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AMD Radeon HD 6970 1gb video upgrade to 2gb

D

dmax35

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 21, 2012
447
6
Just purchased a 3.4GHz quad core i7 27" iMac from friend, it's loaded with SSD and memory etc , the only downside is currently has AMD Radeon HD 6970 with 1gb graphics. Is it possible to upgrade or purchase a 2gb graphics card for it?

I've looked and did searched, thou I'm unable to find anything.

Thanks.
 
dmax35 said:
He had a damaged iMac setting on his self and pulled the 2gb card from it, cost me a $100.00 parts and labor. Works like a charm.
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100 + old graphics card? Or did you retain the old card? That might explain the low cost, as he could sell the old card to a 6770 (or whatever the low end one was) owner.

Either way, excellent deal. Something I might do if I end up buying a 2011 iMac at the end of the month.
 
i believe the performance increase would be too small to justify the hassle. although me personally would have gotten 2gb version.
 
topocalypse said:
i believe the performance increase would be too small to justify the hassle. although me personally would have gotten 2gb version.
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The 2GB video increase was great improvement. For what I paid for the system and the so called hassle as you claim it saved me around $1,700.00 vs paying retail to buying a new system.
 
dmax35 said:
The 2GB video increase was great improvement. For what I paid for the system and the so called hassle as you claim it saved me around $1,700.00 vs paying retail to buying a new system.
Click to expand...

Oh I didn't see that it was an iMac. 2gb would really benefit high resolution monitors. My monitor is 1080p and 2gb would not give a significant benefit over one gig in gaming.
 
Yes you can upgrade your GPU, or even CPU. But is that worth it?

As far as I can see, VRAM does not effect you much, not even in games. I have one with 2GB VRAM, but I don't see it has any significant improvement over 6970M 1GB. It was the most ridiculous option I had, in average both GPUs do the same. It doesn't earn you twice more FPS, not even 2 more FPS.

So really .. why do you want to upgrade your VRAM so bad? You love to see big numbers on your spec? Or what? It's the least important upgrade on your machine. Not to mention it's a risky process, and you lose your warranty. Is that worth it?

And if it is .. I'd rather go with 6990M than just upgrade VRAM, which will results you nothing. Same hassle, same problem, but it's actually faster than stock 6970M. Now that's worth the time.
 
iSayuSay said:
Yes you can upgrade your GPU, or even CPU. But is that worth it?

As far as I can see, VRAM does not effect you much, not even in games. I have one with 2GB VRAM, but I don't see it has any significant improvement over 6970M 1GB. It was the most ridiculous option I had, in average both GPUs do the same. It doesn't earn you twice more FPS, not even 2 more FPS.

So really .. why do you want to upgrade your VRAM so bad? You love to see big numbers on your spec? Or what? It's the least important upgrade on your machine. Not to mention it's a risky process, and you lose your warranty. Is that worth it?

And if it is .. I'd rather go with 6990M than just upgrade VRAM, which will results you nothing. Same hassle, same problem, but it's actually faster than stock 6970M. Now that's worth the time.
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6990M? That's the Crossfire model?. Even the Mac Pro doesn't support that.{officially}
 
Ddyracer said:
6990M? That's the Crossfire model?. Even the Mac Pro doesn't support that.{officially}
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Nope ... 6990M is a single chip mobile GPU ... Crossfire/SLi = fancy name for dual GPU or more, you can do that with any GPU, not just 6990M. You might be mistaken with dual chip GPU.

It's no less problematic than just upgrading 6970M VRAM which get you nothing. So might as well just going all out and get something that INDEED faster?
 
dmax35 said:
The 2GB video increase was great improvement. For what I paid for the system and the so called hassle as you claim it saved me around $1,700.00 vs paying retail to buying a new system.
Click to expand...

Unless you were using a very VRAM intensive app like a video game with high res textures there is literally no noticeable improvement to be noticed going from 1GB to 2GB. None. Same GPU core is same GPU core is same GPU core.
 
Tucom said:
Unless you were using a very VRAM intensive app like a video game with high res textures there is literally no noticeable improvement to be noticed going from 1GB to 2GB. None. Same GPU core is same GPU core is same GPU core.
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Does MS flight sim running either in boot camp or VMware Fusion count, I think it does. SO THERE WAS A NOTICEABLE IMPROVEMENT!!!!!!
 
dmax35 said:
Does MS flight sim running either in boot camp or VMware Fusion count, I think it does. SO THERE WAS A NOTICEABLE IMPROVEMENT!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Running VMs need more system RAM, not graphics RAM. I'd rather go with Radeon 6990 512MB (if it exists) rather than 6770 3GB.

Look at this charts ... Pay a REALLY hard attention to Radeon 6950 1GB vs 6950 2GB in the charts.

Then go back and tell me, is there any significant improvement from 1GB to 2GB VRAM? Does 0.5 more average FPS means a lot to you?
 
iSayuSay said:
Running VMs need more system RAM, not graphics RAM. I'd rather go with Radeon 6990 512MB (if it exists) rather than 6770 3GB.

