Now the new AMD 69xx are out, shall I replace my 4870's in xfire?

[malachi]

I have been running my 4870’s 512mb in crossfire for a while now and thinking of replacing them with a single card from the 69xx series such as the 6950. Is it finally worth me doing so or should I take the NVidia route instead?

I only game at 1680x1050 and playing Crysis, Black Ops and Bad Company 2.

 

[straxusii]

The 6950 will only give you roughly equal performance to 4870CF. The DX11 features, better power and improved frame buffer may make it a good upgrade.

 

[Marine-RX179]

GTX570 perform better than 6970 for games in general for res 1920 and below with 4xAA, and has more overclocking headroom.

For BFBC2, GTX570 beat the 6970 on average frame rate at 1680 4xAA:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/8.html

For Crysis, the 6970 beat the GTX570 on average frame rate at 1680 4xAA:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/12.html

But do bare in mind that the GTX570 is likely to have higher minimum frame rate than the 6970 in both BFBC2 and Crysis.

And also the 6970 is gonna be more expensive than the GTX570 on average.

So to be honest I think GTX570 would be a better card to go for than the 6970 (except for people that game at 2560 res). You should however go over the review thread and do some readings and make up your mind for yourself:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18217992

 

[danceforfreedom]

I would still replace with a 5870, would be slightly higher performance than two 4870 512mb and with another in xfire at a later time would be nice, especially for the prices of them.

 

[malachi]

Looking at some of the reviews so far, I may go for 6950 in xfire instead of a single but still trying to decide...

 

[AWPC]

Looking at some of the reviews so far, I may go for 6950 in xfire instead of a single but still trying to decide...

No rush mate I doubt you will have trouble finding a 6950/6970 in the next 2-3 months!

GTX570 is a good choice though at that res your gettting a strong card & Nvidia drivers are generally better in gaming than ATI's. More stable, less issues & PhysX in some games plus TWIMTBP 250 headcount engineer program despite what some might tell you does make a real difference as no need to wait on ATI hotfixes to play recent games

 

[kylew]

No rush mate I doubt you will have trouble finding a 6950/6970 in the next 2-3 months!

GTX570 is a good choice though at that res your gettting a strong card & Nvidia drivers are generally better in gaming than ATI's. More stable, less issues & PhysX in some games plus TWIMTBP 250 headcount engineer program despite what some might tell you does make a real difference as no need to wait on ATI hotfixes to play recent games

Bolded is utter BS. Stop lying to the guy, and stop trolling, you can't take anyone seriously who still peddles this nonsense.

As disappointing as the 6900s are, you can't beat 6950 crossfire performance for the price.

 

[subbytna]

GTX570 perform better than 6970 for games in general for res 1920 and below with 4xAA, and has more overclocking headroom.

For BFBC2, GTX570 beat the 6970 on average frame rate at 1680 4xAA:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/8.html

For Crysis, the 6970 beat the GTX570 on average frame rate at 1680 4xAA:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/12.html

But do bare in mind that the GTX570 is likely to have higher minimum frame rate than the 6970 in both BFBC2 and Crysis.

And also the 6970 is gonna be more expensive than the GTX570 on average.

So to be honest I think GTX570 would be a better card to go for than the 6970 (except for people that game at 2560 res). You should however go over the review thread and do some readings and make up your mind for yourself:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18217992

the OP was talking about the 6950 card....

 

[Cavallino]

I have 5770s in CF. Is it worth jumping ship or sticking around?

 

[wuyanxu]

Bolded is utter BS. Stop lying to the guy, and stop trolling, you can't take anyone seriously who still peddles this nonsense.

As disappointing as the 6900s are, you can't beat 6950 crossfire performance for the price.

what's wrong with pointing out nvidia's strong points?

good crossfire performance. that's the only strong point for ATI, if you are going for single GPU for trouble-free gaming, what are ATI's strong points?

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

what's wrong with pointing out nvidia's strong points?

good crossfire performance. that's the only strong point for ATI, if you are going for single GPU for trouble-free gaming, what are ATI's strong points?

More stable and less issues?? What rubbish is that.

I never had stability issues with any card for years and I have had as many Nvidia cards as AMD or ATI ones.

 

[kylew]

what's wrong with pointing out nvidia's strong points?

good crossfire performance. that's the only strong point for ATI, if you are going for single GPU for trouble-free gaming, what are ATI's strong points?

Strong points? Drivers that work are a strong point to you? lolPhysX, and TWIMTBP is detrimental to anyone running non-nVidia hardware, hardly a strong point really. AMD Single GPU strongpoint? Probably triple monitor outputs from one card. As for trouble free gaming, you say that like nVidia is trouble free compared to AMD. If AMD graphics cards were so "troublesome" why doesn't it get mentioned anywhere other than forums by people who like nVidia a bit too much to be considered healthy?

 

[Phoenixdancer]

what's wrong with pointing out nvidia's strong points?

good crossfire performance. that's the only strong point for ATI, if you are going for single GPU for trouble-free gaming, what are ATI's strong points?

Strong point for AMD?

1. the new 6970 supports up to 9 monitors from a single card.
Nvidia max is 2.

2. Runs cooler then Nvidia.

3. 100% due a driver update each month to address issues.
Nvidia dont unless they absolutly have to... LAZY.

4. Nice red colour scheme... not just black (not seen any green on the nvid cards..)

5. Have released 2x the ammont of cards then Nvidia on DX11.

6. Are able to produce much more stock because they are not stupid at making GPU's

7. Will have the BEST Graphics card soon AGAIN

Plus much more that i cab to go into.


