chose based on feature set you like the most (eyefinity vs physix or some such)


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## Maelstrom (Dec 15, 2010)

I'm leaning more toward the 570, simply 'cuse I haven't had a nvidia card for awhile, but I'll await more opinions. I also was thinking about starting to fold, so that would be a plus. Thanks to those who have replied.


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## EastCoasthandle (Dec 15, 2010)

Hmm, I would suggest the 6970 for the use of MLAA and EQAA.  In particular 2xEQ for a bump in frame rate with similar 4xAA quality or 4xEQ which could offer slight higher IQ then 4xAA.


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## wolf (Dec 15, 2010)

I'd pick the GTX570, it's a tad cheaper, and theyre known and shown to overclock like beasts, GTX580 performance should be a shoe-in.

having said that the 6970 isn't a bad choice at all, theres new AA modes, 2gb of fast GDDR5, eyefinity on a single card, and immature performance at this stage, it could end up being GTX580 performance in time.


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## the54thvoid (Dec 15, 2010)

Win win with either choice.  Buy the cheaper one.


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## Maelstrom (Dec 15, 2010)

The new types of AA for the 6970 is interesting, and that powertune option is cool as well. Hmm, decisions, decisions.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 15, 2010)

570

Better drivers, less power consumption, cooler temperatures, CUDA, Physx and better folding. and overall better raw GPU power.



wolf said:


> I'd pick the GTX570, it's a tad cheaper, and theyre known and shown to overclock like beasts, GTX580 performance should be a shoe-in.
> 
> having said that the 6970 isn't a bad choice at all, theres new AA modes, 2gb of fast GDDR5, eyefinity on a single card, and immature performance at this stage, it could end up being GTX580 performance in time.



Assuming ati can get their act together with drivers. 

Now im not being all Bias towards ati because of as you can see my username is nvidiaintelftw. I had a HD5870 before my 470 and it was terrible. all drivers caused microstuttering with ONE card and the 2d clocks were always messed up with ever driver update. Now im on this 470 and its amazing! nvidia for now on


I see the 6970 as being a fail of a card right now. cant even beat a GTX480 in 70% of games and AMD has 2 generation chances to beat it. and basically they havent yet. (single GPu cards. not the 5970. thats a different level in my book) The true winner out of AMD new releases in the 6950. no one should buy the 6970. theres no point wasting that $80 for 5% or lower increase. the HD6950 is faster clock for clock and faster per dollar you spend


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## the54thvoid (Dec 15, 2010)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> 570
> 
> Better drivers, less power consumption, cooler temperatures, CUDA, Physx and better folding. and overall better raw GPU power.
> 
> ...



I've just ordered a GTX 580 so i'm defo not biased but you're so anti ATI it hurts.  One bad experience does not make ATI suk.  I had a GTX 295 and it had issues with drivers too.  I went ATI for the 5 series and now I've gone back to Green for the single card solution.  Stop going on about how shit ATI are - both companies do shit drivers on occasion and your PC's incompatibility issues aren't solely ATI's fault.  I never had micro stutter on dual 5850's , i just want a change and certainty of smooth framerates (i.e. if a game doesnt support crossfire it kinda sux.)

Look at the scaling of the 6series  from W1zzards reviews - it's freaking awesome.  So stop ............ (i edit myself)


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## Volkszorn88 (Dec 15, 2010)

Oh remember the early days of when the GTX480 was released? How everyone bitched and moaned.
Not to mention, the countless Hitler videos on youtube bashing the 480. 

Both companies are great and each bring something unique.


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## Nirutbs (Dec 16, 2010)

y don't u get 5850 to cf..it's good.


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## Over_Lord (Dec 16, 2010)

^^ good option, I dont see "THAT" much performance improvement of a HD6970 over a HD5870 and there aren't many DX11 full blown tess using games yet(not until next gen consoles, another 2 years SIGH!!)

an OCed HD5850 matching HD5870 performance would also do fine. Btw, ur dual core CPU bottlenecks more in newer games.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Dec 16, 2010)

Have you thought about the 6950? The specs are practically identical with only a 100 some shader dif. The only thing holding it back is voltage, once afterburner adds volt support it's going to be the card to get.


