Sell my 5870....Buy a 5970 ?

[Drex]

I have a 5870 and was wondering,is it worth me upgrading to a 5970.

In a single screen setup,the 5870 demolishes most games,but in a triple screen setup it struggles a bit,so i have to turn down the graphic options.

The resolution i am running : 5760 X 1080 ( 3 x 1920 x 1080 )

Was wondering what your thoughts were on me selling my 5870 and buying a 5970 instead ?


My system :

i5 @ 2.66
4 GB Memory
PSU 600W

[CheeWeez777]

There are definitely advantages to the 5970- there are a few reviews out there that compare, and you'll def see a gain in FPS with the upgrade...

BUT- I am in the process of selling my 5970 because I am going with 2 5870 2GBs, as the added memory comes in handy at the extreme Eyefinity resolutions we are running. Had you considered just adding a 2nd 5870 in Xfire? That would be my move (and faster than a single 5970...) 8)

[suiken_2mieu]

There are definitely advantages to the 5970- there are a few reviews out there that compare, and you'll def see a gain in FPS with the upgrade...

BUT- I am in the process of selling my 5970 because I am going with 2 5870 2GBs, as the added memory comes in handy at the extreme Eyefinity resolutions we are running. Had you considered just adding a 2nd 5870 in Xfire? That would be my move (and faster than a single 5970...) 8)

I agree, I have to say, the extra ram does keep the hiccups at bay, You may want to get two toxic 5870s that have 2GB of vram each.

[CheeWeez777]

My Asus Matrix 2GBs will be in on Thursday. I'll get some comparisons up over the weekend. (5970 vs. ROG 5870 2GB Xfire). :rockout

[Drex]

No reason i couldnt go Xfire.......

I have a Sapphire 5870 1GB at the moment,so if i purchased another one of these,would they be better than 1 x 5970 2GB ?

A couple of other niggles i have is that my motherboards Pci Express slots are 1 x 16 & 1 x 4 ?

And would you say that my 600 PSU is enough to run 2 x 5870 in Xfire ?

[CheeWeez777]

Yes, two 5870s, generally speaking, should be faster than a single 5970. (5970 is more like to 5850s in xfire. yes , you can OC 5970 to 5870, but of course you can OC 5870s, too... :D )

That's why I upgraded. I wanted the FASTEST possible Xfire solution for Eyefinity, and the 5970 wasn't cutting it. (ALso, the 5970 is effectively a 1GB card, whereas the 5870s are 2GBs. )

Your PSU appears to be OK for Xfire. I would double check, but I believe two 5870s, under full load, drew somewhere around 430 watts.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide! (I would need to do some more homework on your PCIe lane question... not as versed on that, yet. I am sure someone here has some advice?)

[tepescovir]

I agree with above, the 2 5870's would be a better choice.The 5970 is powerfull, but it still has a few bugs with eyefinity that the 5870 dosent seem to have such as the vsync bug which tries to run at 120 instead of 60 on 60hz screens.
I am currently getting rid of my 2 5970's in fovour of 2 5870's

[Drex]

A bit more information on my PSU & Motherboard :

PSU
----
CoolerMaster 600W Silent Pro Modular PSU - 50A Single Rail

Motherboard
------------
Asus P7P55 LX

Just wondering what sort of performance loss i would expect to get on my current motherboard which has 1 x 16 and 1 x 4 slots,
as i've read somewhere that you should have a motherboard with 2 x 16 Pci Express slots for best perfomance for Xfire ?

Also,i read about scaling problems when in Xfire,or is this not an issue now ?

The card i own at the moment is a Sapphire 5870 1GB.....For Xfire purposes,do i need to buy the exact card or will any 5870 1GB be ok ?

[SilverPotato]

[quote]There are definitely advantages to the 5970- there are a few reviews out there that compare, and you'll def see a gain in FPS with the upgrade...

