5870 2GB Crossfire

A

AlvinMaker

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Messages
288
SO...

Due to my sheer frustration in waiting for ATI to "fix" the whole Trifire+Eyefinity fiasco, I am SERIOUSLY considering selling my 5970 and picking up two 5870 2GBs instead. (the most raw horsepower with 2 GPUs I can get...)

I can't seem to find any actual comparisons/benches between the two, but it seems with the additional RAM and higher clocks it would yield the best performance in a 2 GPU solution for Eyefinity. (I could REALLY use the added GPU power with BC2, AVP, Metro 2033, etc)

Any experiences, anyone? (my only other option is of course to ditch Eyefinity, and go "green", but am quite hooked on the immersion of the 3 screens, and don't know how long it will be before "N" gets their surround thing going).
 
I might want that 5970 if you can let it go real cheap.

And yeh, the extra RAM will help above 25x16 resoultions.

And the higher clocks will also help, particullary if you push them to 1ghz.
 
5870 crossfire is faster period, the 5970 is even slower then hd 5850 crossfire half the times, actually most of the times when I see it in benches. For some reason the 5970 doesn't perform like it should.
 
good to know...

5970 is on the 'bay.

Now...have to talk myself out of 2 of the ROG 5870 2GBs...:D
 
After some "sleeping on it", I am LEANING towards picking up a pair of the Asus ROG Platinum 5870s...the ONLY thing I need to talk myself out of is losing the "6" option.

I have SERIOUSLY considered getting a 30" additional display for the wall, to go with my 3 22" IPSs, and the 6 would make that easy. (not for Eyefinity, just for "single screen gaming"). Is there an alternate way to have a 4th display, without unplugging/re plugging every time?

Hmmm... what to do? :confused:
 
depending on what motherboard you have an how many pci-e slots you have you could run a pos nvidia 8 series card for the 4th display and use the hacked nvidia drivers and use it as a physX card if you ever wanted to..
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/ATI_Radeon_5870_Eyefinity6_-_Featured_Review
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I hit up that forum all the time, but missed that paticular one.

I guess I am still on the fence on the whole "6" idea. I also hate to think I would be wasting a couple hundred dollars going with the souped up 2GB versions, when the 1 GBs may be almost identical performance. I guess the only other variable is the potential higher overclok potential of the ROG edition.

(although after seeing that video of 5 "portrait wide" Eyefinity, I have to admit it's very tempting...:D )
 
hardocp covers the very review you are looking for. look at the 5870 eyefinity 6 edition (a 2gb card) review. they pit two of them in xfire against the 5970 and it does in fact outperform it by a decent margin.
 
Yeah I am going over that now... And yeah, it looks like 2 of the 2GB X-Fired is a nice step up from my 5970, and mabye the best route since tri-fire may never scale probably in Eyefinity.

I gotta say, the more I think about it, the more I think I WANT the 6 option. That 5x1 Portrait option is just TOO damn attractive...
 
mrnoob123 said:
I might want that 5970 if you can let it go real cheap.

And yeh, the extra RAM will help above 25x16 resoultions.

And the higher clocks will also help, particullary if you push them to 1ghz.
Click to expand...

It's up on the "bay".

I don't want to give it away, but after googling around, I think I have it at a bargain for a 5970 with only a handful of hours on it (couple of games and some benches). So depends how cheap "real cheap" is... ;)

Man, this is tough... either rig will scream, I am sure- LEANING towards the 6 editions, but I just don't see much info on Overclocking those bad boys. I would like to know if I'll have any headroom on these suckers. The price from those to the ROGs is negligible. It's just a matter of "6 functionality" vs. raw power and improved cooling.

UGH! :confused:
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
depending on what motherboard you have an how many pci-e slots you have you could run a pos nvidia 8 series card for the 4th display and use the hacked nvidia drivers and use it as a physX card if you ever wanted to..
Click to expand...

I had considered that option, except that I would like to be able to use the 4th display for cranked up, single monitor gaming- not just TV/POS video card stuff...
 
AlvinMaker said:
I gotta say, the more I think about it, the more I think I WANT the 6 option. That 5x1 Portrait option is just TOO damn attractive...
Click to expand...

Careful... I don't know if 5x1 portrait is possible right now. AFAIK, the 5x1 portait people are using eyefinity for the middle 3 and adding softTH for the outer 2.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
Careful... I don't know if 5x1 portrait is possible right now. AFAIK, the 5x1 portait people are using eyefinity for the middle 3 and adding softTH for the outer 2.
Click to expand...

