First Gaming Rig, choosing between two cards.

[fiestaforesta]

I'm going to be using an i5 2500k (overclocked when I actually get it). I'm playing with a 1920 x 1080 monitor(Not HD) I want to play games like, TES IV: Oblivion, BFBC:2, Fallout 3 + New Vegas, Mass Effect 2, Crysis 2, The Witcher 2, and TES V: Skyrim and BF3 when they come out.

After looking through benchmarks, I've narrowed it down to either the Radeon 6970 or the Nvidia GTX 570.

Thoughts would be appreciated, trying to decide on a card is very tedious!

 

[mdd1963]

Given semi-equal pricing around $289-ish, I'd go with the GTX570, personally.....

 

[0ozee]

6970, OC's much better (570s isnt good for oc)

6950 overclocked comes to 570 stock speeds, so i would definatly go for the 6970

and the 2gb ram may come in handy for games like crysis 2 dx11 high res patch and battlefield 3

 

[fiestaforesta]

Agh, see this is the issue. Is the.two gigs of video ram really that important? Because the 570 is a more powerful card.

 

[ubercake]

It becomes important at 2650x1600 (barely), otherwise the 570 beats it at lower resolutions:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/8.html

I'd get an SLI-capable motherboard and start with one GTX 570.

 

[fiestaforesta]

Okay, thanks for those benchmarks. I think I'm going to go 570, add another in SLI down the road.

 

[dubstep]

I would go for the 6970 because they scale better than the 570 and also consume less power.
In this review a pair of 6950 are shown to be faster than 570 sli.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-crossfirex-review/8

 

[andrews013]

HD 6970.

 

[fiestaforesta]

What is your reasoning behind that? And what is the difference between the HD 6970 and a regular 6970?

 

[fiestaforesta]

Haha, thats a fairly good reason. I deffinetly cant go for a crossfire or sli build now, too expensive. So I'll go with the 570, possibly add another later down the road.

 

[ubercake]

Haha, thats a fairly good reason. I deffinetly cant go for a crossfire or sli build now, too expensive. So I'll go with the 570, possibly add another later down the road.

Good choice.

 

[iwantamd7970]

I think you're missing the point - people are saying 6970 because when you say "possibly add another down the road", 2x 6970 > 2x 570.

I'd go 6970 if I were you

 

[fiestaforesta]

I think you're missing the point - people are saying 6970 because when you say "possibly add another down the road", 2x 6970 > 2x 570.

I'd go 6970 if I were you

I understand what everyone meant, but as I see it the 6970 excells over the 570 in higher res than I inyend to play at.

 

[andrews013]

HD 6970 = 6970. People just dont day HD. The official name is "AMD Radeon™ HD 6970 Graphics" (source)

And because It is about equal with the GTX 570, Just personal preferance honestly. Both will perform very well, but if you are into overclocking, the 6970 is where it's at.

 

[fiestaforesta]

I'm not sure I want to overclock the gpu, but if I did I know that the EVGA line of gtx 570's has a very easy to use overclocking tool called Precision. I think that for now, because I am going with one GPU, I'm going to go with this GTX 570-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130692

 

[andrews013]

Which is completely acceptable. Enjoy your new card!

 

[fiestaforesta]

well, if u're only gaming at 1920*1080 I dont see why u need SLI anyways

I just mean later down the road should I need it.