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Which GPU card to replace a 9800GX2

J

Jon55

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 7, 2008
Messages
2,349
A buddy of mine has been running a 9800 GX2, a card which some of you may know is just awful. He currently has one 1920x1080 monitor, but plans on grabbing at least one more (possibly up to three total), all of which will be 1920x1080 (same monitor). He's big on gaming and plays all kinds (FPS, MMO, strategy, etc.).

Anyway, the 9800GX2 is finally starting to die and he's looking to replace it. He dropped nearly $600 for the GX2 and is ready to drop that amount again if need be on a new card. I know that's not necessary and way overkill for his resolution but he's the kind of guy that just wants the best (without being needlessly overpriced), something that will dominate for many years, and has a lifetime warranty (that's a very important point).

I've been doing some research on the market but wanted to get your guy's input before making any recommendations to him. He was looking at the GTX 580 but I was thinking the 6970 might even be a better fit for him, but then he saw the benches for the 5970 and liked that too, but I know that's a dated card at this point, so I'm not sure what to recommend him here. Again, he'd have no problem with dropping $600, he just wants the best card that has a lifetime warranty.

He has a Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 mobo (X48), I forget what CPU but I believe it's at least a Core2Quad, and an 850 watt PSU (again, I forget what brand but I think Antec or along those lines). He'll be moving to Sandy Bridge in April, or whenever the whole chipset issues blow over.
 
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What are his mobo and CPU and power supply? Is he considering crossfire/sli?
 
nalc said:
What are his mobo and CPU and power supply? Is he considering crossfire/sli?
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I knew I forgot some key information, my apologies. He has a Gigabyte P55 mobo, I forget what CPU but I believe it's at least a Core2Quad, and an 850 watt PSU (again, I forget what brand but I think Antec or along those lines). He'll be moving to Sandy Bridge in April, or whenever the whole chipset issues blow over. I'll edit my original post and add this.
 
Do you mean P35 or P45? P55 is for Core i3/i5/i7

I'd avoid the HD 5970. The 6xxx made a pretty solid improvement. It looks nice now because there are no current gen dual GPU cards, but the HD 6990 should slay it. Personally, in his shoes I would get a pair of 2gig HD 6950s flashed to 6970s, but I'm not too familiar with the current nvidia offerings.
 
nalc said:
Do you mean P35 or P45? P55 is for Core i3/i5/i7

I'd avoid the HD 5970. The 6xxx made a pretty solid improvement. It looks nice now because there are no current gen dual GPU cards, but the HD 6990 should slay it. Personally, in his shoes I would get a pair of 2gig HD 6950s flashed to 6970s, but I'm not too familiar with the current nvidia offerings.
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Indeed that's what I was thinking too. I know the 69xx series is a really awesome deal but I wasn't sure what how NVIDIA's offerings would match up against them (or beat them). And yes, I was mistaken. He has a Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 mobo (X48).
 
Get one HD 6950 for now. While the Nvidia GTX 580 outperforms it, it's also much more expensive.

The 6950 can also be soft-modded to perform as a 6970, which makes it a much better value.
 
tiraides said:
Get one HD 6950 for now. While the Nvidia GTX 580 outperforms it, it's also much more expensive.

The 6950 can also be soft-modded to perform as a 6970, which makes it a much better value.
Click to expand...

So the 580 is better? Because that's all he would care about. As I said in my post, the $500 price point doesn't bother him, as long as it's better. I guess the real question is how much better.
 
Jon55 said:
So the 580 is better? Because that's all he would care about. As I said in my post, the $500 price point doesn't bother him, as long as it's better. I guess the real question is how much better.
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Yes, but it costs almost twice as much as a hd 6950 and it doesn't support triple monitors, afaik. Ati can do eyefinity 3 from a single card, nvidia requires sli for nvsurround 3.

Also expect a 6990 soon, whichh will be around 600, support triple monitor eyefinity by itself, and outperform the 580
 
Is this [H] forum or social workers/retirement plan forum?

Ha has the dough to burn?
So get a fastest single GPU card on the planet and be over with it. Add more when needed.

If registered withing 30 days this one gets lifetime waranty.
 
What's the point of buying the latest and greatest if it's going to be neither within the next few months?

