Equivalent single card to 2x 5850s?

[Arachnotronic]

Hi,

A buddy of mine has 2x 5850s, but he's not happy with the micro-stutter/compatibility problems. We're going to sell the 5850s and replace it with a single card.

What are my choices for a card in that ballpark of performance? (AMD or Nvidia is fine)

 

[Durvelle27]

HD 7950 or GTX 670 would be nice upgrades over his current setup

 

[Zanovar]

Hi,

A buddy of mine has 2x 5850s, but he's not happy with the micro-stutter/compatibility problems. We're going to sell the 5850s and replace it with a single card.

What are my choices for a card in that ballpark of performance? (AMD or Nvidia is fine)

Im curious looking at your rig.couldnt you have given him this information yourself?,well if you cant what the above poster says i guess.

 

[Termie]

A 660ti is equivalent. A stock 7950 is a bit faster.

 

[Eureka]

GTX 670 or 7970 would be an actual good bump from the two. 660Ti or 7950 would both be sidegrades.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

GTX 670 or 7970 would be an actual good bump from the two. 660Ti or 7950 would both be sidegrades.

Any single GPU setup is an upgrade from a multi-gpu setup.

 

[Pedroc1999]

Just to joke with the above post ^^

What if you went from dual GTX690 to single x8xx series

But yeah dual cards can be problematic but they can work

 

[Eureka]

Any single GPU setup is an upgrade from a multi-gpu setup.

Not necessarily. A 7770 wouldn't be a real upgrade from a multi-gpu setup.

You can bring up the whole compatibility/drivers/support/microstutter issue, but that's overhead, not actual performance. Because if you can get enough frame rates on a dual-gpu to use a frame limiter, you solve a lot of problems. However, if you can't get enough frames on a single GPU, you didn't solve any problem.

You can get cards that will perform the same with less problems. It's not really an upgrade. It's a side grade with a QOL benefit. When you get into single GPUs that perform measurably better in processing power alone, that's a real upgrade.

 

[Zanovar]

Just to joke with the above post ^^

What if you went from dual GTX690 to single x8xx series

But yeah dual cards can be problematic but they can work

iach y da Pedroc

 

[Pedroc1999]

Say What?

 

[Zanovar]

Say What?

hahahah,nvm.

 

[Elcs]

I have moved from 2 x HD6870's to a single HD7950 and I have found it to be a nice upgrade all round.

I know that 2 x 5850's is a different prospect but I would think a single 7950 would be a decent move, especially when using the funds from the older 5850's.

 

[Zanovar]

Say What?

dych yn siarad cymraeg ?pedroc?,sorry ill stop im bored:S

 

[Pedroc1999]

I do live in Wales, the south. They teach in schools but dont speak much outside. I fought it was Welsh, the letters are very commen in Welsh

 

[Zanovar]

I do live in Wales, the south. They teach in schools but dont speak much outside. I fought it was Welsh, the letters are very commen in Welsh

ya its welsh,i was bored as i said.n wales me where that shite is force fed:S.a dying lang.

 

[Pedroc1999]

It wont die... Not untill those blinking teachers shut up!

 

[Zanovar]

Anyways back ot 670/7950 based on warranty and cooolers etc.and price!

 

[Pedroc1999]

670 is more expensive, but a bit better. Can u strech to 7970?

 

[Arachnotronic]

670 is more expensive, but a bit better. Can u strech to 7970?

I'm thinking GTX 670 is the way we're going here. Thanks!

 

[wand3r3r]

The 7950 (certain ones like Twin Frozr etc.) will generally overclock better then the 670.

 

[Pedroc1999]

AMD, for as far as I can remember... Has always managed to overclock their way out of troubles . Generally AMD users can overclock past equivalent nVidea/Intel products.

 

[KingFatty]

Is there any resource, such as a list of games, that shows where there are compatibility issues with 5850 crossfire? For example, is there a way to know which games, including older games, just aren't compatible with crossfire's boost in performance and can only use one of the cards?

Seeing such a list might help someone accept a "side-grade" switch to a single card (e.g., moving to something like a 7870/7950, assuming that is about equal raw power), because the single card would provide the full power performance to all games, instead of just those compatible with crossfire.

Or is such a list non-existent because crossfire works with everything?

 

[Zanovar]

Is there any resource, such as a list of games, that shows where there are compatibility issues with 5850 crossfire? For example, is there a way to know which games, including older games, just aren't compatible with crossfire's boost in performance and can only use one of the cards?

Seeing such a list might help someone accept a "side-grade" switch to a single card (e.g., moving to something like a 7870/7950, assuming that is about equal raw power), because the single card would provide the full power performance to all games, instead of just those compatible with crossfire.

Or is such a list non-existent because crossfire works with everything?

I think Termie made a good list when he was upgrading from 2x5850s to 670,if i remember righly it was close,Just read your post again,i see your point...crossfires might chime in(the brave and silly souls they are)

 

[aaksheytalwar]

A stock 7950 is about as fast with 80-100% scaling. An oced 7970 is significantly faster than 80%+ scaling. And the gap is even more with extreme Tess and or extreme AA and or extreme settings with minimum fps.

 

[Termie]

Is there any resource, such as a list of games, that shows where there are compatibility issues with 5850 crossfire? For example, is there a way to know which games, including older games, just aren't compatible with crossfire's boost in performance and can only use one of the cards?

Seeing such a list might help someone accept a "side-grade" switch to a single card (e.g., moving to something like a 7870/7950, assuming that is about equal raw power), because the single card would provide the full power performance to all games, instead of just those compatible with crossfire.

Or is such a list non-existent because crossfire works with everything?

I haven't seen such a list, but I know that certain games did not work well initially with 5850 crossfire, such as Batman: AC and Skyrim. The drivers may or may not have been fixed for those games - they were for newer crossfire sets (like 2x7950), as far as I know. The best place for test results in new games with an older Crossfire system (the 5970) is Guru3d, which often tests the 5970 (equivalent to 5850 crossfire, BTW) in its new game tests, like Far Cry 3: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/far_cry_3_graphics_performance_review_benchmark,6.html. Some of you might be surprised to see it beating a 7970. Me, not so much...

I think Termie made a good list when he was upgrading from 2x5850s to 670,if i remember righly it was close,Just read your post again,i see your point...crossfires might chime in(the brave and silly souls they are)

Indeed, I did: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2245778

I ran benchmarks for 3dMark11, Heaven, Borderlands, Dragon Age II, Metro 2033, and BF3.

The truth is that I never personally experienced any problems with 5850 Crossfire scaling, and compared to the 7950/7970/670/680, a 2x5850 system was initially very competitive or faster. With newer driver releases helping the current cards more than older cards, that conclusion would likely no longer hold. While my 670 actually lost to my 5850 Crossfire in half of the games I tested, I bet that the results would be different today. With that and newer games really pushing DX11 features like tesselation (Batman, Hitman) or pushing VRAM limits (BF3, Skyrim), a card at the $300 price point is probably a legitimate upgrade from 5850 Crossfire, but not a huge one.