Eyefinity HD 5870 2GB vs 1GB

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Rjmig88

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I can currently get a stock ATI XFX HD 5870 1GB for $350 at tiger direct after 15% bing cashback. I've never had any bing issues other than having to wait 60 days so I kinda trust them.

I will be running an eyefinity setup with 3x1920x1200 screens (5760x1200 resolution.) I am upgrading from a geforce 8800 GTS 512mb G92 core card. I have been doing a ton of research on 1GB vs the 2GB eyefinity edition that is supposed to be released March 12th. I've been feeling like I could wait on it but a normal 5870 at this price is tempting...

How well would the 2GB version perform with moderate amounts of anti aliasing? (probably 2x or 4x MSAA, maybe 8x) From what I've researched, 4x anti aliasing takes up about 107MB on 1920x1200 resolution. On 5760x1200 it should take about 320 MB. The real question is what games does an additional 214MB frame buffer push some art assets off the video card? From all the eyefinity benchmarks I've read, it seems like only crysis really has memory issues (and has a nasty CTD if you try anything more than 4x at 5760x1200.)

Farcry 2 seems to handle anti aliasing fine on this card memory wise. I wish there were more eyefinity benchmarks to go off of. I am not sure how the developers will be budgeting assets from out now that 1GB is starting to become a little more common.

Besides just games, I've been thinking about the 2GB card so I can use texture enhancing mods. Some of the best ones for fallout 3 love to eat up a lot of video ram.
Besides that, the eyefinity6 edition will cost a lot more it seems. I wouldn't be surprised if it hit $500 due to gddr5 ram prices and the 2 bundled passive display port converters.

Benchmarks I found -
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/WS_and_WTH_Benchmarking_-_Radeon_HD_5870_1GB_Win7

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/WS_and_WTH_Benchmarking_(Radeon_HD_5870_1GB)
 
2gb if yoru serious about eyecandy.

1gb rambuffer dont hold up.
I got mem crash playing star trek online when powering up the details.
 
I'm currently gaming at 7680x1600 with the 1Gb OC'ed 5870, since there were no 2Gb options at the time of purchase. Based on my experience and your resolutions I would make an educated guess that you would benefit from the 2Gb card... as soon as they make one.

I'm reading reports ATI is set to release a 2Gb version some time in March, but no release date thus far. If you know otherwise I'd be interested.
 
Last edited:
drstk said:
http://www.guru3d.com/news/ati-radeon-hd-5870-eyefinity-6-card-will-arrive-soon/

"official debut, March 11" dont know if this means a release date...i hope it is. i got 3 U2410 paper weights and i was about to get a 1GB 5870 until i seen this info ><
Click to expand...

i just got the same 3 screens, and a 5870. my plan is to get a 2gb card when they get released for 2 reasons...one i can use all the dp connections assuming its a 6dp card, and i can crossfire it with my existing 1gb card. at least i hope i can do this. otherwise im just gonna get another 1 gb card.
 
You could crossfire the 2gb card with the 1gb but the 2gb card will disable half of its memory to match the 1gb card.
 
I'm running a 5760x1080 with a 5870, crysis @ 5760x1080 with mixed quality settings 2xAA will be fine at like 50fps but as soon as i would hit 4x it would become a unplayable 5-10fps, is this the card running out of vmem? I can duplicate the same results between no AA and 2xAA if i have quality settings higher.
 
If you wait for the 2GB to come out you might as well wait 2 weeks longer for fermi to drop prices.
 
It sounds like that could be the issue. You could try running a tool like rivatuner to show how much memory is being used for both cases. If it is running out of video memory then stuff will be stored on the system ram, which is a lot slower. I am curious as to how much vram you are using. Higher details means more vram use as they use higher polygon models, larger normal maps, larger textures, etc.
 
jfrydom said:
If you wait for the 2GB to come out you might as well wait 2 weeks longer for fermi to drop prices.
Click to expand...
It will take more than a paper launch to make AMD lower prices of the HD58xx cards.
 
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