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Sapphire HD 5970 4GB Toxic or GTX 480 Fermi in SLI?

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GameHawk said:
Hello all,

I'm building a new gaming rig and I've narrowed the choices for GPU down to two options:

Sapphire HD 5970 4GB Toxic

OR

two GTX 480 Fermis in SLI

Games that I play: Arma2, Crysis series, Crysis 2 (when it comes out)

Here's my rig so far:

Mobo: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
CPU: Intel Core i7 960 3.2GHz
RAM: 3 X 2GB G.Skill Trident 2000MHz
PSU: Corsair Pro Series 1200W

Which setup offers better performance??

Thanks
Click to expand...

Personally, I would go 460SLI as I would be concerned with power draw and heat!
 
-given the options today ,I would say get the 480 sli and watercool.
-not overkill for arma2 lol @1920-on high ,just don,t use the very high, lol
-or wait.
 
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happy medium said:
I would go for 2 Evga gtx 470's in sli for $280 after rebate each.
For $600 or $580 AR, these cards will perform just as good @1900x1080,and the extra 280mb of memory is nice. Save yourself 3/400$ and get 90% of the performance at that res.. Don't forget they overclock well also.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3836/msis-geforce-n470gtx-gtx-470-sli/4


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-550-_-Product
Click to expand...

those cards in sli or a 5970 could actually run into some scenarios where the extra ram comes in handy. however, the 4gb toxic 5970 has 2gb per gpu, so it's got 768mb MORE than the gtx 470 sli.

my point was that any of those are overkill at that res, anyway. OP needs to get a nice 30" monitor first imho.
 
At your resolution either one of those solutions is overkill. Get a single 5870/480 and if you still want more performance you could always add another in SLI/CF.
 
Go wtih nVidia, but I can tell you that the ATI 5970 will eat 480 SLI for lunch. Ive seen benchmarks and read a lot of reviews and my friend has one. Im a framerate whore and if you are too, the 5970 will dish out more frames per second. SLI doesnt mean doubling performance,, you only gain 6 thousand or 8 thousand more point in vantage. SLI is not a good choice in this economy and messed up 480 taking up 335watts while 5970 will fit right in and you dont have to hear 2 video card fans, just one.......

480 SLI will be a mistake,, LOUD and power hungry 335watts , plus loses to 5970 in all benchmarks Ive seen. Thank you and God bless,

these are only my opinions and you are to take it with a grain of salt. Thanks,

Armen Abcarians

I love nVidia but fact is almost a year ago they brought a card in dual gpu one board 5970 that is the card to get if you have 600 or 700 dollars. You will end up spending more to go 480 SLI and give out almost 650 watts of power. No need for that go with ATI 5970 its got the dual GPU on the PCB no SLIing nonsense plus you spend more,,, if you go with 480 SLI. While the 5970 pownz which is why no one has it. Or use up 200 watts for a 5970 ,, 2x 480 .. 335watts each. All this power hungry crapola when we are in a energy savings crysis.

Look at the benchmarks and youll know 5970 pownz you and me and everyone.
SOon theyll be coming out fiwht 6xxx series,, whats nVidia doing suckin on their thumb.
lol
 
tweakboy said:
Go wtih nVidia, but I can tell you that the ATI 5970 will eat 480 SLI for lunch. Ive seen benchmarks and read a lot of reviews and my friend has one. Im a framerate whore and if you are too, the 5970 will dish out more frames per second. SLI doesnt mean doubling performance,, you only gain 6 thousand or 8 thousand more point in vantage. SLI is not a good choice in this economy and messed up 480 taking up 335watts while 5970 will fit right in and you dont have to hear 2 video card fans, just one.......

480 SLI will be a mistake,, LOUD and power hungry 335watts , plus loses to 5970 in all benchmarks Ive seen. Thank you and God bless,

these are only my opinions and you are to take it with a grain of salt. Thanks,

Armen Abcarians

I love nVidia but fact is almost a year ago they brought a card in dual gpu one board 5970 that is the card to get if you have 600 or 700 dollars. You will end up spending more to go 480 SLI and give out almost 650 watts of power. No need for that go with ATI 5970 its got the dual GPU on the PCB no SLIing nonsense plus you spend more,,, if you go with 480 SLI. While the 5970 pownz which is why no one has it. Or use up 200 watts for a 5970 ,, 2x 480 .. 335watts each. All this power hungry crapola when we are in a energy savings crysis.

Look at the benchmarks and youll know 5970 pownz you and me and everyone.
SOon theyll be coming out fiwht 6xxx series,, whats nVidia doing suckin on their thumb.
lol
Click to expand...

As much as I enjoyed that post, I must say that a 5970 is not faster than 480 SLI.

There is one good point in there though. ATI is releasing their new generation in November, now might not be the best time to buy two of the top end cards, and it looks like the op wants to get into owning the best going per the two choices he listed.

Also if you are set on buying now, try just getting one 480 and see if you find situations where it is not enough, if you find some, then get another.
 
Neither. At that res you couldn't tell the difference between SLI 460s and 480s. I play using xfire 5850s, comparable to 460 SLI (a little faster), and they crush any game I want to play. Save the extra cash or get a Sandforce SSD.
 
