Widescreen Gaming Forum

So I am looking to update my 5850 and am keen to get away from these annoying DP to DVI adapters. The Flex technology cards don't need an active adapter - this was brought to my attention by the recent contest that WSGF did. So I decided to buy a 6950 Flex. The strange thing is that the Flex cards are discontinued by nearly all of the retailers around this area, whereas Newegg is out of stock and ebay is bare etc...

Is the Flex technology dead or problematic or what's going on?

If I can't get a Flex card, I am considering changing my Apple Mini-DP to DVI adapter to something a little more reliable... I heard the Accell active adapters were supposed to be ok.

I though the Flex technology would be hugely popular but instead all I find is that it's discontinued by lots of retailers locally and non-existent on ebay... I just wonder if it's due to low sales or lack of supply.

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Ok so I have resigned myself to buying a non-Flex 6950.

Now it seems I can go two ways, either buy a factory overclocked 6950 (like this one) and enjoy it for what it's worth, or buy a reference card 6950 and unlock the extra shaders and flash with the 6970 BIOS. I have no idea how to tell if a card is a reference card or not, but we use the XFX brand at work and they seem pretty solid. The MSI Twin Frozr OC card seems to get pretty good feedback from owners as well.

Any thoughts or suggestions from anyone?

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i5-2500K @ 4Ghz ° Asus P8Z68 ° GTX670 Windforce OC ° 8GB DDR3 RipjawsX ° 4x Viewsonic VA2703 ° Logitech G15 / G5 / G27 ° Razer Vespula ° TrackIR 5 ° Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS

DO NOT GET XFX. They were the first to kick the reference design (and not tell anyone at that). XFX changed the design to make the card cheaper.

You could always get a 6950 Direct CUII Card, I believe they are unlockable, have more ram, and 6 outputs.

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System Core: | Intel Core i5-2500K + ASUS P8Z68-V + 16GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333 MHz | Win7 x64 | MSI R7970 Lightning 3GB [1105/1400] |
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Ok thanks. I'll steer clear of them.

I've seen the ones you are referring to, can't see myself needing that many outputs but can't hurt.

How can you tell what cards are reference and which aren't?

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i5-2500K @ 4Ghz ° Asus P8Z68 ° GTX670 Windforce OC ° 8GB DDR3 RipjawsX ° 4x Viewsonic VA2703 ° Logitech G15 / G5 / G27 ° Razer Vespula ° TrackIR 5 ° Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS

You can usually tell by the model numbers. When I was looking, most with an A at teh end were reference boards, and X and Z ended most non-reference. If you find any high-res pics, the ref. boards have that little BIOS switch near the rear of the card, at the top edge.

My advice to to find one that piques your interest, then search for the model along number along with the word "reference" you'll likely get some good answers.

For the record, I have an ASUS 6950 reference, and I'm pretty happy with it. Though, it's not a Flex.

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I have pretty much given up any hope of finding a Flex board so I'll check out some cards and do as you suggest!

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i5-2500K @ 4Ghz ° Asus P8Z68 ° GTX670 Windforce OC ° 8GB DDR3 RipjawsX ° 4x Viewsonic VA2703 ° Logitech G15 / G5 / G27 ° Razer Vespula ° TrackIR 5 ° Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS

wouldn't flash 6970 Bios, just unlock shadder and OC. Cuz heard something about 6970 Bios has higher RAM voltage!

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We gonna send it to outa space!

Yeah I think it'll be a case of unlocking the shaders and OCing the card.

I am leaning towards this MSI Twin Frozr III 6950, it seems ok and should perform pretty well.

At that price though, I wonder if a stock standard 6970 would be a better option.

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i5-2500K @ 4Ghz ° Asus P8Z68 ° GTX670 Windforce OC ° 8GB DDR3 RipjawsX ° 4x Viewsonic VA2703 ° Logitech G15 / G5 / G27 ° Razer Vespula ° TrackIR 5 ° Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS

depends on your ears xD

not quite shure but i thougth the Twin Frozr was a quite good GPU Cooler!

Standard 6970 sure has little more power (and space for more OC) But if you buy normal design its gonna be loud! Mine works with 930mhz and 1.175V(standard) and custom Fan Profile in MSI Afterburner. Reaches 80°C At Max (20°C Room temp.) but uses 40% Fan speed (aka 2500rpm!) Which you WILL hear while playing without Headphones. Even if you're listening to Music you still hear it a lil bit. IF it's getting hotter and Fan goes up to 45% or 50% (wont with 20°C room temp ^^ ) its getting noisy!

Well, i can live with it. Can you too ?

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We gonna send it to outa space!

Some good points you raise there... thanks for taking the time to post them!

Part of me wonders if I am over-thinking this but then there are so many good arguments for both ways.

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i5-2500K @ 4Ghz ° Asus P8Z68 ° GTX670 Windforce OC ° 8GB DDR3 RipjawsX ° 4x Viewsonic VA2703 ° Logitech G15 / G5 / G27 ° Razer Vespula ° TrackIR 5 ° Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS

Can never over-think a hardware decision. I too, was contemplating the 6950 or 6970 options. After looking at post-shader mod benchmarks vs the large bump in price, I got the 6950. I just couldn't justify the extra $100 at the time.

Put that towards more RAM, or some coke & hookers.