Ever wondered how the new Radeon HD 6970, Radeon HD 6950, GeForce GTX 580 and GeForce GTX 570 perform when paired up with a second card? We did, and we have evaluated all four combinations in AMD Eyefinity and NV Surround resolutions.

The last few of months of 2010 were exciting in the video graphics world, and for gamers everywhere. There were several video card launches that upped the game on the high-end and the midrange-performance segment. New video cards were launched that brought amazing performance at tempting prices. There was a comeback from NVIDIA, and price drops from AMD that kept the companies on its toes.

AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series

It all started about late October 2010, when AMD launched the Radeon HD 6870 and Radeon HD 6850 video cards. These new video cards changed the product stack lineup from AMD and put these in the realm of midrange video cards but with near previous generation high-end performance. These provided a high level of performance at a low price of $239 for the Radeon HD 6870 and $179 for the Radeon HD 6850.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580

NVIDIA countered this with the launch of the much awaited GeForce GTX 580 video card on November 9th, 2010. The GeForce GTX 580 was a complete win for NVIDIA and was heralded as a comeback. It was no secret that the GeForce GTX 480 fell well below expectations, and many gamers were concerned about the heat and power draw. The GeForce GTX 580 not only fixed these issues, but also provided better performance and enhancements at the transistor level. The price is steep, set at $499 SEP, but our gameplay testing revealed that it is a strong performer in games. As we speak, pricing is around $510 for the cheapest GTX 580, making a SLI configuration cost around $1020 for the pair, which is no small investment.

• READ MORE (Source): Introduction – AMD 6970/6950 CFX and NVIDIA 580/570 SLI Review | [H]ard|OCP