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Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphics & Displays > Graphics Cards > Sapphire Radeon 6870 Vapor-X or 560 TI

Sapphire Radeon 6870 Vapor-X or 560 TI

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards Sapphire Radeon 6870 Vapor-X or 560 TI

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Wanting to max out Battlefield 3 and future proof it on new games

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: No current GPU as new build, 750W ZS PSU

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Gigabyte Z68AP-D3, Intel 2500K, 8GB Corsair Vengeance

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Any UK site

PARTS PREFERENCES: Would prefer ATI due to that I can only crossfire on this motherboard and not SLI

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe crossfire

So I'm currently torn between what to choose for my new system. I've narrowed it down to the 6870 Vapor X which can be found at £134. The 560 Ti is £150. The only reason I would go for the 6870 is due to the fact I can crossfire on this motherboard.

My question is, is the 6870 Vapor X the best version of the 6870 out there? should I instead go for the 560 Ti?

Reply to pulseheartbeat

If you wan't amd (for possible crossfire) i would go for 6950, good video card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127575

you will not be able to max out battlefield 3 at 1080p with 6870...

Reply to ricardois

Youtube tells me different if I google 6870 and Battlefield 3. Although can't find any real benchmarks.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

Seems like you would average ~30FPS or a bit under with a 6870 in BF3 on Ultra

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 63-12.html (Note - this shows the 6950 and 5870, the 5870 is better than the 6870)

If you were good with High Quality and no MSAA or AA, you can get 51FPS with a 6870.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 063-8.html (same article).

That article also looks at nVidia cards. The short of it is that you need a much bigger budget to max BF3.

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Reply to Inanition02

Many factors count in this, are the video at 1080p ? ok, are they really at maximum settings, Anti-Aliasing 4x MSAA, Motion Blur on, etc? on ultra you may be able to play, but what i mean is that on some levels/situations the fps will drop below 30. that is out of the playable field, specially while in multiplayer.

Edit: the post up here was not yet placed. good reviews.

Message edited by ricardois on 02-13-2012 at 01:53:34 PM

Reply to ricardois

So what would you suggest? buy a 560 TI instead of going for a 6870 with the future crossfire option?

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Reply to pulseheartbeat

If you want to 100% max @1080p and future proof, then you're better off with something with more power than the 6950 or 560ti, unless you are crossfiring the 6950's which in that case sure why not. But I'd recommend a 6970 or 7950 instead, then maybe a year from now crossfire.

Reply to ismaeljrp

They're both out of my budget, I don't mind playing on high settings instead of ultra if worse comes to worse.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

pulseheartbeat wrote :

So what would you suggest? buy a 560 TI instead of going for a 6870 with the future crossfire option?

Neither one will ever max BF3 on it's own at 1080p. 560TI is slightly better (as it would be more comparable to a 6950)...but to max it you're going to have to go multiple GPUs. So if your board only supports Crossfire, I guess that means a 6870 is the right choice for you (I actually have one and love it).

Of course, the going price of the 560TI seems to be ~$200 after MiR...for about $25 more you can have this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150524

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Reply to Inanition02

Remember also, anything under the " Cayman " GPU will not render optimum crossfire scaling, Cayman GPU is 6900 series, 6800 series uses Barts ( not as efficient ).

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Reply to ismaeljrp

Quote :

So what would you suggest? buy a 560 TI instead of going for a 6870 with the future crossfire option?

no i would suggest you go for a 6950, and in future you can go for crossfire... but if the option was really just 6870/560ti, i would take 560ti...

EDIT: omg this thread size is increasing fast lol.

Message edited by ricardois on 02-13-2012 at 02:01:26 PM

Reply to ricardois

ismaeljrp wrote :

Remember also, anything under the " Cayman " GPU will not render optimum crossfire scaling, Cayman GPU is 6900 series, 6800 series uses Barts ( not as efficient ).

Hmm, that has me leaning towards the 560 Ti to be honest now if that's the case. What's the best bang for buck reference 560 Ti?

Don't forget, I live in the UK so newegg prices don't mean anything to me. I appreciate the help so far!

Reply to pulseheartbeat

If you can muster ~$240, then go 6950. That way you can crossfire later. If your goal is under 200 than sure go for the 6870, just lower the MSAA, which is what really kills frames in BF3.

Reply to ismaeljrp

sapphire vapor x is good for keeping gpu cool and quite because of its technology and it overclocks very well but the gtx 560ti is one of the best overclocking gpu so no need to go for an hd 6870 go for an gtx 560ti it will be more future proof then that.

Reply to sunnk

Well I'd say, Go with a Gygabyte, or EVGA. MSI if you can find decent pricings those are the shippers with best quality IMO.

Reply to ismaeljrp

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products [...] v-560.html

Found this one but it's branded by Novatech..

Reply to pulseheartbeat

That Novatech is a 100% reference card. So there shouldn't be any issues. Just don't expect it to be an amazing overclocker.

Reply to ismaeljrp

here is vapor x reviws

http://www.overclockersclub.com/re [...] porx/5.htm

http://techgage.com/article/sapphi [...] _vapor-x/3

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/ [...] r_X/5.html

Reply to sunnk

oh sorry i have posted it later.

