4870(512) xfire vs 5770xfire, 5850 or 5870?

[Darkrage]

I have 2 4870's(512) in xfire and I'm wanting to upgrade. Is upgrading to 2 5770's the same as what I have now, or is it better? I'm stuck between 3 options 2x 5770's, 5850 or a 5870? I play at 1920x1200 rez and I noticed lack of vram hurts in certain games. Not sure what to do.

thx for any advice.

 

[BFG10K]

Multi-GPU is only worthwhile if you're pairing the fastest single cards available in order to attain the highest possible performance. Pairing two mid-range cards instead of a single faster one doesn't make sense. Get the 5870.

 

[happy medium]

2 5770's for 310$ = a 5870 for 400$
2 5750's for 250$ = a 5850 for 290$

 

[Darkrage]

I was reading tom's best graphics cards for the money article and they actually recomed 2 4890's over a 5870 in the 400 dollar range... interesting read....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2521.html

 

[Yuriman]

Your 4870's in crossfire will only be improved upon by 58XX's in crossfire.

I was reading tom's best graphics cards for the money article and they actually recomed 2 4890's over a 5870 in the 400 dollar range... interesting read....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2521.html

In terms of raw performance, the 4890's are probably the better buy, but I would go with a single 5870 due to its using less power, producing less heat, running quieter, taking up less space, and supporting DX11.

 

[Lonyo]

Your 4870's in crossfire will only be improved upon by 58XX's in crossfire.

In terms of raw performance, the 4890's are probably the better buy, but I would go with a single 5870 due to its using less power, producing less heat, running quieter, taking up less space, and supporting DX11.

And not having any Crossfire issues.

Single card > dual cards when performance is roughly equal.
You get pretty much the same speed, but none of the disadvantages or potential pitfalls of a dual-GPU setup, like the possibility of poor scaling, microstuttering, no scaling etc.

In addition to all the other benefits noted by Yuriman.

 

[Tempered81]

Mcards instead of a single faster one doesn't make sense. Get the 5870.

+1

Best advice you will get in this thread ^

 

[Hey Zeus]

Multi-GPU is only worthwhile if you're pairing the fastest single cards available in order to attain the highest possible performance. Pairing two mid-range cards instead of a single faster one doesn't make sense. Get the 5870.

Why? Two 5750's are the same speed as a 5850 and they're 50+ dollars cheaper. I'd rather the cheap route for the same performance

 

[Lonyo]

Why? Two 5750's are the same speed as a 5850 and they're 50+ dollars cheaper. I'd rather the cheap route for the same performance

$20 cheaper based on Newegg prices (1GB HD5750 @ $135 x 2 vs $290 for a 1GB HD5850).
One would assume that you wouldn't buy 2x512MB HD5750's because the resolution you should be using will be high enough for 1GB to have an impact, especially with high detail settings.
Not to mention the main issue that while Crossfire may get you higher fps sometimes, it doesn't always work!

So yes, you're paying marginally less and getting sometimes better performance, but it's a much riskier way to get extra performance in many ways.
It relies on Crossfire working all the time and scaling well, which it, well, doesn't.
Two HD5750's CAN be the same speed as an HD5850, but that isn't always the case, hence people suggesting a single (slightly) more expensive card.

 

[Hey Zeus]

$20 cheaper based on Newegg prices (1GB HD5750 @ $135 x 2 vs $290 for a 1GB HD5850).
One would assume that you wouldn't buy 2x512MB HD5750's because the resolution you should be using will be high enough for 1GB to have an impact, especially with high detail settings.
Not to mention the main issue that while Crossfire may get you higher fps sometimes, it doesn't always work!

So yes, you're paying marginally less and getting sometimes better performance, but it's a much riskier way to get extra performance in many ways.
It relies on Crossfire working all the time and scaling well, which it, well, doesn't.
Two HD5750's CAN be the same speed as an HD5850, but that isn't always the case, hence people suggesting a single (slightly) more expensive card.

Shit newegg ended that combo with two XFX 5750's for 249.99. And for god's sake why use that resolution. You don't need X fire for that resolution. Use 1920X1200

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5750-review-crossfirex/13

 

[DrPizza]

Since I'm spending time in this forum, I may as well participate. But please forgive me - I know virtually nothing about video cards (but reading every single post in video cards for the next few weeks - I'll probably learn a lot fairly quickly; at least I hope so)

Wouldn't an advantage of one 5850 over two 5750's be that you could eventually "upgrade" by purchasing a second one and use crossfire with two 5850's?

 

[Hey Zeus]

Since I'm spending time in this forum, I may as well participate. But please forgive me - I know virtually nothing about video cards (but reading every single post in video cards for the next few weeks - I'll probably learn a lot fairly quickly; at least I hope so)

Wouldn't an advantage of one 5850 over two 5750's be that you could eventually "upgrade" by purchasing a second one and use crossfire with two 5850's?

"Eventually" is the key word. You don't really need two 5850's for anything besides benching. Shit i run BF2 at 1920X1200 with everything on high and AA enabled and i only have a pair of 9600gt's. Even the new Star Trek Universe runs flawless with this combo. I like the idea of having two cards.

 

[happy medium]

Since I'm spending time in this forum, I may as well participate. But please forgive me - I know virtually nothing about video cards (but reading every single post in video cards for the next few weeks - I'll probably learn a lot fairly quickly; at least I hope so)

Wouldn't an advantage of one 5850 over two 5750's be that you could eventually "upgrade" by purchasing a second one and use crossfire with two 5850's?

Sometimes this is a good idea,but sometimes by the time you really need 2 cards something new comes out. I guess thats not really a bad thing.

Example: I buy a 5850 last month. 5 months later Nvidia releases a killer gtx 360 card at a resonable price. Do you sell the 5850 (which might not still be preforming up to par?) and buy the gtx 360 or do you spend another 280$ and only slightly outperform a gtx 360.

It becomes a tough choice.

 

[T2k]

2 5770's for 310$ = a 5870 for 400$

5870 is waaay faster.

2 5750's for 250$ = a 5850 for 290$

5850 is waaay faster.

 

[edplayer]

5870 is waaay faster.

5850 is waaay faster.

Like twice as fast or three times as fast?

or even more?

 

[Hey Zeus]

5850 is waaay faster.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5750-review-crossfirex/13

Way faster mean post the same fps?

 

[T2k]

Since I'm spending time in this forum, I may as well participate. But please forgive me - I know virtually nothing about video cards (but reading every single post in video cards for the next few weeks - I'll probably learn a lot fairly quickly; at least I hope so)

Wouldn't an advantage of one 5850 over two 5750's be that you could eventually "upgrade" by purchasing a second one and use crossfire with two 5850's?

Absolutely, assuming you have the PSU to feed them, true 2nd x16 PCIe 2.0 slot on the mobo etc.
OTOH there are other reasons like physical diffs eg 5770 now sports custom coolers which might be rather a downside to water-based guys like me because while it's less noisy it dumps the heat inside the case as opposed to the reference cooler etc.

Kepp in mind you need 2x 5770 to get between a single 5850 and 5870 and you'll be still beaten by a 5850 time-by-time due to yoru 128-bit memory bus.