Hey I really need help choosing a card. I'm torn between the GTX 560 ti and the AMD 6970. Which in your experiences would be better for running games like ES and Fallout, as well as others.

If it makes a difference I'll be using an i5 2500 CPU, and 650w psu.

Many thanks, sorry if regulars are bored of these questions

That's like asking which hand it's better to play the game with.

Just look at performance comparisons.


Honestly though? Either one of those is fine.

Look online for benchmarks that would give you a performance comparison. Otherwise, buy whichever one you can get cheaper.

Just go with whichever company you like the best I guess.

Both are fine. I have a 6970, very happy with it. Unfortunately the only game that even moderately taxes it is Metro 2033.

Oops, sorry. Bad info.

What resolution are you planning on running games at? The 6970 is overall a faster GPU, but if you're looking to save some money the 560 ti might be good enough for you. It's around $100 cheaper on average on Newegg.

As far as ATI vs. nVidia go, well, I've been building computers for a pretty long time and I haven't been loyal to either brand. They both make products with good and bad aspects. I just research the individual products and base my purchases on their merits and price. :shrug:

I've been using ATI for years now, but for my next card I am considering going Nvidia instead. I don't like the ATI driver software that much.

The 6970 is a far superior card. The 560ti is overpriced, if you really want to save some money there are much better "bang for your buck" cards out there.

Just pick whatever has the best price to performance ratio which fits in your current system

Thanks for the replies guys. I can get either for roughly the same price. And I've looked at benches and the ATI card does better on some games than others. I'm not loyal to nvidia, but been using them since my 7600GT and prefer their software.

It's just I see alot of YouTube vids lately of games and it seems more and more people are using ATI. That's why I can't decide lol.

To be honest it matters so little, you should just stick with what you're comfortable with/feel good about. One card will be better in one game, one in another.
If you say "I've always had Nvidia and was happy with it and had next to no problems" I would just stick with that, because you're not going to make a mistake with buying either card.

Or alternatively what I pay a lot of attention to is the quality of the cooler and the noise (you'll find that kind of information in any review).

Cheers Kai. Can you recommend a decent review site?

I'm personally going through the GPU http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/benchmarks,123.html on Tom's Hardware.

I'm also going to pick up a 6970, but i'm comparing it to the 6990 which i might grab.

cheers mate. And as someone asked, I'll be gaming 1920 x 1080, until I upgrade my monitor

In that case the 6970 is a no-brainer, IMO. It's a much more powerful GPU. The comparable nVidia GPU would be the 570. I do agree that nVidia tends to put out more comprehensive software tools for their equipment. I think the 6970 has a slight performance edge over the 570 in a lot of games, but I do like nVidia's config tools better...not to mention if you care about PhysX or CUDA you need to go nVidia, but you may not. nVidia is pushing things like compute shaders that ATI isn't as focused on at the moment. I'm not sure how important any of that is for the average gamer, though (even PhysX is only compatible with a certain percentage of games).

Between the 560 ti and the 6970, I'd go for the 6970.

I just recently got an AMD HD 6950 that I unlocked and flashed to a 6970 (shader unlock) and then OC'd it to have a little better than 6970 clock speeds. The card so far has been outstanding, and call me crazy, but I actually prefer the AMD drivers to Nvidia. This is the first AMD card I've ever owned as I've always had Nvidia cards, but I must say, I'm quite impressed. The only downside I see, is that there is no support for PhysX on AMD cards, but that's not a huge deal to me.

For a while it was a toss-up between a 560 TI and 6950. Now that none of the 6950s are still unlocking, it pretty much goes to the 560 TI.