BUT- I am in the process of selling my 5970 because I am going with 2 5870 2GBs, as the added memory comes in handy at the extreme Eyefinity resolutions we are running. Had you considered just adding a 2nd 5870 in Xfire? That would be my move (and faster than a single 5970...) 8)

I agree, I have to say, the extra ram does keep the hiccups at bay, You may want to get two toxic 5870s that have 2GB of vram each.
When crossfiring cards only 1 set of vram is used so you don't get 4GB you just get 2GB :(

So if the 5970 is at 850/1200 and the 5870s are at 850/1200 they'll preform exactly the same :shock:

[CheeWeez777]

[quote][quote]There are definitely advantages to the 5970- there are a few reviews out there that compare, and you'll def see a gain in FPS with the upgrade...

BUT- I am in the process of selling my 5970 because I am going with 2 5870 2GBs, as the added memory comes in handy at the extreme Eyefinity resolutions we are running. Had you considered just adding a 2nd 5870 in Xfire? That would be my move (and faster than a single 5970...) 8)

I agree, I have to say, the extra ram does keep the hiccups at bay, You may want to get two toxic 5870s that have 2GB of vram each.
When crossfiring cards only 1 set of vram is used so you don't get 4GB you just get 2GB :(

So if the 5970 is at 850/1200 and the 5870s are at 850/1200 they'll preform exactly the same :shock:

But in all the benchmarks I have seen, the 5970 is closer to a pair of 5850s than a pair of 5870s, even when clocked the same. Not sure why that is, but that's what I have seen . (I'll have my own benches over the weekend. I can then either confirm or deny this to be true for me)

The only time the 5970 is advantageous is in terms of space on the mobo. (and cost effectiveness... :wink: )

[suiken_2mieu]

[quote][quote]There are definitely advantages to the 5970- there are a few reviews out there that compare, and you'll def see a gain in FPS with the upgrade...

BUT- I am in the process of selling my 5970 because I am going with 2 5870 2GBs, as the added memory comes in handy at the extreme Eyefinity resolutions we are running. Had you considered just adding a 2nd 5870 in Xfire? That would be my move (and faster than a single 5970...) 8)

I agree, I have to say, the extra ram does keep the hiccups at bay, You may want to get two toxic 5870s that have 2GB of vram each.
When crossfiring cards only 1 set of vram is used so you don't get 4GB you just get 2GB :(

So if the 5970 is at 850/1200 and the 5870s are at 850/1200 they'll preform exactly the same :shock:
No true, Even with the Clocks the same, getting 2 GB with 2 5870 2GB cards in Crossfire should perform better than a 5970 2GB (which will give you 1 GB VRAM in Crossfire) when you have a game that uses more than a 1GB of VRAM. It should also help when using higher amounts of Anti-Aliasing and give you a smoother experience over all.

[CheeWeez777]

No true, Even with the Clocks the same, getting 2 GB with 2 5870 2GB cards in Crossfire should perform better than a 5970 2GB (which will give you 1 GB VRAM in Crossfire) when you have a game that uses more than a 1GB of VRAM. It should also help when using higher amounts of Anti-Aliasing and give you a smoother experience over all.


Thanks- I was hoping someone would point that out. :cheers

[r3v3nant]

I am in the same boat.. but I also hear very mixed things about crossfire + eyefinity + vsync also... and I need my vsync.. and the dreaded stuttering issue.. I'm thinking about picking up a pair of the 2GB asus 5870s and selling my 1gb 5870... I think that extra memory will come in handy running crossfire + eyefinity.. but it's a lot to spend to introduce new headaches to an otherwise very solid running system.. just need a little more GPU horse power though.. decisions decisions..

[Drex]

I am in the same boat.. but I also hear very mixed things about crossfire + eyefinity + vsync also... and I need my vsync.. and the dreaded stuttering issue.. I'm thinking about picking up a pair of the 2GB asus 5870s and selling my 1gb 5870... I think that extra memory will come in handy running crossfire + eyefinity.. but it's a lot to spend to introduce new headaches to an otherwise very solid running system.. just need a little more GPU horse power though.. decisions decisions..

