Single GTX580 vs 6970 crossfire

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Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
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Hi all,

I'm tossing up getting rid of my GTX580 and replacing it with two 6970 cards in crossfire. I can't find a lot of benchmark data on the cards, can anyone give me an indicatin on whether the upgrade is worth it ? It will cost me maybe 100-200 bucks maximum to do it. I run 1080p resolutions on a 27" 120hz LCD and am looking to try to keep SWTOR at 120fps.

Cheers

Chris
 
I wouldn't. You get better performance overall, but you also have to deal with CrossFire scaling limitations in some games, along with CrossFire profile issues (and potentially micro-stuttering). Just wait for the next gen cards (or get a 7970 now).
 
You wanting to run eyefinity?

Ditto to what Forceman said. Wait for next gen to really hit mainstream at this point. That 580 should carry you well into the life span of the next gen GPU's. Ask yourself this, what the hell are you planning to do with THAT much power? There is absolutely no reason to keep SWTOR at 120fps other than to watch the fps ticker and get a hard on. Your eyes aren't seeing any benefits at that speed dude!
 
Yeah, I ran 6950 crossfire for a while and for 1080p it was massive overkill. If it weren't for 3d vision I probably wouldn't even be interested in upgrading.
 
Theycallmejer said:
You wanting to run eyefinity?

Ditto to what Forceman said. Wait for next gen to really hit mainstream at this point. That 580 should carry you well into the life span of the next gen GPU's. Ask yourself this, what the hell are you planning to do with THAT much power? There is absolutely no reason to keep SWTOR at 120fps other than to watch the fps ticker and get a hard on. Your eyes aren't seeing any benefits at that speed dude!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, but your comments r.e. 120fps I don't get. Firstly, if the game is running at, say, 70fps in a highly populated area, the FPS might drop to 45fps when there is a lot happening.... If it were running at 120fps it would drop to 80fps. WIN. And furrther, I see a big difference between 60fps and 120fps.. I have played with CS:S and other older games and 120fps is smooth as hell, much more so that 60. WIN.

Chris
 
A gtx580 is nice but, 6970 xfire is very nice. That's all I have to say (and yes, I have owned both)
 
I have 5850's in CF, in theory they come close to a GTX 580 in most games (though I haven't actually made the comparison myself). 6970's in CF will destroy a single GTX 580 in most cases, as long as you aren't worried about any issues due to a CF config which turns some ppl off (driver support, scaling, etc.)

You might also want to take a look at these benchmarks:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/298?vs=305
 
Ok guys , I'm hearing you loud and clear and I think I'm picking up a pair of 6970s. just one question though, is micro stuttering still an issue with the 6XXX generation of GPUs ?
 
I wouldn't. The 580 is going to have much better minimum FPS in most situations - And thats what really matters.

I've had both SLI and Crossfire setups - And there is no reason to get either unless you need to push multi-monitor / ultra-high resolution displays.

Just save your money man.
 
I'm also interested in this setup,

after reading multiple forum posts from what i can gather is that people have problems with AMD and NVIDIA, and everyone has their biased opinion. Id like some solid evidence in benchmarks/unbiased opinions based on those benchmarks as to what would be better. My setup that i will be building is a triple monitor display, i was either gunna do SLI NVIDIA or CF Ati.

Would it be better to wait until the new gforce 6 series GPU's to come out. To either buy possibly 2x or 1x gtx650 or for the GTX580's to drop in price and sli those.
 
I've run Crossfire 4850's, and SLI GTX470's, SLI 8800GT's, and SLI GTX260's.

From a driver/application support standpoint when it comes to multi-GPU Nvidia wins out. When I was running crossfire i'd sometimes have to wait more then a month for a working crossfire application profile. With SLI (Prior to the release of NVUpdate and the SLI Profile mini-patches) I wouldn't have to wait very long at all for a working profile. Maybe a couple weeks at most for titles that aren't AAA. Not to mention EVGA was running their SLI Profile program at the time. Now that nvidia has their own application to push out SLI compatibility patches it doesn't take them very long to fix things.

It doesn't change the fact that it's still a pain compared to a single card though. Both still suck. I'd just say SLI is mildly better due to the faster updates as I mentioned.

But currently, if you are going triple monitor you really don't have a choice. You need to go multi-GPU.
 
As someone who just built a Crossfire 7970 Setup for a friend who also plays SWTOR (as do I) I can tell you this... your FPS drops in populated ares as well as the fluctuation between 110 and 40 are NOT going to be any different.

The issue with SWOTR is the game itself if not properly coded or video optimized. When monitoring the GPU on my GTX580 i get 110fps when the GPU is chugging along at 90%+ utilization... when the graphics start to stutter or slow down, the GPU dropped to 35% +/-.

Remember this post, and remember it clearly... if you think that by running two cards, you are going to see a massive improvement in SWTOR, you are going to be left scratching your head... You dont have to believe me, Im just asking that you remember this post.

Good luck!
 
SWTOR info - MSI Afterburner shows 0% usage of 2nd card in my 6790 Xfire setup. Don't expect improved framerates over one card. Hopefully they will patch the support in. Hopefully they will patch a LOT of things in.
 
JLangevin said:
Remember this post, and remember it clearly... if you think that by running two cards, you are going to see a massive improvement in SWTOR, you are going to be left scratching your head... You dont have to believe me, Im just asking that you remember this post. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I dont doubt that one bit, as a software developer i understand that there is always a lack of efficiency in certain parts of games. There was a similar issue in world of warcraft looking at a certain boss for ATI cards caused you to drop to 3 fps. Until they fixed the coding.

I was just wondering in everyones experience (although as biased as it may be), the differences in SLI/Xfire, since as was mentioned (Thank you Mchart), for triple monitor setup, i will need multi GPU's. Mind you, this computer wont be built for another few months, im just doing research now.

I also appologize for my lack of knowledge on the subject, i have never setup nor have any sort of experience in multi gpu technology. I also appologize because this isn'y my thread :)
 
Just so you know, swtor is capped at 111 fps, and dont expect dual 6970s to keep a constant 111 maxxed
 
I run a 480gtx and oc'ed SB (4.8 Ghz) 16 gb ram no fps issues in swtor at all?? - I am actually switching to a 6970 today (all single since I run 1920x1080 windowed on my main monitor) - where are your fps issues?
 
I don't HAVE FPS issues dude. What I said was I was trying to achieve 120fps constant, without the drops below 60'that I occasionally get plus I have a 120hz LCD ... Just makes sense.

During PVP and on the fleet ship in SWTOR it can drop to 40fps, but I've maxxed everything out, turned shadows on, bloom on etc. I just wanted the best experience I could if I'm going to be playing an MMO for hundreds of hours.
 
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