Wow, this thread kind of exploded while I finished my shift. Thanks for all the feedback!
What I meant is that yes, I'm willing to throw bang for the buck out of the window for performance. The thing is, the price gap between the 580 and the 6970 is so massive that I don't know what to do. In some games, the 6970 is right up there trading blows with the 580, whereas in others it's trailing behind the 570 and this bothers me greatly. I really appreciate the consistent performance of the 580, but the 6970's rollercoaster performance leads me to think that it's something that could drastically be improved with drivers.
Then again, it could not and I would be wasting my time.
I didn't mention anything about dual GPUs, it was my bad and sorry for overlooking that. After having tried both SLI and more recently, Crossfire, I've pretty much decided to avoid multiple-GPU setups. Micro-stuttering is the bane of my existence and I just cannot stand it. I would much rather play a game in a single GPU card at 45 FPS than play with a Crossfire or SLI setup at 60 but with micro stuttering.
This is the way I'm leaning right now. However, as much as I like to have the absolute best, there's always the very real possibility of more mature AMD drivers and I'd feel like an idiot for having spent $150 or so more than a 6970. D:
This is a very good point, and I've been considering it. The thing is, my previous experiences with multiple GPU setups have all been sour: yeah, FPS is great, but as soon as microstuttering kicks in I feel a single GPU solution with slightly lower FPS would be more enjoyable.
With that said, I've heard that AMD has vastly improved their Crossfire scaling with the 6000 series. I'm still worried about microstuttering ruining my experience though.
The really interesting thing is that I tend to favor AMD over NVIDIA when it comes to my video card purchases because all of my NVIDIA card purchases have been disasters (card arriving dead, driver conflicts with the games I currently want to play). To be fair, I don't really blame NVIDIA for this; it was probably bad luck on my part on the card that arrived dead, and me wanting to play Fallout 3 with the 190 drivers.
I've taken notice, but 2 things: 1) the relative performance also applies to minimum FPS, so even if 28% is not by any means an earth-shattering difference, the increase in minimum FPS might make particularly intensive segments in some games much more tolerable, and 2) Microstuttering.
You always seem to be the voice of reason in these forums when it comes to video cards. I appreciate that!
This card looks very nice, and more and more people keep recommending Crossifre or SLI setups. From a performance/price point of view, it seems like a pair of 6950s or 570s would be a very wise investment right now over a single 580 or 6970.
Still, the idea that microstuttering might creep in keeps bothering me.
What I meant is that yes, I'm willing to throw bang for the buck out of the window for performance. The thing is, the price gap between the 580 and the 6970 is so massive that I don't know what to do. In some games, the 6970 is right up there trading blows with the 580, whereas in others it's trailing behind the 570 and this bothers me greatly. I really appreciate the consistent performance of the 580, but the 6970's rollercoaster performance leads me to think that it's something that could drastically be improved with drivers.
Then again, it could not and I would be wasting my time.
I didn't mention anything about dual GPUs, it was my bad and sorry for overlooking that. After having tried both SLI and more recently, Crossfire, I've pretty much decided to avoid multiple-GPU setups. Micro-stuttering is the bane of my existence and I just cannot stand it. I would much rather play a game in a single GPU card at 45 FPS than play with a Crossfire or SLI setup at 60 but with micro stuttering.
This is the way I'm leaning right now. However, as much as I like to have the absolute best, there's always the very real possibility of more mature AMD drivers and I'd feel like an idiot for having spent $150 or so more than a 6970. D:
This is a very good point, and I've been considering it. The thing is, my previous experiences with multiple GPU setups have all been sour: yeah, FPS is great, but as soon as microstuttering kicks in I feel a single GPU solution with slightly lower FPS would be more enjoyable.
With that said, I've heard that AMD has vastly improved their Crossfire scaling with the 6000 series. I'm still worried about microstuttering ruining my experience though.
The really interesting thing is that I tend to favor AMD over NVIDIA when it comes to my video card purchases because all of my NVIDIA card purchases have been disasters (card arriving dead, driver conflicts with the games I currently want to play). To be fair, I don't really blame NVIDIA for this; it was probably bad luck on my part on the card that arrived dead, and me wanting to play Fallout 3 with the 190 drivers.
I've taken notice, but 2 things: 1) the relative performance also applies to minimum FPS, so even if 28% is not by any means an earth-shattering difference, the increase in minimum FPS might make particularly intensive segments in some games much more tolerable, and 2) Microstuttering.
You always seem to be the voice of reason in these forums when it comes to video cards. I appreciate that!
This card looks very nice, and more and more people keep recommending Crossifre or SLI setups. From a performance/price point of view, it seems like a pair of 6950s or 570s would be a very wise investment right now over a single 580 or 6970.
Still, the idea that microstuttering might creep in keeps bothering me.
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