On the market for DX 11.... GTX 570 or 6970?

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Kanaric

Limp Gawd
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Mar 19, 2005
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I want to get a DX 11 card, even though my 4870 crossfire are still great in every game. Its just that the DX 11 games have been rolling out and I have $400 laying around to spend and I have been playing these games feeling like i'm missing out on the updates.

The GTX 570 and the 6970 seem absolutely identical in reviews, price, and benchmarks. I have no preference between ATI and Nvidia, both have been good to me, so idk which I should get.

I guess it goes down to manufacturers or if there any any "special" versions of either card out that clearly outperforms the other, along with overclockability on top of that. Do either these cards, or a model from a specific manufacturer, shine ahead of the other in this regard? I enjoy overclocking graphics quite a bit so that would be a huge plus.



One of the main reasons why I want to upgrade is that I find that i'm playing a lot of games in Windowed Mode... and I have a crossfire setup. I want the same, or more, performance with a single card. Also the 2nd video card when its in use interferes with my soundcard at times and its ridiculously annoying. I have 2 monitors and I hate how games basically minimize when you go to the 2nd monitor, so i use windowed mode which renders crossfire useless.
 
Nickbaldwin86 said:
GTX 580 imo :p
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lol. Dont have $500-600

edit: If I did that is what I would buy, but I havn't spend that much money on a video card since early 2000s for Neverwinter Nights.

If I find a game where I wish I bought a 580 ill get a 2nd of the other card I choose later.
 
depends if you care about using more than 2 monitors and having lots of VRAM, if so, get HD6970, otherwise, get GTX 570. :D
 
1080p is all that i game at. Anything higher is excessive for me, good suggestion didn't think about that.
 
well the point I was trying to get across was NV... get the 570 or $360 if you don't want to drop $490-520 on a 580

I recommend a EVGA 570... great price, good card... all the card you will need for 1080p
 
Another recommendation for the GTX570. I'm also gaming at 1080p and that card seems to more or less be custom made for that resolution in terms of performance.
Plus, I love having the ability to tweak refresh rate timings, vsync, Triple Buffering, etc. all in one place in the Nvidia control panel. With an ATI card you're pretty much going to be using D3DOverride a bunch.
 
to be honest with you I have a gtx 480, and I would really recommend hd 6970. Just the frambuffer of 2gb is a damn plus, and I know people will say oh it dont matter but trust me it is going to be more futureproof at the end. If you dont frequently upgrade which seems like the case with you, since you have had 4870 for a while, I would say go with the 6970. Also dont forget that AMD is totally redesigning the CCP, read up on it if you have any questions. If I was in the market I would grab the 6970. I go back and forth between AMD and nvidia so i dont have any personal favourite. You cant go wrong either way, but card really starts to shine when you start cranking up the settings to the max.
 
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Check EVGA's site here: http://www.evga.com/articles/00596/

They list different places to buy 'em and it's in stock at plenty of online retailers.
The only really lousy thing about the card is that there's no bundle. If you register the card with eVGA (why not?) you'll get a license for 3DMark11...but that pales in comparison to the cards that come with actual games.
 
Kanaric said:
1080p is all that i game at. Anything higher is excessive for me, good suggestion didn't think about that.
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if that is all then the 6970. (really the 6950 or 6870 would be fine and a lot less) my reasoning here is more AA options. at 1080pm the only real difference between the 6970 and the 570GTX is the features. I prefer the better options of AA . now if you prefer physx or want a Nvidia special feature then go with the 570GTX.

all else go cheaper one.

edit. also remember that the extra frame buffer is pretty well wasted that resolution. even in the H reviews the biggest difference between a 5970 and 580GTX was 4xAA vs 8xAA at 1600p. your money might be better spent on going with a pair of 6870/50 or see what the 560GTX (basically a non crippled GF104 based card) brings. or if you find a good deal on the 460GTX. if you think you might go eyefinity/surround then go with the 6970
 
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NKD said:
to be honest with you I have a gtx 480, and I would really recommend hd 6970. Just the frambuffer of 2gb is a damn plus, and I know people will say oh it dont matter but trust me it is going to be more futureproof at the end. If you dont frequently upgrade which seems like the case with you, since you have had 4870 for a while, I would say go with the 6970. Also dont forget that AMD is totally redesigning the CCP, read up on it if you have any questions. If I was in the market I would grab the 6970. I go back and forth between AMD and nvidia so i dont have any personal favourite. You cant go wrong either way, but card really starts to shine when you start cranking up the settings to the max.
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I know with the 4870 the 1GB version that i have as opposed to the 512 is a HUGE difference as of right now. So I tend to agree with you on that point.

