Need a realistic alternative to my 5770 Xfire

[Nbolo]

I once tried metro 2033 on high on my old system (phenom 2.5, 4 gig DDR2, 9800 GTX+ 512Mb)... i honestly thought it was going to melt! then i spent 2 years torturing that poor card, and then of all things my MB went, card is fine!

They don't make 'em like that anymore... =P

 

[oweneades]

This.

However, if you had to buy a card right now, I'd say it would have to be the 6870. I don't think you'd see enough of a boost over 2x 5770 with a 6850 or 460. Plus if you buy a 6870 you can xfire it later and the scaling ability of these 68xx cards is nothing short of amazing.

A GTX460 overclocked to 850 on the core can easily keep pace with a HD6870 (going by the Techreport and Anandtech reviews) and can be had for ~£40 less than the 6870 (looking at current in stock pricing).

They scale extremely well in SLI as well.

One Caveat I should mention is voltage control and thus (voltage controlled) overclocking on the 6870 is relatively unknown still. Perhaps we could see some cards pushing 1100mhz core speeds.

 

[crackerbear]

A GTX460 overclocked to 850 on the core can easily keep pace with a HD6870 (going by the Techreport and Anandtech reviews) and can be had for ~£40 less than the 6870 (looking at current in stock pricing).

They scale extremely well in SLI as well.

One Caveat I should mention is voltage control and thus (voltage controlled) overclocking on the 6870 is relatively unknown still. Perhaps we could see some cards pushing 1100mhz core speeds.

That's the thing, you're wagering on achieving a high overclock on the 460 and keeping it stable. Whilst I know the 460 practically overclocks itself, there's no real guarantee you'll get such a high & stable clocks.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually going to buy a 460 over a 6870, now that the prices of them have risen for the exact reason you've stated. However I do feel the 6870 will pull away in the long run with better drivers and the release of non-reference coolers.

With the case of the OP, since he's upgrading from 2x 5770, I reckon he'd benefit more from a 6870 if he were or had to buy today. However with the new 69xx cards coming out so soon, it's foolish not to wait.

Oh, I think (from what I read) the Xfire scaling on the new 68xx cards is better than SLI now.

 

[Nbolo]

Assuming i can get my 5770's working at a decent temp then i'll be sticking with them atleast until the 6970 is out and has dropped in price a little.
If i'm forced into buying now though i imagine i'll go for a 460 and overclock it to buggery (from what i've seen £120 of 460 can almost stand on the coat tails of a 5870... almost, not bad for such a cheap card

 

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

The onboard fan-control on many of these 5*** cards is crap, and they don't spin the fan fast enough when things get hot. Not a problem with one card.... they just run hot and quiet, but it causes big problems in crossfire setups.

Go into catalyst control centre, put the fan slider onto 100% then click apply. Run the benchmark again, and see if you get better temps. If you do.... then download MSI afterburner and use that to setup a sensible fan profile, so the fans blow hard when the card reaches around 75-80%.

 

[opethdisciple]

hmm, well equal power to what you have is a 5870.

You could sell the cards and get a 5850, 5870, 470, 6870...... if on budget of around £200, if more including the price you get for the 5770's, then you want to wait for what ATI, Nvidia are gona come out with in the next few months.

The 5850, 5870 and 470... you may be able to get a nice 2nd hand bargain.

What card you buy should also be dependant on your cpu and resolution of monitor.

Actually scrap the 470.... will be too hot for your case!

 

[krooton]

You could get a 5850, that's what i did and it worked a treat. i bought it second hand for £170 and it was a huge improvement over the 5770's because it was so cool and easy to overclock. Otherwise you could get the 6 series, but they're not really worth the money. I would go for the 5850 unless you want 3D

I moved from crossfired 5770s to a single 5850. Lost some performance, but the change cost me nothing and allows me to get another 5850 in there in the future.

My 5770s only hit 71ºC with Furmark though, and the 5850 hit's 70ºC, guess my case is just awesome in terms of cooling.

 

[Lunatic Dreyfus]

The onboard fan-control on many of these 5*** cards is crap, and they don't spin the fan fast enough when things get hot. Not a problem with one card.... they just run hot and quiet, but it causes big problems in crossfire setups.

Go into catalyst control centre, put the fan slider onto 100% then click apply. Run the benchmark again, and see if you get better temps. If you do.... then download MSI afterburner and use that to setup a sensible fan profile, so the fans blow hard when the card reaches around 75-80%.

