HIS Radeon HD 6950 2 GB

[W1zzard]

HIS Radeon HD 6950 is a new option in the $300 upper midrange graphics card segment. It has enough power to play the latest titles in Full HD resolution. Thanks to improved geometry and tesselation engines it also promises to deliver increased performance in latest titles compared to the Radeon HD 5870.

Show full review

 

[jasper1605]

thanks as always for the reviews Wiz!

 

[HXL492]

The 6950 isn't really a disappointment. It performs slightly faster than the 5870 with lower power consumption. Personally I think AMD could've called this a 6890 instead.

 

[mav2000]

I am Disappoint

 

[Volkszorn88]

This is actually kind of good. With the new line of cards, the price for the 5970 has dropped dramitically since it 1st went retail. And it's still a monster of a card.

On newegg, you can purchase a Sapphire 5970 for $470, great price for a beast.

Thanks for the review.

 

[DonInKansas]

I am Disappoint

Hmmm, I thought you were mav2000.

This is pretty much what was expected. Good lookin' cards.

 

[h2so4]

6850 CF is a great value when you look at this benchmark.

 

[Goodman]

6850 CF is a great value when you look at this benchmark.

Would the 6850 in CF be a better value?
I don't know i am just asking since i didn't see all benchmarks of the 6800 series

 

[h2so4]

Would the 6870 in CF be a better value?
I don't know i am just asking since i didn't see all benchmarks of the 6800 series

I don't think 6870s a great value when you compare price/performance, but 6850 CF beats GTX 580 for a lot less money.

6870 CF Review
The combination of two Radeon HD 6870 cards in CrossFire cuts loose an interesting beast. Being priced at $480, it immediately feels like a big purchase. On the other hand, it offers more price/performance than the GeForce GTX 480, Radeon HD 5870 or Radeon HD 5970, the trio of single graphics cards closest to this - and is faster than all of them. Especially against the HD 5970 we see quite a performance difference. But then, it is the maximum configuration of the HD 6870, you cannot add a third of fourth card later, if you need more performance.

Another important point here is that AMD has more cards coming which will probably put the performance of this CrossFire setup into a single card, and you will be able to CrossFire two, three or four of them. The HD 6870 CrossFire might work out for you if you have just enough dough for one card now, and the scope to add a second card later. So the bottom line is that the HD 6870 CrossFire setup is more of academic value than something you should look at purchasing without knowing all your options that will be available in the next months.

6850 CF Review
At this time AMD's Radeon HD 6850 seems to be the most affordable high-performance multi-card setup out there. It offers the possibility of getting one HD 6850 card today: win because it's price/performance king and has enough steam to let you play all the latest games at resolutions up to, including, 1680x1050 well into next year. Should you then require a more capable gaming rig, you can just grab another HD 6850 that should be even cheaper by then and keep on gaming. But at this point your setup will be maxxed out, you can not just add a third or fourth card like the HD 5800 series allowed you to do.

Another important point here is that AMD has more cards coming which will probably put the performance of this CrossFire setup into a single card, and you will be able to CrossFire two, three or four of them. So the bottom line is that right now you shouldn't invest into a HD 6850 CrossFire setup, but don't be afraid to buy the single card now if its expandability options don't seem to be an issue for you. There will always be something new at the horizon, rather start gaming now than play the waiting game.

 

[Goodman]

I don't think it's a great value when you compare price/performance, but 6850 CF beats GTX 580 for a lot less money.

Yeah! i meant the 6850 & not the 6870 i mix my thoughts

Edited my post

 

[wolf]

fantastic memory overclock on the 6950, I'd like to see cards with custom PCB's running faster clocks all round, say 850mhz core and 1500mhz memory for a 6950.

 

[Swamp Monster]

This card is not disappointment at all. Dual Bios is great too! Also this power draw limiting system could probably limit extreme overclocks, but it won't let your card die in flames. I actually like those "dummy" protection features. I expect some safety features from $300 piece of hardware.
Great review as always!

 

[Over_Lord]

So they increased 1 BILLION transistors over the HD6870 for 7-9 fps increase in games?????


A die size of some 280 to 390 fro HD6800 to HD6900 for that 7-9fps???? WAS it JUSTIFIED??? HELL NO FAIL AMD FAIL I expected sooo much from these guys but they just f**ked it all up man, DISAPPOINTED.

I mean if you can OC a HD6870 to 1050 core and 1300 mem and get HD6950 performance with around same power consumption, what's the ......... use of the DH6950 What shit man

 

[inferKNOX]

I'm only reading on the 2nd page of the review now, but thought I aught to mention that this link to a picture at the top of the page is broken:
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970_5653/images/arch.jpg
Also, oddly enough, the 1st page was mostly talking about the 6970 instead of 6950, but I'm unsure if that was the intention.

EDIT: even page 2 & 3 is talking about the 6970 (even though pictures on pg3 are 6950) ??

 

[_JP_]

Great Review, W1zzard! Keep them coming.

So they increased 1 BILLION transistors over the HD6870 for 7-9 fps increase in games?????


A die size of some 280 to 390 fro HD6800 to HD6900 for that 7-9fps???? WAS it JUSTIFIED??? HELL NO FAIL AMD FAIL I expected sooo much from these guys but they just f**ked it all up man, DISAPPOINTED.