Seems like they are still fairly even for me, lol. I'll see what deals I can get.

I would go with NV just because of the drivers... I am very annoyed by amd/ati drivers
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People tell me this all the time but I never have had any issues with them.

Any thoughts on which is better for overclocking?
 
6970, the extra feature of eyefinity at least leaves open the door even if you don't plan on doing it at this time.

. If all things are identicle, then going with the more feature rich makes the most sense.
 
Kanaric said:
I know with the 4870 the 1GB version that i have as opposed to the 512 is a HUGE difference as of right now. So I tend to agree with you on that point.

Seems like they are still fairly even for me, lol. I'll see what deals I can get.



People tell me this all the time but I never have had any issues with them.

Any thoughts on which is better for overclocking?[b/]
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Here is an awesome review, answering that very question.
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...5870-all-overclocked-review-introduction.html
 
Valset said:
if that is all then the 6970. (really the 6950 or 6870 would be fine and a lot less) my reasoning here is more AA options. at 1080pm the only real difference between the 6970 and the 570GTX is the features. I prefer the better options of AA . now if you prefer physx or want a Nvidia special feature then go with the 570GTX.

all else go cheaper one.
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Great Advice
 
Kanaric said:
I know with the 4870 the 1GB version that i have as opposed to the 512 is a HUGE difference as of right now. So I tend to agree with you on that point.

Seems like they are still fairly even for me, lol. I'll see what deals I can get.



People tell me this all the time but I never have had any issues with them.

Any thoughts on which is better for overclocking?
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well from what i have read you can easily max out the ccc limits, which is up to 950 on all the cards. Msi afterbuner should allow further clock adjustments. I would suspect that you could hit 975 without any voltage tweaking. As far as drivers go, I have tried both camps and I seriously didn't any problems.
 
Kanaric said:
People tell me this all the time but I never have had any issues with them.

Any thoughts on which is better for overclocking?
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people always bitch about drivers. currently a lot of people are complaining about Nvidia drivers not utilizing the GPU. tomorrow they will find something about AMD. it doesn't end

OCing is a hard question as the 6970 hasn't been out that long. the might have an advantage due to starting out at a lower power usage. then again it might make no difference. currently there are no reviews that go past the CCC limits on OCing the cards. so that isn't a question that can be answered at this time. However both seem to have quite a bit of potential.

also it needs to be remembered that the 6970 uses the new VLIW4 setup. we are not going to see the true results of the 6970 for a while. its going to take a while to tweak the drivers for it. same may prove true for the GF110 (to a lesser extent maybe) exploiting the gpu to the full extent can take a while.

I would reiterate my advice from above. for your resolution pick the card with the features you like best. failing that go with the cheaper of the two.
 
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If your wanting to do surround gaming with 3 23/24 inch panels or above get the 6970, if running on a single monitor 2560x1600 or below get the 570. It trades blows with the 6970 and costs less. Also the 570 can overclock very well and give you great performance to surpass a 6970 easily. The full story on 6900 series overclocking hasn't been told as we're still waiting on programs that give you free reign on the voltage but as of now it doesn't appear the 6900 series scale well when overclocked.
 
As a recent (as of today) owner of a pair of AMD HD6850s, I would absolutely recommend sticking with Nvidia. If it weren't for the 15% restocking fee, thats what I would do.
 
Ducman69 said:
As a recent (as of today) owner of a pair of AMD HD6850s, I would absolutely recommend sticking with Nvidia. If it weren't for the 15% restocking fee, thats what I would do.
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Why? What is going on, reason I ask is because I am very close to ordering a pair of 6970s but your post made me raise an eyebrow, do you care to explain?

Also you can OC the 570 to pass the 6970 even at it's current max OC as of now. We have to wait for programs to unlock more voltage tweaking options but as the barts series showed even in those scenarios the nvidia solutions scaled much better overclocking. I wont judge Cayman based on that but the 570 may be a stronger overclocker compared to 6970. This may be yet another advantage.
 
