5970 on a I5

[Guest]

Will an I5-750 CPU be enough to push an ATI 5970 or should I upgrade the order to an I7-920 or I7-860? ( I do understand i will need a new mobo and ram setup as well )

Also... I've read a few reviews on the 5970 and from what I've read this single card should out perform 2x 5870 in crossfire, correct?

I've also read that Eyefinity has issues running on a crossfire config?

Thanks in advance,

J

 

[MadAdmiral]

The i5 will be fine.

Yes and no. The 5970 is essentially already 2 5870s in Crossfire, but it has been downclocked to the levels of 5850s.

I haven't heard anything about Eyefinity not running on a Crossfired configuration.

 

[zach538467]

An i5 is enough if you overclock it. The 5870x2 is actually faster due to higher stock clocks. Eyefinity crossfire is iffy right now, but there is a hotfix and should be supported next driver version.

[EDIT] MadAdmiral beat me

 

[towely]

At high resolutions and IQ settings, an overclocked e8400 would probably perform just as well as a i7 920 in the majority of games.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Actually, at stock, the i5-750 performs just about as well as the i7-920 in gaming. It's just outclassed in other applications. So there isn't a reason to spend the extra $200+ for an i7-920 build.

 

[zach538467]

@ Towely
A) What does that have to do with his quiestion at all?
B) What if the i7 is overclocked?(and who doesn't overclock an i7?)
C) While that statement would have been true last year, game developers are coming around to the idea that threading is a good thing. If you had said close to the same as an i7 I would agree. And like MadAdmiral said, no real need for an i7 if gaming is your main concern. i5's are great chips.