Should I replace 3 GTX 280's with a 5970?

Should I replace 3 GTX 280's with a 5970?

  • Yes

    Votes: 115 59.9%

  • No

    Votes: 77 40.1%
  • Total voters
    192
  • Poll closed .
H

heatlesssun

Extremely [H]
Joined
Nov 5, 2005
Messages
44,154
Thinking about replacing my 3 280's with a 5970. I know overall I probably won't notice a big difference by I would like DX 11 and this will be the last money I spend on this rig, with the exception of perhaps a cable card tuner, which in that cast the 5970 will be needed to free up space for that tuner ass I'm all out of room in this case.
 
heat bill would increase but your power bill would drop LOL. You will probably get less performance in games but freeing up a slot might be nice.
 
Only if you want DX11 and Eyefinity. Otherwise you likely won't notice a performance difference.
 
Keep them, performance wouldn't be noticable really and you can easily wait for 300 series with them 3
 
Try selling them for $200 a piece...or maybe even $225 a piece. That would be enough to secure a 5970...if you can find one any way.
 
You seem to have enough power to me.

If I were you, I'd try to wait six months when ATI's yields will be perfect and nVidia competition drives prices back down some. Then bite on whatever looks the best.
 
It depends on what resolution you are running and if you plan on doing three screen. If you plan on a resolution of 2560x1600 or three screens then, yes get the 5870. But if I were you I would sell all three for like $600-$700 and then use that money and pick up a 5970 if you get a chance. Because you have three 280s, I dont think one 5870 will cut it for you as a 5870 is about equal to two gtx260s in SLI.
 
Think of it this way: Your GT280s are losing resale value as we type this. Sell cut your losses soon as you can.
 
be like me. get two 5970's. i know, i know, blah, blah, poor scaling with 4 gpu's. once the drivers mature, prepare for vomit inducing visual splendor.
 
kadozer said:
Think of it this way: Your GT280s are losing resale value as we type this. Sell cut your losses soon as you can.
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Not probably going to sell them as I already have other uses for them so I'm not in any real hurry. DX 11 is the main reason as I'll be getting Dirt 2 and BC2. I am having a bad case of Eyefinity envy as well.

rennyf77 said:
be like me. get two 5970's. i know, i know, blah, blah, poor scaling with 4 gpu's. once the drivers mature, prepare for vomit inducing visual splendor.
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No argument from me, its just that my old 790 MB want do CrossFire. That'll be for my next X58 Core "i9" (the six core CPU coming) rig.
 
Hmmmm, tough call. I replaced my SLI 280s with Xfire 5870s and I'm happy. You have a bit more power with TriSLI so I'm not sure if it would be worth it or not. If you want DX11 now then I'd say go for it.
 
DooKey said:
Hmmmm, tough call. I replaced my SLI 280s with Xfire 5870s and I'm happy. You have a bit more power with TriSLI so I'm not sure if it would be worth it or not. If you want DX11 now then I'd say go for it.
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What about PhysX? That's really the main thing that I'd be giving up, not that its a big deal but I HATE giving up anything. I'm a functionality whore.
 
i used to have gtx 280 in tri sli
the high temp force me to sell the third one ( at over 100C when run crysis)

an now i ordered a hd 5970 to replace my gtx 280 sli..

room is a big thing..
i wil not be able to do three card setting any more as i love my pci-e forte sound card
so now i only have 2 slot avaible..
my plan is to replace the gtx 280 sli with 5970 now..
when the gt300 comes.
i will see if the gt300 is good or not..
if it is .. get the gt300

if not..
get a 5870 to do tri fire.
( 3 card scale better then 4 card anyway..)


but for now.. when i get the 5970 next week.
i will be using a gtx 280 for physx.
 
I would sell them all and buy a single GPU 5870, and OC it or put on watercooling (if you're the watercooling kind). With a 5870 @ 1000/1400 and a nice 32" to 50" range HDTV running your games at 1920x1080 with maximum filtering and high quality levels of AA & AF you will be a happy camper. The large screen either on your desk or at a distance on the wall is nice. I haven't compared an HDTV to a three 24" or three 30" Eyefinity setup, but I'm fairly certain I would prefer a large flat surface without the bezels in between. This is in your price range too: (5870 + HDTV) vs. (5970 + monitor) vs. (GTX280 Tri-SLI + monitor)

I thoroughly enjoyed Farcry 1 and 2 and Crysis on a 37" 1080P, and that was with GTX260 OCed. I could only imagine that with a 5870. Having seen live action of 5870 x-fire and 5970, and having owned GTX260 sli and 4830 crossfire, I am now a fan of high powered single gpus. The framerate may not be the same, but the gaming experience is smoother, more fluid, and much more enjoyable. I would take a 5850, GTX285, or 5870 over any Sli/Xfire setup or 9800GX2, 4870x2, GTX295, or 5970. 5870 being the fastest single gpu, and you having the clout to afford one, I would choose this route, and play on 1080P HDTV.

Edit: I voted for the 5970 in your poll.
 
Hell no. I have two 280s and I only went with the 5970 because I got $100 off. I definitely would not have done it with three 280s...why drop $600 to get worse framerates? The benchmarks on the 5970 aren't impressive at all. I may even just sell mine and wait if the prices start getting out of control.
 
If you have the money go for eyefinity. I think gaming on three or six monitors would be addictive.
 
