Good thing SOW is Nvidia's friendly !

[klem]

Well I have to make a decision today as my new PC is built, awaiting my GPU decision. I've spent the past three days poring over the reviews. I have been steered by the written reviews but this link shows graphically what many are saying.
http://www.pcinlife.com/article_phot...game/total.png
Call of Duty is interesting because I believe it is OpenGL which is IL-2 country but these cards should spank IL-2 anyway. The Directx/3D table at the bottom looks at Directx/3D.

All the reviews are pointing to a couple of general conclusions.

General: the 6970 targets the 570GTX, the 6950 pitches in between the 480GTX and the 570GTX. (btw, the 6970 does not target the 580GTX. That is 5970 and 6990 territory.)

Performance: Below 1900 resolution the 570GTX has the edge on the 6970. However, if Tesselation is in use the 6970 wins (but SoW won't have Tesselation). At 1900 its a bit of a toss-up. Above 1900 the 6970 takes over.

Power and Heat: The 570 edges the 6970 out by something like 30w and 10 degrees under load. One review stated that two 6970s in Crossfire might lead to heat problems if they are very close, depending on the motherboard/ventilation.

Price: Not much between the 570 and the 6970 depending on which supplier/badge you pick.


My position is: 1680x1050 resolution and not likely to change in the next 2-3 years); New PC is overclocked from 3GHz to 4.2GHz so heat is a point to watch; My budget is £300, squeeezable to £350 in a very cause cause.

I am not a fanboy. I was very happy with my ATI 9600GT and have been very happy with my NV 7800GTs. As much as I wanted to believe the hype and buy a shiny new 570GTX-killing 6970, for me it looks like the 570GTX. My only thought is that a few reviewers feel that driver improvements might increase the 6970 performance. I wonder.......

Got to make my mind up in the next few hours and make the phone call.......