gtx480 sli or 5970?

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I've been toying around with the idea of snagging a couple of 480's to swap out with my 5970 and was just wondering if my Corsair HSX1000 is enough for it and if the heat issue with 2 cards be a killer? It's the SSC EVGA edition of the 480's. Don't ask me why I want to change because I'm just toying with the notion and I might be able to get 2 480's for a VERY good price! Rest of my setup:

i7 920
12 gigs DDR3 Dominator Ram
x58 Classified 760
1 SSD and 3 SATA HDDs
 
Drop in another 5970 instead or even a 5870 for tri-fire.

But either way your PSU will be fine.
 
Oops, sorry. I forgot to mention that my mobo is SLI only. and Corsair 800D for a case. :)
 
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Yes, your HX1000 will push 480 SLI no probs. It's what I use for my rig, check sig. Heat isn't a big issue if you have a nice big case with good airflow.

480 SLI will provide a better gaming experience in almost all games than a 5970. Go for SLI.
 
tri fire !
how is your mobo SLI only, I was pretty sure ALL x58s were crossfire, and most were SLI too
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
tri fire !
how is your mobo SLI only, I was pretty sure ALL x58s were crossfire, and most were SLI too
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All I7 boards are crossfire able but the board makers have to pay nvidia money to allow SLI, As for Evga boards they wont advertise crossfire capable because they are hard core nvidia supporters but they do support crossfire.
 
LostInRehab said:
All I7 boards are crossfire able but the board makers have to pay nvidia money to allow SLI, As for Evga boards they wont advertise crossfire capable because they are hard core nvidia supporters but they do support crossfire.
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Ahhh, I did not know that. So, I would need to pick up a 5870 and a bridge and be good to go then?
 
LostInRehab said:
yeah, though i thought ati cards came with bridges o.o .
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Most do, there may be a few that don't.

When you grab a 5870 just check the contents for a bridge, most likely will be one already, unless you want a longer one than what will come with it.
 
GTX 480 SLI will outperform 5970 easily.

but going for 5970+5870 will crush everything. a 5870 Tri-Fire setup have the best scaling right now..
 
It depends on how good a deal you can get for those 480s.

2x480>1x5970
But obviously 3x 5870> 2x480.

HX1000 should handle 2x480 fine. Can it handle 3x 5870? Probably. Check out the power consumption first though.
 
I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the 480's. Thanks for the input all.
 
For what it is worth I am rubbubg a Corsair w/ 2x480 w/ overclocks(800mhz) and I haven't had a problem. That is also with 5HDD (4 raptors) and an i7-920 @4.25ghz.

Cheers

Croaker
 
shansoft said:
GTX 480 SLI will outperform 5970 easily.

but going for 5970+5870 will crush everything. a 5870 Tri-Fire setup have the best scaling right now..
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This!

Also what resolution are you running? The reason I ask is that can't the 5970 pretty much kill any game (maybe not metro 2033) on any single screen resolution? And if you needed it for multi monitor resolution the Nvidia drivers aren't there yet. I can't imagine you'd get the gains you're looking for on a single monitor res from a 5970 to two 480's, at least not to make the loss of money from making the switch worthwhile.

EDIT: I bet you'd get a better performance increase by OCing you 920 than going from a 5970 to two 480's. When you are up in that range of graphics cards an OC cpu is a must to get your performance.
 
I wouldn't make that trade for the sake of doing it. The 480's will perform better than the 5970 but have the negative tradeoffs. If you do wan't more juice though, I'd say grab another 5870 and Tri-fire as it seems to scale the best right now (without the heat and energy crap).
 
Croaker said:
For what it is worth I am rubbubg a Corsair w/ 2x480 w/ overclocks(800mhz) and I haven't had a problem. That is also with 5HDD (4 raptors) and an i7-920 @4.25ghz.

Cheers

Croaker
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That sets me at ease then. I should be fine!
ELox said:
This!

Also what resolution are you running? The reason I ask is that can't the 5970 pretty much kill any game (maybe not metro 2033) on any single screen resolution? And if you needed it for multi monitor resolution the Nvidia drivers aren't there yet. I can't imagine you'd get the gains you're looking for on a single monitor res from a 5970 to two 480's, at least not to make the loss of money from making the switch worthwhile.