Well,in the end,i plumped for a 5970........

Although my motherboard has 2 x PciE slots,only 1 was x16,the other was x4,and i didnt want to muck around with
putting another motherboard in for crossfire.

And like yourself,i just needed a bit more grunt on the GPU side of things for triple screen gaming.

Although not as fast as 2 x 5870,should be better for noise and heat.....

[thales100]

Although my motherboard has 2 x PciE slots,only 1 was x16,the other was x4

The "drop" in performance would be like only 1 - 2 %.

[Delphium]

[quote] Although my motherboard has 2 x PciE slots,only 1 was x16,the other was x4

The "drop" in performance would be like only 1 - 2 %.

This +1
Also here is a review and benchmark of running a 5870 at 1x, 4x, 8x, and 16x pci-e lanes :)

[CheeWeez777]

I am in the same boat.. but I also hear very mixed things about crossfire + eyefinity + vsync also... and I need my vsync.. and the dreaded stuttering issue.. I'm thinking about picking up a pair of the 2GB asus 5870s and selling my 1gb 5870... I think that extra memory will come in handy running crossfire + eyefinity.. but it's a lot to spend to introduce new headaches to an otherwise very solid running system.. just need a little more GPU horse power though.. decisions decisions..

Well I just finished installing my 5970 "replacements"... 2 ASUS Matrix Platinum 2GB 5870s.

So far, very pleased. I'll be benching the next few days, as well as tweaking to see how much I can squeeze out of these suckers. (So far, I am hitting about 990 MHZ on core- temps are hovering JUST under 80C. Once I have core established, I'll get to memory).

I'll get some comparisons up to my 5970 once I have enough benches together.

ONLY negative is what was mentioned about noise and heat- they are LOUD when the fans are jacked, and without 80%+ fan speed, temps can quickly get to the high 80s, which I do not like.

Also, it may be placebo, but Bad Company 2 just feels "smoother". It seemed to "stutter" on my 5970, whereas on these, it is smooth as silk.

More to come! Stay tuned... :rockout

[Drex]

[quote] Although my motherboard has 2 x PciE slots,only 1 was x16,the other was x4

The "drop" in performance would be like only 1 - 2 %.

Is that all !

hmmmm......didnt realise the margin was that insignifcant.

How much quicker in percentage terms would you say 2 x 5870 are quicker than 1 x 5970 ?

[Phoenixdancer]

It depends on where the 5970 is clocked at.

if the 5970 is at 5870 speeds there is hardly any diffrence.

keep the 5970 and get a 5850 for tri-Fire! :P

[r3v3nant]

Nice.. I am looking forward to your results.

the other consideration I have is my gigabyte x58 mobo will go into 8x 8x 16x 4x mode because I would have 4x pci-e devices installed (raid card 4x, sound card 1x, and then two video cards) so I was thinking a solo 5970 might be the best fit for me... but I am reading the 5870 does very well on an 8x pci-e 2.0 interface... but with one in an 16x slot in 8x mode, and one in a 16x slot in 16x mode not sure if that will make some stuttering or something...

Well I just finished installing my 5970 "replacements"... 2 ASUS Matrix Platinum 2GB 5870s.

So far, very pleased. I'll be benching the next few days, as well as tweaking to see how much I can squeeze out of these suckers. (So far, I am hitting about 990 MHZ on core- temps are hovering JUST under 80C. Once I have core established, I'll get to memory).

I'll get some comparisons up to my 5970 once I have enough benches together.

ONLY negative is what was mentioned about noise and heat- they are LOUD when the fans are jacked, and without 80%+ fan speed, temps can quickly get to the high 80s, which I do not like.

Also, it may be placebo, but Bad Company 2 just feels "smoother". It seemed to "stutter" on my 5970, whereas on these, it is smooth as silk.

More to come! Stay tuned... :rockout