I mean if you can OC a HD6870 to 1050 core and 1300 mem and get HD6950 performance with around same power consumption, what's the ......... use of the DH6950 What shit man

Chill pills needed here, stat!
And dude, change the tone and don't start flaming. If you don't like it, don't buy it and enjoy your HD 5850. If you still want to comment on the card, make it constructive. Also, not all people know or want to overclock, so for them it could be worth it.
IMO, I think it's a good card. The innovations made can leave room for future improvements. I agree that overall the performance isn't that much of a boom, compared to the HD6870, but seems suitable for the $50 extra.

 

[Over_Lord]

Also, not all people know or want to overclock, so for them it could be worth it.

I mean AMD Overclock and release something like HD6890, similar to HD4890.

WHat I mean is they could have done something better, possibly more shaders or higher clocks but the performance improvement is not good. However, we musn't forget the pricing. HD5870 sold fror 400$ +, here HD6970 is 370$ so in that respect, this card is actually earning less for AMD even though they had to spend on it's R&D.

 

[pantherx12]

Getting 2 of these next year, will 1ghz core them.

I promise.

 

[inferKNOX]

Not that I'm complaining, but I think that using the Catalyst 10.12 could have seriously swayed the review, considering some tests were showing the 6950 below the 6870 and that others were saying that the new drivers do indeed make a significant difference.
After all 10.12 were the ones said to officially support the 6900s.

 

[W1zzard]

Not that I'm complaining, but I think that using the Catalyst 10.12 could have seriously swayed the review, considering some tests were showing the 6950 below the 6870 and that others were saying that the new drivers do indeed make a significant difference.
After all 10.12 were the ones said to officially support the 6900s.
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6950/images/battleforge_1920_1200.gif

Catalyst 10.12 DOES NOT support the HD 6900 series, they add support for the HD 6800.
AMD has told me there is a driver bug in all existing Catalyst drivers for HD 6900 that affects Battleforge. But no fix yet.
Looks like every time someone asks "omg drivers" it's someone who hasn't done his homework and is looking to grasp for straws. how long do you think it takes me to rebench a single card? how many cards do i have? how long have the drivers been out?

 

[inferKNOX]

Catalyst 10.12 DOES NOT support the HD 6900 series, they add support for the HD 6800.
AMD has told me there is a driver bug in all existing Catalyst drivers for HD 6900 that affects Battleforge. But no fix yet.
Looks like every time someone asks "omg drivers" it's someone who hasn't done his homework and is looking to grasp for straws. how long do you think it takes me to rebench a single card? how many cards do i have? how long have the drivers been out?

I understand the time constraints, etc. I wasn't meaning rebench, but rather suggesting that your future reviews on the same cards by other vendors might be more accurate if they use 10.12, which I believed to have full support. I thought that you may have benched the 6900s because you couldn't wait for 10.12 because of how long it takes. As I said, I did not mean my statement as a complaint at all.

Excuse my mistaken assumption that the drivers had full support for the 6900s, it was based on seeing:

AMD Stream 2.3 SDK release

• Performance improvements for AMD’s OpenCL toolset
• Support UVD video hardware component through OpenCL driver (Windows 7 only)
• Support for the Stream Profiler on Linux (command line version)
• Support added for AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series and AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
• Support for FFT and BLAS-3 libraries
• Stream Profiler enhancements (including timeline visualization)
• Resolves a number of bug fixes from the Stream SDK 2.2 release

but I guess that just applies to AMD Stream.

 

[johnnyfiive]

6850 CF is a great value when you look at this benchmark.

6870 CF = best value, hands down.

 

[WarEagleAU]

awesome review I didnt ever for once think the 6000 series would whoop the 5800 series but I am ,loving how things play out. Good improvements.

 

[Hayder_Master]

grate review w1z as always
expected performance after we see old 6850 review, but only feel happy with new improves in tessellation

 

[cmarino]

Hello,

how many temperature sensors does the 6950 have? I tried researching on the Internet but couldn't find it.

The reason I'm asking is because I just found out that GPU-Z comes up with THREE different temperatures (plus 1 VReg sensor), and what worries me is that one of the three is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than the other 2!



Since my 6950 is modded (I removed the noisy stock fan and replaced it with a "fanless" Accelero S1 rev2.0, with added fans), I used to keep an eye on the Speedfan's "GPU" value (which was usually ok), but didn't know that there were other sensors to check!

Can anybody tell me if all the GPU-Z readings are accurate, and if they belong to ACTUAL hardware sensors on the board? (for example...: where is the "voltage regulator temperature" sensor???)

Thank you!

 

[Norton]

Hello,

how many temperature sensors does the 6950 have? I tried researching on the Internet but couldn't find it.

The reason I'm asking is because I just found out that GPU-Z comes up with THREE different temperatures (plus 1 VReg sensor), and what worries me is that one of the three is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than the other 2!

[url]http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8276/gpuzsensors.jpg[/URL]

Since my 6950 is modded (I removed the noisy stock fan and replaced it with a "fanless" Accelero S1 rev2.0, with added fans), I used to keep an eye on the Speedfan's "GPU" value (which was usually ok), but didn't know that there were other sensors to check!


Can anybody tell me if all the GPU-Z readings are accurate, and if they belong to ACTUAL hardware sensors on the board? (for example...: where is the "voltage regulator temperature" sensor???)

Thank you!

**** EDIT- looks as if you started a 2nd thread about this and getting good advise from people that know much more than me about this ***

This is an older thread... may be a good idea to PM a mod and see if they can move this topic onto a new thread


The high temps are likely the voltage regulation circuit (VRM's) but am not positive. These temps tend to go up when the stock cooler is swapped out.

These temps are high but not extreme for your setup- adding heatsinks to the VRM chips may bring the temps down some. Check a few reviews for your cooler or a similar model to see what temps are running on the cards they tested with.