Sell My 5870 for

[dizolit]

So apparently, my card is fetching $300ish on eBay right now due to the whole bitcoin thing. I bought it for $340 after Bing cashback over a year ago. I figure it is a good time to upgrade for almost free .

One of the main reasons why I want to upgrade is because I haven't been able to update my drivers past 10.3b due to DP monitor (eyefinity set up, early dell/bizzlink dual-link dp->dvi adapters $100) going to sleep within a few minutes. A lot of people with my adapter/video card combination (consequence of being an early adopter) have the same problem and there has never been a solution that I could find other than to stick with 10.3b drivers. For this reason, I was thinking of going with a pair of Nvidia cards. On the other hand, I've read the newer/cheaper single-link adapters work very well and have no issues.

Right now I am thinking of the following options:
-SLI Nvidia 460 1gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16814130566 + http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-...WLB4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307615374&sr=8-1
-Crossfire 2 6860 1gb
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-D...GIUK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307615201&sr=8-1
-Crossfire 2 6950 2gb flashed to 6970
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-D...6RY0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307614518&sr=8-1

ATI options would involve buying a new adapter: http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-akti...ZBH6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1307615235&sr=8-2

With the 1st and 2nd options, I would be paying very little if any at all extra to upgrade. With the 2nd and 3rd option, I'd be getting a beastly performance upgrade that could possibly handle BF3 very well (based off the news that the BF3 vids so far have used a single 580). On top of that, I could sell the copies of dirt 3 to make it even cheaper. The 3rd option would cost $200-250ish.

Should I keep my 5870, or upgrade to one of these options? If so, which?

 

[Teenyman45]

I don't think those Sapphire cards can be flashed for anything other than removing the overclock limits. If I remember correctly, the newer 6950 -2Rs are very definitely non-reference and most likely with laser cut GPUs that deny access to the extra shader cores.

 

[Flyinfinni]

I would get one or 2 of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4127555&cm_re=MSI_6950-_-14-127-555-_-Product

They can actually be flashed to 6970s. Also- I believe that your current adapter should work fine. Also- if you want eyefinity with BF3, you're probably gonna want the 2gb VRAM.

 

[dizolit]

How can you determine if the 6950 is unlockable or not? All I can find is it if it is a rev 1 w/ ref cooler it is most likely unlockable.

Would any of these be unlockable?
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DisplayPo...R1WO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1307665392&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-Rad...TBW8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1307665392&sr=8-4
http://www.amazon.com/HIS-Radeon-25...TS/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1307665392&sr=8-11

Upon reading reviews it says the visontek ones that are being shipped out don't have bios switches and can't be flashed.

If not, should I just go with one of the other options and wait for a 7000/600 series card?

 

[Teenyman45]

The HIS is not a reference, so probably not.

The MSI Twin Frozr II is iffy. The first few Twin Frozr III's on the market apparently could and MSI even put out a how to guide. However, later Mk III's could not be unlocked and MSI withdrew guide and apologized.

Trading up now or waiting 3-9 months is not something I can advise on.

 

[hajalie24]

Just to let you know my twin froze ii unlocked just fine. I'm getting a twin frozr iii tomorrow and ill try to unlock that too