Overclocking

Following the discovery that HD 6950 2GB cards can, for the most part, be BIOS flashed into HD 6970 2GBs, we were keen to see if the HD 6950 1GB could match it’s bigger brother’s clock speeds. Sadly, the memory refused to go any higher than 1,300MHz (5.2GHz effective) without serious artefacts afflicting even the Windows desktop. However, the GPU clock merrily ramped up to 885MHz without issue, outpacing the HD 6970 2GB even if only by a measly 5MHz.

The result of our overclock was a 10 per cent increase in average frame rate in Just Cause 2 at 1,920 x 1,200 with 4x AA, and a 9 per cent minimum frame rate increase in Dirt 2. The 128 fewer stream processors that the HD 6850 1GB has in comparison to the HD 6970 2GB didn’t hold it back much, as it performed very closely to the HD 6970 2GB after our overclock.



Power and thermal load did increase following our overclock though: peak system power draw rose by 6W to 284W, while peak temperatures rose 2°C to 48°C above room temperature. The HD 6950 1GB managed an impressive overclock, but it doesn’t match the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB GPU, which we managed to overclock by 16 per cent, or from 820MHz to 950MHz.

Conclusion

As a response to the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB, the £215 Radeon HD 6950 1GB mostly fits the bill, producing performance that’s reasonably competitive with the GTX 560 Ti 1GB in our test games. However, we’d still give the performance win to the GTX 560 Ti 1GB overall – only in Just Cause 2 did the HD 6950 1GB comprehensively outpace the Nvidia card.

Elsewhere we saw the GTX 560 Ti 1GB on top at the important resolutions for a £200 graphics card. In Dirt 2 we saw the usual Nvidia whitewash, but Black Ops ran faster on the GTX 560 Ti 1GB at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4x AA (and at 2,560 x 1,600 with 4x AA). Bad Company 2 also favoured the Nvidia card at resolutions below 2,560 x 1,600. It’s worth mentioning that the HD 6950 1GB could still run Bad Company 2 smoothly at 2,560 x 1,600 with no AA, managing a minimum of 29fps rather than 24fps. Still, if you can afford a 30in screen, you should pony up the extra for a GeForce GTX 570 1.3GB or Radeon HD 6970 2GB at least and make sure you never see a stutter.

While the HD 6950 1GB gives a good account of itself in the performance stakes, it makes a mockery of the 2GB version for single-screen gaming. In most of our games, the 1GB card performed identically to the 2GB, with only Black Ops showing much difference between the two cards. Even then, the difference is moot as both cards produce high frame rates at up to 2,560 x 1,600 with 4x AA. The extra memory should come in useful when using a three-screen Eyefinity setup, and we’ll aim to test that in the coming weeks.

The HD 6950 1GB might be arguably the most compelling card in AMD’s current lineup, but it’s still pipped by Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB. In particular, the MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC gets the nod over the HD 6850 1GB as it’s cheaper and faster.

• Performance
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• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Features
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• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• 9/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Overall
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• x
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• -
• -
• 8/10

Score Guide