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## Melvis (Dec 16, 2010)

Id go with the 5850


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Dec 16, 2010)

the54thvoid said:


> I've just ordered a GTX 580 so i'm defo not biased but you're so anti ATI it hurts.  One bad experience does not make ATI suk.  I had a GTX 295 and it had issues with drivers too.  I went ATI for the 5 series and now I've gone back to Green for the single card solution.  Stop going on about how shit ATI are - both companies do shit drivers on occasion and your PC's incompatibility issues aren't solely ATI's fault.  I never had micro stutter on dual 5850's , i just want a change and certainty of smooth framerates (i.e. if a game doesnt support crossfire it kinda sux.)



haha, give it some time, Im sure he'll calm down being a rabid ati hater , just like anybody else on the net. Semiaccurate should fill up the ati hating vent needs that with their register-less comment posting section 

In anycase, yeah.. @Op, go for the cheaper one in your country. That will be the thing to decide on


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## Thatguy (Dec 18, 2010)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> 570
> 
> Better drivers, less power consumption, cooler temperatures, CUDA, Physx and better folding. and overall better raw GPU power.
> 
> ...



  stop running a broke ass install of windows.


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## Montreal (Dec 18, 2010)

i vote for GTX 570, iam using msi gtx 580 and i think the between 570 and 580 performance is not too far


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## ShiBDiB (Dec 18, 2010)

threads like this r pointless... all it does is bring out the fanboys


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## Thatguy (Dec 18, 2010)

ShiBDiB said:


> threads like this r pointless... all it does is bring out the fanboys



at this point with these 2 cards its a bit like comparing a corvette grand sport with a corvette base model. both basically identical with a few differences in trim level here and there and performance can go either way. 

  I say list out pros/con and price point and make the decision to buy what appeals to you the most and what you feel gives you the best value for your money. 

  it doesn't have to big a big gay fanboi circle jerk, people choose to behave that way.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 18, 2010)

overclocker said:


> I would get the 6970 because it will only get better with drivers + it has 2GB of ram, that will help future proof your machine.



Its almost impossible to future proof a PC. your GPU or whatever part becomes obsolete no matter what 6 months later.


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## erocker (Dec 18, 2010)

Maelstrom said:


> I have wanted to upgrade my 5850 for a while now, but I wanted to wait and see how the 6970 did. Now, having seen W1z's review, I am unsure of which card I should get, the 570 or 6970. So I have come to ask for your recommendations. Which would you get and why?
> 
> I was thinking of getting either:
> 1) SAPPHIRE 100311SR Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5...
> ...



It's probablly best appropriate to answer the question yourself by answering these questions.

1. What will you use the card for?

2. What games do you play most often?

3. After answering question one and two, which card gives you the best performance for what you want to do with it and for what games you play?


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 18, 2010)

Thatguy said:


> stop running a broke ass install of windows.



to bad. i reinstalled it about 3 times when i had my 5870. so obviously its not a broken install

the 570 is an overall FASTER more POWERFUL GPU in itself. The only thing you get with a 6970 is fast GGDR5 2GB of ram. 

And people got to stop with the drivers will only make it better. we that it would with the 5xxx series. and the 2nd driver release for the cards after the cards were released were the only good ones that made a difference. then it went down hill from there. 

DRIVERS WONT FIX EVERYTHING. THEY CAN ONLY IMPROVE SO MUCH


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## Thatguy (Dec 18, 2010)

so got that genuine install disk from MS do ya ?I have had cards from nvidia and ATI never a problem. Never a single driver issue ever. running a real Install disk from Ms seems to help in that regard.Most driver problems at BIOS setup or corrupted files in the OS themselves. sometimes its just crappy game code, but more likely fualty OS, biso settings, bad clocks, crappy power supply. 

   I'd honestly venture maybe 1-10,000 user has a legitimate drive issue when they are complaining about driver issues, I bet the other 9,999 people just have no idea how to properly configure a system. 


  I have 50,000 hours on my primary winxp install, how about you ?

  I actually need to replace this drive soon and I'll just do a straight copy, plug it in and it will fire up like nothing happened. 

