Sidestep from Radeon HD 5970 (2x1GB VRAM) to Radeon HD 7870 2 GB VRAM

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Z

zhunt99

Reputable
Mar 10, 2014
79
0
4,640
How wise or unwise would it be to sidestep from a Radeon HD 5970 to a Radeon HD 7870? A deal on newegg caught my eye:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131563&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL042214&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL042214-_-EMC-042214-Index-_-DesktopGraphicsVideoCards-_-14131563-L06D

140 after Rebate seems acceptable to me. Is it a worthy enough upgrade in performance in games that only utilize one GPU to go for, or am I better off waiting it out a bit?

And in terms of other components, I'm running an antiquated Phenom II 1100t at 4 ghz with 16 gbs of DDR3 RAM.
 
Solution
ish416
For $140 a new 7870 is good deal. One 7870 will likely be as fast or slightly faster than a 5970. You could sell the 5970 for around $150 - $200 and recoup most of your money as it is a decent card for crypto currency mining.
Sort by date Sort by votes
P

pfunkmd

Honorable
Apr 11, 2012
953
0
11,160
It is a good upgrade and power Color makes great cards I have two of them.
I had two hd 6870s in crossfire and I went to 2 r9 270's (same as the 7870) and just the one card is much better because of the extra vram
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
cst1992

cst1992

Splendid
Nov 8, 2013
3,903
1
24,215


a 270x or 270 is a good recommendation, but to answer your question, it's definitely a good idea, as the 5970 has only 1 GB of usable RAM, and the 7870 runs cooler and consumes less power than the 5970.
The 7870 is weaker than the 5970 actually, but it does have equivalent power of one core of the 5970.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ish416

ish416

Honorable
Jul 5, 2012
771
0
11,360
While not the same thing, my 7870XT (Tahiti LE) is roughly 35% faster than my 5970.

The 7870XT is about 10% faster than the 7870 Ghz. So, it would be a slight bump in performance depending on the game and a massive improvement in noise, heat and power consumption.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
cst1992

cst1992

Splendid
Nov 8, 2013
3,903
1
24,215


I'd say the 5970 was a stint, and badly designed in general. It couldn't handle its own heat and power.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
P

pfunkmd

Honorable
Apr 11, 2012
953
0
11,160


The r9 270 and the 7870 are the same GPU
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ish416

ish416

Honorable
Jul 5, 2012
771
0
11,360


I would say you are 100% incorrect. The 5970 was an excellent card and was expertly engineered. Yes it runs hot, yes it uses a significant amount of power, yes it is a massive card.

That said, temps aren't really that bad considering you have two hot, power hungry GPUs sharing the same PCB. The cooler can be a bit noisy but honestly isn't that bad. The card when released was an absolute beast and it is still a very capable card today. It is just a victim of the times.



The R9 270, 270X and 7870 are all the same GPU. The only difference between them is that the R9 270/270X have faster memory and the 270X features a higher boost clock speed. The 7870 with the same memory and GPU clock speeds will have identical performance.

All three cards will crossfire with each other also.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
cst1992

cst1992

Splendid
Nov 8, 2013
3,903
1
24,215
All right.
Thing is, on Techpowerup's website, the 7870 has the GPU given as Tahiti, whereas the 270/270x has given as Curacao. The 7870XT has 4313 million transistors whereas the Curacao has 2800 million. 7870 XT also has more shaders(1536/1280) more TMU's(96/80) and compute units(24/20). It also has more memory bandwidth and floating point performance than the 270x.

UPDATE: Just checked the Pitcairn-based 7870 GHz, and it has the same specs as the 270/270x, but much lower memory clock. The 7870 XT is a newer version.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ish416

ish416

Honorable
Jul 5, 2012
771
0
11,360
The 7870XT name is just terrible marketing. It should have been called the 7930 as it is a cut down version of the GPU on the 7950/7970/R9 280X and actually shares nothing with the normal 7870 (Pitcairn) or 270's.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Z

zhunt99

Reputable
Mar 10, 2014
79
0
4,640
Okay, at about 140 after rebate, a Radeon HD 7870 makes for a half way decent deal then and an adequate upgrade in memory bandwidth starved games? Or is there something else at that price point which is a better value?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ish416

ish416

Honorable
Jul 5, 2012
771
0
11,360
For $140 a new 7870 is good deal. One 7870 will likely be as fast or slightly faster than a 5970. You could sell the 5970 for around $150 - $200 and recoup most of your money as it is a decent card for crypto currency mining.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom