What advantages does a single 5970 have over 2 5870's Xfired?

[gamrWraith001]

Title pretty much says it all.

I will be using the eye infinity most likely (don't know if it changes anything)

Also i will be overclocking my card(s) a lot.

 

[shadow187]

HD5970 is an underclocked HD5870x2 (though it has trouble reaching 5870 clocks). The advantage is that it takes up one PCI-Ex16 slot instead of two. Eyefinity currently does not work on it.

For good overclocking see this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131322&cm_re=5870-_-14-131-322-_-Product

 

[Rustyy117]

if price is no concern then 2 x 5870's is the way to go as there faster than a 5970

If you go for the 5970 then you save some money and some space.

Personally If I had the money I'd go for 2 x 5870's and overclock them ALOT

 

[strangestranger]

I'm pretty sure that eyefinity does work with it although I am not sure which release other than 9.12's do. At least that is what I understand from peoples postings on forums.

 

[gamrWraith001]

I guess my uses for my setup will be something to consider.

Mostly heavy gaming with games like Crysis. Also graphics design. I am not heavily into that yet but I am getting their.

My monitor setup won't be all that fancy. 2 monitors max. I might decide i rather use small Tv's in place of monitors. 24" is the biggest i will go on a monitor. As for the resolution... I don't really know but I doubt i will go as high as 2560X1600.

 

[shadow187]

Assuming 2x 1920x1200, you will want no less than 2x HD5870. Especially for Crysis.

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

The difference is clear.

1. Price is probably the most noticable since a 5970 cost $600 while 5870s cost $400 each.

2. Eyefinity does not work in crossfire mode, but that requires 3 monitors to be any good and most people don't have 3 monitors nor do most people have a large enough desk. Perhaps future drivers would allow eyefinity in crossfire.

3. Power consumption is lower with a single 5970 than 2x5870s. A 5970 uses less power during load and idle.

4. A 5870 is cooler than a 5970. Two 5870s should each have lower temperature than a 5970 and would clock better if your case have enough ventilation. Otherwise 2x5870 would give off more combined heat.

5. If you plan to get a liquid cooled 5970, you would only need one waterblock dropping cost. Also a single 5970 is cooler than 2 combined 5870s.

Also 2560x1600 is really awesome. Once you go 30" you will never go back. Consider it an option before getting 3 monitors for eyefinity. Though crysis doesn't run so hot at such high resolution.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Lower power consumption? Other than that, none. The 5970 is two underclocked 5870s that perform equal to two 5850s.

 

[paperfox]

Eyefinity works in Crossfire, at least the release notes for the 10.2 drivers say they do.
http://www2.ati.com/relnotes/Catalyst_102_release_notes.pdf
Unless its still buggy, I have not seen any reviews exploring the scalability of two cards with Eyefinity + Crossfire.

Eveything I wanted to say has already been said in the above posts except that I would disagree with Rofl_My_Waffle and say that two 5870s would be cooler as they are separate cards with twice the heat sink surface area and double the fans over a single 5970.

 

[jyjjy]

The temperature of the chips themselves may be lower on separate cards but that doesn't mean the card/s as a whole are giving off less heat. That is more directly related to power consumption. But perhaps the two coolers from the HD5870s also more efficiently remove the heat from the case as well, not just the GPU. I honestly don't know.

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

The combined cards have higher combined temperature. However you would have two coolers and thus 2x 5870s should clock better. Unless you are talking about liquid cooling like I mentioned before, since both cards would go into the same loop but won't have double the fans.

I think price is the most important factor.

 

[SmarterChoice]

I guess my uses for my setup will be something to consider.

Mostly heavy gaming with games like Crysis. Also graphics design. I am not heavily into that yet but I am getting their.

My monitor setup won't be all that fancy. 2 monitors max. I might decide i rather use small Tv's in place of monitors. 24" is the biggest i will go on a monitor. As for the resolution... I don't really know but I doubt i will go as high as 2560X1600.

Don't eyefinity with only two monitors, it's awful especially for shooters like crysis.

You need three monitors so you have a full screen in front of you, with two you have the bezel right down the center of the screen and it's no good.

Three smaller monitors kills two bigger ones, and even three 22 inch screens give 30% more area than a 30 inch while costing half the cash.

 

[-Fran-]

The biggest difference between 2x5870's and a 5970 is that you can put a second 5970, lol.

BTW, Ati didn't clock the 5970 on the levels of the 5870 because of power use; they didn't want a 300W+ video card but the HSF is supposed to dissipate 400W equivalent of heat. You can actually OC the card if you think is not enough, but i'd suggest to think about a better HSF and/or water cooling.

Cheers!

 

[gamrWraith001]

Best answer selected by gamrwraith001.

 

[mindless728]

5970 uses a single pci-e slot, so people with only one can get a lot of performance with it (ie AMD 770 chipset)