Any reason to upgrade

[james1701]

I am still running 2 5870's on a Dell U3011. It plays everything pretty good except BF3 25x16. I want to upgrade to a single card. Since that card is getting long in the tooth now, most benchmarks don't include it now. But it looks like from what I can piece together I might get a 20% boost in performance with a single 7970 or 680.

Am I better off waiting for the next generation of cards to come out, or would it be worth it to upgrade now?

 

[Zachboy]

Well, if you don't mind the cost of one - why not? 20% could mean the difference between a almost "slide-show" to a smooth and silky game-play.

​

 

[lehtv]

First off, neither 7970 or 680 is worth it compared to 7950 or 670. And if you want more than a marginal upgrade over 5870 CF, no single GPU will do it, you'll have to to 670 SLI / 7950 CF or wait for next gen.

5870 CF vs GTX 580: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/300?vs=305
GTX 670 vs GTX 580: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/598?vs=517

Really not much difference there.

5850 CF could be sold for around $200. GTX 670 SLI would cost $640 net and improve framerates by ~100%. 7950 CF would be a bit less expensive.

 

[Termie]

I upgraded from OC'd 5850CF to a 670 and you can read about my experience here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2245778

While it is slightly smoother for BF3, I don't run at your resolution, and my opinion is that it is not enough of an upgrade to get you over the hump if you're actually having serious problems.

And by the way, a 7970 will be slower than your cards in BF3. A definite downgrade.

Honestly, a better solution would be to make sure you run with MSAA off and reduce textures to high or medium.

 

[james1701]

First off, neither 7970 or 680 is worth it compared to 7950 or 670. And if you want more than a marginal upgrade over 5870 CF, no single GPU will do it, you'll have to to 670 SLI / 7950 CF or wait for next gen.

5870 CF vs GTX 580: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/300?vs=305
GTX 670 vs GTX 580: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/598?vs=517

Really not much difference there.

5850 CF could be sold for around $200. GTX 670 SLI would cost $640 net and improve framerates by ~100%. 7950 CF would be a bit less expensive.

Whats up with the 580 results between the two benchmarks?

 

[AtenRa]

I am still running 2 5870's on a Dell U3011. It plays everything pretty good except BF3 25x16. I want to upgrade to a single card. Since that card is getting long in the tooth now, most benchmarks don't include it now. But it looks like from what I can piece together I might get a 20% boost in performance with a single 7970 or 680.

Am I better off waiting for the next generation of cards to come out, or would it be worth it to upgrade now?

Have you OC your Intel 980X or is it on default ?? If you haven't OC it then i suggest you OC to 4GHz at the minimum.

If you have it OC then i believe a single GTX680 will be enough to produce 60fps at 2650x1600 with Ultra settings(no MSAA).

 

[lehtv]

Whats up with the 580 results between the two benchmarks?

5870 Crossfire isn't in the 2012 GPU charts so I had to use 580 as a reference point. Or do you mean something is off in the 580 results? I don't see it

 

[rickon66]

I'd wait, not rnough of an increase

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Unless you need the latest and greatest or heat/power concerns are nagging at you, this generation is a joke.

 

[Homeles]

Unless you need the latest and greatest or heat/power concerns are nagging at you, this generation is a joke.

Pretty much.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Unless you need the latest and greatest or heat/power concerns are nagging at you, this generation is a joke.

Though the heat heat/power consumption is a nice addition to these brand new generation of cards I agree they are nothing to write home about when any of good older gen cars are still playing all the games just fine. Heat and power consumption are darn near arbitrary when the first and foremost concern of a dedicated gaming GPU is how well it plays the games. I would like a slightly warmer card and save a few bucks in the process rather than pay stupid amounts on a card that runs cooler LOL.

 

[xp0c]

Sell the 5870's while they are still worth something. Get a single 670 and have same or better performance.
Less heat, and less of a power bill.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Sell the 5870's while they are still worth something. Get a single 670 and have same or better performance.
Less heat, and less of a power bill.

I think IMHO for OP it would be more of a hassle trying to sell his two 5870 than it would be worth for what is essentially a performance side grade that will still cost him more money on top of what ever he gets for his used 5870s.

 

[james1701]

Yeah, I would not sell them, I would replace the 5770's in my sons rig. I think I at best its a side grade for the most part.

Is anyone putting out anything new this fall?

 

[Zachboy]

Forget what I said. It's entirely up to you; the others' have more experience than me in these areas - so listen to them.