5 series ATI???? advice????

[Geekazoid]

Hey guys i'm thinking of getting 2 5850 crossfire (Depending on how 470 480 NVIDIA turn out of course before I make my purchase). What I want to know is how do 2 5850 compare in performance with a 5970??

Is it better getting 2 5850's or one 5970....

Cheers guys

Many thanks

 

[Disjunto]

5970 > CF 5850

 

[Geekazoid]

but aint a 5970 two downclocked 5850's????

 

[Disjunto]

no, it's two 5870 GPUs at ~5850 speeds

 

[PGdude]

but aint a 5970 two downclocked 5850's????

No, they're two down-clocked 5870 GPUs.

 

[Geekazoid]

so in theory does that mean if i get a 5970 i cant then crank up the 5870 core clocks back to normal speeds or higher???

 

[Disjunto]

so in theory does that mean if i get a 5970 i cant then crank up the 5870 core clocks back to normal speeds or higher???

yes, but you'll have to be careful with temps

 

[unp|dissy]

Do what i have done, get a 5970.

That way you'll also have an additional slot for another 5970 when u need an upgrade.

My 5970 is running at 775/1150. Picked randomly out of the air.

I get 70+fps (100+ a lot of the time) with 5040x1080 res BFBC2 High everything no HBA0 no AA/AF

 

[Geekazoid]

i dont want to go quad (later on) as it stacks up poorly so its either going to be 2 5850 or 1 5970 i dont have the funds for 2 5870's unfortunately

 

[Disjunto]

well go 5970 then

 

[555BUK]

Personally, I would be much happier running two 5850's @ ~1000core / 1200mem than one 5970 @ the same speeds. The following points put me off of the 5970.

i). Too long for most cases.
ii). Too hot when overclocked.
iii). Double the GPU's and memory to go wrong. Atleast if one 5850's fails you stil have a good backup.
iiiv). Possible bottleneck caused by 1x PCI-16 lane.

 

[Spazzfish]

i dont want to go quad (later on) as it stacks up poorly so its either going to be 2 5850 or 1 5970 i dont have the funds for 2 5870's unfortunately

Have a gander through this:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_5970_CrossFire/
Quadfire in some cases here is excellent (if you can afford it).

 

[Geekazoid]

yea im still tempted by getting 2 5850's and overclocking them to 1000 core and i be saving a wee amount of cash also... also just on a side note would my pci socket bottleneck a 5970 or any other component on my rig??? see the link under my sig to see specs..

 

[Spazzfish]

yea im still tempted by getting 2 5850's and overclocking them to 1000 core and i be saving a wee amount of cash also... also just on a side note would my pci socket bottleneck a 5970 or any other component on my rig??? see the link under my sig to see specs..

No bottle neck with your socket.
Good reading here about it:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_5870_PCI-Express_Scaling/

 

[MoRT489]

I get 70+fps (100+ a lot of the time) with 5040x1080 res BFBC2 High everything no HBA0 no AA/AF

Turn on AA and HBAO now!! u only need about 40FPS for the game to feel smooth! I have 2xAA and HBAO off at 5040 with one 5870!

 

[r3loaded]

No card can bottleneck even an x8 PCI-E link, never mind x16. Especially with PCI-E 2.0.

A single 5970 will also pull less power than two 5850s.

 

[unp|dissy]

Turn on AA and HBAO now!! u only need about 40FPS for the game to feel smooth! I have 2xAA and HBAO off at 5040 with one 5870!

Mehhhhhhhhhhh.

Im buying another 5970 so ill turn it on then when they're crossfired.

I like framerates they keep me happy

 

[otis1337]

if it was my money, i would CF-5850, it is faster than a single 5970 and a little cheaper.
also having dual cards looks awesome.

 

[Geekazoid]

2 5970's lol overkill.... my powersupply can more than handle 2 5850's

 

[Geekazoid]

if it was my money, i would CF-5850, it is faster than a single 5970 and a little cheaper.
also having dual cards looks awesome.

is it cos above posts i was told 2 5850's are slower than a single 5970