AMD Radeon HD 6950 Review

The Radeon HD 6950's performance is not exactly mind-blowing, but PC Advisor said that it manages to keep up with more expensive cards, especially at extreme resolutions, and that it represented excellent value for money. It's also more power efficient than any of its Nvidia competitors and offers a good range of connectors and ports, making it a serious option to consider.

Value for money: "recommended" (9 out of 10 points)

Without a clear rival in its price range, the Radeon HD 6950 seems to be the no-brainer choice for performance and value for money: the GTX 460 is cheaper, but is consistently worse with 1920 x 1200 resolutions and AA, while the GTX 370 is closer in price and performance but runs much hotter and louder. However, Bit-tech did warn that it might be bettered by Nvidia's next offerings.

Techradar struggled to find anything wrong with the AMD Radeon HD 6950, they thought it was fantastic and that performance was on a par with cards costing £100 more. They still think the GTX 570 is the best option, but that costs more money. It has a big 2GB frame buffer which helps it perform in high-resolution.

While Tom's Hardware were very keen on the Radeon HD 6950's DirectX 11 implementation, Blu-ray 3D support and four independent display outs, they said that its value for money was seriously challenged by the fact that the GeForce GTX 470 and the Radeon HD 5870 are to be taken off the shelves soon and can be found at very attractive prices. However, two 6950s in CrossFire are a better deal than two GeForce GTX 570s.

"Best Buy"

Any gaming fanatic should find the AMD Radeon HD 6950 to be an excellent choice, offering ample power at a very decent price. It is only a small step down from the 6970 sibling and the difference when playing games is barely perceptible. Compared to the GTX 570, the performance is virtually on a par but with the 6950 coming in a tad cheaper.

Value for money: "very good" (5 out of 6 stars), "Recommended"

The AMD Radeon HD 6950 offers a very capable performance according to PC Pro, providing an appealing rival to the high-end cards from Nvidia. Although the Nvidia is a better compromise between cost and power, anyone on a tight budget might be temped by this alternative, thanks to it's incredibly inviting price tag.