EDIT: I bet you'd get a better performance increase by OCing you 920 than going from a 5970 to two 480's. When you are up in that range of graphics cards an OC cpu is a must to get your performance.
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Yeah, I'm gonna OC my CPU to 4ghz. Right now i'm on a 24" monitor but am eyeing a 30" replacement.

edifyingkarma said:
I wouldn't make that trade for the sake of doing it. The 480's will perform better than the 5970 but have the negative tradeoffs. If you do wan't more juice though, I'd say grab another 5870 and Tri-fire as it seems to scale the best right now (without the heat and energy crap).
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I'm guessing the "negative tradeoffs" your talking about are the heat and power requirements for the sli 480's. I have them on their way but still on the fence about whether to put them in and sell my 5970.
 
I've had my 2x SLI setup for 3 weeks now and I'm pretty happy with it. The biggest problem right now are the delayed 256 drivers for 3D and normal surround. I've been debating which monitor setup to go with but I think I'll be ordering 3 Alienware Opt AW2310 monitors because I want to at least be 3D capable and want the higher refresh rate even if I don't do 3D, just hate the lower resolution and of course I can't drive all three monitors without the 256 drivers without another GPU anyway.
 
heatlesssun said:
I've had my 2x SLI setup for 3 weeks now and I'm pretty happy with it. The biggest problem right now are the delayed 256 drivers for 3D and normal surround. I've been debating which monitor setup to go with but I think I'll be ordering 3 Alienware Opt AW2310 monitors because I want to at least be 3D capable and want the higher refresh rate even if I don't do 3D, just hate the lower resolution and of course I can't drive all three monitors without the 256 drivers without another GPU anyway.
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I'd love to pick up a Dell 3007WFP, I just don't want to drop the $1200 for it. I think I'm going to pick up another ASUS VW246H

or I might pick up 2 of those Alienware AW2310's that you mentioned. They look very nice indeed!
 
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Isn't a 5970 really 2 x 5850s? So for tri-fire you'd want to add another 5850? Thought putting dual 5870's put ATI over the power limit, so the HD5970 was two 5850s

Doh! Never mind. Google fail. HD5970 = 2x5870 downclocked a little bit.
 
vjcsmoke said:
It depends on how good a deal you can get for those 480s.

2x480>1x5970
But obviously 3x 5870> 2x480.

HX1000 should handle 2x480 fine. Can it handle 3x 5870? Probably. Check out the power consumption first though.
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If you plan on going 3x 5870s I would get something a bit more beefy PSU wise. The Corsair is great but if you have an overclocked i7 plus alot of other attached drives/cards I could see a power situation becoming a real concern.
 
I agree with other people here, Tri Crossfire makes most sense. Overclock a 5970 and drop in a 5870, scaling on 3 cards is pretty good, that'd be one fast rig.
 
Yes, 5970 + 5870 is a great choice. Scaling is crazy. I can easily overclock my 3 GPUs to 1000/1200.
 
The tri-fire setup makes the most sense unless you're gaming with multi-monitors. In that case, I'd go with dual 480s for the extra memory.

This is however entirely theoretical: As it stands, you'd effectively eliminate your ability play with mult-monitors (Eyefinity, 3D Surround) with both these setups . From my own experience with both of these configurations, tri-fire is completely broke with Eyefinity (worse performance than a single GPU) and nV has yet to release 3D Surround (god knows when this will happen; not likely for a while...)

Unless you're using Eyefinity, I'd stick with your 5970 and just OC it a bit. As mentioned, I've owned both 5970+5870 and GTX 480s SLI... they're major overkill for a single monitor and don't work with multi-monitors.
 
Well, I picked up two 480 SC's for the price of two 480's so I bought em. I do plan on picking up another monitor just because I like the extra space! :D I had another monitor connected to my 5970 and it didn't like it at all. I forgot what game it is now but because I had that second monitor connected, it would not let me start and kept crashing. I have a few days before the cards get here, so I'm going to weigh the options.
 
If you are only going to be gaming on one monitor 2x 480's is overkill.... I'd just go with one and buy games or ssd's with the extra $500.
 
