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AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB graphics card review

by Tarinder Sandhu on 15 February 2011, 07:54 4.0

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa4li

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How we test

GPU comparisons

Graphics cards Current pricing GPU clock (MHz) Stream processors Shader clock (MHz) Memory clock (MHz) Memory bus (bits) Graphics driver
HIS Radeon HD 5970 2,048MB £500 725 3,200 725 4,000 256 x 2 Catalyst 10.12P
HIS Radeon HD 6970 2,048MB £280 880 1,536 880 5,500 256 Catalyst 10.12P
AMD Radeon HD 6950 1,024MB £200 800 1,408 800 5,000 256 Catalyst 11.1a
PowerColor Radeon HD 6950 2,048MB £230 800 1,408 800 5,000 256 Catalyst 11.1a
HIS Radeon HD 6870 1,024MB £175 900 1,120 900 4,200 256 Catalyst 10.12
Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1,024MB £150 775 960 775 4,000 256 Catalyst 10.12
XFX Radeon HD 5870 1,024MB £190 825 1,600 825 4,800 256 Catalyst 10.10P
XFX Radeon HD 5850 1,024MB  £155 725 1,440  725 4,000 256  Catalyst 10.10P
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1,536MB £395 772 512 1,544 4,008 384 ForceWare 262.99
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1,280MB £265 732 480 1,464 3,800 320 ForceWare 263.09
ASUS GeForce GTX 480 1,536MB £325 700 480 1,401 3,698 384 ForceWare 262.99
ASUS GeForce GTX 470 1,280MB £190 607 448 1,215 3,348 320 ForceWare 260.89
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti SOC 1,024MB
£230 1,000 384 2,000 4,580 256  ForceWare 266.56
KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 Ti LTD OC 1,024MB
£240 950 384 1,900 4,400 256  ForceWare 266.66
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1,024MB
£200 822 384 1,644 4,008 256  ForceWare 266.56
KFA2 GeForce GTX 460
1,024MB
£140 675 336  1,350 3,600 256  ForceWare 266.56
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 768MB £135 675 336  1,350 3,600 192  ForceWare 260.89

Test bench

CPU Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Edition (3.33GHz, 12MB L3 cache, hexa-core, LGA1366 - Turbo Boost enabled)
Motherboard ASUS P6X58D Premium
Motherboard BIOS 1002
Memory 6GB Corsair DDR3
Memory timings and speed 9-9-9-24-1T @ DDR3-1,600
PSU Corsair HX1000W
Monitor Dell 30in 3007WFP - 2,560x1,600px
Disk drive(s) Corsair Force F80 SSD
Operating system Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit

Benchmarks

Aliens vs. Predator DX11, 1,680x1,050, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 2xAA, 16xAF, very high quality.
Just Cause 2 DX10, 1,680x1,050, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, Dark Tower benchmark
Mafia II DX9, 1,680x1,050, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, AA on, 16x AF, built-in benchmark
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 DX11, 1,680x1,050, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, ultra quality, FRAPS-recorded benchmark.
Call of Duty: Black Ops DX9, 1,680x1,050,1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, ultra quality, FRAPS-recorded benchmark.
Crysis Warhead DX10, 1,680x1,050, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, gamer quality, Frost map, FRAPS-recorded benchmark.
DiRT 2 DX11, 1,680x1,050, 1,920x1,080, 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, ultra quality, London map.
Temperature To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and whilst playing Call of Duty: Black Ops. And, for a worst-case scenario, we throw in numbers from the FurMark stress test.
Power consumption To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record mains power draw both when idle and whilst playing Call of Duty: Black Ops. And, for a worst-case scenario, we throw in numbers from the FurMark stress test.
Noise A PCE-318 noise level meter is placed at front of a Corsair 700D chassis with side panel on.