HD5870 - Crossfire or other card?

[Pieter_]

Hi All,

I want to upgrade the graphic part of my computer, or maybe I can also upgrade something else for better performance?

My current system:

Gigabyte EX58-UD3R
i7 920 (3.25Ghz clocked) - Skythe Mugen 2 CPU Cooler
3 x 2GB DDR3 APACER PC10666/1333
Be-Quiet! Straight Power 700W
2 x VelociRaptor WD1500BLFS (RAID0)
XFX 5870 850M 1GB (HD-587-ZNFV)

What are my best options to go for the best gaming experience and spending not to much money?
At the moment I don't have any problem playing games in full experience, but for the upcoming BF3 I'm willing to spend some extra money (if necessary..).

I can buy off course a GTX590, and that's it, but that's not what I want to do..
Should I buy another 5870? Should I wait and buy in fall another card?
Which card should I buy?

If I would like to go for crossfire, best option to buy another XFX? If it's still available..

Should I upgrade other parts of my computer?

A lot of questions but I hope you can help me out

Grtz,

Pieter

 

[shane799]

If your motherboard permits I would Crossfire the 5870 with another. Dual 5870's will smoke any single card solution on the market today, and cost you a bundle less money as well. I'm sure you can pick up a used 5870 dirt cheep on ebay, as many people will be trading up to the newer solutions.

 

[tacoslave]

if you could find another 5870 for around $200 than that would be the best option but remember that the 7000 series is coming in a couple months so if you could wait you can probably pwn the two 5870's with a 7870 or something along those lines so your options are either wait and get a card that can mindfuck and strike envy in the hearts of all that witness it or get another 5870 (which is still pretty cool)

 

[jjb8675309]

well doing some research about your psu makes me wary of using it in a crossfire config, personally I would sell your 5870 and grab a gtx 580 or even a gtx 570 which can be had for around 300 in some places after rebate, what is your monitors resolution? I would try clocking your cpu a bit higher for some added performance...you can either do that or play the waiting game but imo a gtx 570 or higher should handle BF3 just fine at 1080p.....

if you like AMD then of course you could go for a 6970 which is on par with the gtx 570

however if you go with that level of a card it will be a decent upgrade, but not a huge one.... in the end, if I had a 5870 I'd either get a gtx 580 or lower a couple settings and wait a bit if it is not giving you the performance that you want. Personally I would not crossfire, I can go on on about why, I ive had my personal experiences with crossfire 6870s, but imho getting a single strong card is the best thing to do, and right now you pretty much have a strong single card just a cusp under the enthusiast level at this point... my .02 cents

 

[jjb8675309]

with regards to the 7000 series... will they actually be out that soon? I thought it was going to be more towards the holidays!? anyways that would be cool if the flagship cards were released first...

we will not know if the new amd gpus will really deal those heavy blows until they are released but things are looking good for 28nm imo

 

[dalauder]

If you want to buy a graphics card for BF3, I suggest you wait until BF3 comes out. By then, card prices will drop anyhow.

I don't know if that PSU can handle a heavily OC'd 920 and 5870's in SLI. The reviews are not in depth enough to know much, but I get 761W recommended for such a setup here: http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine. Also, you'll want to OC your i7 or it will occasionally bottleneck high-end dual graphics setups.

 

[Pieter_]

Thanks all for the replies!

@shane799
mobo permits, so not a problem.
i rather buy a new one then one from ebay.. maybe they've OC the chip..

@tacoslave
7870 will not be very cheap i think.. but then hell.. it will blow for sure.. (prob winter 2011?)

@jjb8675309
GTX 570 or 580 is also not really a cheap solution

new:

ATI 5870 +/- €180
GTX 570 +/- €300
GTX 580 +/- €450

Never had a crossfire but what i've heard (read) is that the 6xxx series have more problems with crossfire then the 5xxx series..
correct?

@dalauder

So you would recommend me to upgrade my PSU and OC my i7 a little bit more?
From some benchmarks i've read that 3.2Ghz will suffer 1fps less than 3.6Ghz or 4Ghz.. (off course every game is different)
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_5870_crossfire_cpu_scaling_performance_part_2,5.html

So conclusion....
I still don't know

mixed feelings.. The only fear I've got is that I'll have problems with my CF..

any more thoughts?

