Radeon 6950 - a good or bad card for CloD?

[TedStryker]

Days away from a new build, but I'm a totally in the dark when it comes to gear, so I'm hoping some of you fellas can help me.
I've been scanning the forums and noticing alot of complaints about performance on 69* series cards; while others seem to have no problem. There seems to be a consensus that at least 2gb of GPU RAM is required to run CloD well - but then Gunslinger's tests indicate that the stutters could be caused by the code not 'feeding' the CPU, or maybe a HDD versus SSD issue.

Both of those possibilities would render the expense of a 2gb card sort of pointless at the moment...or would it? I just don't know.

So I was for hoping a bit of feedback from 6950 users on whether you'd recommend it. I'm primarily building this rig to run CloD (though I can't wait to see how '46 looks on it!), so i don't want to bugger the GPU selection up!

The bloke who's gonna build it recommends the Asus GTX560 1gb as a cheaper alternative if a 2gb card is'nt required...is that a good second choice? My max budget for a card is about £200 sterling. I'm wondering if I should buy a cheaper 1gb card now and add another one if I need to later.

Aaarrggh too many choices!

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers

Ted

[Flymo3000]

I'm also going to build a system soon, to play CloD - so would also be interested to hear feedback from owners of HD 69xx cards. Currently I've settled on the 6950, rather than a 2GB Nvidia GTX 560, but that could all change...

Although the data sample is still small, the results on my site here show that systems with the HD 69xx cards seem to be performing well - with good average FPS on the Black Death track.

[Troll2k]

There seems to be a problem with the 69xx cards.People are not sure if it is a driver problem or a game problem.The result is 3 blue horizontal bands on the horizon.Fps wise it seems quite adequate.

[cunnidc]

I have a 2GB 6950 and have experienced none of the 'blue line' issues reported elsewhere. I must admit I'm a little disappointed with my FPS rate but if I hadn't bothered to check I would have been none the wiser.

I don't have the time to tinker with settings, I haven't tried the Beta patch, the game is as downloaded from Steam. My system was brand new and runs with a Sandy Bridge 2500 o/c to 4.0gHz and 8GB of ram.

[Bobb4]

The game runs great on a HD6950 if you do not mind the ATI blue stripes.
I am sure a cure for the stripes will be on hand soon.
The blue stipes are a known issue of the 6xxx series in the game and i would seriously doubt you would be lucky enough to buy one that does not have the problem.

As for other games it is awesome. Only problems games are Clod and mount and blade fire and sword, but the later has always had issues with ati graphics cards.

I am given to understand that only one member of the clod development team is using an ati which could explain the problem not being fixed yet
it is unlikely they would dare release the game in the US without addressing the ati issues considering the massive ati support in the US

[Psycho_Ch!cken]

To echo the previous posters, the 2GB 6950 runs CloD pretty well. I run it in 1920 x 1200 with all settings maxed out except SSAO, which I leave turned off. Framerates hover around the 60-70fps mark with a dozen or so planes over the channel. Over land things drop to around 40-50. On the ground in the tutorial missions or over cities though, things tend to dip severely into the 20's and even the low teens.

Of course, it improves markedly if you drop the graphics settings a little, I'm just stubborn (and I don't believe that the current performance is yet acceptable for the level of visual fidelity we're getting on "max" settings).

And yes, the "3 blue lines" problem is readily apparent, but it doesn't bother me most of the time. It's fairly easy to ignore and it'll eventually get fixed.

I'm still waiting for Crossfire to be fixed though. My second 6950 gets to idle for the time being, since performance is abysmal in CloD with Crossfire running at the moment.

[Ze-Jamz]

To answer the OP's question:

Yes good great card, i had a massive difference coming from a HD5770 to this card.. i can play the game on max settings apart from forest which is on Med and building amount which is on Med too..

1920x1200 res
SSAO unchecked
Vsync unchecked < not really sure what diff that makes, cant see any
FullSceen enabled
35-70FPS depending where i am

Yes i have the blue lines which im sure will be fixed sure enough

[RE77ACTION]

A 6950 is very good bang for the buck. With your screen resolution I would certainly recommend a 2GB graphics card. The blue stripes are most probably temporary.

[Warhound]

Can only echo the previous statements. Outside of the 3 lines on the horizon the card runs any game, including CLOD, like a dream and the 2GB certainly helps with high texture qualities and resolutions.
Also you can unlock it to a 6970 without worries as it has a dual bios, any of the few cards that end up with artifacts can usually be set back to 6950 stock clocks (or inbetween 6950 and 6970) while still having the benefit of the extra shaders...and if not you just revert to the original bios with the flick of a switch.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...ng/vidcard/159 successful/unsuccessful unlock chart at the bottom
(Not unlocked mine as it's a non-reference design without a BIOS switch)


As for buying a cheaper card and going SLI/crossfire later on..I'm not a fan of it, you need a better PSU, sometimes a more expensive motherboard and by the time you are tempted to plug in that extra card you're usually better off just buying a new single one which performs better than 2 older ones in tandem.
And there is always the odd game you love which hates SLI/xfire.

[Scotch_Bonnet]

Don't flash a 6970 bios to your card...

Flash a modded 6950 bios that unlocks your shaders, and then overclock to 6970 levels. The 6970 bios is known to send the wrong voltage to the memory causing stability problems.