critique gpu purchase

[pride]

ati 6950's
XFX
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LB5AT0/sr=8-2/qid=1307506233/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1307506233&sr=8-2&seller=
$239
or
MSI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127555&cm_re=6950-_-14-127-555-_-Product
$279

As a general rule of thumb, if I select a particular ati series (6950, 5870, 5970 etc) what should I use to deliminate between the brands?

[shakaru]

new egg has the msi for 239

[pride]

---thank you. Which one would be better?

I cant see much of a price / MH/s diffrence betwix whats available
5850
6950
6870

am I overlooking anything?
Would love to get 5870 - 5970 or 6990...but I think everyone is in that boat

[polishwarrior]

I'd get the reference MSI off newegg (the $279 one), since there's a very very good chance you can unlock the extra shaders (1536 versus 1408). That should help you gain 30-40mhash/s

both of my unlocked 6950's are crunching out 412-415 mhash/s with the gpu clock @ 965mhz, @ 1145mv