There is also the possibility that a video card that's too good could cause a potential performance bottleneck in the processor. (But without knowing which particular processor the OP's friend is using, or whether or not he's overclocking it, we can't tell for certain.)
 
nalc said:
Yes, but it costs almost twice as much as a hd 6950 and it doesn't support triple monitors, afaik. Ati can do eyefinity 3 from a single card, nvidia requires sli for nvsurround 3.

Also expect a 6990 soon, whichh will be around 600, support triple monitor eyefinity by itself, and outperform the 580
Click to expand...

Ah, wow I completely forgot about that. But it'll most likely be a sandwich card won't it (two GPU's in one)? Are sandwich cards no good?

tiraides said:
What's the point of buying the latest and greatest if it's going to be neither within the next few months?

There is also the possibility that a video card that's too good could cause a potential performance bottleneck in the processor. (But without knowing which particular processor the OP's friend is using, or whether or not he's overclocking it, we can't tell for certain.)
Click to expand...

Well as I said in my original post, he's going to be upgrading to Sandy Bridge here pretty soon, so CPU bottlenecks won't be an issue. But I see your point on the 6950's. I'm guessing the 6990, if it's a sandwich card, will be two 6950 GPUs? So in theory would Crossfire'd 6950's now provide the same power as a 6990? I know this is all rumor at this point, but any input is welcome. Thank you again guys for all your help.
 
Jon55 said:
Ah, wow I completely forgot about that. But it'll most likely be a sandwich card won't it (two GPU's in one)? Are sandwich cards no good?



Well as I said in my original post, he's going to be upgrading to Sandy Bridge here pretty soon, so CPU bottlenecks won't be an issue. But I see your point on the 6950's. I'm guessing the 6990, if it's a sandwich card, will be two 6950 GPUs? So in theory would Crossfire'd 6950's now provide the same power as a 6990? I know this is all rumor at this point, but any input is welcome. Thank you again guys for all your help.
Click to expand...

It's not going to be a two PCB 'sandwich' like nvidia does. It's going to be two GPUs on the same board, like the HD 5970 and HD 4870X2 before it.

As others have said, the 580GTX is the straightforward best single-GPU card, however you will have issues with triple monitors. nvidia cards need SLI to run triple monitors. The gist of the reviews I recall reading state that the 6970 offers a minor decrease in performance over a major decrease in price, and has Eyefinity (needs a DP to DVI, but can run 3 off one card). To get 580GTX-beating performance and Eyefinity, you can start looking at SLI'ed 560GTXs or Crossfired 6950s. The 6990 is just crossfired 69xx GPUs on one card (they generally have been full shader xx70 GPUs, but clocked down to xx50 speeds)
 
nalc said:
It's not going to be a two PCB 'sandwich' like nvidia does. It's going to be two GPUs on the same board, like the HD 5970 and HD 4870X2 before it.
Click to expand...

Awesome, good to know. Because the 9800 GX2 has been nothing but problems for me from a variety of people.

As others have said, the 580GTX is the straightforward best single-GPU card, however you will have issues with triple monitors. nvidia cards need SLI to run triple monitors. The gist of the reviews I recall reading state that the 6970 offers a minor decrease in performance over a major decrease in price, and has Eyefinity (needs a DP to DVI, but can run 3 off one card). To get 580GTX-beating performance and Eyefinity, you can start looking at SLI'ed 560GTXs or Crossfired 6950s. The 6990 is just crossfired 69xx GPUs on one card (they generally have been full shader xx70 GPUs, but clocked down to xx50 speeds)
Click to expand...

So basically it comes to down either the 6970 which will support 3 (up to 6 I believe) monitors and is nearly as fast as the 580, but $150 cheaper, or wait for the curb-stomping 6990 which will kick the crap out of both of those cards. I'll let him know that, he'll definitely want to wait for the 6990 (since he saw what the 5970 can do even against the 580). Thank you again so much guys.
 
Jon55 said:
So basically it comes to down either the 6970 which will support 3 (up to 6 I believe) monitors and is nearly as fast as the 580, but $150 cheaper, or wait for the curb-stomping 6990 which will kick the crap out of both of those cards. I'll let him know that, he'll definitely want to wait for the 6990 (since he saw what the 5970 can do even against the 580). Thank you again so much guys.
Click to expand...

Spend the money on the 6950 & either flash em or soft mod them to 6970's.. Thats where the biggest bang for buck lies..
 
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