4890 crossfire vs 5870

[smeghead666]

i know its early days yet but i was wondering if anyone can knows of any reviews that compare 2 ATI 4890's against one 5870.

all i can seem to find are things like 2 5870's vs 1 4890 / 4870X2 etc...
i would have thorght considering the similar prices they would be more realistic to compare than 2 5xxx cards (wish i could afford though lol)

thanks

 

[johny dolan]

Crossfire 4890 is a little faster than 4870 x2 so read the reviews and just add a frame or 2.X2 and crossfire 4890s are faster than a 5870.

 

[smeghead666]

cheres dude

my deciding factior now between the two would be i would put a pretty heafty overclock (if i can on the 4890's) but then the 5870 has DirectX 11.

speed vs DirectX 11
any thoughts?

 

[johny dolan]

Cant say until we have dx11 games tested.Using dx11 might half the frame rate no one knows yet.

 

[mmj_uk]

An even bigger factor is that a 5870 alone is not reliant on Crossfire technology which by no means is perfect (same goes for SLI), reviews tend to use the same dozen or so games that have all been heavily optimized for Crossfire.

If you play any old or non-mainstream games then compatiblity and performance will generally be better on a single GPU solution, whereas with a 4870x2 you might have to run without Crossfire support which would effectively be half the performance of a 5870.

 

[D D Danneh]

I imagine two 4890's would still be on par performance wise, but you miss out on DX11, Eyefinity, and you lose the ability to add another card later. Personally, I'd go for a 5870. When you feel the need, you can add another later on, whereas if you go for 4890's, you've got to get rid of them if you want more power. Also, when games start to use DX11, you'll be able to take advantage of that. I don't know how much eyefinity means to you, but it's there anyway. Plus, with a 5870, you are pretty much guaranteed consistent frame rates in all games, instead of getting different things to what you might expect, due to crossfire affecting it.

 

[Reality|Bites]

Crossfire 4890's would probably have a higher maximum fps average but a single 5870 would probably have a higher minimum fps average.

 

[D D Danneh]

Crossfire 4890's would probably have a higher maximum fps average but a single 5870 would probably have a higher minimum fps average.

That's probably the best way to put it. And minimum frame rates are where it matters.

 

[AMG]

why do I get the feeling that the HD5870 has a bit more steam to give? I do

maybe when the drivers have clamed down a bit, than we might see the tables turned

 

[ThorpedoUK]

That's probably the best way to put it. And minimum frame rates are where it matters.

Excuse my trolling, but that is a very good point I had never thought of that.

What about 2x4890 2GB Vapor-X's in crossfire (assuming they drop to £150 or so) 4GB DDR5?

The weird thing about the Vapors is in some reviews I've seen them get lower fps than the 1GB standard Sapphire 4890

 

[AMG]

I too have seen that, I also see bradning make a difference as well...

 

[smeghead666]

well thanks for your inputs, and i think i may end up going with a 5870...but time will tell, i have a month to decide.

the 2 4890's would prefrably be: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-209-AS as i have read that they overclock realy well due to ASUS' redesign.

is there any chance that there will be versions of the 5870 that overclock better than current reveiws that iv read? (around +40MHz core)

 

[Sindri]

is there any chance that there will be versions of the 5870 that overclock better than current reveiws that iv read? (around +40MHz core)

There will undoubtably be versions that overclock better, but i wouldnt have thought we would see them on the market for another few months. As manufacturers will have to test custom coolers etc.

 

[-|ScottFree|-]

You may have another dilemma in a month..or so.. The x2 version may be killing all in its wake, start saving hard!!

I personally will wait for the x2 version, I want the card for Dragon Rising and Modern Warfare... there are a few other games I would like to try again as the 8800GTX has struggled with a few... looking forward to OcUKtober!!!

 

[Ritsugamesh]

I think that 4890's in crossfire would yield overall better performance than a singular 5870, but I don't think achieving that was the intention of the 5870. If anything it will be the 5890 that bests 2 4890's par on par.

The 5870 is a fantastic card for all the new opportunities it gives in terms of dx11 directcompute and eyefinity; just depends on how quickly you wish to hop on the bleeding edge of technology in truth. I think there will be some interesting developments with the 5870x2 which should tear through games for breakfast with any luck!