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XFX 5970 Black Edition

MrMunch101

MrMunch101

MrMunch101

Associate
Joined
13 Dec 2008
Posts
52
Hi guys, I'm buying a new graphics card for my pc and i have been looking at the 5970 or the 6970, i know the 5970 has 2 GPU on the bored and is a monster card but how does it compare against the 6970?

I'm also looking to get a new sound card, because the one which is supplied on the rampage 2 is not the best card in the world and is being a little gay on the drivers front on win7. I have a z5500 sound system and i rely want to link my system up via a optical cable, if you have any suggestions that would be great, but i have been looking at the SB X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Pro, would that be able to do the job?
 
the 5970 is a dual gfx card, the 6970 is a single graphics card and is the successor to 5870. the naming scheme is a little misleading. the 6990 will be the successor to the 5970 but i dont know when it will be released.
 
Misleading is not the word ha lol, I am going to stick with the 5970 and use the volt tool which it comes with. With the sound card what should i do you think.
 
i cant really give advice on a generic sound card as mine is a studio based card with MIDI I/O and spdif etc. i would have a look at the asus xonar ? range, not sure if thats the product name, i know they sell on this website, the creative brand has a kind of mask over the sound to "enhance". if thats what your into then thats okay, but if you want a more natural sound then id go for something else.
 
The only thing to consider with the 5970, is any games that dont work so well in crossfire, you wont get the full benefit. Theres also problems people have with crossfire. What games will you play with the 5970?
 
Make sure that the 5970 will fit and go for it. I rushed with my purchase only to find out that hacking sawing some of my Antec 300 was in order to make the card fit.

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Picked this up for cheap of the MM here and it's a cracking card that plays everything thrown at it maxed out.

Ignore the people that say games don't work in crossfire, they're feeding you total BS.
 
Puppetmaster said:
The only thing to consider with the 5970, is any games that dont work so well in crossfire, you wont get the full benefit. Theres also problems people have with crossfire. What games will you play with the 5970?
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What problems are you referring to? I have no issue to report with 2xGPU on my 5970, more than 2 on the other hand is a mixed bag of results, and tri-fire was great when it scaled well which was more often than not but it never was worse than 2 cards when I tried it ... no problems per-se, just not the best benefit of 3 GPUs!

Go for the 5970 ... great card! I have 2x6950 on the way simply to get the benefit on the 2GB Vram @ 2560x1600. If Xfire did not work I'd not have bought em!

Get MSI Afterburner and clock it to 950/1300 ... but it will be noisy :)
 
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buchtis said:
Ignore the people that say games don't work in crossfire, they're feeding you total BS.
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best card ive ever had....gets me 34000 3d mark vantage points :eek: and runs any game super smooth.....doesnt show as crossfire enabled as far as i know... maybe something to do with the fact there on the same pcb...:D
 
Asus Xonar DG is a good gaming soundcard, and available for around £20. No driver problems either (unlike my DS :( )
 
blackninja said:
What problems are you referring to? I have no issue to report with 2xGPU on my 5970, more than 2 on the other hand is a mixed bag of results, and tri-fire was great when it scaled well which was more often than not but it never was worse than 2 cards when I tried it ... no problems per-se, just not the best benefit of 3 GPUs!
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You clearly don't know what the terms "Crossfire/SLI scaling" means. Having two GPU in Crossfire/SLI doesn't automatically gives you 200% (100%+100%) speed from the two GPUs...how much "real-world performance" you get from dual-GPU is heavily depended on how well it runs on each of the games (bearing in mind that games are NOT written with multi-GPU in mind), and it completely relying on driver support to make them work for the games, and performance/frame rate boost with a 2nd GPU can be anything from none to 80~100% extra speed, depending on the game and the driver support, so the performance is not exactly consistent.

Also another thing to consider is the stuttering issue. When the frame rate is high enough, it wouldn't be much of a problem...but when the frame rate drop to like 30fps or below on a dual-GPU set-up, the stuttering make it jerk like as if it was 20fps or less on a single GPU card. 25-30fps for single card is still borderline playable on a single GPU card, but it is not for a dual-GPU set-up...