 

[fshaharyar]

Never had a crossfire but what i've heard (read) is that the 6xxx series have more problems with crossfire then the 5xxx series..
correct?

the 6xxx series part are way better than 5xxx in crossfire. It stands toe 2 toe against nvidia's sli. you will get stereoscopic 3d as well in this one.

 

[fshaharyar]

If I had a choice to get a card I would go for 6950 2gb and mod it to 6970 with bios configurations.

 

[Guest]

do you really need to upgrade atm? the 5870 is about on par with a 6950 2gb if you don't need that extra 1gb of memory, the only thing now is a 580 for a single card. crossfire might be a good idea, but i would wait for the next gen, the 5xxx is too similar to the 6xxx for performance. hopefully 7xxx will come through.

 

[davcon]

The only thing lacking in the 5xxx series is tessellation performance and higher power consumption compared to 6xxx.
2x5870 = raw horsepower and will compete with just about anything currently available.
Good cheap upgrade imo.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/300?vs=305

 

[jjb8675309]

^from my expiriences, the 6 series is barely ahead in tess power really they both suck at it, if you want tesselation muscle then go for an nvidia card. Not to mention that it is questionableas to how much games use it

 

[Pieter_]

The only thing lacking in the 5xxx series is tessellation performance and higher power consumption compared to 6xxx.
2x5870 = raw horsepower and will compete with just about anything currently available.
Good cheap upgrade imo.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/300?vs=305

that's some nice info!
in CF the 5870 is still n°5 in top all times

 

[dalauder]

the 6xxx series part are way better than 5xxx in crossfire. It stands toe 2 toe against nvidia's sli.

That's simply not true. The 6xxx series in crossfire owns SLI, not "toe 2 toe". That's why 6950's that get beat handily by GTX 570's catch up in crossfire and even outperform them in most cases: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-20.html

I linked Just Cause 2, which is a TWIMTBP title, btw.

 

[dalauder]

Thanks all for the replies!
@dalauder

So you would recommend me to upgrade my PSU and OC my i7 a little bit more?
From some benchmarks i've read that 3.2Ghz will suffer 1fps less than 3.6Ghz or 4Ghz.. (off course every game is different)
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_5870_crossfire_cpu_scaling_performance_part_2,5.html

The link you gave me shows a 4fps difference between 3.2GHz and 3.6GHz since your min fps will be limiting, not your average. That's 22/18 or a 22% increase, which sounds pretty significant to me. Games (and resolutions) will be different. But it's so easy to OC to 3.6GHz, it's probably worth it.

 

[jjb8675309]

yeah but crossfire drivers are absolute ***, not to mention that toms benches games that favor amd, having owned 6870 crossfire, I would'nt touch the dual card drivers from amd with a ten foot pole, absolutely pathetic, they treat the mid-range crossfire customers as a minority

 

[dalauder]

Hmmm...good to hear from an actual Radeon 6870 crossfire owner. Does that mean they'd treat the OP (if he bought a 6950 2GB) well as a high-end owner? OP, I think you'll want to look through more actual user reviews or start a thread in the "Experiences" section.

I've definitely noticed the writers from Tom's having the same AMD bias I have, but I can't say the game benches favor Radeons. They often do WOW and multiple TWIMTBP titles. That said, I prefer Anandtech's benchmark review page: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188

 

[jjb8675309]

yeah I can give you laundry list of reasons but id rather not revisit, from what ive heard the 6950s and 6970s in crossfire are not plagued from the low min fps that maybe the 6870s did, but again there were many other driver related reasons that were consistent across several games, but the microstutter was appalling, I was getting less min fps with two cards then I was with one which to me is crap.

but in the end I spent over $460 on gpus and was unhappy with the overall experience

 

[jjb8675309]

side note:

The Cleveland Cavaliers will pick number 1 and 4 in the first round of NBA draft, Hell Yeah!

 

[dalauder]

Haha...wow...1 & 4? So long as they've got better GMs than the Knicks, they should be as good as the Thunder in two years.

 

[jjb8675309]

yeah the knicks sidegraded with the recent trade unfortunately, they need a big man or a point gaurd........ but dan gilbert deserves it, Lebron is a scumbag, his legacy is nothing but diminished, Go Bulls in that series. The pick that the Cavs traded the Clippers Mo Williams for ended up being number one, hoping for big things in the future