Quote from: crazybernie on June 27, 2011, 01:10:47 PM

***EDIT*** Revised chart to include "Stock" vs "Tweaked" results and show the possible gains to be had.

Notes:

- The MHash performance and wattages are an average of the values from the Wiki site. There were a few cards that I pulled wattage information from other sources due to not being listed on the Wiki. So don't be too surprised if your card does not perform as well as these averages at stock speeds.

- I did not list cards that were no longer/not currently available with two exceptions: the 5830 and the 6990. Nobody has the 5830 available for a "reasonable price," and nobody has the 6990 available. I didn't include eBay for these availability considerations (although you can get used 5830's there for about what I listed it for), or the large number of Google/Pricewatch shopping vendors that I consider to have questionable reputability. YMMV.

- I pulled the majority of prices from Newegg and Tiger Direct. I did not include prices for tax, shipping, or rebates.

- The 5770 still has the best overall performance for a combination of power consumption and price. Newegg has a 5770 for $89.99 after rebate, making it an even better deal. Get 'em while they're still available... the rebate is only good till 6/30, and unlike most rebates, it's good for two cards per household. The 6870 makes a solid second place choice, but I'd probably recommend spending extra on the 6950 if you're going multi GPU and looking to maximize your performance vs space. Of course the 6970's and 5870's are still kicking around for the brute-force-money-is-no-object fellows... ^_^

***POST REVISION***

- I've taken the averages of the lowest two scores to use as the "Stock" performance numbers. This can account for some variance between cards that come tweaked from the manufacturer as well as different settings/mining apps.

- I've taken the averages of the highest two scores to use as the "Tweaked" performance numbers, to be used as theoretical gains.

- With these revisions, the 6950 is painted in an even more favorable light when you factor in the possibility of unlocking dormant shaders and overclocking. The 6970 also rises to the occasion with great performance vs power consumption if you don't mind the higher entry cost. Older cards like the 5830/5870 offer great performance/watt but are unfortunately held back by pricing and availability of these discontinued parts. Buying second hand is a mixed bag, as people generally want more than the cards are worth (eg, people asking for $200+ for 5830's).

Thoughts?

Glad to know that my HD4670 GPU can do much better than wot I'm getting which is 34MHash/s even when OC'd to the max in Catalyst which is disappointing.I do wonder if there's ny point in mining though now,cus the difficulty has risen so much that it would remain unviable for me to run my MBP mid 2010 notebook with my PC as well combined ina pool even.

Why does difficulty rise so much every few days?is this by design?or is something wrong with my systems? To make matters worse 4 me is I'm having no luck finding HD 6950 GPUs that are unlockable still on the shelves in Uk now as cus I'm left with VTX3D GPUs as known to be unlockable but they brick rather easily as I've found out,can't remember the source tho.So it's either stop mining for me completely or take a gamble and buy locked HD 6950.I need advice on wot to do,cus I found these 2 cards:
1.http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/837172.79/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-6950-2-gb-gddr5.html
2.http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/8766002/art/pixmania/radeon-hd-6950-2-gb-gddr5.html#

Are these unlockable and do u know wot BIOS file i can use for that 2nd card?As it isn't branded like sapphire or XFX cards?

I plan to order 1 very soon but I rly need the advice b4 doing so.
Thanks