Widescreen Gaming Forum

So I have a GTX 275 now. In January I am looking to spend $1,000 (or less) upgrading my PC. I was debating between a Core i7 overhaul or a GPU upgrade and if I go the GPU route I am wondering if I could do Eyefinity for that amount of money.

I have a Dell 24" so two more of those would be about half that, $500.

So if I go a bit over I could maybe get the 5970, but it seems weaker than two 5870s in crossfire, but that is $800 and I cannot afford $1400. Would one 5870 be enough to run games at 3x1080 res on medium+ settings? Would I need AA at that res (I do need it at 1080p)?

I think I might rather get a 5870 with some other minor upgrades and enjoy the massive fps increase at my normal res than all this extra cost, but if I can go TH for under a $1,000 and be satisfied I would consider it.

If all you need is 2x24s(TN) and a 5970, I think you can do it for 1000$. Might involve alot of bing cashback though. Thats how I subsidize alot of my bigger purchases these days.

The 5970 is just clocked lower than the 5870's that is why it appears slower in stock benchmarks.

5870 stock = 850 Core 1200 Mem
5970 stock = 725 Core 1000 Mem

At the same clock speeds the 5970 would be faster than 2 x 5870 because you remove data transfer penalties between the cards. Also the 5970 uses a lot less power because many components are shared between the cores rather than duplicated on 2 cards. The 5970 is also cheaper and generally overclocks to the same limits as the 5870 on stock cooling.

As for the price, by the time Nvidia Fermi comes out and the problems with availability are sorted on the ATI cards some time in January it should be easily affordable within your budget.

I would go with the 5870. Not all games are supported in the 5970 EyeFinity under CF. I think my benchmarks prove that a single 5870 is playable - even at high settings in many cases. Once they get the CF sorted, then you could pick up a 2nd 5870 when prices drop there.

I would get the 5870 and 2 more 24"'ers.

If I had the cash it's exactly what I'd do/want to do.

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Formerly eZ`

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I would go with the 5870. Not all games are supported in the 5970 EyeFinity under CF. I think my benchmarks prove that a single 5870 is playable - even at high settings in many cases. Once they get the CF sorted, then you could pick up a 2nd 5870 when prices drop there.

That sounds very reasonable, your benchmarks were very informative. The guys on Tom's just make it out like you NEED that second card, which I know can be hyperbole.

[quote]I would go with the 5870. Not all games are supported in the 5970 EyeFinity under CF. I think my benchmarks prove that a single 5870 is playable - even at high settings in many cases. Once they get the CF sorted, then you could pick up a 2nd 5870 when prices drop there.

That sounds very reasonable, your benchmarks were very informative. The guys on Tom's just make it out like you NEED that second card, which I know can be hyperbole.

I run a single 5870 on 3x 23" (1920x1080) monitors and most of the games I have are very playable at the highest settings. MW 2 runs very well, Mirror's Edge is 45-60 fps, Batman: AA is at 60 fps, dragon age is 30-40 outdoors, can go higher inside with 8x fsaa and max settings..

I'll probably add a second 5870 later once crossfire is supported, but the single card is quite powerful and will make 5760x1080 a possibility at high in-game settings for most games that aren't crysis.

I think the guys over at Tom's are more concerned with getting the maximum possible framerate.. if you're happy with 40+ fps in the games that you play and sometimes more, then a single card will give you that in many/most cases.

I'm less concerned with a high framerate than a stable one. I honestly think 30-40fps is fine as long as it stays there and doesn't dip and cause stutter.

I will spend the next month reading further and checking this thread but I think the 5870 sounds like a good option. I can get it by itself at first, gauge my performance on my single 1080 monitor and then get the two extra monitors as long as everything seems in order.

Thanks for the continued advice guys.