Look at this charts ... Pay a REALLY hard attention to Radeon 6950 1GB vs 6950 2GB in the charts.

Then go back and tell me, is there any significant improvement from 1GB to 2GB VRAM? Does 0.5 more average FPS means a lot to you?
Click to expand...

Go back and read what game I'm running, Microsoft Flight Sim... It's graphics intense. I don't need your flipping chart to notice the difference. So piss off with your comment jack azz.
 
dmax35 said:
Go back and read what game I'm running, Microsoft Flight Sim... It's graphics intense. I don't need your flipping chart to notice the difference. So piss off with your comment jack azz.
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I gave you the hard cold proof that 2GB VRAM is no much better than 1GB for 6950 (which is better than 6970M by the way) but you seem can't cope with it.

I'm sorry but I never knew Microsoft Flight Sim requirements could be any higher than Battlefield 3.
So maybe we're talking about different Flight Sim, because if 6970M can't run it smoothly, extra 2GB RAM won't help either.
 
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iSayuSay said:
I gave you the hard cold proof that 2GB VRAM is no much better than 1GB for 6950 (which is better than 6970M by the way) but you seem can't cope with it.

I'm sorry but I never knew Microsoft Flight Sim requirements could be any higher than Battlefield 3.
So maybe we're talking about different Flight Sim, because it's a relatively non-demanding title here in my world.
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Flight Sim's minimum specs may be low, but it will happily tax even a top-of-the-line "gaming" rig at full settings. I had a Core i7 965 at 4 GHz, with dual Radeon 4870X2s (in my lab at work, not at home, sadly,) and it still had slowdowns running at 30" display native resolution of 2560 x 1600 when all settings were set to max.
 
Anonymous Freak said:
Flight Sim's minimum specs may be low, but it will happily tax even a top-of-the-line "gaming" rig at full settings. I had a Core i7 965 at 4 GHz, with dual Radeon 4870X2s (in my lab at work, not at home, sadly,) and it still had slowdowns running at 30" display native resolution of 2560 x 1600 when all settings were set to max.
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Okay .. maybe FSX can be demanding at times. But I still don't believe the fact you can smooth things out just by upgrade VRAM alone.
Not saying VRAM is not important at all, but I doubt 2GB VRAM runs the game any better than 1GB. It's just not as crucial as system RAM.

If anything, VRAM is one of the most rip-off and meaningless upgrade out there. I found it silly to see a notebook with GTX540M with 1.5GB GDDR3. Like it can use all of the space anyway.
 
iSayuSay said:
Okay .. maybe FSX can be demanding at times. But I still don't believe the fact you can smooth things out just by upgrade VRAM alone.
Not saying VRAM is not important at all, but I doubt 2GB VRAM runs the game any better than 1GB. It's just not as crucial as system RAM.

If anything, VRAM is one of the most rip-off and meaningless upgrade out there. I found it silly to see a notebook with GTX540M with 1.5GB GDDR3. Like it can use all of the space anyway.
Click to expand...

DUDE.... ****. Every one of your posts you make yourself out to be some expert in graphics or something.
 
dmax35 said:
DUDE.... ****. Every one of your posts you make yourself out to be some expert in graphics or something.
Click to expand...

Blah blah blah

No need to be rude. I simply write down a fact. You don't believe it. Fine, who am I to argue, your machine, your way, Your Highness .. Go and find a 2GB 6970M to stick onto your machine and see how much more you can gain out of it.
 
He is partially right in those regards. GDDR3 doesn't have the bandwidth of GDDR5, which might as well be labeled QDR5 because of its effective bandwidth, even though it's still technically DDR. The double bandwidth performance of GDDR5 has the potential to really takes advantage of VRAM over 1gb.
 
iSayuSay said:
Okay .. maybe FSX can be demanding at times. But I still don't believe the fact you can smooth things out just by upgrade VRAM alone.
Not saying VRAM is not important at all, but I doubt 2GB VRAM runs the game any better than 1GB. It's just not as crucial as system RAM.

If anything, VRAM is one of the most rip-off and meaningless upgrade out there. I found it silly to see a notebook with GTX540M with 1.5GB GDDR3. Like it can use all of the space anyway.
Click to expand...

I fully agree, for most things, 1 GB VRAM is way more than enough. But for some things, it does make a tangible difference. MS Flight Sim is one of them. It will happily fill up a 4 GB VRAM video card if you turn all the polygon count, texture quality, and view distance options to maximum. X-Plane (which is available for OS X, too,) is the same. X-Plane, with every setting on max, was unplayable on the Core i7+dual Radeon 4870X2s. I would take off, then get to altitude over a city, and the polygon count would increase, and it would start stuttering, then as it increased the view distance, it would become a slideshow. On what was the the most powerful gaming computer money could(n't yet) buy.
 
I have the 2GB of VRAM in my iMac. I mainly got it because I am hoping that apps and OS X start utilizing the GPU for more things in the near future...wishful thinking, I know. :)
 
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