Grooveriding said:
As much as I enjoyed that post, I must say that a 5970 is not faster than 480 SLI.
Click to expand...

This isn't just "a 5970," this is a 4GB 5970 factory OC'd at 900mhz GPUs & 1200mhz memory. These things have been seen running near the 1000mhz GPU clock speed level. They also use a better quality bridge chip than standard HD 5970s.
 
The Toxic 5970 and the pair of GTX 480s are overkill for your resolution. You do not need that much power.

I'll go even further and suggest a single HD5870 or GTX480 instead, but my opinion is very biased as I'm not a huge fan of multi GPU setups. I find they are like some prescriptions drugs in that they will more often than not deliver, but side effects might include: rollercoaster SLI/Crossfire scaling, microstuttering, game-specific problems, microstuttering, driver-related problems, and microstuttering.

If you still want to go with your dual GPU setup, there's already plenty of awesome advice in this thread. Whatever the case, good luck with your choice.
 
Dark Shroud said:
This isn't just "a 5970," this is a 4GB 5970 factory OC'd at 900mhz GPUs & 1200mhz memory. These things have been seen running near the 1000mhz GPU clock speed level. They also use a better quality bridge chip than standard HD 5970s.
Click to expand...

Yeah for sure it's a nice card, I see the overclocks. It's still a waste at that price, stock 480 SLI will still be faster as well before it even gets overclocked.
 
The GTX 480 SLI will be faster overall, but at such resolution, its gonna be too hard to pinpoint a difference between the GTX 480 SLI and the HD 5970 Toxic, and its known as resolution increases, the gap closes even more. So I think that a single GTX 480 is more than enough.
 
evolucion8 said:
The GTX 480 SLI will be faster overall, but at such resolution, its gonna be too hard to pinpoint a difference between the GTX 480 SLI and the HD 5970 Toxic, and its known as resolution increases, the gap closes even more. So I think that a single GTX 480 is more than enough.
Click to expand...

Yea, but the op states Arm2, crysis series ,Crysis 2.
With those games, he should just get 2 gtx 480's and be done with it.

He should still have plenty of horsepower for Crysis 2 when it releases March of next year.
 
Last edited:
Arma 2 is a CPU bound game, Crysis 2 AFAIK is gonna be more friendly in terms of hardware requirements since it's gonna be launched in consoles.
 
Grooveriding said:
As much as I enjoyed that post, I must say that a 5970 is not faster than 480 SLI.

There is one good point in there though. ATI is releasing their new generation in November, now might not be the best time to buy two of the top end cards, and it looks like the op wants to get into owning the best going per the two choices he listed.

Also if you are set on buying now, try just getting one 480 and see if you find situations where it is not enough, if you find some, then get another.
Click to expand...


on raw silicon specs it certainly is.5970 is faster then 480sli
 
evolucion8 said:
Arma 2 is a CPU bound game, Crysis 2 AFAIK is gonna be more friendly in terms of hardware requirements since it's gonna be launched in consoles.
Click to expand...

I read up on the Crysis 2 game , and it will NOT be a console port.
They did say it will be as demanding as Crysis though.

Arm2, Needs a good amount of gpu also. This is with a i7 920 @ 3.8.

ARMA2-19.jpg


http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=16997&page=16
 
evolucion8 said:
The GTX 480 SLI will be faster overall, but at such resolution, its gonna be too hard to pinpoint a difference between the GTX 480 SLI and the HD 5970 Toxic, and its known as resolution increases, the gap closes even more. So I think that a single GTX 480 is more than enough.
Click to expand...


I really don't see how. first off the 5970 has more or the same amount of almost everything per chip and secondly is has a massive davantage in terms of GPU to GPU communication latency. If there are benchmarks showing a massive ass kickin going on. Doubt those benchmarks becuase it does not add up.
 
gtx 480's in sli will mop the floor with a stock 5970 and certainly will beat a $1000 4gb 5970 @ 900 core.

Am I missing something MoDESTGAMER?
 
happy medium said:
gtx 480's in sli will mop the floor with a stock 5970 and certainly will beat a $1000 4gb 5970 @ 900 core.

Am I missing something MoDESTGAMER?
Click to expand...


your smoking crack. seriously put the pipe down.

pull up the specs for each gpu. they are not disparingly specced. also SLI does not scale as well as dedicated dual GPU on signle card.

I still have a hrd time belive Nvidias claim of 3b transistors given the process limitations and die size. but belive what you want.
 
ModestGamer said:
your smoking crack. seriously put the pipe down.

pull up the specs for each gpu. they are not disparingly specced. also SLI does not scale as well as dedicated dual GPU on signle card.

I still have a hrd time belive Nvidias claim of 3b transistors given the process limitations and die size. but belive what you want.
Click to expand...

What are you smoking ???
 
ModestGamer said:
your smoking crack. seriously put the pipe down.

pull up the specs for each gpu. they are not disparingly specced. also SLI does not scale as well as dedicated dual GPU on signle card.

I still have a hrd time belive Nvidias claim of 3b transistors given the process limitations and die size. but belive what you want.
Click to expand...

I did this for Tweakboy, now I'll do it for you.

www.google.com

Search: 5970 Toxic 4GB vs GTX480 SLI

Read up.
 
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