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often I find that peoples complaints about cards have more to do manufacturer.

I hated ATI for years because I bought a Sapphire card that was absolute garbage years back (2002 iirc) when that company was shit (now they are good and their 4870 is what i own now). Like I wouldn't buy an XFX card now, regardless of company. Me, friends, relatives have all had issues with XFX.

For me by far my favorite video card distributer is EVGA. I only wish they made ATI as well as Nvidia, but then that might make my choice easier since they don't.
 
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Lord_Exodia said:
If your wanting to do surround gaming with 3 23/24 inch panels or above get the 6970, if running on a single monitor 2560x1600 or below get the 570. It trades blows with the 6970 and costs less. Also the 570 can overclock very well and give you great performance to surpass a 6970 easily. The full story on 6900 series overclocking hasn't been told as we're still waiting on programs that give you free reign on the voltage but as of now it doesn't appear the 6900 series scale well when overclocked.
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http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/12/14/amd_radeon_hd_6970_6950_video_card_review/9
AMD Radeon HD 6950

If there is a real champion in this evaluation, it is the AMD Radeon HD 6950. AMD has set the MSRP at $299 for the 2GB Radeon HD 6950. 1GB models may even be cheaper. The least expensive GeForce GTX 570 is currently $349. That is a difference of $50. In all of our tests, the new Radeon HD 6950 either matched or beat the GeForce GTX 570.
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actually the 570GTX is comparable to the 6950. I don't know what OCing will do to that yet but the 6970 is a good step above a 570GTX. of course at 1080p there really isn't going to be a difference at all.
 
Valset said:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/12/14/amd_radeon_hd_6970_6950_video_card_review/9

actually the 570GTX is comparable to the 6950. I don't know what OCing will do to that yet but the 6970 is a good step above a 570GTX. of course at 1080p there really isn't going to be a difference at all.
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That's one review and maybe one other share that opinion, most of the other reviews I've read show the 6970 trading blows with the GTX 570 at up to 2560x1600 with lower IQ settins say 2x AA 16 aniso. Hard's tests were way up there at 2560x1600 and higher AA and IQ settings making the 1.2vram play a role and slowed it down a bit. I guess everyone will have their preference and they may go for lower IQ to boost fps over 25 or 30 and in those scenarios the 570 and 6970 trade blows.
 
Lord_Exodia said:
That's one review and maybe one other share that opinion, most of the other reviews I've read show the 6970 trading blows with the GTX 570 at up to 2560x1600 with lower IQ settins say 2x AA 16 aniso. Hard's tests were way up there at 2560x1600 and higher AA and IQ settings making the 1.2vram play a role and slowed it down a bit. I guess everyone will have their preference and they may go for lower IQ to boost fps over 25 or 30 and in those scenarios the 570 and 6970 trade blows.
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that is a review that does real world game play. if you want to use benchmarks then the 5970 beats a 580GTX. just not in the real world though as the vram comes into play. canned benchmarks just don't show the true story.
 
I'd go with the GTX570 based solely on NVIDIA's reputation for delivering drivers that are able to properly render 3d games with explosive gaming performance.


I recently went from a HD6850 to a GTX470 and it was like going from a 2D flat gaming experience on the AMD HD6850 to a 3D deep gaming experience on the GTX470. The tesselation and explosive rendering on the GTX470 works much better.

Also the GTX570 may have a much slower clock speeds at stock but it looks like it has more over head room for over clocking than the HD6970. Biggest thing that I have learned since recently switching to the GTX470 is that I prefer quality visual 3D experience vs. fast GPU and mono/flat/2d visual experience on the AMD HD6850.
 
Valset said:
that is a review that does real world game play. if you want to use benchmarks then the 5970 beats a 580GTX. just not in the real world though as the vram comes into play. canned benchmarks just don't show the true story.
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I'm with you there, but even in other real world reviews where they used lower IQ settings at 2560x1600 or simply lowered the res to 1920x1200 with high IQ the 570 and 6970 trade blows, currently only 2 scenarios seem to pull them apart in either real world or canned reviews. 25x16 with uber high IQ 4x AA or 8xAA along with 16x anisotropic filtering and surround gaming. Both due to the vram limitation on the 570 of 1.2GB vs 2GB.