We'll be waiting awhile for the 7870 to see. :D
Once people start getting their 5970s in, I'm sure they'll share if CrossFireX works.
 
heatlesssun said:
What about PhysX? That's really the main thing that I'd be giving up, not that its a big deal but I HATE giving up anything. I'm a functionality whore.
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Doing without PhysX is a negative, but not much of one in my opinion. Until more games come out with PhysX support I don't think we're missing much.
 
vjcsmoke said:
Only if you want DX11 and Eyefinity. Otherwise you likely won't notice a performance difference.
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This.

JCDenton said:
Hell no. I have two 280s and I only went with the 5970 because I got $100 off. I definitely would not have done it with three 280s...why drop $600 to get worse framerates? The benchmarks on the 5970 aren't impressive at all. I may even just sell mine and wait if the prices start getting out of control.
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What??? the *uck are you talking about? 5970 will blown 2x 280 out of water.
 
Calm down buddy and read what JCDenton said again, this time slowly. He never said 2x 280 would beat a 5970.
 
I voted yes just for the grand tradition of buying new toys when they come out.
 
psyside said:
Yes my bad but.. still i don't see the 5970 being unimpressive can't agree.
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It beats the 295 by what, 20-30%? That's a very unimpressive jump for a "next gen" card that costs $600 and was launched in tiny quantities. I've seen 280s available for as little as $150 and two of them should be about 15% slower at half the cost. Third card scaling has been pretty good, so you can buy a setup that will stomp a 5870 for <$500, assuming you have the motherboard and power supply. Even the reviewer here was pretty unimpressed with what the 5970 offers for its price. I think it needs to be about 15% faster or $100 cheaper to be impressive.
 
JCDenton said:
It beats the 295 by what, 20-30%? That's a very unimpressive jump for a "next gen" card that costs $600 and was launched in tiny quantities. I've seen 280s available for as little as $150 and two of them should be about 15% slower at half the cost. Third card scaling has been pretty good, so you can buy a setup that will stomp a 5870 for <$500, assuming you have the motherboard and power supply. Even the reviewer here was pretty unimpressed with what the 5970 offers for its price. I think it needs to be about 15% faster or $100 cheaper to be impressive.
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Brent (the reviewer) was not impressed with the price ($600 is a good chunk of change) and not impressed with some of the driver issues on new games (admits you can't blame ATI for lack of DX11 games which is the shining stat of the 5xxx series)...

You forgot to mention all of the things that he IS impressed with. The list is a hell of a lot longer than the above mentioned items. I don't think ATI will be lowering the price anytime soon when there is 1) No competition right now 2) They are sold out within 30 mins of going on sale AT EVERY ONLINE RETAILER...

If the majority of people thought this card was a dud, I don't think they would be lined up for it.
 
Also with Nvidia's TWIMTBP, some games are optimized for Nvidia's hardware, like the Unreal engine based games, and allowing AA to be enabled. The fastest setup to play Crysis at an average fps of 60fps is a tri-sli GTX285 setup. To me the biggest selling point is Eyefinity. The cards are fast no doubt, but they are not next generation fast.
 
Also DX11 games will be far and few till spring/summer of next year. Again, Eyefinity with decent performance in some of the newer DX10 games is ATI's main selling point. Personally, I'm waiting for Fermi. If Nvidia incorporates some form of eyefnity technology in their cards + 3d vision + physx + continuation of their TWIMTBP enhancements, Nvidia will regain their crown.
 
Murry said:
Also with Nvidia's TWIMTBP, some games are optimized for Nvidia's hardware, like the Unreal engine based games, and allowing AA to be enabled. The fastest setup to play Crysis at an average fps of 60fps is a tri-sli GTX285 setup. To me the biggest selling point is Eyefinity. The cards are fast no doubt, but they are not next generation fast.
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crysis is nvidia bitch plus its so 2006 i mean do you guys finish same game when new series arrive or something lol
 
Its a lot of money for similar performance and DX11 support which isn't really used right now.

My suggestion would be to wait until theres DX games you want to play, then get one.
 
The 5970 beats the 295 at EVERY TESTED RESOLUTION and setting in Crysis so I'm not sure what you people are talking about.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/11/18/amd-ati-radeon-hd-5970-review/9

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And 3x GTX 285 > $1000 so they sure as well better beat a single $599 5970.

$360x3= $1080

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE
 
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vjcsmoke said:
And 3x GTX 285 > $1000 so they sure as well better beat a single $599 5970.

$360x3= $1080

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=PRICE
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What kind of moron is going to go out and spend that much on a trio of old cards? The 280 is regularly available for less than $200, and I've seen them as low as $150. It would be no problem at all to pick up a full set for <$500.

Don't blame me for the 5870's lackluster performance. It's overpriced just like the GTX280 was at launch. $600+ for a 20-30% boost over the last gen dual GPU card, which is around what the 280 beat the analogous single GPU setups by. And EVERYONE recognized that the 280's initial price was not justified by its performance. The only differences here are that ATI is incompetent at filling its supply chain so sellouts will occur regardless of how good the card is, and NVIDIA is late with its next gen. Neither of those differences change the fact that the 5970 doesn't beat previous gen cards as badly as a $600 card should, or that you can get better top-end performance cheaper with a previous gen multi gpu setup.
 
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