How would two 4870x2 in crossfire perform compared to say a 6950/6970? There is a deal to pick up two of these for about $300 and am wondering if I should consider these older cards. Two things to keep in mind I guess are power requirements and directx11. Thoughts? I think I'd have to upgrade my Seasonic x-650 supply...
4870x2 crossfire?
- Thread starter houe
- Start date
TakeNoPrisoners
Platinum Member
- Jun 3, 2011
- 2,599
- 1
- 81
Upsides:
4 way crossfire has very little microstutter
Fast in old games
Downsides:
Crossfire profiles may not be updated so you get poor scaling
4 way crossfire returns little benefit over 2 way crossfire in 48xx series
Power hungry
Lots of Heat
No DX 11, DX 10.1 at best
Only 1GB of VRAM so resolutions over 1080p will be slower
At the very very best you get something like 5970 performance in theory. Lots of driver issues make it far less desireable.
4 way crossfire has very little microstutter
Fast in old games
Downsides:
Crossfire profiles may not be updated so you get poor scaling
4 way crossfire returns little benefit over 2 way crossfire in 48xx series
Power hungry
Lots of Heat
No DX 11, DX 10.1 at best
Only 1GB of VRAM so resolutions over 1080p will be slower
At the very very best you get something like 5970 performance in theory. Lots of driver issues make it far less desireable.
Asus p6t, 6gb ram, i7-930, crucial m4 128GB ssd, seasonic x-650, 3 - 24" LCD 1920x1200
lehtv
Elite Member
- Dec 8, 2010
- 11,897
- 74
- 91
I can't even begin to imagine the horror of two 4870X2 coolers... I've had one, and it wasn't pretty.
@ OP
Waste of money. Old tech, noisy, hot, bulky as hell. And imagine the power consumption...do you even have a PSU that can handle these things? A single 6950 2GB will have twice the memory and perform well up to today's standards at less the price. Not to mention DX11, MUCH less power/heat/noise, new so you get warranty on them, etc. etc. There's only one right choice here.
@ OP
Waste of money. Old tech, noisy, hot, bulky as hell. And imagine the power consumption...do you even have a PSU that can handle these things? A single 6950 2GB will have twice the memory and perform well up to today's standards at less the price. Not to mention DX11, MUCH less power/heat/noise, new so you get warranty on them, etc. etc. There's only one right choice here.
Last edited:
lehtv
Elite Member
- Dec 8, 2010
- 11,897
- 74
- 91
Why is that? Just to power a couple of overrated jet engines? Do yourself a favor - don't waste money on stuff you don't need.
notty22
Diamond Member
- Jan 1, 2010
- 3,375
- 0
- 0
Those cards are power hogs. They have very little power saving features in hardware.
So at idle, your rig will be inefficient compared to the 5 or 6 AMD series.
Here you can see, 1 - 4870x2 used the same power as 5870 crossfire under game load and 40 more watts at idle. And thats just 1 4870x2.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2841/26
Get 1 6950, it will be a huge upgrade to what you have now.
So at idle, your rig will be inefficient compared to the 5 or 6 AMD series.
Here you can see, 1 - 4870x2 used the same power as 5870 crossfire under game load and 40 more watts at idle. And thats just 1 4870x2.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2841/26
Get 1 6950, it will be a huge upgrade to what you have now.
toyota
Lifer
- Apr 15, 2001
- 12,957
- 1
- 0
good goobly goo. I guess gaming has not been much of a concern for you. I say just grab a 6950 2gb. that will be way less headache than dealing with 4 gpus. plus you will not have to buy another power supply.geforce 7600GS
GotNoRice
Senior member
- Aug 14, 2000
- 329
- 5
- 81
Not sure what would give you that idea. The latest CAP files certainly do apply to 2x 4870x2 crossfire and they continue to support Crossfire in new games.
That is simply not the case. 48xx series scales fine all the way up to 4 GPUs. In Bad Company 2 I regularly see all 4 GPUs at 95%+ usage and my FPS rarely falls below 100. Even games like World of Warcraft can push all 4 GPUs to 90%+ at times.
Yes, that's true.
This is true, but what is also true is that DirectX11 was designed to run on DirectX10 and 10.1 hardware without issue. DirectX11 is a super-set of DirectX10.1 and compatibility is as simple as shedding the features that are not supported. With DX10.1 in a DX11 game, you're not missing much - mainly just Tessellation.
1GB is good for more than 1080p unless you really crank the AA. 2GB shows the most benefit at eyefinity resolutions.
There really aren't many driver issues. I use the latest drivers and the latest CAP and every game I have works fine.
As far as performance is concerned, we're certainly talking about much more than a 6970 has to offer. This is my latest Vantage score. A 6970 will get a GPU score of what, 20-22k?
Last edited:
I have a Seasonic X-650. I was answering your question if I have a power supply that could run two of these cards. The answer to that is no I don't.
The 7600GS is a place holder as I just got rid of my 8800gts 512mb card. I won't play any games until I get my upgrade.
toyota
Lifer
- Apr 15, 2001
- 12,957
- 1
- 0
well I think you would be crazy to fool with one 4870x2 never mind two of them. 600 watts just for running gpus is ridiculous. a single 6980 2gb will only use a little over 1/4 as much power as a 4870x2 crossfire setup and give a more consistent experience.
I should mention I live in North Dakota so the added heat is not necessarily a bad thing during the winter months upon us.
HD4870X2's are great cards. However it is a little late in the game to get one. I love mine, definately a beast in every way you can mean it. If you can get your hands on one for an absolute steal, then get it. Otherwise, Get something newer and more efficient.
ps. I do suggest you look into microstutter. These cards do exhibit this trait and if you are prone to "see" this sort of thing it will drive you nuts. I see it and it drives me nuts
EDIT
I didn't read the OP carefully enough. I would not pay $300 for 2. Especially not since you'll need a new PSU too. If anything try to snag 1 for $130, this will be an excellent bang for the buck. If you can't do that then just look into something else. A GTX 560 ti would be nice or maybe try to find a used GTX 480 in the fs/ft section. They consistently sell for $200 and are a bargain at that price.
ps. I do suggest you look into microstutter. These cards do exhibit this trait and if you are prone to "see" this sort of thing it will drive you nuts. I see it and it drives me nuts
EDIT
I didn't read the OP carefully enough. I would not pay $300 for 2. Especially not since you'll need a new PSU too. If anything try to snag 1 for $130, this will be an excellent bang for the buck. If you can't do that then just look into something else. A GTX 560 ti would be nice or maybe try to find a used GTX 480 in the fs/ft section. They consistently sell for $200 and are a bargain at that price.
Last edited:
lehtv
Elite Member
- Dec 8, 2010
- 11,897
- 74
- 91
I would not pay that for a 4870X2. A GTX560 non-ti can be had for $165 and it will be faster, new, DX11, cool, quiet, have much less power draw, no micro stutter, less variation between minimum and average fps, no issues with game-specific dual-GPU support.
For a 4870X2 I'd pay max $50.
lehtv
Elite Member
- Dec 8, 2010
- 11,897
- 74
- 91
Why should I consider what the "realistic price" for a product is? If a product is not available at a price that I consider fitting, I won't buy it.
Last edited:
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 22K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
News NVIDIA and Intel to Develop AI Infrastructure and Personal Computing Products- Started by poke01
- Replies: 411
-
Facebook
Twitter