Upgrading from HD 4890

[Veriitas]

Hey,

I am truly sorry for making ANOTHER bf3 thread...
It is just SO confusing with all those GPUs on the market. I need your advice!!!

The only thing I want to do is play BF3 and fully enjoy it at 1680x1050 (eventually upgrade to a 1920x1080p monitor).

I narrowed it down to the following (according to my budget):
580
69502b crossfire
560ti crossfire
570 MSI GTX570 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
wait for 7xxx 6xx series

I know most of you would say wait for the new graphic cards, but as I said.. I just want to enjoy BF3 (min. 70 fps on ultra ofcourse..)

Again: sooo sorry for making another BF3 thread, please don't hate me.

 

[edplayer]

at least wait till the final version is out. Some people are claiming that we can't even truly enable Ultra mode right now (no idea if that is true). Soon after the final release there will be a ton of info on what hardware it will take to get X level of performance.

 

[Veriitas]

at least wait till the final version is out. Some people are claiming that we can't even truly enable Ultra mode right now (no idea if that is true). Soon after the final release there will be a ton of info on what hardware it will take to get X level of performance.

I totally agree with you. I am going to wait!

BUT what would you recommend based on beta..
The GTX560ti SLI looks very promising.

 

[edplayer]

lets rule out new cards for the moment.

Out of your list, I think the the 570 and 580 won't be able to stay above 70fps 100% of the time at 1920x1080 on ultra everything maxed. Maybe not even at 1680x1050. So that leaves you with your SLi and Crossfire choices. I don't know enough about them so that is where we wait...

 

[RussianSensation]

Ultra settings? 1.3+ GB Vram.

So that leaves HD6950 2GB CF as the most preferable option for the $ from your list unless you can find GTX560 Ti 2GB cards for same $.

 

[Veriitas]

Ultra settings? 1.3+ GB Vram.

So that leaves HD6950 2GB CF as the most preferable option for the $ from your list unless you can find GTX560 Ti 2GB cards for same $.

It is for one:
HD6950 2GB for 228 euro
GTX 560 ti 2GB for 235 euro

D:

So they are in the same price range..

 

[PrayForDeath]

It is for one:
HD6950 2GB for 228 euro
GTX 560 ti 2GB for 235 euro

D:

So they are in the same price range..

That's odd, the 560 should be cheaper than the 6950. But in your case, I would definitlely get the HD6950's and CF 'em up. They also use much less power.

 

[Veriitas]

That's odd, the 560 should be cheaper than the 6950. But in your case, I would definitlely get the HD6950's and CF 'em up. They also use much less power.

The 560ti with 1gb is 200 euro. But the 2gb version is 30 to 40 euro more..
So I should keep an eye on the 6950 2 GB? Which version should I go for? I heard the XFX is great?

BTW is a 750watt enough for:
i5 2500k @ 4.5 GHz
Z68
HD6950 CF?

 

[Arachnotronic]

I'd suggest the GTX 580, since it'll save you the heat/noise of Crossfire/SLI and still be plenty fast!

 

[cusideabelincoln]

You could get a single 560 Ti or 6950 2GB and upgrade to the next gen high end when they become available.

750W should be enough for 6950 CF - definitely enough if you have a Corsair, Antec, XFX, or other good unit.

 

[Veriitas]

You could get a single 560 Ti or 6950 2GB and upgrade to the next gen high end when they become available.

750W should be enough for 6950 CF - definitely enough if you have a Corsair, Antec, XFX, or other good unit.

I have a corsair TX 750w.. Which one is better? 6950 2GB or 560ti 2GB?

 

[Keysplayr]

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-1gb-vs-geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/1

Here is Guru3D 560Ti 1GB vs 6950 1GB article.
I can't see 560Ti 2GB vs 6950 2GB being much different.

The review is kind of old, so you can expect performance improvements from both Nvidia and AMD over this. But, it's a decent comparison to get you started.

 

[RussianSensation]

I have a corsair TX 750w.. Which one is better? 6950 2GB or 560ti 2GB?

On average at your resolution,

Under 4x MSAA, about a 0-1% difference between them.
Under 8x MSAA, HD6950 leads by 4-7%.

At 1080P, it grows to about 8-9% in favor of the 6950.

But for BF3, if you are going to CF / SLI, it's going to come down to how well the drivers scale. That's impossible to tell at this point since the final game isn't out yet and both camps haven't fully optimized their drivers.

If you are going to be overclocking, then get the GTX560 Ti setup since a GTX560 Ti can overclock to GTX570 speeds, while HD6950 can overclock to HD6970 speeds. However, the GTX570 performs faster than HD6970 at 1680x1050 (your resolution at the moment). If you are not going to be overclocking, I would grab the 6950 instead.

Does XFX give you lifetime warranty in Europe? Do you get lifetime warranty if you get GTX560 Ti?

Update: Ok it looks like when you overclock the GTX560 Ti to GTX570 speeds, its performance is great but its power consumption skyrockets. Since you plan on getting 2 of these cards and only have a 750W PSU, and Q6600 @ 3.2ghz is a huge power hog, I am changing my recommendation to a 6950 2gb.

 

[Veriitas]

Update: Ok it looks like when you overclock the GTX560 Ti to GTX570 speeds, its performance is great but its power consumption skyrockets. Since you plan on getting 2 of these cards and only have a 750W PSU, and Q6600 @ 3.2ghz is a huge power hog, I am changing my recommendation to a 6950 2gb.

I have a i5 2500k @ 4.5 Ghz.

But thank you all! I guess i will go with the 6950 2GB XFX!

 

[MiataNC]

Fry's currently has the MSI Twin Frz II 6950 2Gb for $229.99 after rebate.

The one I just picked up last Friday shader unlocked easily and is pushing 6970 speeds.

 

[The Ultimate]

According to recent Tom's Hardware Crossfire/SLI scaling, the minimum card to have a microstuttering less gameplay would be the HD 6950, as the GTX 560 Ti tends to stutter more often than not, nVidia equivalents would be the GTX 470 or GTX 570 which are formidable cards.