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Upgrade from 5970?

T

Tych-0

Gawd
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
545
I have/had a XFX 5970 Black Edition that I've had to RMA, unfortunatly there is no stock at the moment to replace it, and it could be a couple weeks. I'm really impatient at this point because I'm already 2 weeks waiting now and this is in a brand new rig. They have offered me a refund, and I was thinking I might take that option and try a different setup. I refuse to take a step down in performance, so I'm looking for something that is an upgrade from my 5970. I'm fortunate enough that the cost isn't a huge factor, but I'm not a fan of wasting my money either.

Looking at benchmarks I was considering a SLI GTX 480 setup, but it appears these things are noisey, and I don't want that at all. The 5970 I had was perfect. The case fans were louder most times.

I've taken a quick look around and I can't find any alternatives I like, and I'm
leaning towards just waiting it out for the 5970 BE to be back in stock.


Any suggestions for me? Keep in mind I want a difinitive upgrade from my 5970. Have they made any quiet 480s yet? I heard the Zotac AMP is quiet, but it takes up 3 slots and doesn't vent the heat out the back. Are there other options?
 
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5970 is best short of 480sli. Reports are it is subjectively smoother than 5870cf.
You could look for 5970 4gb or wait for 6870/6970.
 
My 5970 died on me and I replaced it with 2 x 5850s and I am getting similar performance out of them. If I were you, I would either do a single GTX 480 or maybe even 2 x 5870s. You can get the 5870s for cheap new or used.
 
SLI 460's are as close a match as you'll find. It's faster in half the games and slower in half the games. You can buy a pair for $400. As you can see, the scaling is stellar.

If you're into this kind of stuff, when the next card comes out, the resale will still be good on 460's. It's the 8800GT of this generation and it'll be easily resaleable for years.

sli460compare.png

Source: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf-gtx460-sli_12.html

Alternatively, you can buy the ASUS Ares... for three times the cost. For that price, you might as well water cool SLI GTX 480's.
 
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Just overclock your 5970 and Sit and wait for the Radeon 6870....it'll make the GTX480 look like the GTX280 in comparison to the Radeon 5870....at least that's from the buzz I've got....or Crossfire another 5970....
 
Rauelius said:
Just overclock your 5970 and Sit and wait for the Radeon 6870....it'll make the GTX480 look like the GTX280 in comparison to the Radeon 5870....at least that's from the buzz I've got....or Crossfire another 5970....
Click to expand...

How can he overclock that which he doesn't have anymore? (he's been waiting on his 5970 RMA to return for a few weeks he said)
 
Thanks for all the replies. I've given most of suggestions some serious thought and I'm down to 2 options. Most likely I'm going to stick with the 5970 BE. I just checked newegg.ca and they have them in stock. So I'll get my refund from ncix and order a new one from newegg. I keep with this one until the next great thing like a 6970 comes out.

The other option I'm considering is going with the sli 480 setup and water cooling it to deal with the noise. Are there any good options for this that will easily fit into my setup?
 
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I had a 5970 and just went down to a 5850 and don't even notice a difference in the games I play. I've mostly been playing SC2 and it's just a single gpu game.
 
IRSmurf said:
It's the 8800GT of this generation and it'll be easily resaleable for years.
Click to expand...

Did you seriously just compare a 8800GT to a GTX 460?

8800GT nearly doubled the previous generation's performance.

The GTX 460-768MB is about as fast as a GTX 275 and the GTX 460-1GB is no faster than a GTX 280 or GTX 285.

8800GT was a hall of fame card and had no peers for a long time.

GTX 460's reign is about to end after 3-4 months and might not even be remembered a year from now, let alone 3+ years later: the 6xxx series starts launching soon, and reportedly the 6770 is as fast as a GTX 460 and probably equal or lower price. Not to mention that the prices for 5830s have come way down.

8800GT vs GTX 460? No comparison. Different leagues.
 
Honestly if you want a definitive upgrade from the 5970 you have few choices. You really either need dual 5870's or dual GeForce GTX 480's to accomplish that.

BlueAqua said:
I had a 5970 and just went down to a 5850 and don't even notice a difference in the games I play. I've mostly been playing SC2 and it's just a single gpu game.
Click to expand...

Then you aren't running games that either challenge a 5970 to work hard or you are playing at lower resolutions.

Rauelius said:
Just overclock your 5970 and Sit and wait for the Radeon 6870....it'll make the GTX480 look like the GTX280 in comparison to the Radeon 5870....at least that's from the buzz I've got....or Crossfire another 5970....
Click to expand...

