discussion AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB Review

[SKYMTL]

Lost Planet 2 (DX11)

Lost Planet 2 (DX11)

Lost Planet is a game that was originally released on consoles but in its port over to the PC, it gained some highly impressive DX11 features. For this benchmark, we forgo the two built-in tools and instead use a 2 minute gameplay sequence from the second level in the first chapter. The reason we use this level is because it makes use of three elements that are seen throughout the game world: jungles, water and open terrain.


1680 x 1050

1920 x 1200

2560 x 1600

 

[SKYMTL]

Metro 2033 (DX11)

Metro 2033 (DX11)

There has been a lot of buzz about Metro 2033 which has mostly centered on its amazing graphics coupled with absolutely brutal framerates on even the best GPUs on the market. For this test we use a walkthrough and combat scene from The Bridge level which starts at the beginning of the level and lasts for about 3 minutes of walking, running and combat. Famerates are measured with FRAPS and Advanced PhysX is turned off.


1680 x 1050

1920 x 1200

2560 x 1600

 

[SKYMTL]

Unigine: Heaven v2.0 (DX11)

Unigine: Heaven v2.0 (DX11)

Unigine’s Heaven benchmark is currently the de-facto standard when it comes to simple, straightforward DX11 performance estimates. While it is considered a synthetic benchmark by many, it is important to remember that no less than four games based on this engine will be released within the next year or so. In this test we will be using a standard benchmark run with and without tessellation enabled at three resolutions,


1680 x 1050

1920 x 1200

2560 x 1600

 

[SKYMTL]

8xMSAA Testing

8xMSAA Testing

In this section we take a number of games we have tested previously in this review and bring things to the next level by pushing the in-game MSAA up to 8x. All other methodologies remain the same.

BattleField: Bad Company 2 (DX11)
Note that 8x MSAA is enabled via the game’s config file for the NVIDIA cards since it is not a selectable option within the game menu

Dirt 2 (DX11)

F1 2010 (DX11)

Just Cause 2 (DX10)

 

[SKYMTL]

Core Temperature & Acoustics / Power Consumption

Core Temperature & Acoustics

For all temperature testing, the cards were placed on an open test bench with a single 120mm 1200RPM fan placed ~8” away from the heatsink. The ambient temperature was kept at a constant 22°C (+/- 0.5°C). If the ambient temperatures rose above 23°C at any time throughout the test, all benchmarking was stopped. For this test we use the 3DMark Batch Size test at it highest triangle count with 4xAA and 16xAF enabled and looped it for one hour to determine the peak load temperature as measured by GPU-Z.

For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Windows 7 desktop for 15 minutes and recorded the peak temperature.

The temperature performance of the 1GB card should come as no surprise to anyone since other than the memory allotments; there isn’t anything different between it and the 2GB version. That being said, the heatsink is highly efficient and temperatures stay well within acceptable levels.

Unfortunately, the HD 6950 is far from the quietest card on the block and is louder than the GTX 560 it competes directly against. It isn’t loud in any way but it does have a slightly larger acoustical footprint than most of NVIDIA’s 500-series.

System Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 30 minutes to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption. We have also included several other tests as well.

Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.

We were hoping that the elimination of GDDR5 would result in some meaningful power savings but that wasn’t meant to happen. The HD 6950 1GB has quite literally the same power draw as its bigger brother which means it also consumes a good amount more than the GTX 560 as well.

 

[SKYMTL]

Overclocking Results

Overclocking Results

By using MSI’s Afterburner software and by keeping with the default voltages, we were able to push the HD 6950 1GB beyond what the limits in the Catalyst Control Center allowed. Unfortunately, even this didn’t produce stellar overclocking results as it seems like the Cayman Pro core just isn’t interested in having its clock speeds increased all that much. This pales in comparison to the achievements of the GTX 560 as well.

Core Speed: 855Mhz
Memory Speed: 5440Mhz (QDR)

 

[SKYMTL]

Conclusion

Conclusion

It isn’t often that we get two cards competing cards launching on the same day but that’s exactly what we have here today. On one hand NVIDIA is showcasing the GTX 560 Ti; a card that brings high performance at a mid-range price. Meanwhile, AMD needed to respond and that’s exactly what they did with the Radeon HD 6950 1GB. We talked about this spin-off of the $300 2GB version in our original Cayman launch article and the results are exactly what we were hoping for: comparable performance to the enthusiast level HD 6950 2GB at a lower price point. What more could anyone ask for?

Even though the choice between the HD 6950 1GB and GTX 560 Ti will likely come down to personal preference, AMD’s new card displays both strengths and weaknesses. At 1920 and 1680 even a slight price premium over its NVIDIA counterpart is simply too much since performance stays neck and neck through every test. Overall power consumption and noise levels are also two areas where the HD 6950 1GB loses out as it seems like removing 1GB of memory had very little impact upon overall efficiency. Also, don’t expect it to reach the absolutely stratospheric overclocks most will be able to attain with the GTX 560.

On the positive side of things, regardless of the similarities in framebuffer size, the HD 6950 1GB has more top-end power than the GTX 560 Ti which allows it to take a commanding lead at extremely high resolutions and image quality settings. Some will correctly argue that sub-$300 graphics cards won’t be used for these types of scenarios but the benefits of AMD’s huge memory bandwidth are undeniable.

Ironically, AMD and their board partners may be a victim of their own success when looking at the current lineup and the comparative performance between certain cards. From what we can tell the two HD 6950 cards’ in-game framerates are far too close to one another to justify a $30 price difference. This situation will likely lead to a complete destruction of HD 6950 2GB sales over the coming months unless some drastic cost cutting is done.

To be honest with you, we were ready to lash out at AMD of paper launching a card with limited to no availability but our tune changed shortly before this review went live. After reaching out to board partners, it seems like many will have cards on store shelves within the next two weeks. Others are naturally afraid of cutting the heart out of their HD 6950 2GB sales and are waiting until after the Chinese New Year to begin introducing their own 1GB products. So instead of tearing AMD a new one, we’re going to give them some major kudos for reacting so quickly to the GTX 560 Ti with a great looking alternative.

For the market it competes in, the HD 6950 1GB is priced to move and performs extremely well. It does have its fair share of negative points but we have to remember that AMD’s aim for this card was to provide an alternative to the reference GTX 560 Ti. And in our opinion they succeeded beyond most people’s expectations.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...radeon-hd-6950-1gb-review-comment-thread.html​