Ati 5970

[TheVanillatech]

A friend of mine runs a small computer shop. The other week a customer brought in his son's PC because the graphics card was suspect, and he ended up buying a new 670GTX because his old 5970 wasn't giving a display. So the customer asked us to bin the old card. I ended up taking it home, stripping it and cleaning it, then I put it in the oven for 5 minutes and put everything back together. It booted up and ran Furmark for 30 minutes, peaking around 89 degrees. So far it's been fine. However my current PC is only an e8400. Come September I'll be buying an i5 and OC'ing it to use as my new main PC when I start University. So do you guys think I should sell the 5970 and buy something newer in September or is it worth keeping until then? What current card is equal to a 5970 and how much do they cost?

 

[DRDNA]

It is still a ok card but it is long in the tooth as well....depends a bit on what games and what else vid wise you do...tell us more

edit. WELCOME TO TPU!

 

[erocker]

I would compare somewhere in between a 7870 XT and a 7950.

 

[DRDNA]

IF THAT CARD WAS FREE MAN WHAT A GOOD SCORE! Ops darn cap locks.

 

[Outback Bronze]

I would compare somewhere in between a 7870 XT and a 7950.

Um id say they are too powerfull. I reckon 6950/70/ gtx 580. No offence. But hey around the mark yeah. Cheers.

 

[TheVanillatech]

Thanks for the welcome!

Well the only reason I would even need a mid/top end graphics card would be to play Shogun Total War 2 (which I bought months ago but not yet had time to put into it) and Starcraft II Heart of the Swarm, both on an IPS screen at 1900 x 1200. I don't mind waiting until September when I upgrade my entire system to play them. As of now I only play LOL and Quake Live anyways, so my e8400 + 4770 crossfire handles my current gaming needs just fine.

Last year I played Starcraft II Wings of Liberty on a single 6870 1GB with an i3-540 oc'ed to 4.2Ghz. I could play in High and Ultra settings but noticed slowdown in 4 player maps when all 4 armies were on screen at once. So i dropped the details to Medium and even some Low just to maintain that constant 60fps. I saw a benchmark of SCII running almost 50% faster on a geforce Ti560 than on an ATI 6870, yet the ATI beat the Geforce on most other benchies. Seems SC2 prefers Nvidia.

I figure the 5970 I got for free would play HOTS and Shogun 2 on max, but I could sell that card now for £200 and treat my kids, and then just buy a brand new card, with warranty etc, in September. Maybe spend around £250 and get a 7950? I want to stick with ATI, although the new Titan looks interesting. But obviously I don't want to buy a new card which is slower than this 5970. The last card I bought was that 6870 and since then I'm really confused by all the latest generation.

 

[Geofrancis]

i am running a hd5970 2gb and its still way more than fast enough to max BFBC2 and Dirt 3 @1080p with AA and AF cranked up so dont go and buy a new card if its working ok.

btw a hd 5970 is about 2x as powerfull as a HD7870
http://www.hwcompare.com/12205/radeon-hd-5970-vs-radeon-hd-7870/

 

[sttubs]

If you do decide to sell it please give the buyer full disclosure about baking it.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

I would compare somewhere in between a 7870 XT and a 7950.

I think you may be underestimating it a little bit. I replaced a 5870 crossfire set-up with a single 7970 non-GHZ edition and the performance was the same(real life perf., not benchmark perf.). I know the 5970 is actually two 5850 gpus instead of two 5870 gpus, but I'd still place the 5970 between the 7950 and 7970. Only reasons I'd say are worth replacing the 5970 with a newer card IMHO would be for a single GPU solution or DX11 support.

I could be wrong as the difference between Erocker's opinion and mine is only 1 step on the performance ladder.

 

[Geofrancis]

I think you may be underestimating it a little bit. I replaced a 5870 crossfire set-up with a single 7970 non-GHZ edition and the performance was the same(real life perf., not benchmark perf.). I know the 5970 is actually two 5850 gpus instead of two 5870 gpus, but I'd still place the 5970 between the 7950 and 7970. Only reasons I'd say are worth replacing the 5970 with a newer card IMHO would be for a single GPU solution or DX11 support.

the HD5970 is actually 2x HD5870's clocked at HD5850 speeds so you still get the full 1600 shaders per core. they are rated to run at full 5870 speeds but that would have brought the card above the 300W PCIe power limit but the cooler and everything else is rated for 350-400W so as long as your power supply can handle the extra poower it should run ok clocked at 5870 speeds.

 

[TheVanillatech]

Thanks for all the information. After thinking it over, I have decided to keep the card. If I did sell it and get £200, I'd only have to spend £300 in September on a brand new card, and as I got this 5970 for free well it's a no brainer!

I'll be pairing it with an i5-750 which I will get from Ebay in September, because I still have my Gigabyte H55 UD2 motherboard and a Corsair A50 cooler, so if I drop the i5 into that board I already know I will be able to OC it pretty well (I have my previous i3-540 running stable and cool at 4.1Ghz on that board). Throw in 8GB of Corsair XMS3 2000Mhz and that 5970 should be able to stretch it's legs.

I also collect graphics cards, I own some 20+. I usually have the strongest card from every generation, starting with probably the TNT2 Ultra, Geforce 3 Ti500, 1950XTX and so on. I suppose the 5970 was the daddy of it's generation too, so it will look nice on the wall in my computer room when it finally dies for good or gets replaced for an upgrade. But I don't think that will be happening this year.

 

[Geofrancis]

My 2 x favurite cards are the HD4870 x2 and the hd5970 they are just monsters of cards.