HD 5870 dilemma.

[Crazykenny]

Hey guys,

I wanna sell of my CF'ed 2GB HD4870's to get a HD5870. But how much would I gain from this really? Yeah, I'd get DX 11, but will my FPS drop due to the removal of my second GPU. Or is the HD5870 so powerfull it outperforms 2 of the most powerfull HD4870's. How much would my FPS increase of decrease?

It would be a while before I could buy a second 5870, but I will do so when I have the money. I just wanna know how much a single 5870's is gonna hold its own in games like Crysis, Just Cause 2, Metro 2033 and so fort.

Regards,
Crazykenny

 

[Sailindawg]

I went from 2xGTX 260's to a 5870. The performance is sometimes a tad faster, sometimes the same as the 2x260's, depending on the game. However, I dropped 10-15C on my northbridge temp at load, the 5870 is a bit quieter than the 2x260's. I sold the 260's for what I paid for the 5870 from a private seller. In my case, I'm back to a single gpu that performs well at 1920x1200 resolution with all the eye candy turned on within a game. And it runs cooler and quieter. In my case, a win.

Edit:
the 5870 is capable of running at 1000/1300 on 1.3-1.35V. Even raising the volts, the card runs about 65-70C when playing Warhead at 4xAA & Enthusiast settings at 1920x1200. Like Travva has stated, the card renders pretty smoothly.

 

[travva]

kenny, i did something similar to sailindawg, ive still got my 260s but i swapped em out for a high end 5850 that is oced to 5870 speeds and beyond, and it's pretty close in performance. one thing you may notice, at least for me anyway, the 5850/70 feels smoother. like the fps are very close but it actually FEELS better. ive only tested bfbc2 so far but that's a pretty new game. i think a 5870 would hold you over just fine, especially some of the newer eye candy it can do, and when you get a second one you'll forget all about those 4870s!

 

[Crazykenny]

kenny, i did something similar to sailindawg, ive still got my 260s but i swapped em out for a high end 5850 that is oced to 5870 speeds and beyond, and it's pretty close in performance. one thing you may notice, at least for me anyway, the 5850/70 feels smoother. like the fps are very close but it actually FEELS better. ive only tested bfbc2 so far but that's a pretty new game. i think a 5870 would hold you over just fine, especially some of the newer eye candy it can do, and when you get a second one you'll forget all about those 4870s!

Smoother, hahaha. Thats exactly what I'm looking for and as a hardcore DX10 user would I really be in aw with DX11? I mean is it that much of a difference for example... Alien vs Predator or Call of Pripyat DX10 vs there DX11 engines?

 

[newtekie1]

Performance wise, you are looking at about a 5-10% decrease overall. Of course you will be using a lot less power and producing a lot less heat.

As for DX10 vs. DX11, right now there really isn't a noticeable difference image quality wise in most games. I think Metro 2033 is really the only game that has a noticeable image quality difference, and even then I wouldn't say it is great.

 

[Crazykenny]

Performance wise, you are looking at about a 5-10% decrease overall. Of course you will be using a lot less power and producing a lot less heat.

As for DX10 vs. DX11, right now there really isn't a noticeable difference image quality wise in most games. I think Metro 2033 is really the only game that has a noticeable image quality difference, and even then I wouldn't say it is great.

Hmm, so what would you do in this position? Pave the way for the future with buying one of the profit of the sold CF set and buy a second 5870 later. Or, keep the CF set and wait?

 

[cadaveca]

Performance wise, you are looking at about a 5-10% decrease overall. Of course you will be using a lot less power and producing a lot less heat.

As for DX10 vs. DX11, right now there really isn't a noticeable difference image quality wise in most games. I think Metro 2033 is really the only game that has a noticeable image quality difference, and even then I wouldn't say it is great.

You've said it all.

I went from 4870 to 4890, to 5870...now 2x5870, and probably going to 3x 2Gb cards. Depends on wat you're looking for, as to where you should stop.

