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5830 crossfire or 5870?

I

IDversusEGO

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
5,015
currently I have the following in my system:

Intel Q6600 2.4ghz quad core
Abit IP35E
8gb of DDR2 RAM (cant remember speed off the top of my head)
HD5830

I am looking for a bit of an upgrade to help out the Eyefinity performance. My board doesn't have 2 PCI slots so I see 2 options.

1) upgrade mobo and add second 5830. total cost of about $350. my existing mobo could go to my HTPC and the HTPC mobo would go to my file server.

2) Keep existing equipment and get a single bigger card. I would think a 5850 would be marginal upgrade for $300 and a 5870 would be good upgrade for $400. my existing 5830 could go to my HTPC.

Option 2 gets good impact and effectively upgrades 3 of my machines. Option 3 wold upgrade 2 of my machines. Not sure what would be the best performance increase, will have to find some numbers comparing single cards and XF setups.
 
5870. Monster card and I doubt even a pair of 5830's could keep up.
 
it would be easiest and maybe the 3650 int he HTPC is showing its age. If I can find some stats to support this I will go that way. anybody know of a test that puts a crossfire 5830 setup int he mix with a single 5870?
 
Last edited:
Gym Rat said:
5870. Monster card and I doubt even a pair of 5830's could keep up.
Click to expand...

2x 5770s can approach 5870 performance.

I would do whatever you're most comfortable with. If you can overclock the 5830s, they will perform great together. The single 5870 will have the advantage of not having to deal with Crossfire.

I don't think you will go wrong either way though.
 
I vote 5870 by far..... I have two Gigabyte 5830s sitting in my closet right now, they got replaced by two Asus ROG 5870s although I'm currently only running one. The 5830s did not live up to my expectations for what they cost (almost $500 for the pair), not to mention Crossfire is still buggy with them and the scaling is not what you would hope for in all games. A single GPU is MUCH easier to work with and obviously performs consistent no matter the game. A 5870 will handle any game out there with beautiful results unless you're running an insane resolution or Eyefinity.
 
cool. I am kind of liking the idea of the HTPC getting an upgrade too. plus, path of least resistance, I can just pop the cards in. I hate changing motherboards. Oh, and I think crossfire might push the limits of my existing PSU.
 
blackhawk777 said:
I vote 5870 by far..... I have two Gigabyte 5830s sitting in my closet right now, they got replaced by two Asus ROG 5870s although I'm currently only running one. The 5830s did not live up to my expectations for what they cost (almost $500 for the pair), not to mention Crossfire is still buggy with them and the scaling is not what you would hope for in all games. A single GPU is MUCH easier to work with and obviously performs consistent no matter the game.
Click to expand...

Having problems setting up your Xfire? What are you going to do with your HD5830s? Any luck setting up your 2 HD5870s?
 
found some benchmarks in case anybody was interested...

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3170/sapphire_radeon_hd_5830_video_card_in_crossfire/index.html

In my case a 5830 XF upgrade would cost me $460 even though I already own a 5830 because I would have to upgrade my PSU and mobo. A single 5870 would cost me about $400. I think I like the idea of the 5870 because of the future possibility of a XF 5870 setup and to save me some cabling crap.

Two HD 5830s are going to set you back $479.98. Compared to the HD 5870 this setup is slightly more expensive as the HD 5870 retails for around $399.99 to $439.99. So, the question we need to answer is; whether or not it’s worth spending an extra $40 - $55 buying a HD 5830 CF setup over a single HD 5870? - In a word, yes. For slightly more money you're getting slightly more performance at the highest resolution. At around 1920 x 1200 the CF setup puts out some very good numbers compared to the HD 5870. If you have a compatible motherboard, good quality power supply and want to have some fun with Crossfire then we would recommend the setup. Hopefully with some overclocking we would be able to get even more performance out of the model.
Click to expand...
 
I'd get 5870 just to avoid all possible problems with crossfire drivers and to have much lower power consumption.
 
SonDa5 said:
Having problems setting up your Xfire? What are you going to do with your HD5830s? Any luck setting up your 2 HD5870s?
Click to expand...

Actually I just solved the Xfire issues with the 5870s last night :D.... The two 5830s are most likely going up on Ebay.
 
as the odd man out I would go for the crossfire 5830's. its more overall performance now & if you considered the cost of xf 5870 your a huge amount different. All but the video card would be replaced anyhow. Plus buying a high end motherboard now has a longer lifespan then a high end video card.
 
IDversusEGO said:
found some benchmarks in case anybody was interested...

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3170/sapphire_radeon_hd_5830_video_card_in_crossfire/index.html

In my case a 5830 XF upgrade would cost me $460 even though I already own a 5830 because I would have to upgrade my PSU and mobo. A single 5870 would cost me about $400. I think I like the idea of the 5870 because of the future possibility of a XF 5870 setup and to save me some cabling crap.
Click to expand...

Wow, thats pretty impressive.
 
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