Changed my mind, no crossfire...

Sasqui · Nov 25, 2012

I was going to buy a second 6850 for about $110 to crossfire with the one I have.

I changed my mind. I can get a 7870 with similar performance and sell the MSI 6850 I have for about the same overall cost to upgrade.

I'm looking at this one: PowerColor PCS+ AX7870 2GBD5-2DHPP Radeon HD 7870 ...

Comes with FAR Cry 3, $219 with rebate and free shipping

Thoughts?

1Kurgan1 · Nov 25, 2012

Much better idea. And then if you want to CF down the line, you can add another, if it's anytime soon, if not, then you can upgrade and sell like your doing now. Though I will say, if you can swing for a 7950, I would if I was you, this one comes with 4 games for free if you got that bit of extra cash.

HIS IceQ H795Q3G2M Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR...

brandonwh64 · Nov 25, 2012

But from Wiz review it shows 6850 Xfire beating out a 5970 and a 5970 is only 6% slower than a 7970. I think the second 6850 would be the better choice performance wise

Sasqui · Nov 25, 2012

brandonwh64 said:
But from Wiz review it shows 6850 Xfire beating out a 5970 and a 5970 is only 6% slower than a 7970. I think the second 6850 would be the better choice performance wise

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6850_CrossFire/images/perfrel.gif
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970/images/perfrel.gif

I can't find any direct comparison benchmarks between the two, but here are two that compare against a 5870 as a baseline (See graphs below)...

7870 (baseline = 100%) vs. 5870 (at 78% of baseline)
6850 CF (baseline = 100%) vs 5870 (at 85% of baseline)

ergo, the performance is pretty close between a single 7870 and a 6850... and drawing conclusions from those two tests, the 6850 CF is slower. I'm sure the CF drivers have gotten better sine those benchmarks though.

I'm leaning towards the 7870.

MT Alex · Nov 25, 2012

I'm not clear on what you are trying to say, that a single 7850 is faster than 6850 CF? No way that is true.

stinger608 · Nov 25, 2012

MT Alex said:
I'm not clear on what you are trying to say, that a single 7850 is faster than 6850 CF? No way that is true.

No, he is talking about picking up a single 7870, not a 7850..

However I would stay completely away from Powercolor if you can. Coolers are not that good, fans are pretty much junk, and customer service (from my personal experience) is terrible. Took me almost 2 months to receive a card back. That was about 3 years ago though.

Recent reviews have shown the lack of decent cooling though. I would do your research on the exact card before purchasing said card. Check some of the legit reviews online prior to pulling the trigger.

Sasqui · Nov 25, 2012

MT Alex said:
I'm not clear on what you are trying to say, that a single 7850 is faster than 6850 CF? No way that is true.

Try again... read carefully.

stinger608 said:
No, he is talking about picking up a single 7870, not a 7850..

However I would stay completely away from Powercolor if you can. Coolers are not that good, fans are pretty much junk, and customer service (from my personal experience) is terrible. Took me almost 2 months to receive a card back. That was about 3 years ago though.

Recent reviews have shown the lack of decent cooling though. I would do your research on the exact card before purchasing said card. Check some of the legit reviews online prior to pulling the trigger.

I was wondering about Powercolor.

MxPhenom 216 · Nov 25, 2012

Sasqui said:
Try again... read carefully.

I was wondering about Powercolor.

Go Sapphire, Gigabyte, or MSI.

I would still stretch for a 7950 though if your not going to get another 6850.

SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR...

MT Alex · Nov 25, 2012

Sasqui said:
Try again... read carefully.

Like I said, what you posted made no sense at all, hence my confusion. I may have accidentally typed 7850 instead of 7870, but the jist of what I was saying is still true.

Sasqui said:
ergo, the performance is pretty close between a single 7870 and a 6850... and drawing conclusions from those two tests, the 6850 CF is slower. I'm sure the CF drivers have gotten better sine those benchmarks though.