5970 is no longer a good buy if it is still at overpriced £400-£550...people would be better off buying a GTX570/6950/GTX580, or a pair of 6950 (and may be flash to become 6970) and Crossfire. 5970 is only worth considering if it can be bought for around £300 or less new, or under £250 for 2nd hand.
 
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MrMunch101 said:
Hi guys, I'm buying a new graphics card for my pc and i have been looking at the 5970 or the 6970, i know the 5970 has 2 GPU on the bored and is a monster card but how does it compare against the 6970?

I'm also looking to get a new sound card, because the one which is supplied on the rampage 2 is not the best card in the world and is being a little gay on the drivers front on win7. I have a z5500 sound system and i rely want to link my system up via a optical cable, if you have any suggestions that would be great, but i have been looking at the SB X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Pro, would that be able to do the job?
Click to expand...

Dude this is 2011!,we don't talk like that!.Do you mean it's being a little happy? or are you being derogatory?.:eek:

On the subject of soundcards,I hear that the asus xonars are pretty good and seem good value.
 
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Marine-RX179 said:
You clearly don't know what the terms "Crossfire/SLI scaling" means.
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You clearly don't comprehend what you read .. I referred to scaling in my post. Now that you have effused your opinion one thing to point out is that lack of scaling comes with the territory for those who know what SLI/Xfire is about ... there are no hidden issues there, go check out the reviews! That does not mean there is a problem. You take it or leave it ... now, if you could not play the game because of SLI/Xfire where you can with a single GPU then that is what I would call a problem, however I have not encountered this personally.

After having had the 5970 for a year I will continue to use multiple GPUs after this one based on my experience. This is my opinion - and each to their own.

Have a nice day :)
 
blackninja said:
You clearly don't comprehend what you read .. I referred to scaling in my post. Now that you have effused your opinion one thing to point out is that lack of scaling comes with the territory for those who know what SLI/Xfire is about ... there are no hidden issues there, go check out the reviews! That does not mean there is a problem. You take it or leave it ... now, if you could not play the game because of SLI/Xfire where you can with a single GPU then that is what I would call a problem, however I have not encountered this personally.
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Whatever. People prefer single GPU over multi-GPU because it is much more consistence in performance and reliability; 5970 was great in the previous gen when there was lack of comparable single GPU card, but now with cards like GTX580 available, advising people to buy the overpriced 5970 is simply bad advice, especially when it cost £100 more than the price of two 5870.

Also, not to mention that Crossfire scaling for 5000 series is not as good as 6000 series...if the OP want the beefiest of card, he should get GTX580 now, or wait for 6990. 5970...no, just no.
 
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5970 still a top performing card (and is single slot) but is relatively expensive when you think that the 6990 is predicted to be at same price point (about £450) and shouldn't be too long in arriving,or is O.P. considering second hand?.Does O.P. have anything against dual card (2 slot) setups? how about Ati/Nvidia preferences?..choices then would open considerably.:)
 
Marine-RX179 said:
Whatever. People prefer single GPU over multi-GPU because it is much more consistence in performance and reliability; 5970 was great in the previous gen when there was lack of comparable single GPU card, but now with cards like GTX580 available, advising people to buy the overpriced 5970 is simply bad advice, especially when it cost £100 more than the price of two 5870.

Also, not to mention that Crossfire scaling for 5000 series is not as good as 6000 series...if the OP want the beefiest of card, he should get GTX580 now, or wait for 6990. 5970...no, just no.
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Are you an ambassador for the 'people' now? Do you speak on their behalf because they can't make decisions for themselves?

I've gone from a BFG 295 GTX (dual GPU) to a 5970 (dual GPU) and not had any problems with multi-GPU cards at all. You're making a decision based on other peoples opinions without actually using one of these cards yourself. Don't worry though you're not in the minority here, about 90% of users in the Graphics Cards sections will say the same too.
 
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