5970 question

johny dolan · 4 May 2010 at 20:13

Im thinking of ordering a Sapphire 5970 tomorrow but do any of you guys know if this card uses the new pcb and cooler.

Few weeks ago i got the latest 5870 from ocuk and the card i got was different from my original 5870 and it kept losing the xfire so i returned that card.

Not sure why xfire wouldn't work as it should but im wary of trying again if the 5970 also has the new pcb and cooler.

Any info or advice from you guys would be much appreciated.

johny dolan · 5 May 2010 at 10:22

I phone ocuk this morning and they assure me the card is the same as the card show in the pic so ive ordered it with fingers crossed.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-221-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1577

RavenXXX2 · 5 May 2010 at 10:30

Sweet, are you going to keep the 5870 or go for some TRi-Fire goodness...

johny dolan · 5 May 2010 at 10:41

Im going to xfire it with my 5870.

Ph4lanx · 5 May 2010 at 10:53

I fitted this into my case last night with the same motherboard you have mate. Let me know if you fit a 5870 in there aswell, because by what I saw, that's either a VERY tight squeeze, or not at all. I'd be interested to see how you do it.

johny dolan · 5 May 2010 at 15:57

This is the pic from the other week with the 2 5870s

http://sites.google.com/site/ayupfromdik/files/crossfire.JPG?attredirects=0&d=1

Ocuk asured me the 5970 ive ordered will be the version shown in the pic on their site because i had problems with the 2 different versions of the 5870 not holding the xfire lock.

Ph4lanx · 5 May 2010 at 16:49

Mate, when you do it can you put a picture up? Like I said, I have a 5970 and want to put a 5870 in at some point for Trifire, but from my view of the motherboard, there didn't seem to be the space. I can't really make out the spacing too well in that photo.

straxusii · 5 May 2010 at 16:53

Looks like the airflow to the first card will be strangled, fan will work much harder and be louder

johny dolan · 5 May 2010 at 18:57

Temps were ok with the 2 5870s the hottes card with most restricted flow topped out about 78c load.

5970 will run a little hotter but should still be fine i hope.

johny dolan · 5 May 2010 at 18:59

Ph4lanx said:
Mate, when you do it can you put a picture up? Like I said, I have a 5970 and want to put a 5870 in at some point for Trifire, but from my view of the motherboard, there didn't seem to be the space. I can't really make out the spacing too well in that photo.

I put a pic up of the xfired 5870s so should look the same.

Click the link i posted for the pic.

CaptainRAVE · 5 May 2010 at 20:35

johny dolan said:
Temps were ok with the 2 5870s the hottes card with most restricted flow topped out about 78c load.

5970 will run a little hotter but should still be fine i hope.

The 5970 is a cool card anyway, so it shouldnt be an issue.

Ph4lanx · 5 May 2010 at 20:39

I'm slightly worried by the lack of airflow in all honesty. Let us know how you get on johny dolan. I'm very interested.

johny dolan · 5 May 2010 at 20:46

Will do.

johny dolan · 6 May 2010 at 22:55

Ph4lanx said:
I'm slightly worried by the lack of airflow in all honesty. Let us know how you get on johny dolan. I'm very interested.

Heres the pic with both 5970 and 5870

http://sites.google.com/site/ayupfromdik/files/5970.jpg

Had troubles to get the card to work even on its own but after much driver changing and socket swaps all seems to work ok now with both cards in xfire.

Just run some benchmarks and these score are with my cpu stock speeds

Heaven benchmark v2

single 5870 card 38.6 fps

5970 card 61 fps

both cards trifire 89.1 fps

vantage

single 5870 17931 with gpu score 17717 and cpu score 18603

5970 card 21327 with gpu score 22517 and cpu score 18408

both cards 24208 with gpu score 27076 and cpu score 18370

3dmark06

single 5870 scored 19600

5970 scored 20296

both cards scored 20333

looks like 3d06 needs big cpu overclock to get the big scores.

Highest temp on the 5970 when running trifire and vantage hit 91c and idle temp is 66c.

Edit after more testing max temp ive seen is now 94c so it is a little toasty so will try adding a fan infront of the cards to see if that drops the temps some.

rancid_elf · 7 May 2010 at 08:58

Mate I think the only way you are going to keep that 5970 cool is to watercool it. I tested loads of different ways trying to cool mine when having a 5870 next to it and it just did not happen.

RavenXXX2 · 7 May 2010 at 09:07

Would it not be best to put the 5970 in the lower slot to get better air flow to the fan. Try setting the fan speed manually to keep temps under control, maybe a bit noisy.

Marine-RX179 · 7 May 2010 at 09:23

By the way Johny, is your i7 930 overclocked? Cause at stock speed it would bottleneck that xfire set up.

Phoenixdancer · 7 May 2010 at 13:41

RavenXXX2 said:
Would it not be best to put the 5970 in the lower slot to get better air flow to the fan. Try setting the fan speed manually to keep temps under control, maybe a bit noisy.

Could do this ^

but the top card would be primary and would meen the single gpu card would run the monitors

johny dolan · 7 May 2010 at 17:00

Worst case is the 5970 hits 94c i can live with that seeing as thats the temp a single gtx 480 hits isnt it so i have np with it.

My 4870x2 used to hit same kind of temps when it was in same case on its own.

ntemples1 · 7 May 2010 at 23:16

johny dolan said:
Worst case is the 5970 hits 94c i can live with that seeing as thats the temp a single gtx 480 hits isnt it so i have np with it.

My 4870x2 used to hit same kind of temps when it was in same case on its own.

I am going to do the same as you on monday, what sort of fps are you getting in crysis? also have you got the game metro 2033? I tried loading this game up with 5970 + 5850 and it crashes, it works if I disable crossfire, do you have the same problem? cheers!