That reminds me, of another funny thing. I knew before nvidia released the 570 that the 1.2 gb was a mistake and said it many times. I had a feeling the vram would come back to bite them in the butt. IF they would have released GTX 570 as a 1.5gb card just like the 580, which IMO makes sense as the 2 competitors are both 2gb, then it's possible the 6970 wouldn't have even passed the 570 in all scenarios except for surround. But whatever that's neither here nor there. I also edited my last post to add the overclocking advantage the nvidia solution seem to have as of now.
 
I'm partial to nvidia right now, my 480 doesn't miss a beat although it is quite power hungry.
 
I'd go with a GTX 570 or 580 if you have the cash. nVidia has better driver support, cuda, physx, 3d vision and if you want to use SLi in the future, it scales better than Crossfire.
 
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5150Joker said:
I'd go with a GTX 570 or 580 if you have the cash. nVidia has better driver support, cuda, physx, 3d vision and if you want to use SLi in the future, it scales better than Crossfire.
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Crossfire is scaling better with the 6xxx series than nvidia.
 
I got my GTX 570 today, upgraded from a 4870. Love the card and I'm happier with these drivers.
 
I just went with the GTX 570. I've had ATI cards from the original Radeon up to the HD 5870 (except for an 8800gt) and am happy with my decision so far. Power consumption doesn't seem to be much different than my 5870.

My take on the 6970 vs 570 is that the 6970 may end up faster (and may be in some titles now), but you have to put up with ATI drivers for who knows how long. And with those drivers comes inconsistent performance, constant driver updates (which are needed in order to fix issues), no per app profiles, etc.. The 69xx series is new and will have teething issues; do you want to go along for the ride? The only thing I wish the 570 had is mlaa...
 
pISSANt said:
I just went with the GTX 570. I've had ATI cards from the original Radeon up to the HD 5870 (except for an 8800gt) and am happy with my decision so far. Power consumption doesn't seem to be much different than my 5870.

My take on the 6970 vs 570 is that the 6970 may end up faster (and may be in some titles now), but you have to put up with ATI drivers for who knows how long. And with those drivers comes inconsistent performance, constant driver updates (which are needed in order to fix issues), no per app profiles, etc.. The 69xx series is new and will have teething issues; do you want to go along for the ride? The only thing I wish the 570 had is mlaa...
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Completely agree, ATi drivers are very iffy. One release will work well but break something and the next release addresses what broke in the last release while creating two new problems or incompatibilities. ATi's drivers for bad company 2 still suck for Crossfire and flashing textures continues to be an issue since Catalyst 10.5. Right now I'm waiting on Alienware to release their new M17x-R3 laptop (I don't like building desktops anymore) and I'll be selling this 5870m Crossfire setup for one that features 470m/570m SLi.
 
As a 4870 crossfire user, find myself wondering whats so bad about ATI drivers? I play BF:BC2 and a slew of other games, and have never noticed any strange issues.
To each there own I guess, but it seems that a rather small minority happens to be rather loud...because if the drivers were truly shit, then nobody would buy the cards.

Now if you want me to get started on Realtek, and how their drivers prevented me from even playing BF:BC2 until I bought a new sound card.....now that's a shitty driver.


As for the dudes question about crossfire scaling. Try Anandtech...I'm pretty sure you can find it without a link. Scaling seems to be much improved with the 6*** series cards, and the 69** series scale very well.
 
I'm seriously laughing my ass off right now at the driver fud going around. I've had just as many problems with Nvidia's drivers as I do with ATi's which is almost none. But the flashing textures I'm getting in Fallout 3 and Transformers is really annoying with the current 263.09 570 drivers. The 260.99 drivers for my 8800 ultra are running it fine. The flashing textures follow the 570 if I swap them out between my two rigs.

Will see if this continues with the 6970 when it comes in on Thursday.

5150Joker said:
Is that right? Across the board or in select instances? Also a link would be good.
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[H] is doing their review of this soon. That should make for some good reading.
 
5150Joker said:
Is that right? Across the board or in select instances? Also a link would be good.
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a lot of the "crossfire scaling sucks" thing was dirrected to the 5800 as the did suck for the longest time. but that was a bug in the 5800, the 5600, 5700, 6800, and 6900 all have excellent scaling, as good or better then Nvidia (which is pretty damn good as well)

multi gpu has really come of age for both green and red teams.
 
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