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5870 x2 or 5970 x1

Associate
Joined
14 Mar 2010
Posts
28
Hey guys,

A quick question. I'm on the verge of buying a new PC and basically I have the option of purchasing two 5870's or one 5970. Which one would be the best performance wise?

I will also have an i7 960 processor.

Thanks!
 
Don't get the i7 960 CPU unless the system is being offered at a serious discount. Its overpriced as it uses C0/C1 stepping instead of the newer D0 stepping. In terms of overclocking, a £180 i7 D0 will overclock as well as an i7 960.

As for 5870 CF vs 5970, the 5870CF is faster, but when bought separately 2 5870s costs £120 more than a 5970. If you are getting them for the same price - the 5870CF makes the most sense.
 
As mentioned 2x5870s will be better, but I would seriously reconsider getting an i7 960. Go for the 920/930 and just oc it, they're half the price and you'll get the same performance from them.
 
Here is a review which compares the 5970 (admitedly with early drivers) to 5870s in CF.

It depends whether you are willing to pay the extra (whatever it happens to be) for the 5870CF for the extra performance you will receive. As others have said, 2 x 5870s as well as being quicker in games will use more power and dissipate more heat than a 5970. Also, 2 5870s will overclock better than a 5970 due to the limits of the stock 5970 cooler (though the new Arctic Cooling 5970 cooler does look promising).
 
Thank you so much people for the replies. I'll definitely purchase the two 5870's then. However, I dont plan to overclock so that's why I chose the i7 960 instead of the 920/930.
 
Thank you so much people for the replies. I'll definitely purchase the two 5870's then. However, I dont plan to overclock so that's why I chose the i7 960 instead of the 920/930.

In that case, I would suggest looking at a pre-overclocked bundle or system. A much better use of your money.

What is the specs and price of the system you are looking at out of interest?
 
In that case, I would suggest looking at a pre-overclocked bundle or system. A much better use of your money.

What is the specs and price of the system you are looking at out of interest?

I've got a budget around 3.5K to spend on it. I've had a look at the overclocked bundles, and some of them look quite good so I might just get one. I'll mainly be using the PC for gaming and video editing/picture editing. I was looking at getting something like:

Intel i7 (930 or 960)
Asus Rampage Extreme 2 Motherboard
6 or 12GB Ram
180 GB Intel SSD alongside a 1TB HD. I've already got a spare 2TB HD alongside a external 2TB HD.
5870 x2
Asus Xonar HD 1.3

However, another problem I've kinda got worries about is the cooling part. I don't really plan on water cooling the system so will I still be able to use two 5870's?
 
However, another problem I've kinda got worries about is the cooling part. I don't really plan on water cooling the system so will I still be able to use two 5870's?
That is the problem, aftermarket air cooling cools the GPU well, but the VRM's suffer 50% more than stock cooling because they give you little measly heatsinks to put on the chips instead of making the whole cooler full cover, so the temps will sky rocket.

Either stick with the stock cooling imo which is not that great, or get them water cooled which ends up being very expensive.
 
Sounds good. As before, go for the newer D0 chips like the i7 920 and 930. They are relatively cheap and overclock very well. Please bear in mind that if an i7 960 and a i7 920 were both running at 3.5GHz, their performance would be identical.

If you went for that Titan Vanquish I linked to above (or a similar system built from parts), you will be well under your budget and have excellent performance. I would suggest spending some of your remaining budget on one (or more) IPS based monitor. These will look great in games, and make your editing duties easier and more enjoyable.

You don't need to water cool to run 2 5870s in crossfire, you just want some good airflow in your case. The Antec 902 case used in the Vanquish is good for this, as are cases like the Coolermaster HAF, Antec 1200 and Lancool Dragonlord to name but a few. Also, adding some additional fans to the stock case and controlling them using a fan controller is a great way to provide loads of airflow with the minimum noise.

I would aslo suggest going for a motherboard where the 2 primary PCIe slots are widely spaced apart. On the Rampage II Extreme these are close together as it needs to be able to squeeze 3 dual slot cards on a standard size board. However, a board like the ASUS P6TD is made for a dual GPU setup and has widely spaced primary PCIe slots. Therefore, 5870CF will run cooler on a P6TD board compared to on a RIIE.
 
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This I wouldn't mind to get if I was a millionaire :D

superduper.png
 
Sounds good. As before, go for the newer D0 chips like the i7 920 and 930. They are relatively cheap and overclock very well. Please bear in mind that if an i7 960 and a i7 920 were both running at 3.5GHz, their performance would be identical.

If you went for that Titan Vanquish I linked to above (or a similar system built from parts), you will be well under your budget and have excellent performance. I would suggest spending some of your remaining budget on one (or more) IPS based monitor. These will look great in games, and make your editing duties easier and more enjoyable.

You don't need to water cool to run 2 5870s in crossfire, you just want some good airflow in your case. The Antec 902 case used in the Vanquish is good for this, as are cases like the Coolermaster HAF, Antec 1200 and Lancool Dragonlord to name but a few. Also, adding some additional fans to the stock case and controlling them using a fan controller is a great way to provide loads of airflow with the minimum noise.

I would aslo suggest going for a motherboard where the 2 primary PCIe slots are widely spaced apart. On the Rampage II Extreme these are close together as it needs to be able to squeeze 3 dual slot cards on a standard size board. However, a board like the ASUS P6TD is made for a dual GPU setup and has widely spaced primary PCIe slots. Therefore, 5870CF will run cooler on a P6TD board compared to on a RIIE.

I've replaced the motherboard with the P6TD one and also I've changed the 960 processor to a i7 930 which has saved me a lot of money actually :). Thanks a lot for that, should be ready to order it within the next few days!
 
I've got a budget around 3.5K to spend on it. I've had a look at the overclocked bundles, and some of them look quite good so I might just get one. I'll mainly be using the PC for gaming and video editing/picture editing. I was looking at getting something like:

Intel i7 (930 or 960)
Asus Rampage Extreme 2 Motherboard
6 or 12GB Ram
180 GB Intel SSD alongside a 1TB HD. I've already got a spare 2TB HD alongside a external 2TB HD.
5870 x2
Asus Xonar HD 1.3

However, another problem I've kinda got worries about is the cooling part. I don't really plan on water cooling the system so will I still be able to use two 5870's?

If you plan on doing video editing with the new Adobe CS5 suite you need to be looking at Nvidia based cards as the new Mercury Playback Engine of PremierPro used CUDA.
 
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