I'm leaning towards the 7870.

Sasqui · Nov 25, 2012

MT Alex said:
Like I said, what you posted made no sense at all, hence my confusion. I may have accidentally typed 7850 instead of 7870, but the jist of what I was saying is still true.

Since there's no direct comparison between the 7870 and the 6850xCF, I looked at the comparison of each vs the 5870. The 7870 looks superior.

Sasqui said:
7870 (baseline = 100%) vs. 5870 (at 78% of baseline)
6850 CF (baseline = 100%) vs 5870 (at 85% of baseline)

i.e. The 7870 is better compared to the 5870 than 6850xCF compared to the 5870. So the 7870 > 6850xCF. Maybe I missed something, yea, we all make mistakes!

Crap Daddy · Nov 25, 2012

Sasqui said:
Since there's no direct comparison between the 7870 and the 6850xCF, I looked at the comparison of each vs the 5870. The 7870 looks superior.

i.e. The 7870 is better compared to the 5870 than 6850xCF compared to the 5870. So the 7870 > 6850xCF. Maybe I missed something, yea, we all make mistakes!

Even if just by a hair regarding performance, the 7870 is better from all points of view, drivers, power consumption, overclockability, no crossfire hassle. Now, for 60$ more there's the 7950 which is a hell of card for that price point. (you get some other games too)

Sasqui · Nov 25, 2012

Crap Daddy said:
Even if just by a hair regarding performance, the 7870 is better from all points of view, drivers, power consumption, overclockability, no crossfire hassle.

Agreed. I was thinking a CF setup would be cool to do, just because

But then again, I'd rather keep things simple. With a llimited amount of gaming and having a single monitor, it'll do me well. The 5870 I have has been great and will end up my my second rig.

From that comparison, I'd say a little more than a hair.

7870 is ~22% better than a 5870
6850xCF is ~15% better than a 5870

Both are compared at stock reference clocks.

MT Alex · Nov 26, 2012

Sasqui said:
Since there's no direct comparison between the 7870 and the 6850xCF, I looked at the comparison of each vs the 5870. The 7870 looks superior.

i.e. The 7870 is better compared to the 5870 than 6850xCF compared to the 5870. So the 7870 > 6850xCF. Maybe I missed something, yea, we all make mistakes!

Thanks for clearing that up. :toast:

I see the point you are trying to make, but the 6850 CF is equal to a 5970 in the second chart, which handily beats the 7870 in the first. I consider this comparison to be much more accurate, especially since I use two 5870s and have real world comparisons to people using single newer gen cards every night in teamspeak.

Sasqui · Nov 26, 2012

MT Alex said:
the 6850 CF is equal to a 5970 in the second chart, which handily beats the 7870 in the first

Nice... and true. All things are not equal, the 5970 and 6850xCF are the same in one test, and the 7870 is 11% lower to the 5970 in the other. Then you compare them to the 5870 and the picture is different, about the same delta the other way. Different systems and drivers... Thanks for pointing that out.

CrackerJack · Nov 26, 2012

IMO I would choose XFX Better warranty! I never really had any big issues out of any XFX cards, but one time my GPU was overheating... XFX told me to take the HS off reapply paste and test the card (still in warranty)... All it need! Where most company's would ask you to send the card in... shipping... waiting... shipping.

Melvis · Nov 27, 2012

7870 For sure. With the new 12.11 drivers the 7870's got a massive jump in performance then any other card. This was the main reason i went out and have now ordered two 7870's over the GTX 660Ti's.

Cant wait till they turn up.

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System Name	Senile
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Motherboard	MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling	Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
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Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE Vega 64
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Changed my mind, no crossfire...

Sasqui

1Kurgan1

The Knife in your Back

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!

Sasqui

MT Alex

stinger608

Dedicated TPU Cruncher & Folder

Sasqui

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

MT Alex

Sasqui

Crap Daddy

Sasqui

MT Alex

Sasqui

CrackerJack

Melvis

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