Upgrading my 5870

[mspisz]

Hello,

I recently upgraded my monitor to a 23" philips Full hd monitor... But I noticed quite a decrease in FPS in some games when running at maximum video settings running at 1920-1080 resolution (Bulletstorm for instance)

I dont complain too much at the moment since the FPS is playable remains at above 60fps in all games but lets face it it wont be like that for ever.

I am looking forward to future games and I would like to enjoy them at its fullest graphics sooo I want to start thinking about possible upgrades.

Easiest thing would be to get another 5870 I know that... but what about getting a 5970 2GB in next few months and then after a while just get a another 5970 to run it in crossfire?

 

[z06psi]

If your still at 60 fps at your details and resolution then why bother? Yes I know that eventually you will get below that but by then the 7XXX cards will be out and then I would wait until then. If they are not out pick up a another 1GB 5870 as long as your resolution doesn't increase past where you are now. They actually scale quite nice but not as good as the 6XXX series but I feel the 6XXX series was not that much of a evolution from the 5XXX series.

This is what I am doing. Waiting for the 2-3 GB 7XXX cards in a 5870 flavor to come out next year sometime.

 

[mspisz]

So if I have 2 x 5870 1GB... will the memory be then 2GB?

 

[christop]

yes

 

[celpas]

must be a problem on youtr side coz my gtx 275+i7 870 played the game at 45+fps at 1680X1050.NEVR LAGGED.perphaps it prefers nvidia cards

 

[jjb8675309]

So if I have 2 x 5870 1GB... will the memory be then 2GB?

no you will be limited to the 1 gig frame buffer, which imo should be fine for a while yet to come, I have 6870 crossfire and it is a performer...

 

[jjb8675309]

by far the best choice, and the only choice is to get another 5870 for crossfire, look at some benchmarks it is darn impressive and will give you performance well beyond that of a gtx 580. quad fire with two 5970 would be a driver nightmare, I would not recommend using two cards overall unless you are going for some ridiculous eyefinity setup that you want to play games at super high res and maxed out details.

So to rehash:
First choice: get another 5870
Second choice: sell your current 5870 and buy a gtx 580

anything less in a single card is not going to provide very much improvements even the 6950 will not be much of an improvement over a single 5870, and in my opinion its too early to tell how much their 2 gigs of vram in the 6950/70 will help down the road (no doubt it will at some point) -my 2 cents

 

[wolfram23]

If I were you, I would ONLY consider something other than a second 5870 if I was going to go with eyefinity, in which case a 1.5-2gb VRAM card is a huge benefit. But CF5870s is an absolutely brutal combo. Faster than a 5970.

 

[jjb8675309]

yeah get the second 5870 hands down

 

[mspisz]

Would I be able to Sli 580 GTX on my motherboard ?

ASUS IV Formula

 

[mspisz]

no way I be buying 800 gpu....

 

[jjb8675309]

well your gonna spend at least that much if you are going to get gtx 580 sli? the most logical thing to do is spend the $200 AR and get the second 5870 that is really the only option other than just sticking with your card, imo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125316&cm_re=5870-_-14-125-316-_-Product

 

[z06psi]

Like I said in my first post

 

[raj072]

I have a 5870 with I7 920 at 3.5 and i have a 120HZ HD LCD. So pretty much the same set up as his.

He is just suffering from hardwaritis. I know its been awhile and for some reason that 5870 is still crushing games yet you feel the need to upgrade just to have something new.

I've looked and

1. There are no games that feel slow with 5870
2. It has enough Ram for that rez
3. There really is no compelling reason to upgrade right now as its a step sideways and inches forward.

Best thing to do is

1. Get a used 5870 or cheap one for like 200.00 and xfire them
2. Wait till 7 series is out.

I'm waiting for 7 series as i prefer a fast single card over SLI or Xfire (mostly heat and power issues)

 

[jjb8675309]

yeah really z06psi said it all in the first post but def some good advice