 

[jellyrole]

The upgrade to a single card is worth it, the only thing I would recommend is wait. The 58xx prices may come down a bit here in the next month or so.

 

[Crazykenny]

The upgrade to a single card is worth it, the only thing I would recommend is wait. The 58xx prices may come down a bit here in the next month or so.

Hmm, probably that would be best. My main concern is the lack of stock on these cards. Is that gonna improve anytime soon? Cuz AMD is struggling with this from the beginning...

I will be GPU-less when I sell the 4870's and I dont wanna wait long to get back behind my rig

 

[newtekie1]

Hmm, so what would you do in this position? Pave the way for the future with buying one of the profit of the sold CF set and buy a second 5870 later. Or, keep the CF set and wait?

Probably sell the crossfire set and buy the HD5870.

 

[jellyrole]

They haven't had stock issues since the first 2-4 weeks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...PA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=5870&x=0&y=0

 

[alexsubri]

The 4870's xfire is pretty much equivalent to one 5870

 

[Crazykenny]

The 4870's xfire is pretty much equivalent to one 5870

Yeah, but I will future-proof my system further with DirectX 11. Pretty amazing btw, one card pumping out that much performance. ATI never ceased to amaze me.

 

[Super XP]

Yeah, but I will future-proof my system further with DirectX 11. Pretty amazing btw, one card pumping out that much performance. ATI never ceased to amaze me.

I too am running 2 x HD 4870's in Crossfire. Personally the best time to sell your old vid cards for new is a few weeks/months after launch of new cards. It sucks because back them 1) the HD 5870 & HD 5850 costs cheaper then right now and 2) I could have gotten A LOT more money for my HD 4870's. What I plan on doing is sticking with what I have and upgrade to a HD 6870 once they get released. But obviously if for some reason the HD 5870 dropped in price a lot, it's mine

You've said it all.

I went from 4870 to 4890, to 5870...now 2x5870, and probably going to 3x 2Gb cards. Depends on wat you're looking for, as to where you should stop.

Oh boy, ATI sure loves me

 

[wiak]

i havnt had any ati card die on me yet, so amd must love me, same goes for athlons & phenoms i got

yeah get a HD 5870, it has dx11, hdmi bitsteaming, better power usage (even uses less power on load and idle than two 4870s in crossfire, so you can save teh planet by not using so much power)

as far i know 5870 is a little bit slower than HD 4870 X2 aka 4870 Crossfire, but dont let that scare you, it will use 22W on idle, vs singel 4870 that uses 70W idle hehe, load is around a singel 4870 aswell, with the power of 4870 crossfire ;D

if i was you, get two HD 5870s in crossfire, that should help alot

 

[Crazykenny]

i havnt had any ati card die on me yet, so amd must love me, same goes for athlons & phenoms i got

yeah get a HD 5870, it has dx11, hdmi bitsteaming, better power usage (even uses less power on load and idle than two 4870s in crossfire, so you can save teh planet by not using so much power)

as far i know 5870 is a little bit slower than HD 4870 X2 aka 4870 Crossfire, but dont let that scare you, it will use 22W on idle, vs singel 4870 that uses 70W idle hehe, load is around a singel 4870 aswell, with the power of 4870 crossfire ;D

if i was you, get two HD 5870s in crossfire, that should help alot

Well money is a problem. The first HD5870 is going to be funded with the money I'm gonna get from my Crossfire Set. Basicly what people can get from me is this:

- 2 Sapphire Vapor-X 2GB HD4870's
- 2 Extended Crossfire Bridges
- Xilence 800W PSU

That all for €365,-

EDIT: If there are any Dutchman, or people that know any, that are interested in buying this set from me. Let me know.

 

[Sasqui]

At least in the US on FleaBay, 4870's are fetching about $100. You could consider a 5850 as well, it'll do somwhere near what a 4870x2 will.

Anyway, I think it's a wise switch:

See the 5870 review here, and pay particular attention to the performance per watt!

