1090 6870 Xfire Vs 950 470 Sli ?

[mfj1985]

Which of the following builds is better suited for gaming on 1920 x 1080. They basicly cost the same.



- AMD PHENOM II, 1090T x6 (6x3.2ghz) , BLACK EDITION (including Artic cooler)
- GIGABYTE 890 FXA (USB3, SATA3, CROSSFIRE)
- Crossfire 2X HD6870 1GB DDR5 (2x DVI, 1x HDMI)
- 500GB HARDDISK, 7200RPM (WD)
- 8GB DDR3 1600MHZ HYPER-X KINGSTON RAM "DUAL CHANNEL"
- 22x SATA +/- OG DVD-RAM DUALLAYER (LG)
- 700W Cougar SLI 80+
- HAF 922


Vs

- INTEL i7 950, 4.8GT, SOCKET 1366
- GIGABYTE X58A (M. USB 3.0 OG SATA3)
- GIGABYTE 2X 1280MB OC Edition. GEFORCE GTX470 SLI
- 1000GB HARDDISK WD, 7200RPM (64MB CACHE)
- 6GB DDR3 1600MHZ KINGSTON "TRIPPLECHANNEL" HYPER-X
- 22x SATA +/- OG DVD-RAM DUALLAYER (LG)
- 1000w Coolermaster 80+ OG SLI CERTIFIED STRØMFORS
- HAF 922

 

[MadAdmiral]

Neither or a combination.

I'd go with:

CPU: i7-950
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
RAM: 3x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7
GPU: HD 5970 (or the two 6870s, if that's the only option)
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB
PSU: A good 850W+ unit from Corsair, Antec, Silverstone, SeaSonic or XFX only

 

[mfj1985]

Since I am not building the systems myself I cant change all that around.

Also curious why you opt for a 5970? isnt the 5970 inferior to both 6870 xfire and 470 sli?

 

[MadAdmiral]

I choose the 5970 for a couple of reasons. First, it's performance is extremely good. It'll beat two 6870s. They're similar in performance to the 5850, and the 5970 is technically two 5870s on one card. The 470 isn't even a consideration, considering the massive power consumption and heat they'll produce in SLI. Also, the performance is similar to the 5970, but they're generally more expensive.

Second, a single 5970 will leave an upgrade path open. Instead of immediately going with a Crossfire setup, you have the option to drop a second 5970 in later. With the other two setups, you'd need to replace the cards, which would be insanely expensive.

Finally, the 5970 can be had for $470. The 6870s will cost $480 and the 470s will cost $490. They're all similar in performance at stock, but the 5970 leaves an upgrade path, uses less power, and leaves a lot of headroom for overclocking.

You should build this yourself. You get the best quality, best prices and more control. The custom builders are known for horrible quality, horrible prices and horrible service. It really doesn't take much to build it yourself, just a willingness to spend a little time reading up on the process and an hour or two to put everything together.