Quick Question: For BF3 (1920x1200 res): Can buy ATI 6970 / nVidia 570 for same price

[hellfire88]

I have a 5770 that I'm looking to upgrade, mainly for BF3. I play at 1920x1200 and would like to try it at Ultra settings and maybe 2x or 4x AA. The rest of my rig is pretty decent (Core i5-2500K, 8GB RAM) and have the opportunity to buy a used Galaxy 570 1.28GB or Sapphire 6970 2GB for the same price.

Which one would you guys choose? I'm worried that the 1.28GB on the nVidia 570 will hinder it for future games since newer games seem to use more than 1GB VRAM.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Barfo]

yes.

 

[Termie]

The 6970 is probably the better investment.

 

[hellfire88]

The 6970 is probably the better investment.

Thanks for the feedback. Since both cards perform about the same, I guess it comes down to brand and warranty service. I hear Sapphire is pretty bad with warranty service since they "contract" their RMA process to some company called "Althon" which I've heard charges admin fees for RMA service?

Then again, i heard Galaxy isn't that great neither for Warranty/RMA service. Dang, hard decision here 🙁

 

[Termie]

Thanks for the feedback. Since both cards perform about the same, I guess it comes down to brand and warranty service. I hear Sapphire is pretty bad with warranty service since they "contract" their RMA process to some company called "Althon" which I've heard charges admin fees for RMA service?

Then again, i heard Galaxy isn't that great neither for Warranty/RMA service. Dang, hard decision here 🙁

I haven't looked into all of that (although I actually own a Sapphire card). I was thinking more along the lines of the slightly better performance of the 6970 is some games, as well as the greater amount of VRAM. But both cards are very strong.

 

[cmdrdredd]

It is worth noting that on day one nvidia is better about drivers. Then amd catches up. Alao for msaa nvidia is superior for whatever reason. I have found that in crysis 2 my vram usage is 1.8GB in crysis 2 with dx11 and high res textures so that is somethingto consider.

Aside from msaa issues with the amd cards, the gtx 570 and hd6970 are very close. I almost bought a 570 but opted for a 6950 unlocked for about $100 less and i am happy, gonna get a 2nd one for crossfire though.

I would say the 6970 is the better buy only because of the extra memory. Newer games will only use more and more really.

 

[hellfire88]

Thanks for all the input guys. the Sapphire 6970 guy is willing to drop his price a bit so guess I'll go with that one by default 🙂. Now I just hope my Antec Neo Eco 620w (yea this is a budget gamer) can handle my Core i5-2500k, 2 HDDs, 1 ODD, 4 fans, and now this ATI 6970.

 

[lehtv]

I'd recommend Sapphire 6950 2GB instead, it has a high rate of success for unlocking and overclocking to a 6970. If you've got more cash to spend, 6950 crossfire would give you 60fps smooth on Ultra, provided your PSU and mobo are compatible.

 

[toyota]

on Ultra settings the gtx570 beats the 6970. heck even at 2560x1600 with Ultra settings and 4x AA, the 1.25 of vram on the gtx570 is not an issue as it still beats the 6970 there too.



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[rothchilds]

The 570 wins on ultra with MSAA turned on, as stated in an earlier post. Also note though, that graph is from a single player test run. No one runs ultra with MSAA at 1920 resolutions on 64 player maps without an sli or xfire solution. Besides MSAA gives a huge performance hit for little visual quality increase, so I dont see the value in it. I think both are great cards, that will run ultra with MSAA off no problem. I went with a 6970 for the 2gb vram, since the numbers were so similar, and the price was better.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

the 570 is the better option specifically for BF3, however the 6970 is probably the better investment as it obviously won't be as vram limited for the future.

personally I don't care for any single GPU's performance in BF3 with Ultra settings @ 1080p (I hate having my minimum framerate dip below 60), so I would lower the settings regardless of it being a 6970 or a 570 and thats where performance begins to equalize between the two, so it makes choosing the 6970 even easier for me in this instance. But that's just me, everyone has their own preferences.

