Go With (2) 5870's or (1) 580 GTX?

[hockster]

I'm looking to upgrade my nearly two year old computer and would appreciate hearing some opinions on my options. I'm currently running a i7 920 that's OC'd to 3.6. It sits on an ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 board, 6 GB's of G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600 PC3 12800, ASUS 5870 1GB card, Corsair 1000W PSU, Coolermaster HAF 932 case.

Would I get more bang out of my buck picking up another 5870 card and crossfiring them, or just going with one 580 GTX card? Also, would it make much of a difference if I picked up another 6GB's of the G Skill?

Thanks!

 

[PrvtChurch]

More memory is unlikely to help much unless you are doing Video or Photo Editing work. You would probably be better off getting a 580.

 

[hockster]

More memory is unlikely to help much unless you are doing Video or Photo Editing work. You would probably be better off getting a 580.

Thanks for the tip on the memory. I'm not doing any video or photo editing, just gaming.

So one 580 would out perform two 5870's? Do you think one 570 would outperform two 5870's? I'm trying to not spend more than $400 but would if the performance gain was worth it.

 

[pro-gamer]

yes, it would but 580 is much better.

 

[renz496]

two 5870 should be a bit faster than single GTX580 if the scale is near perfect. GTX580 performance is slightly behind HD5970 (which is equal to 5850 in CF). btw why you want to upgrade? did you not satisfied with your current gaming performance? as for RAM you should be fine as you were if your main purpose is only for gaming. putting another 6GB into the system will not increase your FPS in the game

 

[Djentleman]

I would say go crossfire.

You have the system for it...

 

[hockster]

two 5870 should be a bit faster than single GTX580 if the scale is near perfect. GTX580 performance is slightly behind HD5970 (which is equal to 5850 in CF). btw why you want to upgrade? did you not satisfied with your current gaming performance? as for RAM you should be fine as you were if your main purpose is only for gaming. putting another 6GB into the system will not increase your FPS in the game

The main purpose is for gaming and I'm currently playing BF3. The game runs fine but thats on medium-high settings and my frames are suffering a little bit. I'd like to crank the settings up a bit more and improve FPS. Though the 5870 is a good card, I think it's in the middle of the pack now.

What do you mean two 5870's would be a bit faster IF the scale was near perfect? What could you do to ensure that happens?

 

[hockster]

I would say go crossfire.

You have the system for it...

Its definitely the more economical choice. I could pick up another 5870 for like $200-$250 compared to $500 or so for the 580.

 

[pro-gamer]

www.overclock.net/t/890010/gtx-580-vs-radeon-hd-5870-crossfire-review

read this and decide which one is better.

 

[hockster]

www.overclock.net/t/890010/gtx-580-vs-radeon-hd-5870-crossfire-review

read this and decide which one is better.

LOL, thats funny! I JUST finished reading that prior to this post and was going to include that same link. I think overall performance wise it's best to go with the 580, though it will obviously be a more expensive upgrade. However I can SLI that card in the coming months when the prices come down more.

 

[pro-gamer]

well, sli'ng the gtx 580 become unbeatle situation solid performance.

 

[Djentleman]

well, sli'ng the gtx 580 become unbeatle situation solid performance.

Better than the 590.....

 

[pro-gamer]

of course.

 

[Djentleman]

I wish i had enough money to afford that big of a purchase.

 

[renz496]

The main purpose is for gaming and I'm currently playing BF3. The game runs fine but thats on medium-high settings and my frames are suffering a little bit. I'd like to crank the settings up a bit more and improve FPS. Though the 5870 is a good card, I think it's in the middle of the pack now.

if you not really in hurry to get new card maybe you can wait a bit until next gen card coming from nvidia and amd. rumor has it that the latest AMD flagship (7970) might come out this january. also they said 7970 alone will be as fast as 6990 or 6950 in CF. about nvidia upcoming flagship it might arrive in march/april time.

What do you mean two 5870's would be a bit faster IF the scale was near perfect? What could you do to ensure that happens?

nothing can be done on user side because it depends on driver side. before 6900 series comes out one of the strong point of nvidia's SLI is better scaling in multi gpu performance. but still even with 6900 have better scaling in multi gpu configuration right now i think nvidia driver is still better in terms of stability and reliability.