  I also don't run any antivirus software, no firewall and no other BS. 

  learn how to keep your system clean and secure and it'll never be a problem. 





nvidiaintelftw said:


> to bad. i reinstalled it about 3 times when i had my 5870. so obviously its not a broken install
> 
> the 570 is an overall FASTER more POWERFUL GPU in itself. The only thing you get with a 6970 is fast GGDR5 2GB of ram.
> 
> ...


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## DriedFrogPills (Dec 18, 2010)

Maelstrom said:


> I have wanted to upgrade my 5850 for a while now, but I wanted to wait and see how the 6970 did. Now, having seen W1z's review, I am unsure of which card I should get, the 570 or 6970. So I have come to ask for your recommendations. Which would you get and why?
> 
> I was thinking of getting either:
> 1) SAPPHIRE 100311SR Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5...
> ...



IF the 6970 was at RRP then i would say it.  Int he same boat with a 5850.  I am thinking of waiting until both the GTX6X0 and the HD79X0's to come out, and just oc the 5850 in after burner to around 900mhz on the clock and be done with it


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## DriedFrogPills (Dec 18, 2010)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> 570
> 
> Better drivers, less power consumption, cooler temperatures, CUDA, Physx and better folding. and overall better raw GPU power.
> 
> ...




Mind you ATI has never released a driver that was so fail it caused the fan to stop spinning and kill cards like nVidia did this year


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 18, 2010)

DriedFrogPills said:


> Mind you ATI has never released a driver that was so fail it caused the fan to stop spinning and kill cards like nVidia did this year



And they fixed that didnt they in the the next release? (hmmm thats funny because ati still hasn't fixed a lot of cf issues and other stuff with their drivers in the last 4 or 5 releases) Either way i didnt have my 470 when that driver was released.


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## DriedFrogPills (Dec 18, 2010)

the next release was too far away for all the owners of the cards it killed


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 18, 2010)

DriedFrogPills said:


> the next release was too far away for all the owners of the cards it killed



im pretty sure it was like a week later or they had a hotfix released like 3 days later


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## DriedFrogPills (Dec 18, 2010)

so its ok when nVidia release a hotfix but not AMD?  though the 10.12's where not that great BSOD'ing like mad when OC'd thorugh overdrive.

but still a new driver a week later is still too late if your card was already fried


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## Maelstrom (Dec 18, 2010)

Sorry I haven't responded recently, been traveling and have been busy. 


Nirutbs said:


> y don't u get 5850 to cf..it's good.



Not an option, using an mATX board that has only 1 pcie 16 slot



erocker said:


> It's probablly best appropriate to answer the question yourself by answering these questions.
> 
> 1. What will you use the card for?
> 
> ...



Hmm, good questions. I was thinking of maybe starting to fold, but most of the games I play aren't all that demanding. Maybe I'll just stick with my 5850, idk.

Thanks to all those who responded.


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## DriedFrogPills (Dec 18, 2010)

if you do want to start folding the 5850 is going to be a good folding card ONCE the AMD GPU3 client is released until then its not going to set the earth alight in F@H


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 18, 2010)

Maelstrom said:


> Sorry I haven't responded recently, been traveling and have been busy.
> 
> 
> Not an option, using an mATX board that has only 1 pcie 16 slot
> ...




Folding? not to demanding? could get GTX470? they can be had for about $250 now on the egg.

EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB...


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## MxPhenom 216 (Dec 18, 2010)

DriedFrogPills said:


> if you do want to start folding the 5850 is going to be a good folding card ONCE the AMD GPU3 client is released until then its not going to set the earth alight in F@H



i thought GPU3 already released and it was a disappointment??


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## Maelstrom (Dec 18, 2010)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> Folding? not to demanding? could get GTX470? they can be had for about $250 now on the egg.
> 
> EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB...



I feel like though, if I'm going to actually buy a new card, I should at least get one that's a big step up.






My resolution is roughly the same, so I don't feel a 470 would be worth it, as it's roughly only a 4% increase, whereas a 570 (or 6970) is around a 23% increase.


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## DriedFrogPills (Dec 18, 2010)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> i thought GPU3 already released and it was a disappointment??



nope not yet released still for the AMD crowd, for nVidia cards its been out for ages


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## Thatguy (Dec 18, 2010)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> And they fixed that didnt they in the the next release? (*hmmm thats funny because ati still hasn't fixed a lot of cf issues and other stuff with their drivers in the last 4 or 5 releases*) Either way i didnt have my 470 when that driver was released.



   say wtf ????? some of the problem with CF scalling was hardware driven, not driver driven.Have you seen the CF scalling on the 68xx and 69xx series cards ?? are you freaking joking ? the 5 series hardware will likely never scale that well.