Thanks- I am aware of that...which is why I am not basing my decision solely on that (I learned my lesson doing that by "waiting" for trifire/quadfire+eyefinity to work... :D ).
 
AlvinMaker said:
It's up on the "bay".

I don't want to give it away, but after googling around, I think I have it at a bargain for a 5970 with only a handful of hours on it (couple of games and some benches). So depends how cheap "real cheap" is... ;)

Man, this is tough... either rig will scream, I am sure- LEANING towards the 6 editions, but I just don't see much info on Overclocking those bad boys. I would like to know if I'll have any headroom on these suckers. The price from those to the ROGs is negligible. It's just a matter of "6 functionality" vs. raw power and improved cooling.

UGH! :confused:
Click to expand...

Hwo cheap is that thing?

The new ones are 550$ free ship there.
 
mrnoob123 said:
Hwo cheap is that thing?

The new ones are 550$ free ship there.
Click to expand...

I see some 615-650 with shipping, OEM/refurb/etc...

Mine is starting at 399, and while I had a reserve, I'll most likely let it go for whatever it gets to, regardless of if it hits the reserve or not...
 
AlvinMaker said:
Yeah I am going over that now... And yeah, it looks like 2 of the 2GB X-Fired is a nice step up from my 5970, and mabye the best route since tri-fire may never scale probably in Eyefinity.

I gotta say, the more I think about it, the more I think I WANT the 6 option. That 5x1 Portrait option is just TOO damn attractive...
Click to expand...

Yeah man. It's sick.
 
AlvinMaker said:
I see some 615-650 with shipping, OEM/refurb/etc...

Mine is starting at 399, and while I had a reserve, I'll most likely let it go for whatever it gets to, regardless of if it hits the reserve or not...
Click to expand...

I saw quite a few new Sphire sealed one go for 550$.....

Anyways, i toss in a bid for you later.

If nothing else, I'll increase the ammount of $ you make :)
 
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I have the ASUS 5870 E6 models in Crossfire. I have no complaints.

They were a pretty nice improvement from the reference 5870s I had. Especially in EF. I use three Dell 24" monitors.

If you can find them, the Sapphire Toxic 2GB 5870s are also very attractive. Factory OCd to 925 and also memory OCd (can't recall the memory OC)......but they are not E6 models.
 
mrnoob123 said:
I saw quite a few new Sphire sealed one go for 550$.....
Click to expand...

Well I could only go on what I saw on the Bay when I listed it... I figure in the lo 4's that's a pretty good deal on a 5970 with low hours/run 95% of the time at stock. (only OCd to bench).

(there is a Sapphire right now that ends later on that is at 550, similar deal..bought and benched on, now selling- so I figured mine at 100 or so dollars cheaper would be a bargain for someone. Also, I have stellar feedback/history, and that does count for something to some folks when buying something that's a few hundred dollars).
 
magoo said:
I have the ASUS 5870 E6 models in Crossfire. I have no complaints.

They were a pretty nice improvement from the reference 5870s I had. Especially in EF. I use three Dell 24" monitors.

If you can find them, the Sapphire Toxic 2GB 5870s are also very attractive. Factory OCd to 925 and also memory OCd (can't recall the memory OC)......but they are not E6 models.
Click to expand...


Cool, thanks for the input.

If I go non-6..which I THINK I may...I'll be nabbing 2 of the ASUS ROG 2GB Matrix editions... The OC utility looks to be pretty cool.
 
AlvinMaker said:
Cool, thanks for the input.

If I go non-6..which I THINK I may...I'll be nabbing 2 of the ASUS ROG 2GB Matrix editions... The OC utility looks to be pretty cool.
Click to expand...

I wonder if you will get that much more out of them though. really water blocks might gain you more (esp if they cover the whole card) if you want the eyefinity setup and have the money I would go for it. that 5 by kicks ass over the 6 by 2.
 
Most of the review samples of the ROG seem to be hitting at or right around 1000mhz, which seems pretty good to me. I need to do some digging and see how high people are getting stock 5870 2GBs...
 
Hi I am facing the same problem as you. I have a 5970 that I run at 900/ 1200 with a res of 6048 x 1080. Runs most things very well but anything new without AA. I would have jumped on another card if tri/quad finity actually worked.

