5970x2

[pnico]

guys,

brother in law just got me a 5970..as a gift..

what kind of performance might I get with games like bioshock, me1 and 2, re5, cryostasis, fear, avp..dragon age..etc...

he claims that the performance is that much better than even a pair of 4870x2's...

he tells me considering its a dual gpu card, it will likely run games smoother than having 4 gpu's because games dont scale well to 4 gpus..and sometimes actually perform worse..

 

[pnico]

im curious if anyone knows, if this 5970 will out do even nividias flagship then thats released..
I was told that their flagship will only be 10% faster than a 5870

 

[paperfox]

5970 performance? That's two 5870s down clocked to 5850s because of power limitations and a 5850 is equivalent to two 4850s in crossfire. It will eat 295GTXs for dinner.

 

[pnico]

curious, how would 2 5970's do?
probably major overkill I take it, right?

Not that im concerned with fermi, just curious as to how ATI's flahship will stack up against fermi...

 

[microterf]

yes, overkill.

What resolutions are you playing at?? It should play everything maxed out pretty much

 

[paperfox]

The only thing I can think of two 5970s not being overkill is running 3 or 6 monitor 2560x1600 Eyefinity setup. But yes, spending $1200 that would need to be upgraded every year/year and a half to maintain a decent FPS on newer games would be a bit much. Not to mention the fact that you need to already have the screens.

 

[microterf]

I want to be friends with you brother in law

 

[microterf]

your brother in law is absolutely correct about 4 gpus scaling. 3 is about the max I would go, and the only thing that will really do for you is raise your min fps (which is important) when using AA

 

[Nemi87]

I told you it was overkill I win!

 

[hunuok]

Hey there,

To start, You lucky son of a B@#$%!

In my experience, a quadfire setup DOESNT work well in Eyefinity. So in single screen mode, I enable both cards while in Eyefinity I disable a card. Apart from price, this is my ONLY gripe thus far.

In 3DMark Vantage, a single 5970 gives me ~P22000, while a dual 5970 gives me P32909 (Cat 10.3 pre). In general, you can expect an increase of 20-50% in fps with a dual setup. Nb: I dont know how to upload images yet, so I cant post my benchmark results!

Congratulations and happy gaming.

 

[pnico]

hunuok, thanks Im looking forward to gaming with my 5970. I do have a 2 LCD setup...slightly differnet size monitors, but never the less should be interesting.


Im a little concerned about fermi's release. Id hate to spend money on a card only to have it blown away by nividias flagship, but then again, nividia would lead you to believe that they will take the crown...

will games run amazing with 2 5970's and 2 lcd's?

Do you think I'll be returning the 5970 for fermi ? I honestly am a fan of ATI. Been using forever and like their stuff..only had 2 nividia cards, the original geforce and the geforce 2mx 400

 

[hunuok]

There will ALWAYS be something faster on the market! Trust me, its like chasing your tail and its expensive.

Fermi is anybody's guess. There has been so much expectation/rumors/information I expect it wont be till summer before things die down (ie prices/drivers/availability).

I see a few issues:

1. If you plan to EXTEND across 2 screens, your bezel will be in the way. ex. in FPS, your crosshair will be cut in the middle, making gameplay irritating if not impossible.

2. What res are your monitors? 5970s should be run on a MINIMUM 1920x1080 or1920x1200 res. A 2560x1600 is preferable (although DAMN expensive).

Options :

1. Use 1 5970 on 2 monitors (Cheapest)
2. Use 1 5970 across 3 monitors (Eyefinity-can be tricky to setup BUT unbelievable experience when setup correctly)
3. Use 1 5970, sell 2 monitors and get 1 30" monitor
4. Use 2 5970, and get 1 30" monitor (Most expensive-hello brother in law)

Whatever you decide, you have a top notch VGA. And yes, games will run amazing!

 

[paperfox]

well a single 5970 should be enough for 3 1920x1080 eyefinity setup, no need to buy another. As hunuok said the second 5970 would give you a poor return on your money due to the 3rd and 4th gpu scaling.

 

[microterf]

or you could get 3 30"..

I agree with hunuok. Your options are really 1 or 3 monitors. If you can afford a 30", grab it. 1 5970 is awesome, no real need for a 2nd. I would rather get a 5870 and xfire it with the 5970 than get another 5970 if I were you.

As for eyefinity. It is amazing. I have a 30" and 2 26" that I use while gaming. Looks awesome in racing/flight sims Haven't tried it in FPS yet.

If you do go Eyefinity, I found what worked for me, was put the middle monitor in center, and put the other 2 just in front of that angled, but with the bezels so when I look at it the side monitor bezels go right up to where the actual screen is on the middle monitor. It's Beautiful.

 

[pnico]

im looking forward to this..it should be very fun..
cuious to see how these two titans end up at the end with both flagship models out..

 

[pnico]

id love to see eyefinity running withalien vs predator..
now im new to this eyefinity concept...I come from an old school of gaming..

ANY game can use eyefinity right? its just the hardware that does it?

like crysis can do eyefinity or mass effect?

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

Crossfire only scales good on high resolution. You would only see performance increase in quadfire on a 30" monitor but according to some review quadfire doesn't even boot some games right.

I have a 30" monitor with a 5970. The 5970 is clocked at 5850 stock but I bumped that up to 925/1200 clocks which is faster than 5870s.

If you think the 5970 is fast according to benchmarks. It is even faster when OC because it has so much headroom. I have to say the GTX 480 which is already on fire at stocks, doesn't stand a chance.
This is my heaven benchmark score
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g217/Rofl_My_Waffle/HeavenBenchmark3.jpg

 

[pnico]

the 480 is what, fermi?

 

[paperfox]

Not every game supports Eyefinity, however I believe newer games will be more likely to support it since Nvidia is coming up with their version soon.

lists of eyefinity tested games by hardocp and amd:
http://www.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTI1NDE2Nzk2NjBpOFVuVWt6c0RfMV8xNl9sLmpwZw==
http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-software.aspx

 

[hunuok]

fermi is officially called the GTX480 and GTX470.

in eyefinity, not all games support it. its still hit and miss. with new game titles, support will be there. remember, eyefinity is still in its infancy. if im not mistaken, eyefinity relies alot on software to get it working ie driver support.

games such as dirt 2, COD MW2, H.A.W.X, avatar, avp will support it BUT you may get FOV issues (COD MW2) and you will need to turn down settings to get playable frame rates. remember, your vga now has to display up to 12 megapixels. crysis runs like a dog but then again hasnt it always?lol

I did find that fps games are nausous in eyefinity (everything seems "in your face"), but flight sims and racing games are fantastic.

cat 10.3 pre has bezel management which is a bonus. hopefully things will get better with mature drivers.

nb ATI: better crossfire/quadfire support for eyefinity!

@microterf : overlapping monitor bezels does help