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Send my 5870 back and get a 6970?

Gerard

Gerard

Gerard

Caporegime
Joined
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I'm expecting a 5870 from ocuk today, thinking about it though since I'm going to be running eyefinity in 5760*1080 res I'm thinking a card with 2 gigs of VRAM might be better suited to the task.

Worthwhile sending the 5870 back under DSR and opting for a 6970?
 
straxusii said:
The VRAM will make a huge difference at that res, not sure how well a single 6970 would perform though.
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Yeah that's what I'm wondering too. I've seen a 5870 handle bad company 2 pretty well at that res. For the games I play it should work pretty well I think.

Only issues are if I order the card will it arrive in time, and I need a minidp to full do adaptor. Toss of the dice if i ordered now and it arrived anytime soon.
 
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Why not just get a 6950 and clock it. We're in the same situation with the 5850/5870 on release, smart people went 5850 and clocked it, at same clocks performance difference was negligible, not so smart people like me went 5870.
 
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RavenXXX2 said:
Why not just get a 6950 and clock it. We're in the same situation with the 5850/5870 on release, smart people went 5850 and clocked it, at same clocks performance difference was negligible, not so smart people like me went 5870.
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I rarely can be Arsed to clock graphics cards. Last card I clocked was my old 9500 :p
 
Well a nice saving of over 50 notes going for the 6950 but I guess if you're loaded and don't want to clock then the 6970 would be the only choice. If you got the cash 6950 crossfire would be great for stated res.
 
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Not loaded by any means :). Just stopped bothering to clock graphics cards a long time ago. Just poking about some reviews to see if the 6970 for eyefinity is worthwhile over a 5870.
 
RavenXXX2 said:
Why not just get a 6950 and clock it. We're in the same situation with the 5850/5870 on release, smart people went 5850 and clocked it, at same clocks performance difference was negligible, not so smart people like me went 5870.
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thats true for the 5850/5870 case, but the 6950/6970 seems different, i seem to be getting the impression that 6850 are struggling to get to 6870 speeds even, ive got twin 6850's coming today, my main concern is them not clocking well....i guess i shouldnt take too much notice to my own impressions because its still early days and volts havent been changed yet, and gibbo even said all his got to 900, still i have a feeling the 6850's wont clock as well as the 5850's....hope im wrong
 
Depends on what games you are playing but in demanding texture heavy games I would say 1GB at 5760*1080 is not enough, 2GB is the sweet spot.

muggs said:
thats true for the 5850/5870 case, but the 6950/6970 seems different, i seem to be getting the impression that 6850 are struggling to get to 6870 speeds even, ive got twin 6850's coming today, my main concern is them not clocking well....i guess i shouldnt take too much notice to my own impressions because its still early days and volts havent been changed yet, and gibbo even said all his got to 900, still i have a feeling the 6850's wont clock as well as the 5850's....hope im wrong
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With extra voltage the 6850 can clock past the 6870, at least from the majority of reviews I have seen, you need extra voltage though. No voltage tweaking for the 69** cards as of yet so their clocking potential is an unknown commodity.
 
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RavenXXX2 said:
Depends on what games you are playing but in demanding texture heavy games I would say 1GB at 5760*1080 is not enough, 2GB is the sweet spot.
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Yup, never hurts to have a bit more ram in the tank, dunno what games i'll be playing several months down the line that may surpass the 1gb buffer on a 5870.

6990 could be an option with a bit more cash, thats almost sure to be a pair of downclocked 6970's on a single pcb.
 
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I've just sold my 5870 and am expecting a 6970 tomorrow from ocuk. I'll be gaming at 3600x1920 (eyefinity portrait mode) and I'm expecting a fair improvement. In BFBC2 my 5870 ran things okay but I had to have settings on medium/low in order for it to feel fluid enough for multiplayer.
 
2 of the £125 5850s might be best, if you set them (its hardly clocking if you move four slider bars), to 850/1200 then that ll be a lot faster than either choice, quieter then the 6970 and cheaper.

I think either of the cards you are considering for that res will struggle on their own- the above choice if you apply the settings I mentioned should give enough power.
 
el Kuarlos said:
2 of the £125 5850s might be best, if you set them (its hardly clocking if you move four slider bars), to 850/1200 then that ll be a lot faster than either choice, quieter then the 6970 and cheaper.

I think either of the cards you are considering for that res will struggle on their own- the above choice if you apply the settings I mentioned should give enough power.
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The problem with the 5850 line is the lack of vram. Two cheap 2GB cards in xfire would be the best choice I imagine.
 
Just received the 5870 (literally just came in a plastic bag with no padding :eek: ). Think im going to send it back and snag the 6970. Heres hoping it can arrive tomorrow and i don't get withdrawl symptoms. :p
 
^Yeah I think that is the better move.

It's funny, I was never that interested in eyefinity or the nvidia equivalent - the bezels put me off. Though lately when watching games on youtube, I can really see the appeal. I saw some dude play one of the Stalker games this way and it looked very good. I got so immersed in watching him play that I totally forgot about the divides between the monitors.
 
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arc@css said:
^Yeah I think that is the better move.

It's funny, I was never that interested in eyefinity or the nvidia equivalent - the bezels put me off. Though lately when watching games on youtube, I can really see the appeal. I saw some dude play one the Stalker games this way and it looked very good. I got so immersed in watching him play that I totally forgot about the divides between the monitors.
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My monitors are pretty rubbish ones with massive bezels. I also run them in portrait mode so the bezels are even more prominent (an extra inch at least). Despite that, when I've watched films and played games like BFBC2 I really easily forget that the bezels are there. The sheer size of the screen and the huge number of pixels make things awesome :)
 
FrenchTart said:
My monitors are pretty rubbish ones with massive bezels. I also run them in portrait mode so the bezels are even more prominent (an extra inch at least). Despite that, when I've watched films and played games like BFBC2 I really easily forget that the bezels are there. The sheer size of the screen and the huge number of pixels make things awesome :)
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Sounds great. :)

I may have to invest in this one day, trouble is I would need an even bigger desk, the one I have is a fair size already.
 
arc@css said:
Sounds great. :)

I may have to invest in this one day, trouble is I would need an even bigger desk, the one I have is a fair size already.
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Yeah. Just thought I'd chime in to confirm your thoughts about the bezels.

The whole desk issue is a bit of a problem yeah. I have my monitors piled in a really unsafe way due to desk space. I should probably sort that.
 
I loled at the wording of the title...

For a minute there I thought what company provide such awesome RMA service, that you RMA a 5870 back to them and get a 6970 back in return rofl
 
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