I can agree with this for the most part. I'd just overclock my 5970. That's what I did. I was able to reach 5870 clock speeds easily. In games like BFBC2 I saw a nice improvement from that.
 
There is no single card upgrade to the 5970 right now. SLIed 5870's, 470's, and 480's match or beat it in most circumstances though.
 
I had a 5970 4GB + 5870 2GB for tri-crossfire and sold them on Ebay. 480-SLI works better for me. SLI works better in general and balances load on different monitors better.
 
I went from a 5970 to a 480 SLI watercooled setup. Load temps never go above 50 on a perfectly silent system, and I can max anything out. I can't be happier, although I will say the watercooling will add an extra $300-$400. IMO it's worth it.
 
blastingcap said:
Did you seriously just compare a 8800GT to a GTX 460?

8800GT nearly doubled the previous generation's performance.

The GTX 460-768MB is about as fast as a GTX 275 and the GTX 460-1GB is no faster than a GTX 280 or GTX 285.

8800GT was a hall of fame card and had no peers for a long time.

GTX 460's reign is about to end after 3-4 months and might not even be remembered a year from now, let alone 3+ years later: the 6xxx series starts launching soon, and reportedly the 6770 is as fast as a GTX 460 and probably equal or lower price. Not to mention that the prices for 5830s have come way down.

8800GT vs GTX 460? No comparison. Different leagues.
Click to expand...

I have to agree, the GTX460 is more of a tuned card, like the 3870 vs the 2900XT. There are only a few legendary cards:

3DFX Voodoo
3DFX Voodoo 2
Geforce 256
Geforce 2 GTS (overclocked THIS to Pro and Ultra levels when those cards came out)
Geforce 3 (When the Ti500 came out, I just overclocked this to the same speeds)
Radeon 9500 Pro (was not neutered enough compared to the 9700Pro, very nice card)
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (legendary, but the 9500Pro can be OC'd to these levels)-like 5850 vs 5870.
Geforce 6800GT/Ultra (Loved this card, Overclocked my GT to Ultra Speeds
Geforce 8800GT (would've put the GTS 512 too, but perf. is too close)
Radeon 4850
Radeon 4870
Radeon 5850
Radeon 5870

Most of these cards have been/will be good for a few generations...Hell you can still game with a 9500Pro/9700Pro....granted performance will be likely comprable to a Radeon 4200, but they can play WOW and perhaps starcraft 2.
 
OT.... but i remember running ut2k3 on my geforce 2 Ti.
Then going on a 9700 pro that lasted me all the way till a 9800gtx
 
Rauelius said:
I have to agree, the GTX460 is more of a tuned card, like the 3870 vs the 2900XT. There are only a few legendary cards:

3DFX Voodoo
3DFX Voodoo 2
Geforce 256
Geforce 2 GTS (overclocked THIS to Pro and Ultra levels when those cards came out)
Geforce 3 (When the Ti500 came out, I just overclocked this to the same speeds)
Radeon 9500 Pro (was not neutered enough compared to the 9700Pro, very nice card)
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (legendary, but the 9500Pro can be OC'd to these levels)-like 5850 vs 5870.
Geforce 6800GT/Ultra (Loved this card, Overclocked my GT to Ultra Speeds
Geforce 8800GT (would've put the GTS 512 too, but perf. is too close)
Radeon 4850
Radeon 4870
Radeon 5850
Radeon 5870
.
Click to expand...

No 8800gtx seriously?
 
Vega said:
I had a 5970 4GB + 5870 2GB for tri-crossfire and sold them on Ebay. 480-SLI works better for me. SLI works better in general and balances load on different monitors better.
Click to expand...

Yeah that experiment didn't go too well did it? ATI crossfire support truly sucked. I had dual 5970s and was majorly disappointed. Switched to 480 SLI and I was happy with the performance except for the noise.

Put the 480s on water and now everything is running awesome. Although adding the watercooling also added a SIGNIFICANT amount of money and effort to the project. I thought I could get it done for the price of one of my 5970s but it ended up more like 1k, although to be fair I also put my cpu on water and went with dual rads. Could have probably done it for around $700 if I hadn't done the cpu as well. But at that point I was like, hell why not go all the way?
 