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## cookiemonster (Dec 20, 2010)

Hi I read an article that said the 570 worked better with intel sandy bridge, and having an AMD mobo that puts me at a disadvantage right away so i think i will stick with AMD and go for the XFX 6970 and if AMD drop the price in future I can allways get another one, thanks for all the oppinions above.


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## Thatguy (Dec 20, 2010)

cookiemonster said:


> Hi I read an article that said the 570 worked better with intel sandy bridge, and having an AMD mobo that puts me at a disadvantage right away so i think i will stick with AMD and go for the XFX 6970 and if AMD drop the price in future I can allways get another one, thanks for all the oppinions above.



   smells like intel marketing BS to me.


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## DriedFrogPills (Dec 20, 2010)

That and sandy bridge isnt out yet


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## Jamborhgini313 (Dec 21, 2010)

If I were to choose, 6970>GTX 570 but the 500 series are so quiet and they over like insane


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## Athlon2K15 (Dec 27, 2010)

get an 6950 they unlock


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## cheezburger (Dec 27, 2010)

go for gtx 570, you wont see much different from 5850 to 6970 in most of game except game with higher tessellation. however gtx 570 will just do much better in newer tessellation game and older texture/pixel heavy game and buff shader game that ported console as well. not to mention it has physx and cuda and more rop/bus bit width and insane pixel fill rate compare to 6970's poor fill rate that's already squeezed off from extreme clocked 32 rops/256bit gpu.

if you have more budget then putting extra 70 bucks you will get a much nicer gtx 580. some gtx 580 is now below $500 with tax.


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## Solaris17 (Dec 27, 2010)

cheezburger said:


> go for gtx 570, you wont see much different from 5850 to 6970 in most of game except game with higher tessellation. however gtx 570 will just do much better in newer tessellation game and older texture/pixel heavy game and buff shader game that ported console as well. not to mention it has physx and cuda and more rop/bus bit width and insane pixel fill rate compare to 6970's poor fill rate that's already squeezed off from extreme clocked 32 rops/256bit gpu.
> 
> if you have more budget then putting extra 70 bucks you will get a much nicer gtx 580. some gtx 580 is now below $500 with tax.



why? the 570 is a damn good card but with a 6970 its cheaper and while the performance might be slightly lower then the 570 its amazing for the price. not to mention while physx is fun and cool etc. lets face it for $4xx you better not buy the card just for physx. why not save a few bucks and buy a nice steak or maybe some mazza sticks (only if eaten with ranch marinara is for pansies.)


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## rick22 (Dec 27, 2010)

Get the 6970..don't be stupid like  cheezburger


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## Athlon2K15 (Dec 27, 2010)

rick22 said:


> Get the 6970..don't be stupid like  cheezburger


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## rick22 (Dec 27, 2010)

AthlonX2 said:


>





lol..i'm so smart


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## cheezburger (Dec 27, 2010)

Solaris17 said:


> why? the 570 is a damn good card but with a 6970 its cheaper and while the performance might be slightly lower then the 570 its amazing for the price. not to mention while physx is fun and cool etc. lets face it for $4xx you better not buy the card just for physx. why not save a few bucks and buy a nice steak or maybe some mazza sticks (only if eaten with ranch marinara is for pansies.)



nope...there's noway a gtx 570 can cost 400 bucks...

PNY VCGGTX570XPB GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 32...



rick22 said:


> Get the 6970..don't be stupid like  cheezburger



tell me how worth can you get if you have a 6970. under the same price range gtx 570 is a bit better than 6970.


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## Solaris17 (Dec 27, 2010)

cheezburger said:


> nope...there's noway a gtx 570 can cost 400 bucks...
> 
> PNY VCGGTX570XPB GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 32...
> 
> ...



in what tests other then physx? also how bout after overclocking? also cdan i have a list of games that support tessilation? im curious.