 

[toyota]

The 570 wins on ultra with MSAA turned on, as stated in an earlier post. Also note though, that graph is from a single player test run. No one runs ultra with MSAA at 1920 resolutions on 64 player maps without an sli or xfire solution. Besides MSAA gives a huge performance hit for little visual quality increase, so I dont see the value in it. I think both are great cards, that will run ultra with MSAA off no problem. I went with a 6970 for the 2gb vram, since the numbers were so similar, and the price was better.

it also wins on Ultra with no AA. either way, the op was wanting to use AA which gives the 570 an even bigger lead. he was worried about 1.25 gb of vram but as you can see its not an issue even at 2560. so based on what the op asked about, the gtx570 is clearly better in BF3.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The 570 wins on ultra with MSAA turned on, as stated in an earlier post. Also note though, that graph is from a single player test run. No one runs ultra with MSAA at 1920 resolutions on 64 player maps without an sli or xfire solution. Besides MSAA gives a huge performance hit for little visual quality increase, so I dont see the value in it. I think both are great cards, that will run ultra with MSAA off no problem. I went with a 6970 for the 2gb vram, since the numbers were so similar, and the price was better.

Exactly. I said before the GTX 570 is better with MSAA. For whatever reason. Hardware? Drivers? I don't know...

However, what you said is 100% true. You won't be running MSAA in MP and if you turn off MSAA the gap is significantly narrower if not equal. You can still have Ultra without MSAA. Too many people are marrying Ultra to MSAA as if you cannot turn of MSAA if you use Ultra terraign, shaders, objects etc. It's a bit misleading because the preset is not the only way to go.

I have seen over 1.5GB usage in Battlefield 3 as well. I don't know what it's doing with the memory, but even the DICE devs have stated the game will use extra memory so they recommend 1.5-2GB if you are running ultra and AA. Whether or not it's faster or slower is not the whole story as some people have suggested it's loading more textures and objects in the distance when more VRAM is available.

My point is, the performance is close...very close if not equal. There's more to PC gaming than BF3 too, best to look at other benchmarks too.

the 570 is the better option specifically for BF3, however the 6970 is probably the better investment as it obviously won't be as vram limited for the future.

personally I don't care for any single GPU's performance in BF3 with Ultra settings @ 1080p (I hate having my minimum framerate dip below 60), so I would lower the settings regardless of it being a 6970 or a 570 and thats where performance begins to equalize between the two, so it makes choosing the 6970 even easier for me in this instance. But that's just me, everyone has their own preferences.

I agree with this too. For MP I can play on Ultra, but I dropped down to High and the difference in visuals was there but it was a better experience overall. Felt a lot better during tense firefights and things. Definitely gonna do Xfire for my system around christmas, unless I can pickup a 28nm part by then which I doubt highly.

 

[toyota]

AGAIN even without AA, the gtx570 is FASTER on Ultra settings. and also AGAIN, the op wants to use AA. so no matter what, the gtx570 is the faster card on Ultra and if he uses AA, then it significantly extends its lead.

 

[cmdrdredd]

AGAIN even without AA, the gtx570 is FASTER on Ultra settings. and also AGAIN, the op wants to use AA. so no matter what, the gtx570 is the faster card on Ultra and if he uses AA, then it significantly extends its lead.

Yo, I wanted to use AA too until I found out how much the FPS tanked when running it on any single GPU setup. Yeah the numbers look like maybe you can run it, but not one benchmark out there is done in MP matches which would tank the FPS even harder.

Further those graphs leave out crossfire configs where the 6970 is getting near 100% scaling.

 

[toyota]

Yo, I wanted to use AA too until I found out how much the FPS tanked when running it on any single GPU setup. Yeah the numbers look like maybe you can run it, but not one benchmark out there is done in MP matches which would tank the FPS even harder.

well use some common sense here though. the gtx570 is over 30% faster with 4x AA on but is probably borderline for some people so that means the 6970 stands no chance. he could probably lower it to 2x and have it be perfectly playable on the gtx570 where the 6970 would still be too slow. if he decides on no AA at all then the gtx570 is STILL the faster card.

the op asked which one was better for Ultra settings and the answer is the gtx570 no matter what. why some of you try and make this so difficult is beyond me.

 

[cmdrdredd]

well use some common sense here though. the gtx570 is over 30% faster with 4x AA on but is probably borderline for some people so that means the 6970 stands no chance. he could probably lower it to 2x and have it be perfectly playable on the gtx570 where the 6970 would still be too slow. if he decides on no AA at all then the gtx570 is STILL the faster card.

the op asked which one was better for Ultra settings and the answer is the gtx570 no matter what. why some of you try and make this so difficult is beyond me.

