Need a vid card suggestion real quick

[Debrody]

I cant help with your mobo, but if it can run them, i would choose an ati card.
I wouldnt choose the 5k series now. Even tho the 5870 is still a buttkicker card, the 6870 can do 85-90% of its performance, eats less energy, plus cheaper than the old monster.
The 6950 is also a good choice, i heard with its duel bios, it can be turned into a 6970. Pretty much better cards than the geforce 570 series, not to talk about they are cheaper.

[TequilaChaser]

first off, I own both a 6870 1 gig XFX card and a XFX 6950 2 Gig VC......... their is only 2 or 3 of the 6950 models that can be boosted up to 6970 specs,  and few more that are able to be overclocked

as for your XFX nforce 750a MB, I just searched for the following

XFX nforce 750a sli MB and ATI 5870 video card

and it is about a 70 %  yes ATI will work , verse about a 30 % no it won't......  main thing people posted was the MB bottle necking the VC at the 5870 series.... so anything higher/newer might be even bottled necked more so

also, XFX says you must flash the BIOS on your MB before using the latest Cat 11.8 drivers for this model...... so with XFX posting that on their support site, I would assume ATI cards will work

hope this helps

TC

[jollyFE]

ill have to look at that then

[SilverZ06]

first off, I own both a 6870 1 gig XFX card and a XFX 6950 2 Gig VC......... their is only 2 or 3 of the 6950 models that can be boosted up to 6970 specs,  and few more that are able to be overclocked
TC

\

do you know which models by any chance? I am looking to order the xfx 6950 2gig 830mhz version you have

[Krusty]

Don't bank on "unlocking" *any* modern card. That's something that a few rare cards could do way back, but nowadays they don't do it. There's more difference now between the full and budget cards than there was back then.

Don't bet on it, don't bank on it. Don't spend less hoping to get more power. Just pick the best card for your budget, and then accept that this is your card. Overclock if that's your thing, but really, don't void the warranty and potentially fry the card for something the manufacturers are fully aware of and do their best to prevent.


For every 1 story of "I unlocked this!" you have millions more stories never told where it didn't work, or where it harmed the card.

[icepac]

My entire point in mentioning the the 4890 outperforming the later 57xx and 67xx series card was to illustrate the importance of the second digit in ATI/AMD cards.

It's a no brainer that newer generations will be more advanced because they are.......newer.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Don't bank on "unlocking" *any* modern card.

Actually there are a couple cards that come from the factory with optional 6950/6970 flash files already in the package.

[TequilaChaser]

\

do you know which models by any chance? I am looking to order the xfx 6950 2gig 830mhz version you have

I don't remember which exact brands offer the switch & optional bios flash files, like MrRipley mentions..... I do know their are some though..... for the majority of the 6950 cards though, they are locked in at whatever the factory settings come with..... now I have the extreme 6950 which XFX factory overclocked, but it will not upgrade to a 6970

Drano went with the MSI version and it was also factory overclocked and had room for more, also my XFX version has room for a lil more OC...... and I can gain even more by using Saphires OC utility or even MSI's OC utility...... the Overdrive thru the ATI CCC does not offer much at all in this department......

edit: but seriously, noone should have to even think of OC'ing one of these 6950's 2 Gig models beyond factory settings......... they are already overkill for just about all games out there in my opinion ( as long as you got the other PC components to push it ) ( heck, my XFX factory OC'ed 6870 1 Gig plays just fine and just as good as the more expensive 6950 2 Gig card I got..... I can not see any difference at all in Aces High )

hope this helps


TC

[Ack-Ack]

Before anyone thinks of getting the ATI 6xxx series, you need to be aware of the issues that card has with the ATI drivers.  The official drivers have a very difficult time in recognizing the 6xxx series which is why after each new driver revision ATI is forced to release a hot fix for the 6xxx series.  If you're going to go ATI, the 5xxx series (the upper series from 57xx to 59xx) would probably be the better choice as there is really nothing on the horizon from ATI in regards to fixing the problem with the drivers and the 6xxx series.  This was the major reason for me for not getting a new ATI card and went with Nvidia this time on my new system, ATI seems to be sliding backwards and falling into their old habits in regards to their drivers.

ack-ack

[Krusty]

Ack-Ack, I have a new (ish) HD 6970.

I have not had a single issue recognizing the card. The issues I have had regarding fledgling driver support include little graphics artifacts. These were present in the first few months of drivers but have been all but eliminated now. In a number of games old and new I have no problems with the ATI drivers.

It's not a problem, in short.

[Tigger29]

This is what you want right here.  And IT'S A STEAL AT $150!  (click on the pic)

[Krusty]

Tigger, did you mean to put that here:

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,319480.0.html

instead?

[TequilaChaser]

that's strange, out of 4 different 6xxx series ATI cards I have yet to experience any problems ......   this is the first I have heard anything like that about continous hot fixes being needed

only (2) driver version releases that did not seem to have imrpoved on the previous version they were replacing.......



TC

[Drano]

TC try the AMD catalyst drivers instead of those you might find on the XFX site. They get updated about once a month. They be here:

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

These be for Windows 7 64-bit

[Drano]

FWIW I'm having no problems with this 6950 currently running the 11.7 Catalyst drivers. No CCC, using ati tray tools instead.

As to the flashing the bios to 6970, apparently my card (MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III PE/OC Edition), "may" be capable of this. It has a dual bios switch on it which is really a choice between two almost identical bios's difference being one having a more aggressive fan speed curve/profile than the other. The switch would allow you to flash the card in one position with another bios and many have done this to make their 6950 cards into a 6970 card (it adds more shaders and I think higher clock speeds) as they both share the same PCB, GPU and memory. However, some newer versions of my card are incapable of being flashed. Something to do with being "lazer etched"? I dunno. Because of this I'm not even gonna try as I'm not able to swallow a bricked $300 video card like some guys are. I doubt I'll ever be part of that tribe.