5850 CF vs0 6870 CF @ Same Speed

[Dangerous_Dave]

Which would you use:

A pair of 5850s @ 950Mhz (stock 725mhz)

Or a pair of 6870s @ 950Mhz (stock 900Mhz)

It's reasonably well established that the 5850 edges the 6870 as a singlet, but 6870 CF is better than 5850 CF because of better scaling. But the 5850s overclock much better than the 6870s, and are also cooler and quieter, which is why I want to compare @ the above figures.

DD

 

[arc@css]

If money was not an issue then I would opt for 5850 crossfire, otherwise I would prefer 6870 CF because as you say the scaling is better. I thought a single 6870 performs a single 5850 at stock, albeit only slightly (similar difference to a 5850>6850).

 

[Dangerous_Dave]

Hm - you could be right about the single 6870 outperforming single 5850. Not sure now!

 

[Angst]

Hm - you could be right about the single 6870 outperforming single 5850. Not sure now!

Generally 5850 just edges it in dx10 games but 6870 edges it in games with tesselation.

 

[drunkenmaster]

At stock, 6970's, at max overclocks, the 5850's scale very well and are essentially heavily underclocked at stock. Both at 950Mhz the 5850's should have a noticeable lead, would be my guess.

The 6870's would use noticeably less power and be able to run quieter overall in a system with good coolers.

Ultimately, they aren't likely to be say 20% apart, but much closer and therefore quieter, cooler, less power would be the better option there realistically.

I'm not sure if 6xxx cards offer better minimums, I'd like to see more up to date benchmarks of both with new drivers, did xfire get hugely better only with the 6xxx cards, or was a large part of it driver improvements which could bump up older cards a lot aswell, I've yet to really see proof. Its very hard to tell as so many reviews use old numbers mixed with new numbers for the new cards.


Actually I'd say the overall two most important things would be price and noise, IE almost the same price but the 6870's will be quieter, cooler, easier, then I'd get them, if the 5850's are £50 cheaper, etc, etc. Personal choice really there on what you'd prefer most. Ultimately I reckon blind test most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between xfire 6870/5850's in use, hence the other factors really dictate the choice.

 

[Dangerous_Dave]

The reason I ask is because I've basically got both (2 6870s and 2 5850s) to try out. The 6870s are pretty disappointing on a number of levels: they overclock very poorly without extra voltage, are hot and noisy at stock voltage (pushing the 80s on Kombustor even without overclocking) and quickly become very hot and very noisy if you try to add more volts. The 5850s generally seem to be cooler and quieter even at higher volts than the 6870s, and they're cheaper.

But for the performance, I really don't know. You raise an interesting point about whether the scaling on 5850s improved with drivers - most tests are conducted at release, and we don't really get to see improvements that happen afterwards. It could be that the 5850s actually scale almost as well as the 6870s these days.

 

[ossian]

I have 2 x Sapphire 5850 Xtreme in xfire, they are very quiet.

 

[Final8y]

Wrong thread.