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_5870/

 

[Dyno]

Hey guys,

I wanna sell of my CF'ed 2GB HD4870's to get a HD5870. But how much would I gain from this really? Yeah, I'd get DX 11, but will my FPS drop due to the removal of my second GPU. Or is the HD5870 so powerfull it outperforms 2 of the most powerfull HD4870's. How much would my FPS increase of decrease?

It would be a while before I could buy a second 5870, but I will do so when I have the money. I just wanna know how much a single 5870's is gonna hold its own in games like Crysis, Just Cause 2, Metro 2033 and so fort.

Regards,
Crazykenny

Waste of money, keep your Crossfire setup dude, trust me!

 

[Crazykenny]

Waste of money, keep your Crossfire setup dude, trust me!

Yeah, I know they are damn powerfull. But I dont want cards that use much power in idle. Which is one of the reasons why I wanna switch. The 5xxx series is awesome in that regard.

 

[Super XP]

Yeah, I know they are damn powerfull. But I dont want cards that use much power in idle. Which is one of the reasons why I wanna switch. The 5xxx series is awesome in that regard.

In that case get the XFX HD 5850 1GB card, it has lifetime warranty and it performs quite well.

 

[exodusprime1337]

i replaced my gtx 285 for 1 of the xfx 5870's, clocked it to 1000/1300 loved it. Loved it so much i blew another 400 bucks on another one a week later, there is 800, then blew another 150 on some sick ass mushkin ddr3 that runs 1800Mhz 7,7,7,20,1t, and jumped my 965c3 up to 4.0Ghz, why.. just to help push the 5870's along better.

Games are smoother(alot)
some will challange me on this, but i think amd/ati cards just make games look better.. my 285 seemed washed out compared to this. to me it's very noticable..

crossfire is awsome, and works remarkably well. i like benchmarks and high fps in games and this pair of cards does what no 285's ever could have done.

for 800 bucks i payed for incredible performance, and i've still got room for 1 more card lawl!!!

 

[ToTTenTranz]

I did exactly that.
Replaced my 2*HD4890 for a single HD5870. The rest of my system is actually quite similar to yours.

Was it worth it?
I did loose overall performance, yes. But for most games, the difference is between 80 and 75fps. It doesn't really matter, from the moment I turn v-sync on, I get either 60 or 30fps.


I think the best two things I gained (because tesselation and DX11 features aren't really important right now) was Super-sampled AA and the new AF algorithm.
I played Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age maxed out at 1920*1200 4xSSAA and 16xAF, which is the best those games will ever look, and it was awesome.
The multisampled AA from my HD4890s would never, ever, get close to the quality of the super-sampling (mainly in Dragon Age where you have lots of trees).


There's also less noise, a lot less. Mainly when the system is idling.
Furthermore, I freed the second PCI-Express slot, so I'll be able to put in there a nVidia card to play those physX games I've been meaning to.



So you loose:
- Money
- A bit of performance

But you gain:
- Silence
- Supersampling AA (obligatory for older/less demanding engines IMO)
- New Anisotropic Filtering
- DX11 features like Tesselation in future games
- 1 free PCI-Express slot
- Less power-draw and heat.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

I replaced a pair of GTX280 cards with a single 5870, and while my maximum FPS is about the same, my minimum FPS is higher with the 5870 as compared to the GTX280 cards I had, meaning smoother game play. I'd say do it.

BTW, I get 60-80 FPS playing BF2:BC with EVERYTHING MAXED @1920*1200 resolution

 

[JrRacinFan]

IMO, I think you should opt for the single 5870. Remember a great single card is always better than a dual card. What you will notice, a higher min FPS throughout gaming due to drivers (which are always improving).

EDIT:

^^BarbaricSoul beat me to it. **shakes fist**

 

[BarbaricSoul]

IMO, I think you should opt for the single 5870. Remember a great single card is always better than a dual card. What you will notice, a higher min FPS throughout gaming due to drivers (which are always improving).

EDIT:

^^BarbaricSoul beat me to it. **shakes fist**