Hello. Need advice on upgrading from 5770 crossfire

[kraut_aa]

Hi there. Is the 5770x2 really worth it over the 6870??

Lower power consumption, driver compatibility and performance are my reasons to upgrade/downgrade.

My retailer told me that I'll just add Php1k-2k ($25-$40 USD) if I'll trade in my 5770x2 to a single 6870. I don't know much about the 69xx series yet but I guess I'm going to add over $100 to upgrade when they come out and that's expensive for me. So, is 6870 enough or worth an upgrade/downgrade from my 5770x2 or do I need to wait for the 6950/6890 to come out? Is it practical? Just wanna ask. Thanks!

 

[wiinippongamer]

going from 2 5770s to a single 6870 would be a noticeable downgrade, so yea don't do it.

 

[kraut_aa]

going from 2 5770s to a single 6870 would be a noticeable downgrade, so yea don't do it.

Thanks! I was kind of confused about trading in my 5770x2 because of its power consumption but still faster in performance compared to a 6870. Do you have any ideas about the 69xx series' TDP?

 

[wiinippongamer]

nope, but it shouldn't be high, probably about a 5850's.

you probably should upgrade your psu if want to keep your 5770s, to at least 650w, im a little surprised your 550w psu can run them, as the minum for a single 5770 is 500w.

 

[kraut_aa]

Yup. I think the 69xx series would be much better if they're lower than 225w and cheaper.

I'm also planning to upgrade my psu soon to a 700w to be safer. A 550w is enough to run 2x 5770s depending on its amp and if its not generic.. I'm using my psu for over 3 months already with no problems as of yet. But I'm having a problem like microstuttering in some games with my 5770 crossfire. Is it really because of the crossfire scaling or the gpu drivers?

 

[JDFan]

Yup. I think the 69xx series would be much better if they're lower than 225w and cheaper.

I'm also planning to upgrade my psu soon to a 700w to be safer. A 550w is enough to run 2x 5770s depending on its amp and if its not generic.. I'm using my psu for over 3 months already with no problems as of yet. But I'm having a problem like microstuttering in some games with my 5770 crossfire. Is it really because of the crossfire scaling or the gpu drivers?

Yep - a decent 550w is sufficient - figure a 5770 only uses a max of around 110w for the card so 2 is only 220w of the +12v rail so a decent 550w PSU that is spec'd correctly and has decent amps on the +12v rails will run them fine (they specify 600w to cover those no name brands that overrate their PSUs output)

A lot of times that Microstutter is actually a result of the HDD not being able to keep up with loading the game files into RAM - what HDD do you have - an SSD to improve gameplay might be a better option than changing your GPUs.

 

[wiinippongamer]

WD black 640gb is a quite a fast drive

 

[kraut_aa]

Yup. If there's no heavy overclocking. I think crossfiring 6850s is also possible on a 550w if it has enough amps. So as a single gtx 480 but I don't know if my psu can handle that.

I'm using WD 640gb sata 6gb. Yup. It's quite fast. I don't know if it's my HDD. It happens sometimes when a game reaches at 60fps. But I never had an experience with microstuttering when I was still using a single 5770 on a 19" monitor..

 

[wiinippongamer]

is always best to have a single powerful card, you'll avoid driver issues aswell as stuttering on some cards.


Do you defrag your HDD regularly? try uninstalling drivers then use driver sweeper to clean the leftovers.

Also does the stuttering occur in every single game or just specific games?

Try setting a solid fan speed for both of the cards on CCC.

I had a stuttering issue with my 5850 on a few games, just 2 of them actually mafia 2 and dirt 2 only with vsync enabled, some games use alot more cpu resources than others, and those are particularly heavy, processes like automatic fan control and temperature monitoring load onto the cpu, most of the time you will not notice any sturrering because of it whatsoever, but a few games do stutter.

When putting on a second card the load from the processes double, as each card runs at a different temperature and thus different fan speed, so it's like more prompt to notice stuttering.

So i sat the fan speed at 40% which is still very quiet and haven't noticed a single stutter on any game since then.


Also you should upgrade the psu to something with higher wattage, the fact that the cards run without any apparent problem doesn't mean you wouldn't be putting the psu to a high stress. The higher the load the less it will last and the more risk of a total system fail keep that in mind.

 

[xfirefly1x]

I was Wondering the same thing, I Play @ 1680x1050

I was wondering about that because some people say 2x5770 is the way to go others say the 1 6870. So im Lost.

 

[kraut_aa]

is always best to have a single powerful card, you'll avoid driver issues aswell as stuttering on some cards.


Do you defrag your HDD regularly? try uninstalling drivers then use driver sweeper to clean the leftovers.

Also does the stuttering occur in every single game or just specific games?

Try setting a solid fan speed for both of the cards on CCC.

I had a stuttering issue with my 5850 on a few games, just 2 of them actually mafia 2 and dirt 2 only with vsync enabled, some games use alot more cpu resources than others, and those are particularly heavy, processes like automatic fan control and temperature monitoring load onto the cpu, most of the time you will not notice any sturrering because of it whatsoever, but a few games do stutter.

When putting on a second card the load from the processes double, as each card runs at a different temperature and thus different fan speed, so it's like more prompt to notice stuttering.

So i sat the fan speed at 40% which is still very quiet and haven't noticed a single stutter on any game since then.


Also you should upgrade the psu to something with higher wattage, the fact that the cards run without any apparent problem doesn't mean you wouldn't be putting the psu to a high stress. The higher the load the less it will last and the more risk of a total system fail keep that in mind.

No. Just on specific games. Like assassin's creed 2, splinter cell conviction and sometimes on dragon age. It happens when vsync is disabled. Maybe because of the games.. My fan control has the same speed. They're at 50% speed.

Yup. My psu is 600w max but I know I'm lowering its lifespan. I shoud've bought a 700w psu when I first bought my pc. I'm still saving enough money to upgrade my psu to a 700w.

 

[kraut_aa]

I was Wondering the same thing, I Play @ 1680x1050

I was wondering about that because some people say 2x5770 is the way to go others say the 1 6870. So im Lost.

I think it's better to go to a single and powerful card in my opinion. Lesser heat, power consumption, driver issues, crossfire problems, and it's more practical. For me, a 6870 is better or wait for the 69xx series..

 

[wiinippongamer]

wait for the 6900s and sell your 5770's would be the best

 

[kraut_aa]

wait for the 6900s and sell your 5770's would be the best

Yup. Thanks for the advice. I'll ask my retailer next week again about the expected price if I'll upgrade my crossfired 5770 to a 6950 or 6970. By the way, do you have any idea about the upcoming 6950 about its price and tdp? I'm thinking that its lower than 225w with a price of $350..

 

[wiinippongamer]

I't all speculation at this point but again it tdp shouldn't be high, less than a 5870's for sure.

$350 sounds about right as it'll be faster than the 5870

 

[kraut_aa]

I't all speculation at this point but again it tdp shouldn't be high, less than a 5870's for sure.

$350 sounds about right as it'll be faster than the 5870

Lower than that of a 5870 tdp is a big dream to me. Hehe! Hope that it'll be just like 170w-180w tdp. I'm gonna be having enough time to save some extra cash until the 6950's december release.