2 GTX 470 in SLI vs. 1 Radeon 5970

i'd go with a 5970

For performance in terms of framerate or are you also including heat/noise/power?

in terms of heat, power consumption, expandibility (can add another 5970)

Pure performance wise, I'd get SLI GTX 470s for sure. Yeah, they're hot and power hungry, but they'll be really fast.

For RAW performance, 5970 for sure  

Interesting. There appears to be a split of opinion...

Yeah, a couple of GTX 460 1gb in SLI really ARE AMAZING and they would play almost any game out there as long as they are kinda optimized for multi GPU setups.... now again, 5970 IS ALOT faster that a 460 sli, of course, the price is higher....
  I personally would go with SLI, just for the simple fact that the 5970 is SO EXPENSIVE!!!!

OP said 470, not 460...

OH!!!!
My bad  
Sorry for that LOL!  
mmm well... 5970 then =)
(some GTX 460s super overclocked are ALMOST as fast as a 470 BTW...)

Look, I have 5850s in CF. They are very close to a 5970. GTX 470s are slightly better than 5850s, AND SLI scales from 5-15% better than CF, even more in some specific games/benches. So, sli GTX 470s will easily compete with or beat a 5970. Cost wise, you're saving some cash too. And gaining (although hardly important at all) PhysX, and 3D too for that matter although ATI is coming out with 3D soon.

Every set of benchmarks that I've seen which compares the two shows the SLI'd 470's coming out ahead, overall. As for the potential to Crossfire a 5970 later on - well I hear bad things about quad-GPU scaling in Crossfire. Never tried it myself though...

The 470s are faster than a single 5970 no doubt, if you want to compare mano a mano it would be the dual 460's vs the 5970 not the 470's.

The 470's will run about 20c hotter depending on ambient and case airflow. If you can take the heat and power draw the the 470's is what you want. If you want less power draw and a cooler card then the 5970 would be the wiser choice.

Excellent, thanks for the tips. I'm also considering GTX 480s in SLI, but I don't think the cost increase justifies the performance boost. I've got some money to burn, but not THAT much...

Order 1 GTX 470 and OC, it will perform close to the GTX 480. Later when you have more money to burn then pick up a 2nd for SLI and your in business. You will enjoy the single 470 oc'd just fine until then...

This is w/ old drivers.....not close.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-r...

Game
Card (Avg/Min)

1920 x 1200 res, highest settings tested

BFBC2 (DX11)
470 SLI (76/57)
5970 (77/54)
5850 Xfire (85/61)

Dirt2 (DX11)
470 SLI (128/116)
5970 (93/83)
5850 Xfire (11/97)

Dragon Age Origins (DX9)
470 SLI (102/65)
5970 (102/55)
5850 XFire (95/49)

Far Cry 2 (DX9)
470 SLI (131/86)
5970 (119/76)
5850 XFire (121/79)

Far Cry 2 (DX10)
470 SLI (139/86)
5970 (111/76)
5850 XFire (123/84)

Metro 2033 (DX11)
470 SLI (44/35)
5970 (37/26)
5850 XFire (40/28)

Heaven (DX11)
470 SLI (55/33)
5970 (40/18)
5850 Xfire (42/20)


Totals:

470 SLI (675/478) wins by 9% / 19% over twin 5850's ..... 17% / 23 % over 5970
5850 XFire (617/418) wins by 7 % / 8% over 5970
5970 (579/388)

Yes the SLIed GTX 470s will be notably better than an HD5970 in terms of performance. Here is an article on that exact subject;
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce-...
Here is the summary chart from that article;

What you want to look at there is the red lines.

Unless you have are planning to do some hardcore 3D gamming, all you need are two GTX 460. It's the best video card right now and the SLI driver is doing wonders.

I got one ATI 5870 last year, and I can't stress the card playing games on high 1920x1080. The GTX460 SLI performance being close to a ATI 5970, you shouldn't have any trouble for a couple years. Get the performance while saving enough to buy yourself a SSD or anything else you like.

GTX 470 in crossfire beats the living *** out of HD 5970. On the other hand you could buy 2 GTX 460s for much cheaper and get about the same performance as the HD 5970 but ofc physx and other stuff and with a small overclock 2 GTX 460 easily beats the HD 5970

SLI not crossfire  

GTX 470 sli , As you don't care about the cost get 2 GTX480 !!
5970 is very expensive , out performed by 2 GTX 460 , So imagine 2 GTX 470 ,
GTX 470 sli will support 3d vision , 3d vision surround , physics , cuda and better performance , there is no comparison man , they are also cheaper than 5970 .

Wow so 5850's are better than a 5970. I knew it! But nobody believed me...

And of course the 470s are a bit better than 5850s, and SLI scales just a tad better than CF, so they're the clear performance winner - as well as heater and power consumption winners  

Maybe I should just go for the gold and get 2 GTX 480s in SLI. Then it's just a question of managing the heat and noise. I'm planning on using Cyberpower to build the computer, and would pick the Coolermaster Storm Sniper case. Methinks, with proper air cooling, the case should be tolerably cool and quiet.

Thoughts on Cyberpower? I don't have the time to build the machine myself.

dual 480's will roast your room unless you have the A/C running 24/7..

I wouldn't recommend GTX 480s. They are very overpriced compared to the GTX 470 when overclocking is taken into account. The main difference between the two cards is that the 480 has 7% more shaders for a 50% higher price. They both OC to the same level so the difference in stock clocks doesn't matter at all unless you aren't going to OC which would be a shame on cards that OC so well.

jyjjy is right. I would recommend 2 470's. I'm trying to save up for them; especially since the egg dropped EVGA's version to $299.

Overclock GTX470 a touch + pair with a friend = dominate even the most graphic intensive games!  

Yep 470s for sure. And they just keep getting better with the new drivers.

HD 5970 for me. Single card, runs cooler and is less power hungry than GTX470x2!

If you're unconcerned with power consumption and heat issues then dual 470's over the 5970.

Still, i have a 5970 and its awesome.