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## cheezburger (Dec 27, 2010)

Solaris17 said:


> in what tests other then physx? also how bout after overclocking? also cdan i have a list of games that support tessilation? im curious.



first off you'd need to realize there aint much of room for 69xx to oc because they are already clocked very high while gtx 570 has a lot of room to grow plus non of any amd card can run extreme tessellation on the part with gtx 570/580. unless 6970/6950 can drop price to below $250or  i would not suggest people to buy that card. it's basically not worth $350 to buy them if gtx 570 is also at that price range.


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## Solaris17 (Dec 27, 2010)

cheezburger said:


> first off you'd need to realize there aint much of room for 69xx to oc because they are already clocked very high while gtx 570 has a lot of room to grow plus non of any amd card can run extreme tessellation on the part with gtx 570/580. unless 6970/6950 can drop price to below $250or  i would not suggest people to buy that card. it's basically not worth $350 to buy them if gtx 570 is also at that price range.



do you own a 6970/50? do you KNOW for a FACT they cant clock? what is the use of tessellation at this point other then demos? please explain.


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## fusionblu (Dec 27, 2010)

After todays newest discovery it would have to be the AMD HD6950 because that can be unlocked to run the same as a 6970:
http://www.techpowerup.com/137140/AMD-Radeon-HD-6950-Can-be-Unlocked-to-HD-6970.html


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## cheezburger (Dec 27, 2010)

Solaris17 said:


> do you own a 6970/50? do you KNOW for a FACT they cant clock? what is the use of tessellation at this point other then demos? please explain.



how much room do you think that can be oc on 69xx when their clock speed are nearly hitting 1ghz barrier(880mhz!!)? while gtx 570 is only 725 mhz and having more head room for oc. that's say, if  ut has to take a 6970 at 950mhz to tight up with gtx 570 at stock that mean when gtx 570 clock up to 800mhz 6970 would have to clock up to 1.13ghz to match an oc gtx 570 and it may cause stable/voltage issue but main while gtx 570 can theoretically go up to 950mhz. even if you can tweak higher voltage and manage to go up to 1.2ghz you will find it very little room to go higher and wouldn't performing better than oc gtx 570. unless someone can bring up example that 6970's oc range can be up to 25% like gtx 570 does.

however if you are fanboi you can choose to ignore this post. simple.


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## animal007uk (Dec 27, 2010)

I like the way tessellation is mentioned so much and how much nvidia is better at it, But from what i see at high res (1920/1200 4xaa) the hd 6950 is 0.1fps slower than a 570 in Unigine Heaven so if nvidia is so good why do i see 0.1 fps diffrence. And sorry to say but low res scores don't count in my eyes because only a fool would buy such powerfull cards to play at a shity low res.


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## wolf (Dec 27, 2010)

cheezburger said:


> how much room do you think that can be oc on 69xx when their clock speed are nearly hitting 1ghz barrier(880mhz!!)? while gtx 570 is only 725 mhz and having more head room for oc. that's say, if  ut has to take a 6970 at 950mhz to tight up with gtx 570 at stock that mean when gtx 570 clock up to 800mhz 6970 would have to clock up to 1.13ghz to match an oc gtx 570 and it may cause stable/voltage issue but main while gtx 570 can theoretically go up to 950mhz. even if you can tweak higher voltage and manage to go up to 1.2ghz you will find it very little room to go higher and wouldn't performing better than oc gtx 570. unless someone can bring up example that 6970's oc range can be up to 25% like gtx 570 does.
> 
> however if you are fanboi you can choose to ignore this post. simple.



1ghz isn't really a barrier as such, it's apples to oranges to compare the speeds of both cores and say that the 6900's are closer to 1ghz and thus less overclockable. Intel i7's clock better than phenom 2's even when you buy one @ 3.33ghz as oppose to a phenom 2 @ 2.8ghz, you may get the PII to 4ghz but you'll likely get the i7 to 4.5ghz with the same cooling. apples to oranges.


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## the54thvoid (Dec 27, 2010)

I've only read the title and not anything else i between (avoids the mud slinging).

Buy a 6970.


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## erocker (Dec 27, 2010)

Okay, well these XXX card vs. XXX card threads need to stop. Instead of making these threads, do this:

1. Read reviews for the cards you are interested in.

2. Find what is in your budget.

3. Buy card.

It's really that simple.


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