Should I trade my Msi 7870 for two 6970's?

[Phusius]

My buddy in real life recently decided to Crossfire his 6970, however his PSU isn't powerful enough. (550w something I dunno) Mine is 750w Corsair Bronze.

Anyways, my question is simple. He is wanting to trade me both 6970's for my single Msi Twin Frozr 7870 Ghz edition. Worth the extra FPS power?

 

[cadaveca]

Yes. Emphatically, YES.

 

[Phusius]

I heard micro stuttering is an issue in Crossfire though... thoughts or is that only with certain games?

 

[Nordic]

Yes if you want more fps, no if you prefer efficiency. I would go with the 6970's

 

[Phusius]

Well I use Vysnc in all games anyway... so I won't really get more FPS, my 7870 caps at 60 in pretty much every game I own so far.

 

[Nordic]

still yes

 

[Phusius]

OK thanks all, you convinced me, 6970's it is.

 

[cadaveca]

I heard micro stuttering is an issue in Crossfire though... thoughts or is that only with certain games?

That is more a function of the underlying system than it is of the cards themselves. I use dual HD6950's, and I cannot say that Microstutter actually ahs a negative effect wit ha SandyBridge CPU. DO I notice a bit slower rendering, even though the framerate is higher? YES. But hte overall beenfit of higher perforamcne is still there, in such a way that with two cards, I play much better in BF3 than I do with one.


The 7870 is a pretty powerful card, but dual 6970's overall will be faster than a single 7970.

 

[DarkOCean]

hell yeeah! good buddy

 

[Kreij]

Are both the 7870 and the two 6970s 2GB cards?
I've a pair of Sapphire 2GB 6970s and they rock.

 

[Phusius]

yes, all 3 cards are 2gb

 

[hastalabs]

6970 Cfx faster than 6990 is really worth it

 

[Aquinus]

Your computer's power consumption is going to go through the roof with two 6970s vs one 7870. The only other downfall is that if you want to upgrade, you're going to have to replace the 6970s where with the 7870 you can still upgrade to crossfire which theoretically could be faster and if it isn't a small overclock could close that gap. I would opt for the lower power GPU since it already suits your needs as it stands now because the 6970s in crossfire will just eat more power to do the same thing (you said you run vsync and everything already runs at 60fps.)

All in all, it's your decision but I'm not convinced that it will benefit you.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I think the first question we should be asking the OP is what resolution he plays at. Because I would not go to last gen and let alone 2 of them. Yeah the power is there with the CF setup, but so are multi gpu problems. Some people will deny the issues with multi GPUs, but there can be problems. I would keep the 7870. Has awesome Performance per watt ratio.

 

[T4C Fantasy]

i think the OP needs to make the trade before the seller realizes that hes a complete dingleberry for making the offer!

 

[Melvis]

Your computer's power consumption is going to go through the roof with two 6970s vs one 7870.

Thats nothing compaired to mine

For right here right now thats a yes make the deal!!

*Then chuckle under your breath as you walk away*

 

[T4C Fantasy]

Thats nothing compaired to mine

For right here right now thats a yes make the deal!!

*Then chuckle under your breath as you walk away*

that or he will explode in his pants

edit: if im reading your specs correctly, you should swap night riders psu and gpu into transcoder, transcoder has a better cpu

 

[MT Alex]

Why in the name of all that is holy would anyone leave vsync on? If I'm only getting 60 fps I wonder what the heck is wrong with my system.

 

[Melvis]

that or he will explode in his pants

edit: if im reading your specs correctly, you should swap night riders psu and gpu into transcoder, transcoder has a better cpu

The X6 is good for multitasking etc but not as good as the X4 for gaming as id rather have 4 cores at 3.4GHz then 3 cores at 3.3GHz or 6 at 2.8.

Why in the name of all that is holy would anyone leave vsync on? If I'm only getting 60 fps I wonder what the heck is wrong with my system.

Screen tearing is why, i agree to a point i turn it off on 90% of my games (i get input lag in alot of games) IF i dont get screen tearing, but games like Diablo 3 NEED it turned on or it just looks horrible

 

[MT Alex]

Screen tearing is why, i agree to a point i turn it off on 90% of my games (i get input lag in alot of games) IF i dont get screen tearing but games like Diablo 3 NEED it turned on or it just looks horrible

Ah, I see. Luckily this is something I've never noticed.

 

[T4C Fantasy]

Why in the name of all that is holy would anyone leave vsync on? If I'm only getting 60 fps I wonder what the heck is wrong with my system.

if you only have a 60Hz monitor you wont see anything over 60fps anyways i have vsnyc on in all games and i get 60~180 fps in alot of games 180 in 2 gen ago games like tom clancy hawx

 

[TheGuruStud]

if you only have a 60Hz monitor you wont see anything over 60fps anyways i have vsnyc on in all games and i get 60~180 fps in alot of games 180 in 2 gen ago games like tom clancy hawx

That means it's not working or do you mean you have it off?

Idk how people play with tearing. IQ is crap with it off (if you're not capping framerate).

But it's all avoidable whether you want vsync or not. Dxtory ftw. Latest release works with max payne 3, too
Why so many games don't allow you to frame cap, idk. It's just lazy.

 

[Phusius]

Yeah, I use Vsync because most of my games have really bad screen tearing unless I turn it on, SWTOR, most of my FPS games, Dirt 3, Deus Ex, just to name a few that I know for a fact have bad screen tearing unless I had it turned on.

Also, I am on a single 1080p monitor.

Lastly, I am ok with any power consumption, my apartment rent includes utilities automatically so it doesn't cost me extra like most people. Everyone in my apartment has a flat monthly rent which automatically includes as much electricity as you need. xD

Edit: I already have the 6970's installed. I cleaned the heatsinks with Arctic Cleaning two step process, removed the dust, and replaced the thermal paste with Arctic MX-2. ^^

 

[Jetster]

Trade for the two 6970s Then sell them and buy a GTX680, 670 7970, 7950

 

[Daimus]

+1 for the two 6970.