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Why do I want a 5870 so much - hybrid sli setup

cygnos360

cygnos360

cygnos360

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Joined
15 Aug 2010
Posts
22
Ok so I'm in the process of building a new system without any financial constraints. I first started planning for an AMD phenom II x6 1090t based system, which would obviously have locked me into ATI graphics cards if I wanted a multi gpu system, unless I went with a crappy nforce motherboard which had none of the features I needed, don't think it even supported the latest amd cpu's. So I've decided, seen as though the build was coming to £4000+ whats another 600 for the best cpu on the market today. So I purchased an asus rampage 3 extreme motherboard, which opens up my gpu options.

While researching for the AMD system I fell in love with the idea of 2 Republic of Gamers 5870 eyefinity matrix edition gpu's. But nvidia has physx and 3d vision. I plan to get a 46" 3D Tv for gaming and 3d blu-ray. An for that reason constantly look for reasons to ditch the idea of 2 or 3 way sli for those cards. Also I would like to properly try an eyefinity setup eventually.

I know 480's scale better, and are the fastest single gpu card at the moment, great for folding@home, have hardware physx and 3d vision. Also I've always used nvidia, granted the last gpu I bought was an 8800gts but I want to try ati for once.

I have no reason really to want to go with ati for this system, I just love that version 5870.

I've toyed with ideas such as having one ROG matrix edition 5870, having a second eyefinity version with the display ports, putting water blocks on and cutting the second slot off (another reason for nvidia, all my legacy ports will be full with sound and tv card and really need any second or third cards to be single slot), and using the hybrid sli hack to use a 470/480 for physx.

Has anyone tried a hybrid setup like this? Does it run stable?
And would I be able to use 3d on the 480 in that setup or would I need to remove the ati cards?

Is physx so important?

My last setup was dual core with an 8800 gts and I've never used ati, so never seen the benefits, or lack of with physx

I can't put my finger on why, but there's a reason I'm constantly going off the idea of 480's, weather because of power usage or temps (though I'm getting a psu that will handle 3 way sli anyway and will be using a mean water cooling setup). I'm on a pre-pay electricity meter so I guess that's weighing heavily against it.
 
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Firstly, forget physx. It shouldnt make or break a gpu purchase.

Physx is nice dont discreted Nvidia, but not many games support it really...

Secondly at least wait before you buy for the ATI 6000 series to come out.
 
cygnos360 said:
I can't put my finger on why, but there's a reason I'm constantly going off the idea of 480's, weather because of power usage or temps (though I'm getting a psu that will handle 3 way sli anyway and will be using a mean water cooling setup). I'm on a pre-pay electricity meter so I guess that's weighing heavily against it.
Click to expand...

TBH is you can afford to spend £4000+ on a pc, you can afford to power dual 480s

EDIT: although i agree with the above; wait for amd 6000
 
Can't afford it straight off, gonna be buying everything part by part and just have a motherboard atm, so probably won't expect to have a bootable system till early next year, should have that beast of a cpu in next 2 months. Any1 got any idea of when the next line of gpu's will be released for both companies? Also while I have a lot of disposable income at the moment, after the system build and purchasing a few things I've wanted over the years, my partners expecting our second child next march so I need to get this system bought before that as money will become tighter again. And the amount of power this system uses will be more relevant. And 3 480's opposed to 3 5870's is like running an extra crappy comp on top of the 5870's power usage.
 
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If you have no financial constraints I'm not sure why your buying a x6 1090t over an intel gulftown.

I'm really not sure why people spend so much money on PCs any more it makes no sense - an i7 930 w/ 4gig of RAM and a GTX470 will breeze through everything now and for the immediate future, unless you play at very high res when you'd want either a 480 or 470 SLI and you can bank the rest to build another system in a couple of years or so when it (and a top end PC built now) would both no longer cut it. (Or alternatively a PII 955 and a 5850).
 
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imo dont buy anything till youve the cash to stick the whole rig together, theres a very good chance things you buy now will be cheaper by the time you switch your rig on
 
@Rroff if you re read, I said I started planning for the 1090t then decided against it for a gulftown. I'll never have the cash to just buy everything in one....ever, or any time I'm in the money situation I'm in at the moment, this will be the best it'l get. I don't plan on buying anything in the near future. Right now I'm using my partners 6 year old hp with an amd semparon that just runs windows 7. The pc I mentioned above (dual core athlon xp 64 and 8800gts) broke as I used a cheap psu, which burnt out along with every single piece of hardware attached to it. The problem - cheap parts. I'm building the best possible computer money can buy using the best parts out at time of purchase. Once it's built, it's built, and I won't be planning on any purchases what so ever for a good 5 years, with 1 kid, never mind 2, my ability to save up (4000-5000 at least is non existent.)
 
Cheers Orcvader, yea I was aware of both nfinity and 3rd party 3d drivers. But the drivers only support the old red/blue glasses don't they? And not the nvidia 3d vision active shutter glasses. I guess it comes down to nvidia caters for ALL my needs, right now, ati doesn't. Which is why I always end up deciding on 2 or 3 way sli with 480, I just really wanted to try that 5870, or try find a way to cater for my needs with a hybrid setup. Nvidia pros single slot(with water block and single pci plate, fastest gpu, physx, 3d. Cons - heat, noise and power usage, heat and noise wont matter when I get water cooling. Ati - pros I really like the card? Massive difference in crossfire vs sli power usage cons - would need a mixed gpu system to do everything. Costs more, would be harder to set up, more hassle than it's worth.
 
Damn cygnos360, you are difficult to fathom. On the one hand you like the ATI card, but on the other, know that Nvidia is the one you need. Then you go on to confuse the issue even more by demonstrating that you have a reasonable knowledge of current graphics solutions and that it's actually slapping you round the back of your forehead.
 
lol I know, I know its the best card for me. I just seem to have taken an unfounded dislike to the 480, and really really like the look (more than anything else), spec, overclockability, power usage, features and running temperature of that version of the 5870. I have a very good background knowledge of I.T (been building computers and researching since 13 - for the last 10 years), got distinctions in two I.T courses, and after I've done an open university degree and/or cisco certified networking course, want a career in I.T...

I've looked at all the bench marks, and I know nvidia will usually always come out on top. I also know they've left no headroom (or not much) for overclocking, and the cards can idle at 90 degrees with 2 monitors.

Oh dear, I think I'm gonna go with sli, and bloody get that card too just to try maybe 2-way crossfire vs sli and sell the one I don't like... how wasteful is that. Oh well
 
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I guess I was sorta searching for someone to come up with a definitive reason why ati would be better, or how I could sorta use the ati card in my system and still have all the features I want....but it's silly, I should just make up my mind and go with the card that would best suite me.
 
Nope, it's not just the blue and red, there's also the shutter option and many more. Not tried it myself since I don't have shutter glasses/120hz monitor :p
 
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