Simply because you are quoting benchmarks from SP only, talking about SP performance only and saying "see you can run MSAA and it's playable". Then the dude goes online and is like "ok what the hell, you all said it would be playable with MSAA." lol

See I'm just clarifying things. BF3 online is a whole different ballgame and both are fine as long as you don't have any MSAA.

I never disagreed with you, I just want to be clear that the online part of BF3 is not going to run the same as the benchmark graphs on the net.

 

[toyota]

Simply because you are quoting benchmarks from SP only, talking about SP performance only and saying "see you can run MSAA and it's playable". Then the dude goes online and is like "ok what the hell, you all said it would be playable with MSAA." lol

See I'm just clarifying things. BF3 online is a whole different ballgame and both are fine as long as you don't have any MSAA.

I am just saying that on Ultra, with or without AA, the gtx570 is faster. if he does decide to use any AA then the gtx570 is even faster. based on what he asked, the gtx570 is the card he should probably get.

 

[hellfire88]

Thanks very much for the latest batch of comments/advice. Yes I've seen those 2 sets of charts too and thought they were for Multiplayer. But if they were for Single-player, then yes I agree with you guys that the FPS in MP would be even less than in the charts.

Therefore, in MP I guess @ 1920x1200 with Ultra + 2x MSAA is wishful thinking then. At this point I think either card would be a huge improvement for me over the 5770 I have, and I'll just run MP at Ultra @ 1920x1200 no MSAA and hope it looks great while maintaining 40+ FPS.

I just ended up buying the 6970 as the seller was nice enough to come drop it off at my workplace so I get instant gratification tonight. Just hoping my Antec Neo Eco 620W PSU can handle this. Man this card is a beast!

 

[cmdrdredd]

and I am saying that on Ultra, the gtx570 is faster no matter what. if he does decide to use any AA then the gtx570 is even faster. based on what he asked, the gtx570 is the card he should get.

I said that to begin with...then you came in here acting like we're stupid for mentioning the 6970 at all. It seems the OP bought a 6970 for a bit less money. Should be happy with it. Even better if there's some deals on 6970s after the new cards release and crossfire them.

 

[toyota]

I said that to begin with...then you came in here acting like we're stupid for mentioning the 6970 at all

not one other person is saying the gtx570 is faster except with AA so I had to show that it was faster on Ultra even without it.

 

[hellfire88]

I am just saying that on Ultra, with or without AA, the gtx570 is faster. if he does decide to use any AA then the gtx570 is even faster. based on what he asked, the gtx570 is the card he should probably get.

Thanks I appreciate your advice. For BF3 the 570 seems faster base don specs. Just that I got a better deal on the 6970 (the seller lowered the price more to make me buy it over the 570 lol) and perhaps for other future games the 6970 may be better with the 2GB VRAM so I just bought the 6970. Thanks again for your advice!

 

[toyota]

Thanks very much for the latest batch of comments/advice. Yes I've seen those 2 sets of charts too and thought they were for Multiplayer. But if they were for Single-player, then yes I agree with you guys that the FPS in MP would be even less than in the charts.

Therefore, in MP I guess @ 1920x1200 with Ultra + 2x MSAA is wishful thinking then. At this point I think either card would be a huge improvement for me over the 5770 I have, and I'll just run MP at Ultra @ 1920x1200 no MSAA and hope it looks great while maintaining 40+ FPS.

I just ended up buying the 6970 as the seller was nice enough to come drop it off at my workplace so I get instant gratification tonight. Just hoping my Antec Neo Eco 620W PSU can handle this. Man this card is a beast!

yeah just forget about AA on the 6970 and you will be alright. and your power supply is just fine for your setup.

 

[hellfire88]

Loving the new card thus far. BF3 at 1920x1200 all Ultra (no MSAA) looks way better than what I was running before (medium) on my 5770. I get about 45-70 FPS on a 48 player+ server. The Sapphire 6970 (reference card) idles at 40-50deg C and under loads gets to 77deg C or so. I hope those temps are OK.

Thanks again all for your advice!

 

[cmdrdredd]

That's alright. I have the Dirt 3 6950 and it has a heatpipe heatsink with dual fans and is about the same as you. Idle around 40c load up to 75c.