I think I need the extra gpu power that a third card would provide but then lack of memory seems to be a problem at this res. So like you thought about the 2 gig version of the 5870 or the 4 gig 5970. The only review I have found with the 2gb xfired or the 4gb cards with eyefinty is the widescreen one.

I was hoping that the NV surround drivers would be out by now to make a choice but I assume they are not getting the performance they want to. The 4GB 5970 are just stupid money and I still don't think that 2 2GB 5870 are powerfull enough to make a difference on eyefinity.

So I am going to hangfire and wait till either NV make surround work or the 6000 is released and just turn down AA for the time being.
 
AlvinMaker said:
Well I could only go on what I saw on the Bay when I listed it... I figure in the lo 4's that's a pretty good deal on a 5970 with low hours/run 95% of the time at stock. (only OCd to bench).

(there is a Sapphire right now that ends later on that is at 550, similar deal..bought and benched on, now selling- so I figured mine at 100 or so dollars cheaper would be a bargain for someone. Also, I have stellar feedback/history, and that does count for something to some folks when buying something that's a few hundred dollars).
Click to expand...

New 5970s going for $550 on ebay now? I don't believe it. I sold my 5970 for $599 and I threw in free shipping. BTW shipping those things isn't cheap, especially when you pay for the insurance.

AlvinMaker said:
Most of the review samples of the ROG seem to be hitting at or right around 1000mhz, which seems pretty good to me. I need to do some digging and see how high people are getting stock 5870 2GBs...
Click to expand...

[H] was able to crank its ROG sample to 1030 core clocks! If the ROG 2GBs had been out around april, I would have probably bought them instead of the GTX 480s for the bling factor and crazy OC ability.
 
vjcsmoke said:
New 5970s going for $550 on ebay now? I don't believe it. I sold my 5970 for $599 and I threw in free shipping. BTW shipping those things isn't cheap, especially when you pay for the insurance.



[H] was able to crank its ROG sample to 1030 core clocks! If the ROG 2GBs had been out around april, I would have probably bought them instead of the GTX 480s for the bling factor and crazy OC ability.
Click to expand...

Well, Why don't yu actually take a look instead of accusing him of lying.

And lol at buying a 5870, even a 2gb one over a GTX 480 at the same price....
 
vjcsmoke said:
New 5970s going for $550 on ebay now? I don't believe it. I sold my 5970 for $599 and I threw in free shipping. BTW shipping those things isn't cheap, especially when you pay for the insurance.



[H] was able to crank its ROG sample to 1030 core clocks! If the ROG 2GBs had been out around april, I would have probably bought them instead of the GTX 480s for the bling factor and crazy OC ability.
Click to expand...

I kinda saw the same thing... I haven't seen any go for much less then the 600.00 mark. (not NEW ones anyways- they are usually slightly used/refurb/open box/etc...). And yeah, I know shipping is more than a couple of bucks with that much insurance.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on two of the 5870 ROGs. Should have em in and installed by Friday. Updated benches to come!
 
mrnoob123 said:
Well, Why don't yu actually take a look instead of accusing him of lying.

And lol at buying a 5870, even a 2gb one over a GTX 480 at the same price....
Click to expand...

Well, I did actually look, and aonly saw refurbs/"slightly used" at the 600 mark. no 550 brand new... mabye i missed something.

And I went with the 5870 2GB because I am hooked on Eyefinity, and I don't feel like waiting indefinitely on Nvidia to get surround going. Not to mention not knowing what kind of support there will be with that... So no, a GTX480 is not an option for me.
 
AlvinMaker said:
Well, I did actually look, and aonly saw refurbs/"slightly used" at the 600 mark. no 550 brand new... mabye i missed something.

And I went with the 5870 2GB because I am hooked on Eyefinity, and I don't feel like waiting indefinitely on Nvidia to get surround going. Not to mention not knowing what kind of support there will be with that... So no, a GTX480 is not an option for me.
Click to expand...

Oh, Ok.

It makes sense that you would want a 5870 for Eyefinity.

And i guess that guy that was sellign htme for 550$ new took them down/sold out by now.
 
mrnoob123 said:
Oh, Ok.

It makes sense that you would want a 5870 for Eyefinity.

And i guess that guy that was sellign htme for 550$ new took them down/sold out by now.
Click to expand...

I did look SERIOUSLY at the SLI+GTX480 route, but just not willing to give up Eyefinity... not yet anyways...;)

I just based my price off what was on Ebay at the time... Got a couple of bids, and it doesn't end till Thursday, so ahould end up being OK.
 
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