Put X1900XT on that list of legendary cards. It's still kickin around playing L4D at 1280x800 with 2x AA lol.
 
vjcsmoke said:
Put the 480s on water and now everything is running awesome. Although adding the watercooling also added a SIGNIFICANT amount of money and effort to the project. I thought I could get it done for the price of one of my 5970s but it ended up more like 1k, although to be fair I also put my cpu on water and went with dual rads. Could have probably done it for around $700 if I hadn't done the cpu as well. But at that point I was like, hell why not go all the way?
Click to expand...

You did it right. :p

I had one thing on my loop(5970)...changed it to the two 480's...then added the CPU...and then new RAD... Just do it right the first time and save yourself some headache. It may be expensive, but it is worth it.
 
Tych-0 said:
Any suggestions for me? Keep in mind I want a difinitive upgrade from my 5970. Have they made any quiet 480s yet? I heard the Zotac AMP is quiet, but it takes up 3 slots and doesn't vent the heat out the back. Are there other options?
Click to expand...

outside of H2P cooled 480GTXs no. the 6800 series is coming out in a couple of months but there isn't going to be anything faster that isn't hot and noisy. a pair of 2gb 5870 would do well, hell a pair of 5850 would do well if you OC them. Nvidia may be coming out with some 475GTX at some point (a non crippled GF104 based card) but your choices are pretty limited right now.
 
RyanH said:
No 8800gtx seriously?
Click to expand...

Yeah any list of "legendary graphics cards" lacking the 8800GTX should be taken with a grain of salt.

blastingcap said:
Not worth it compared to 8800GT
Click to expand...

FAIL.

The 8800GTX was out long before the 8800GT and it was definitely "worth it" comparatively. The 8800GT didn't have the memory or memory bandwidth for gaming at 2560x1600. The 8800GTX did. The 8800GTX was also 95% of what the 8800 Ultra was and continued to be the choice for high end systems well after the 8800 Ultra and 2900XT were introduced. The 8800GTX essentially reigned for 2 years as a high end card but also as a value card once the 8800 Ultra and 9800GX2 came out. Speaking of which 8800GTX SLI setups were actually better for high resolution gaming compared to the 9800GX2.

Just because some guy gaming on a 1980x1200 or lower resolution monitor didn't think the 8800GTX was worth it doesn't make it the truth. Anyone with a 30" monitor basically had to choose the 8800GTX when it came out. It was also a huge technological leap forward. We got most if not all the performance (and certainly a better gaming experience) that the 7950GX2 offered in a single GPU.
 
Dan_D said:
Yeah any list of "legendary graphics cards" lacking the 8800GTX should be taken with a grain of salt.



FAIL.

The 8800GTX was out long before the 8800GT and it was definitely "worth it" comparatively. The 8800GT didn't have the memory or memory bandwidth for gaming at 2560x1600. The 8800GTX did. The 8800GTX was also 95% of what the 8800 Ultra was and continued to be the choice for high end systems well after the 8800 Ultra and 2900XT were introduced. The 8800GTX essentially reigned for 2 years as a high end card but also as a value card once the 8800 Ultra and 9800GX2 came out. Speaking of which 8800GTX SLI setups were actually better for high resolution gaming compared to the 9800GX2.

Just because some guy gaming on a 1980x1200 or lower resolution monitor didn't think the 8800GTX was worth it doesn't make it the truth. Anyone with a 30" monitor basically had to choose the 8800GTX when it came out. It was also a huge technological leap forward. We got most if not all the performance (and certainly a better gaming experience) that the 7950GX2 offered in a single GPU.
Click to expand...

Okay calm down, dude. For the vast majority of users the 8800GT was a more cost-effective choice that came close enough to the GTX's performance at lower resolutions. Even today, there are very few people using 30" (see Steam Hardware Survey if you want). But fine, put them both on the list. It's the same GPU architecture anyway.
 
blastingcap said:
Okay calm down, dude. For the vast majority of users the 8800GT was a more cost-effective choice that came close enough to the GTX's performance at lower resolutions. Even today, there are very few people using 30" (see Steam Hardware Survey if you want). But fine, put them both on the list. It's the same GPU architecture anyway.
Click to expand...

All I'm saying is that the 8800GTX's worth should not be measured by people who opted to buy the 8800GT which came out after the 8800GTX had been out for some time. If you didn't see the value in the 8800GTX then that's fine, but plenty of people did. Even if you weren't running a 30" monitor, those who wanted higher levels of AA and AF knew the 8800GTX was where it was at. The 8800GT was a great offering, no doubt. However its existence doesn't devalue the 8800GTX over the long haul.
 