Reply to sunnk

Looking at the vapor X it is the same price in the UK as pretty much the 560 Ti..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004R7M [...] B004R7MTPQ

this is probably the cheapest so far.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

you should go with this card if u can afford.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products [...] c-1gi.html

Reply to sunnk

I had a look at that card.. price just keeps going up and up lol

Reply to pulseheartbeat

so whats your exact and final budget tell me i will suggest your the best card of that price.

Reply to sunnk

whoa the 5870 performs better on benchmarks than both cards?

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Reply to pulseheartbeat

well it can perform well in some games better then hd 6870 but not gtx 560ti.

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Reply to sunnk

pulseheartbeat wrote :

whoa the 5870 performs better on benchmarks than both cards?

5870 was AMDs flagship single GPU card for that generation so yes. It's in the 5870 -> 6970 -> 7970 progression.

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Reply to Inanition02

sunnk wrote :

well it can perform well in some games better then hd 6870 but not gtx 560ti.

If you compare here:

AMD: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 063-8.html

And here:

nVidia: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 063-3.html

You'll note that the 5870 DOES outperform the 560TI. And in fact is closer (~4% less) to a 570.

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Reply to Inanition02

you can see benchmark revies here

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/grap [...] w/?page=11

http://www.techspot.com/review/464 [...] page6.html

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to sunnk

sunnk wrote :

you can see benchmark revies here

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/grap [...] w/?page=11

http://www.techspot.com/review/464 [...] page6.html

So yes, in an nVidia tuned game (Crysis), the 560TI is ~1FPS ahead of the 5870. Whereas in CoD (which is a "Way It's Meant to be Played" nVidia title, I think?), the 5870 is up by 10%? Looks like a win for the 5870.

------------------------------ My Rigs - Comment!
Reply to Inanition02

Think we have a winner.. now for availability..

Reply to pulseheartbeat

well what i wanna say is hd 5870 is of old tech so why to go with that and gtx 560ti is of newer tech and it overclocks very well thats why i m telling him to get that because after overclocking it will perform more better u are also right but after oc it will be better.

Reply to sunnk

Inanition02 wrote :

well like you can see in that benchmark they are using bugged nvidia drivers, so with other drivers the performance may be different... this is a very specific test...

Reply to ricardois

The availability of the 5870 is very limited it seems in the UK, pushing towards the £200 pound mark. I think I'm going to go for a 6870 to tell you the truth, money is a pretty important factor.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

get an sapphire one because there cards performs over price and even hd 6870 can handle all games in 1080p it also uses less power so good choice.

Reply to sunnk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-1 [...] 898&sr=8-1

Best price, I think.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

good choice really you will be happy with that choice and for more clearification see the review

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1455/6/

Reply to sunnk

Hmm.. I hear the 7770 is being released on Wednesday.. best to wait?

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Reply to pulseheartbeat

Which 6870 ? Which 560 Ti ? Which 6950 ?

The factory OC'd models have to be thought of as separate cards in that the non reference designs have more robust VRM's, larger coolers and other improvements:

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

$ 170.00 6870 (434/701) $ 0.39 - $ 0.49
$ 220.00 6950 (479/751) $ 0.46 - $ 0.59
$ 240.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.50 - $ 0.63
$ 205.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.45 - $ 0.52
$ 320.00 6970 (526/825) $ 0.61 - $ 0.78
$ 205.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.41 - $ 0.48

In a single card configuration, the 6870 has the best bang for the buck at 39 cents per frame (434 fps) .....next up is the factory OC'd 560 Ti at 41 cents per frame (495 fps). When paired, the factory OC'd 560 Ti's 48 cents per frame (862 fps) edges the 6870's 49 cents per frame (701 fps).

The old argument that it doesn't pay to buy factory OC'd cards because ya can just OC them yaself no longer holds. The beefed up VRM's, larger coolers, beefed up PCB's on most of the factory OC'd models allows for larger overclocks than the reference designs.

------------------------------ If a man speaks in the forest and no woman hears him, is he still wrong ?
Reply to JackNaylorPE

it will be better to wait but in my opinion hd 7770 will be little bit low in performance then hd 6870.

Reply to sunnk

pulseheartbeat wrote :

Hmm.. I hear the 7770 is being released on Wednesday.. best to wait?

I guarantee you the Radeon 7770 will be weaker than a Radeon 6870 and probably cost more as well.

Reply to internetswag

yes it will be better to go with hd 6870 no need get an hd 7770 if u think to wait then you should get an hd 7850 that will be better in performance or maybe same as the hd 6870.

Reply to sunnk

Just gonna wait till tomorrow before I order, the prices may come down for the 6870.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

ok goodluck

Reply to sunnk

New proposition.. 2X6850 in Crossfire (albeit running at 4x/4x although http://www.hardocp.com/article/201 [...] 16_vs_x4x4 shows that this makes little difference) or one single 6870. They both cost around the same.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

Tell a lie, the 6850 is around £100 each haha.. I'm thinking of the 6770.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

whats your monitor resolution 720p then its ok and if higher then forget about u should go for an hd 6870 best bang for buck.

Reply to sunnk

Went for the 6870.. now for the wait! Amazon do like taking their time lol.

Reply to pulseheartbeat

Will be using the Trixx utility to OC the GCARD, what program do I use to check for artefacts so I can get a stable clock?

Reply to pulseheartbeat

I liked MSI Kombustor try it out.

good stress testing

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

Download msi afterburner that comes with kombustor;

Reply to ricardois