My Vapor-X 5770 was very guilty of just sitting there pootling along at low fan speeds while it start glowing white hot. Civ 5 cruicified it, sometimes hitting the high 90's, even three figures at one point. This was in my little mATX case though.

My 6870 at the same high settings is far better behaved. I tested it in Civ 5 and Furmark and the card revved up when things got interesting. Temps haven't gone over the mid 70's during these runs, but the fan speed still stays down around the 30% mark, which is surprising.

I just checked to see what my fan sounds like at 100% in case the ATI software wasn't reporting correctly. Holy christ! Mad noise.

 

[C64]

Are you sure it's not a case of the fans that came with the ZALMAN Z7 PLUS aren't very good at all ?

I would look at upgrading your fans get some 140 mm fans 2 for the front and use the 2x 120mm the case came with both on side panel.

 

[Nbolo]

I've had a look and the fan is indeed sitting at just under 50%... will give afterburner a go, set the fans to 100% when the card hits 75 degrees or so.

In regard to CPU and resolution i'm running a stock i7 950 and am polaying at 1680x1050.

Big thank you to everyone so far, very helpful!

 

[bhavv]

A GTX460 overclocked to 850 on the core can easily keep pace with a HD6870 (going by the Techreport and Anandtech reviews) and can be had for ~£40 less than the 6870 (looking at current in stock pricing).

They scale extremely well in SLI as well.

One Caveat I should mention is voltage control and thus (voltage controlled) overclocking on the 6870 is relatively unknown still. Perhaps we could see some cards pushing 1100mhz core speeds.

Dont forget that you can also bios mod GTX 460s to allow 1.213v, which can allow you to push the cards up to 950-1000 Mhz too, whereas with the 6870, any information regarding overclocking is still speculation.

 

[Marvin]

6870's or OC's 6850's, at £175 or £135, else a 1gb 460...
Currently xfire is scaling better than SLI.

I really wish you'd stop spamming with this XFire > SLI crap...

Compare the 6850 and the 460 scaling:

6850:

460:

This is just an example, but the 4xx series scales much better than the 5xxx and is still better than the 6xxx series. Just surprised no-one's yet picked up on it in the other 90 threads you've posted it in since Friday.

 

[oweneades]

That's the thing, you're wagering on achieving a high overclock on the 460 and keeping it stable. Whilst I know the 460 practically overclocks itself, there's no real guarantee you'll get such a high & stable clocks.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually going to buy a 460 over a 6870, now that the prices of them have risen for the exact reason you've stated. However I do feel the 6870 will pull away in the long run with better drivers and the release of non-reference coolers.

With the case of the OP, since he's upgrading from 2x 5770, I reckon he'd benefit more from a 6870 if he were or had to buy today. However with the new 69xx cards coming out so soon, it's foolish not to wait.

Oh, I think (from what I read) the Xfire scaling on the new 68xx cards is better than SLI now.

I agree with you that overclocking in general is a gamble however I have yet to see a 460 that doesn't overclock well (and extremely easily).

At a quick glance the 68xx do seem to scale better in CF than the older 58xx series although I havn't really looked too in depth at this.

SLI scaling on the GTX460 is extremely good. I have noticed this myself even at my monitors reasonable 1680x1050 resolution. Scaling in Just Cause 2 for example is in the region of 80%, Mafia II with AA on is also in the region of 80% although without AA it doesn't scale very well at all (perhaps showing a CPU bottleneck as the cards arn't pushed as hard as then could be).

@bhavv - I have seen that even higher clocks can be mustered on the 460 with pushing the voltage even higher (via bios flash) but tbh I havn't seen the need to push my cards beyond 925 core. The reason for this is mainly that I find one card not enough in the games I am currently playing. Overclocking helps, but only to a point (performance increase from SLI is far greater than the OC alone).

 

[Nbolo]

Well crossfire (and i assume SLI) are out of the window, the 2 x16 slots are to close togather and the x8 slot simply doesn't give me enough space between itself and the side of the case to even fit a GFX or atleast my XFX 5770 won't fit there!

Leaves me 2 options, sell both the 5770's for about £140 - 150 and pick up an MSI 460 cyclone OR stick with 1 5770 and try to overclock it to buggery! has anyone had any experience with the XFX 5770's? how far cna they be pushed? mine has topped out (it seems) at 940 clock, 1400 memory without changing the voltage.

Cheers guys.