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Graphics Card Setup (Need opinions, please)

B

brosephxd

n00b
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
9
Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum and I'm going to be building my own PC soon, but I need to decide upon what graphics solution I want to complement my PC with. My price range is somewhere in the $300-$400 region.

Here is some of the hardware that's going to be in my machine:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157189

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

I've narrowed down my decision to either two Radeon HD 5770s in CrossFire (Preferrably XFX manufactured) or a single Radeon HD 5870 (Also preferrably XFX manufactured). Would anyone be able to give me a personal opinion as to which graphics solution would yield better performance? The motherboard has two PCIe x16 slots, so it's CrossFire ready right out of the box. All I need is the CrossFire bridge which comes in the box with the video card.
 
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The 5870 no question. No scaling issues, and you can get another if you decide it isn't enough in a few months.

Solid component choices otherwise.
 
The motherboard isn't the best, the PCIe x16 slots are only 2.0, and to fully utilize the 5870 I should get a motherboard that has PCIe 2.1 shouldn't I?
 
brosephxd said:
The motherboard isn't the best, the PCIe x16 slots are only 2.0, and to fully utilize the 5870 I should get a motherboard that has PCIe 2.1 shouldn't I?
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No. No real difference between the two. OH and what PSU will you be using?
 
HD 5770 Crossfire does have higher performance than the HD 5870. However there is the potential of only HD 5770 performance should there be a lack of crossfire scaling in games.
 
Danny Bui said:
HD 5770 Crossfire does have higher performance than the HD 5870. However there is the potential of only HD 5770 performance should there be a lack of crossfire scaling in games.
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do you mean that if I play a game that doesn't support multi-GPU rendering, I'll only be getting the performance of one HD 5770? In that case, I think I'd be better off going with the HD 5870.
 
brosephxd said:
do you mean that if I play a game that doesn't support multi-GPU rendering, I'll only be getting the performance of one HD 5770? In that case, I think I'd be better off going with the HD 5870.
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Yes that's what I'm saying. However many of the newer AAA games or basically big budgeted games should have support for Crossfire scaling. Then again. some don't have crossfire scaling until after a driver update.
 
Danny Bui said:
Yes that's what I'm saying. However many of the newer AAA games or basically big budgeted games should have support for Crossfire scaling. Then again. some don't have crossfire scaling until after a driver update.
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That's very true.

I've been looking at some of the benchmarks that compare the 5770 crossfire and the 5870. The 5870 was pushing out a few more FPS than the 5770 crossfire, so I think I might go with the 5870, even though it's significantly more expensive.
 
As a (happy) CrossfireX owner and previous (happy) SLI owner, I can tell you, if you can get the same performance, or nearly the same performance, from a single card when compared with a dual card setup it is always a better idea to get the single card, even if it costs more, so long as the price differential isn't outrageous. SLI and CrossfireX only make sense at the high end of the scale, getting you better performance than any single GPU can offer. Then at least you still have a fast card to fall back to when and if the multi-GPU tech fails to deliver.

It also means less heat, lower power consumption, less noise, and fewer points of failure in hardware and software. Always go with the simplest solution.
 
silent-circuit said:
As a (happy) CrossfireX owner and previous (happy) SLI owner, I can tell you, if you can get the same performance, or nearly the same performance, from a single card when compared with a dual card setup it is always a better idea to get the single card, even if it costs more, so long as the price differential isn't outrageous. SLI and CrossfireX only make sense at the high end of the scale, getting you better performance than any single GPU can offer. Then at least you still have a fast card to fall back to when and if the multi-GPU tech fails to deliver.

It also means less heat, lower power consumption, less noise, and fewer points of failure in hardware and software. Always go with the simplest solution.
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I see what you mean. The price difference between the two 5770s and the 5870 is about $100. The 5770s are going for $167 apiece on Newegg, and the 5870 I'm looking at is $429.
 
brosephxd said:
I see what you mean. The price difference between the two 5770s and the 5870 is about $100. The 5770s are going for $167 apiece on Newegg, and the 5870 I'm looking at is $429.
Click to expand...

Honestly the 5870 prices are a little inflated at the moment. If I were to buy one it'd be on the forums.
 
brosephxd said:
Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum and I'm going to be building my own PC soon, but I need to decide upon what graphics solution I want to complement my PC with. My price range is somewhere in the low $300 region.