Tych-0 said:
I have/had a XFX 5970 Black Edition that I've had to RMA, unfortunatly there is no stock at the moment to replace it, and it could be a couple weeks. I'm really impatient at this point because I'm already 2 weeks waiting now and this is in a brand new rig. They have offered me a refund, and I was thinking I might take that option and try a different setup. I refuse to take a step down in performance, so I'm looking for something that is an upgrade from my 5970. I'm fortunate enough that the cost isn't a huge factor, but I'm not a fan of wasting my money either.

Looking at benchmarks I was considering a SLI GTX 480 setup, but it appears these things are noisey, and I don't want that at all. The 5970 I had was perfect. The case fans were louder most times.

I've taken a quick look around and I can't find any alternatives I like, and I'm
leaning towards just waiting it out for the 5970 BE to be back in stock.


Any suggestions for me? Keep in mind I want a difinitive upgrade from my 5970. Have they made any quiet 480s yet? I heard the Zotac AMP is quiet, but it takes up 3 slots and doesn't vent the heat out the back. Are there other options?
Click to expand...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121388 you can not get better than this remember the 5970 = to 2 5850's so this will destroy it being 2 5870's on a single card

though if the cost is a problem i would go for a cf 5870/5850
 
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maxius said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121388 you can not get better than this remember the 5970 = to 2 5850's so this will destroy it being 2 5870's on a single card

though if the cost is a problem i would go for a cf 5870/5850
Click to expand...

That's not true. The 5970 has two GPUs with the same amount of streaming processors as the 5870, but in order to keep the thermal / power envelope down they clocked them to 5850 speeds. Overclocked the 5970 does indeed equal two 5870's while a 5850 will never be an exact match for the 5870 whether its clocked equally or not.
 
I went with the xfx 5970 BE again. Canada Computers said they could get one to my door in 2 days. SOLD! Called ncix and got a refund. Props to both retailers for being easy to deal with.

Looks like I'm holding out for a 6970 or whatever card wears the next performance crown... and does it without making much noise.

Thanks to everybody that replied with useful analysis of my situation.
 
ohly sh*****t isn't 5970 $1000 bucks? i can pay for 2 months' rent lol...it's NOT worth it dude...
 
triarii3 said:
ohly sh*****t isn't 5970 $1000 bucks? i can pay for 2 months' rent lol...it's NOT worth it dude...
Click to expand...


Nah, they are in the $600-650 range for the 5970 2GB, and around $700 and up for the 4GB version.
 
Dan_D said:
Yeah any list of "legendary graphics cards" lacking the 8800GTX should be taken with a grain of salt.



FAIL.

The 8800GTX was out long before the 8800GT and it was definitely "worth it" comparatively. The 8800GT didn't have the memory or memory bandwidth for gaming at 2560x1600. The 8800GTX did. The 8800GTX was also 95% of what the 8800 Ultra was and continued to be the choice for high end systems well after the 8800 Ultra and 2900XT were introduced. The 8800GTX essentially reigned for 2 years as a high end card but also as a value card once the 8800 Ultra and 9800GX2 came out. Speaking of which 8800GTX SLI setups were actually better for high resolution gaming compared to the 9800GX2.

Just because some guy gaming on a 1980x1200 or lower resolution monitor didn't think the 8800GTX was worth it doesn't make it the truth. Anyone with a 30" monitor basically had to choose the 8800GTX when it came out. It was also a huge technological leap forward. We got most if not all the performance (and certainly a better gaming experience) that the 7950GX2 offered in a single GPU.
Click to expand...
I'm with Dan_D on this one. I didn't have a 30" at the time, but the 8800GTX was a revolution of epic proportions in gaming hardware and the gaming experience.

Anyway, refund the 5970 now and wait for the 6xxx series. Unless you have a big gaming itch you need to scratch, in which case the GTX 460 1GB SLI is probably the most cost effective band-aid. But the 6xxx series is looking good :cool:.
 
Mr. K6 said:
I'm with Dan_D on this one. I didn't have a 30" at the time, but the 8800GTX was a revolution of epic proportions in gaming hardware and the gaming experience.

Anyway, refund the 5970 now and wait for the 6xxx series. Unless you have a big gaming itch you need to scratch, in which case the GTX 460 1GB SLI is probably the most cost effective band-aid. But the 6xxx series is looking good :cool:.
Click to expand...

+1

LE
 
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