Nvidia strong point:
1. fastest GPU.
2. Physx and CUda... (SHOULD BE OPEN TECH BUT NVIDIA ARE DUMB)

 

[wuyanxu]

Strong point for AMD?

1. the new 6970 supports up to 9 monitors from a single card.
Nvidia max is 2.

2. Runs cooler then Nvidia.

3. 100% due a driver update each month to address issues.
Nvidia dont unless they absolutly have to... LAZY.

4. Nice red colour scheme... not just black (not seen any green on the nvid cards..)

5. Have released 2x the ammont of cards then Nvidia on DX11.

6. Are able to produce much more stock because they are not stupid at making GPU's

7. Will have the BEST Graphics card soon AGAIN

Plus much more that i cab to go into.

1. true, very good point, if you have those none existing displayport 1.2 monitors. but eyefinity is definately a plus.
2. the huge vapour chamber on 6970 begs to differ
3. if it ain't broken, why fix it? i see many people are still on 10.4 on this forum.
4. lol.
5. same as 3.
6. more stock? what makes you so sure there are less than 1000 at 580/70 launch? only two etailer have stock of those 6970/50
7. best graphics card, yes. but it's simply crossfire on a stick.


let's see nvidia's strong points,

1. long lasting driver that offers good performance from day one. doesn't matter if you are too lazy to check for driver updates every month
2. fastest single GPU card, faster one is always better than slower two.
3. smooth gaming experience, 5870 had terrible stuttering issues
4. large overclock headroom, zero artificially locked limitations
5. helping developers to push boundary of PC gaming instead of just whine.
6. solid architecture, instead of having to re-do parts of the GPU to fix tessellation performance in 5870.
7. better compatibility with other OS.


i've been ripped off by ATI twice, won't be going back there any time soon. first x800GTO can't do SM3, then 5870 sucks at tessellation (think unplayable HAWX 2, AvP)

my experience with nvidia cards such as 8800GTX had been trouble free, don't need to check for driver updates every month. just plug it in, install latest driver at that time, then start playing.

 

[stealthgeek]

Well I took the plunge and have gone for the HIS 6970, should be a noticeable improvement over my 4870!

The message I got from reading the reviews posted in the other thread is that, in some games, the 6970 is faster than a 570, in some games the 570 is faster, and in the rest its a tie. The ones that did crossfire benches seem to indicate that performance in this was great. I think for the money, a 6970 now is pretty good, adding a 2nd further down the line would also be a good move

 

[flopper]

BC2 has issues with Nvidia cards.
so if you play some games check what cards that run it best.
I use 6850 crossfire issue free, friend use 480gtx and he complains a lot about his card.

2x6950 got to be the deal of the decade heh.

 

[kylew]

1. long lasting driver that offers good performance from day one. doesn't matter if you are too lazy to check for driver updates every month
2. fastest single GPU card, faster one is always better than slower two.
3. smooth gaming experience, 5870 had terrible stuttering issues
4. large overclock headroom, zero artificially locked limitations
5. helping developers to push boundary of PC gaming instead of just whine.
6. solid architecture, instead of having to re-do parts of the GPU to fix tessellation performance in 5870.
7. better compatibility with other OS.

1. Isn't a strong point. You don't have to update your drivers every month, you just get the option to.

2. Two slower GPUs aren't "always" better than one faster GPU, it's not a strong point either.

3. Isn't a strong point, again. Your 5870 had stuttering issues, it might have been user error or not, most of the time such issues are user error (yes same goes for nVidia too).

4. What? That's a contradiction, you could technically say that any overclock headroom is an artificial limit on performance, if you weren't sure what you were talking about.

5. They're not helping devs push boundaries, they're helping themselves.

6. I feel like you don't understand/know enough to comment like that, poorly implemented tessellation isn't AMD's fault, it also doesn't take away from AMD's architecture.

7. I have no experience in this, and I get the feeling you don't either.

Moral of the story? Your own personal experiences don't lend to a manufacturer's strong and weak points. You may have had trouble with AMD hardware (*cough*PEBKAC), but some of your reasoning is a bit illogical. You don't seem to know enough about AMD/ATi or nVidia to make the comparisons you're making, the SM3 "problem" wasn't and isn't an AMD weak point, it happened years after the X800's release, you don't seem to understand that AMD and nVidia are generally just as bad as eachother in these situations. There have been things that nVidia have been lacking in, similar to the SM3 situation, but since they're part of your experience you can't use them as part of what you're saying.

 

[Marine-RX179]

Please guys, don't de-rail this thread to become a Nvida vs AMD/ATI though.

Moving from 4870 512MB crossfire to 6950 may be worth it if the OP was gaming at 1920 res or above, but as he's only gaming at 1680, then no it's not really worth the move, considering the 6950 is only on par with 5870, and his 4870 crossfire won't be much slower...it's that simple.

 

[kylew]

Please guys, don't de-rail this thread to become a Nvida vs AMD/ATI though.

Moving from 4870 512MB crossfire to 6950 may be worth it if the OP was gaming at 1920 res or above, but as he's only gaming at 1680, then no it's not really worth the move, considering the 6950 is only on par with 5870, and his 4870 crossfire won't be much slower...it's that simple.

It's not really AMD versus nVidia, it's the misinformation that's the problem. What they're saying is simply untrue in the way they're presenting it. AWPC is probably doing it maliciously, but wuyanxu seems to think it's actually true.

 

[ashmanuk67]

How would a single 6970 compare to 4870 in Xfire ?

I have posted this in another thread (SORRY)