AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB graphics card review

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.