-Sn1PeR- said:
If you are only going to be gaming on one monitor 2x 480's is overkill.... I'd just go with one and buy games or ssd's with the extra $500.
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^This^ ...but in any case, it's you're money to waste ;)
 
So, if I pick up another 24" monitor like I plan to, would SLI be the way to go? Looks like I might be sending the 480's packing.
 
dragon69 said:
So, if I pick up another 24" monitor like I plan to, would SLI be the way to go? Looks like I might be sending the 480's packing.
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If you want to use multi monitor for gaming you really need 3 screens. Nvidia claims their multi monitor support will be ready this summer sometime so if you really want the 480's at least only buy 1 now and add the 2nd one when multi monitor actually exists for it, by then the price might be down or you could even look at a used 480 at that point to save some $$$.

Otherwise pickup the extra monitor(s) and go with AMD. You'll still want 3 monitors and you can go with 1 or 2 AMD cards depending on what performance you want/need. Only thing to keep in mind is you need a DP adapter ($100ish) to hookup all 3 of the monitors.
 
ELox said:
Otherwise pickup the extra monitor(s) and go with AMD. You'll still want 3 monitors and you can go with 1 or 2 AMD cards depending on what performance you want/need. Only thing to keep in mind is you need a DP adapter ($100ish) to hookup all 3 of the monitors.
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Unless you buy a monitor that already has native displayport. In this case a U2410 would probably be recommended. Why spend the extra $100 for the adapter when you can put it into the purchase price of the monitor? Depends on what other screens you already have of course. Maybe you like yours to all match?
 
vjcsmoke said:
Unless you buy a monitor that already has native displayport. In this case a U2410 would probably be recommended. Why spend the extra $100 for the adapter when you can put it into the purchase price of the monitor? Depends on what other screens you already have of course. Maybe you like yours to all match?
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Good point, if you don't care about having all matching screens (assuming your existing one doesn't have DP) then you can likely get a better screen with DP port for the extra $100.
 
Okay, if a gtx480<5970<gtx480 sli, then why wouldn't I just use the sli setup no matter if I'm at 1920x1080? (just a question, i'm just confuzzled is all) I haven't heard anyone tell me that it was overkill for using a 5970 on the same setup/res. I've just been browsing the Nvidia SLI forums and came across this: The least that could be said is to never purchase a monitor with a maximum resolution lower than 1280x1024 for mainstream users, or 1680x1050 for higher-end users. Overshooting your optimum resolution is just as bad as underestimating, however, since too large of a screen size will cause severe performance losses; reducing the resolution can also lead to distortion and blurriness.
Again, I'm hear to listen/learn.
Thanks!

edit: I know there's a lot of reading to do there and here and I am just skimming right now while I'm in between calls at work.
 
dragon69 said:
Okay, if a gtx480<5970<gtx480 sli, then why wouldn't I just use the sli setup no matter if I'm at 1920x1080? (just a question, i'm just confuzzled is all) I haven't heard anyone tell me that it was overkill for using a 5970 on the same setup/res. I've just been browsing the Nvidia SLI forums and came across this: The least that could be said is to never purchase a monitor with a maximum resolution lower than 1280x1024 for mainstream users, or 1680x1050 for higher-end users. Overshooting your optimum resolution is just as bad as underestimating, however, since too large of a screen size will cause severe performance losses; reducing the resolution can also lead to distortion and blurriness.
Again, I'm hear to listen/learn.
Thanks!

edit: I know there's a lot of reading to do there and here and I am just skimming right now while I'm in between calls at work.
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there is no point since a single 480 can run any game and any res (single monitor) at 60 fps more or less at max settings. so 2 would be pointless since there is no real world benifit then higher temps, more power and louder case.

the real benifit of the 5970 is eyefinity. spend the extra cash on more monitors. :D
 
Sikkyu said:
there is no point since a single 480 can run any game and any res (single monitor) at 60 fps more or less at max settings. so 2 would be pointless since there is no real world benifit then higher temps, more power and louder case.

the real benifit of the 5970 is eyefinity. spend the extra cash on more monitors. :D
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I agree.
 
Sikkyu said:
there is no point since a single 480 can run any game and any res (single monitor) at 60 fps more or less at max settings. so 2 would be pointless since there is no real world benifit then higher temps, more power and louder case.

the real benifit of the 5970 is eyefinity. spend the extra cash on more monitors. :D
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You might want to update that. Any res up to 19X12 I agree the single 480 is adequate, but not ideal. Newer games with all the eyecandy need SLI or CF in my opinion for full enjoyment at res of 19X12 or higher.
 
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