Here is some of the hardware that's going to be in my machine:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157189

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

I've narrowed down my decision to either two Radeon HD 5770s in CrossFire (Preferrably XFX manufactured) or a single Radeon HD 5870 (Also preferrably XFX manufactured). Would anyone be able to give me a personal opinion as to which graphics solution would yield better performance? The motherboard has two PCIe x16 slots, so it's CrossFire ready right out of the box. All I need is the CrossFire bridge which comes in the box with the video card.
Click to expand...

Looks like a good rig but finding the best video card really has nothing to do with your processor, memory, or anything else in your system. Having an i7/930 isn't going to make up for an inadequate video card, or vice-versa. And it's really easy to spend more money than you have to, for performance that you'll never utilize.

When you're choosing a video card, the only things that matter is the resolution of the monitor(s) you're going to use and the games you're going to play on it. Higher resolution monitors (1920x1200 and up) demand stronger video cards no matter what's running on them. Game demands are all over the map. Racing games and flight sims put light loads on video cards (but tend to need all of the CPU horsepower you can throw at them), while some shooters can bring any video card to its knees if you run it on a high resolution monitor.



silent-circuit said:
As a (happy) CrossfireX owner and previous (happy) SLI owner, I can tell you, if you can get the same performance, or nearly the same performance, from a single card when compared with a dual card setup it is always a better idea to get the single card, even if it costs more, so long as the price differential isn't outrageous. SLI and CrossfireX only make sense at the high end of the scale, getting you better performance than any single GPU can offer. Then at least you still have a fast card to fall back to when and if the multi-GPU tech fails to deliver.

It also means less heat, lower power consumption, less noise, and fewer points of failure in hardware and software. Always go with the simplest solution.
Click to expand...

Agree on all points. Great advise.
 
BaldHeadedDork said:
Looks like a good rig but finding the best video card really has nothing to do with your processor, memory, or anything else in your system. Having an i7/930 isn't going to make up for an inadequate video card, or vice-versa. And it's really easy to spend more money than you have to, for performance that you'll never utilize.

When you're choosing a video card, the only things that matter is the resolution of the monitor(s) you're going to use and the games you're going to play on it. Higher resolution monitors (1920x1200 and up) demand stronger video cards no matter what's running on them. Game demands are all over the map. Racing games and flight sims put light loads on video cards (but tend to need all of the CPU horsepower you can throw at them), while some shooters can bring any video card to its knees if you run it on a high resolution monitor.
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You hit the nail on the head. I'm going to be playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2, on a Samsung monitor in 1920x1080. BFBC2 is one of the most demanding shooters on the market right now (aside from Metro 2033). I definitely want a powerful graphics solution, because I intend on utilizing my performance to the max.
 
brosephxd said:
You hit the nail on the head. I'm going to be playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2, on a Samsung monitor in 1920x1080. BFBC2 is one of the most demanding shooters on the market right now (aside from Metro 2033). I definitely want a powerful graphics solution, because I intend on utilizing my performance to the max.
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Thanks. Honestly, a 5850 would take care of BFBC2 at your resolution. It pulls 40fps at 2560x1600 according to the H test of a Gigabyte 5850 a couple of months ago. Legit Reviews got 90fps with 4xMSAA at your resolution. Even Metro 2033 pulled 40fps 2xAA at 1920x1080. (Review here.)

At that resolution, the only game I can think of that would really stress a 5850 (or GTX470 if you want nVidia) is Crysis. Even then it should be playable.
 
brosephxd said:
You hit the nail on the head. I'm going to be playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2, on a Samsung monitor in 1920x1080. BFBC2 is one of the most demanding shooters on the market right now (aside from Metro 2033). I definitely want a powerful graphics solution, because I intend on utilizing my performance to the max.
Click to expand...

I'm running Crysis at that resolution on a pair of HD 5770s at high settings and getting smooth framerates, and at very high settings I only see a little bit of lag on the busy parts of the game.

I mean, if you have $430 to spend on a video card, feel free to get whatever you want. If you think you'll have another $430 in a few months that you can spend on another video card, then get the 5870. Both solutions are fine, so the choice really rests on what your goals and budget require.

You're sort of right there at the line between the high-end of the regular gamer and the low-end of the extreme gamer. If you go with the 5770 pair, you're at the top of the regular gamer ladder. If you can go with a pair of 5870s in the next 6 months, you're in the elite world, as near as I can tell.

I could be wrong... I'm just a regular computer user, not an extreme gamer/tweaker. :cool:

ETA: The more I think about it, the more I think you should go as big as you can possibly afford. If I had more money, I would have bought a pair of 5870s instead of 5770s, and to hell with the fact that I'll never need that much power. Buy more than you need, if you can afford it.
 
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