Why is the GTX 580 superior to the Radeon 6970?

[NIGELG]

If you go SLI get a higher res monitor....money is no object,right.

 

[bryanW1995]

I know, but I'm very unwilling to buy my PC later than November (as much). 11/11/11 is a sacred day, after all (not counting BF3 also). On the other hand, I also don't like the idea of buying expensive 580 at the end of it's generation, so...

Oh, well, I guess I won't decide anything DEFINITELY until September or October itself...

P.D: Besides, are DX 11.1 or 12 going to be released as well? What would those cards offer then if not? Only more performance?

don't worry, if the next gen 28nm high end cards are coming out this year you'll certainly know by october. I'd say that next gen is going to be closer to oct 2012 than oct 2011, so that's unlikely to be a concern for you.

 

[scope54]

When comparing Nvidia and ATI gpu's i think one thing that plays a major role in performance is the clock speed of the shaders. Ati's shaders are running around 900mhz while nvidia's are at ~1500mhz. I'd like to see a speed comparison of the gpus at the same speed, for example a gtx 580 @ 800/800 and a 6970 @ 800.

 

[wahdangun]

if you want the best graphic card, just by HD 6990 its even overclockable

 

[happy medium]

That's why I'm also aiming (ideally, and if I can find it) for a 900+ mhz (core) GTX 580 with 3 gb's of RAM. Or maybe even 2 of them in SLI.

Then you will want to wait a little for the Zotac factory overclocked gtx580 3GB Amp 2's with water cooling. 2 or 3 of them will be the fastest thing you can buy.

http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-amp2-geforce-gtx-580-zt-50104-10p.html

or a couple of EVGA hydro coppers at factory 850 core, watercooling ready. They will make these with 3gb soon ,some EVGA rep said they were comming on twitter this month.

 

[happy medium]

Hello. I'm building a new rig by October

Nevr mind I missed that, I would wait for the next series of cards at 28nm.

 

[Suprnovo]

don't worry, if the next gen 28nm high end cards are coming out this year you'll certainly know by october. I'd say that next gen is going to be closer to oct 2012 than oct 2011, so that's unlikely to be a concern for you.

I don't care about "know". It's the "get" what it bothers me.

Then you will want to wait a little for the Zotac factory overclocked gtx580 3GB Amp 2's with water cooling. 2 or 3 of them will be the fastest thing you can buy.

http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-amp2-geforce-gtx-580-zt-50104-10p.html

or a couple of EVGA hydro coppers at factory 850 core, watercooling ready. They will make these with 3gb soon ,some EVGA rep said they were comming on twitter this month.

Interesting. I already knew about those Zotac, but didn't know that EVGA is going to release a 3 gb version of their Hydro Copper 2. They are 50 mhz-cored less that I'd like, and they're way overpriced (even when I stated that money isn't a problem....but that doesn't mean I'm willing to waste it. I want a very powerful rig, but built with head), but they're always an option to have in mind.

For the record, I'll say that if things goes well (and they're going well by now), I'll have €4200 by October 1. €4600 if I wait until Nov.

 

[badb0y]

What games are you going to play? If your going SLi/Crossfire maybe you should look at benchmarks before you decide...

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Ahmmm...I begin to understand now...

Well, I think it's officially 2x GTX 580 for me (I'm not happy with the GTX 590). I just hope to find the right ones by Oct. (ideally watercooled & fabric OC at 9xx(+) core / 1xxx shaders / 4xxx memory, and with 3 gb's of RAM each).

It is nice to have 2x 580s in your system. It gives you some bragging rites Of course a person has every right to when he worked hard for it.

But we dontl like to see is a person coming back here complaining that he feels like he just dumped over 900usd down the toilet.

Reason is this. You need them to power your monitor. 1 can power a resolution hire than your monitor and can max out any game out there.
Now that means you got a LCD 60hz or 120hz which you got vsync on. Which caps those cards under the 60 or 120fps at 1080p. You wont get higher. Running 1 you will get the exact same results.
So first get one rather. When you feel one day it aint cutting it then add another. If you wanna make a good investment wait for the 3gb version to come out. You will always have that upgrade path open when you need to add another

 

[soccerballtux]

Naw, its divide by 4 for the 6900 series (3 simple sps+1 complex sp=1 Vliw4 processor). So 4 units make one complete processor core for AMD's cards. AMD's arch is very efficient though and largely focused on gaming rather than gpu computing like Fermi, so each SP yields more performance.

where did I read 3 I thought for sure that's what it was.

 

[CrystalBay]

6850/70 nice, cool , 6950/70 hot ,loud , GTX 570 $275 , Winning ..:whiste:

 

[insurgent]

6850/70 nice, cool , 6950/70 hot ,loud , GTX 570 $275 , Winning ..:whiste:

6950/6970 is hot and loud? Can you provide proof? Because I can provide proof that shows the opposite. But I'm sure you already know that and just trolling

 

[CrystalBay]

Yep, I've owned all these cards so far. Are you calling me a troll for speaking an opinion.


Check the rules buddy, or I don't care what happens

 

[insurgent]

Your personal experience is not universal truth; you didn't provide proof; you can check anandtech's own articles unless you believe they're misleading; and I own a 6950 and can provide data... so yeah you're trolling.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

If each SP yields more performance why doesnt it show

 

[PlasmaBomb]

If each SP yields more performance why doesnt it show

One way to look at it is that the 6970 has 384 SP and the 580 has 512. The 6970 has 75% of the SP but provides ~90% of the performance?

 

[biostud]

For

1680x1050 gtx460/6850/6870
1920x1080 gtx560/gtx570/6950/6970 or gtx460/6850/6870 SLI/CF
2048x1536 gtx570/gtx580/6970 or gtx570/6950/6970 SLI/CF
For more than one monitor
gtx570/gtx580/6950/6970 SLI/CF

 

[Axon]

You're looking to buy 6 months down the road? Wait and reassess things at that point.

 

[Axon]

6950/6970 is hot and loud? Can you provide proof? Because I can provide proof that shows the opposite. But I'm sure you already know that and just trolling

Huh? 6970 and 6950 generally tested hotter and louder than the 570, though in most reviews, by so little so as to be all but negligible. This doesn't make it a bad card or anything.

http://www.techspot.com/review/348-amd-radeon-6970/page12.html

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-6950-6970-review/12

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...899-amd-radeon-hd-6970-hd-6950-review-25.html

Even anandtech had the 570 taking in more power but putting out less noise (not that common a finding in terms of power consumption): http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/24

http://www.youtube.com/user/TimeToLiveCustoms#p/u/61/7zlVVl4kqAo (at 6:10)

 

[Makaveli]

6850/70 nice, cool , 6950/70 hot ,loud , GTX 570 $275 , Winning ..:whiste:

I paid $275 for my 6950 that is now unlocked to 6970 how's that for winning!!

 

[RussianSensation]

6850/70 nice, cool , 6950/70 hot ,loud , GTX 570 $275 , Winning ..:whiste:

Just ran Crysis GPU bench @ 1920x1080 4AA/16AF. 62*C @ 38% fan speed @ 99% GPU load. That's 6950 @ 6970 speeds. How is that either hot or loud? And I bet it puts out higher numbers than a 570. :hmm:

 

[notty22]

Maybe thats the difference from living in Canada ?

For full load power and temperature testing we used real gaming, in this case Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The power supply used in testing is a PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1200W. Our system is very lean with only one optical drive and one hard drive being powered. Total system wattage at idle without video card is 190W.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/12/14/amd_radeon_hd_6970_6950_video_card_review/8

 

[RussianSensation]

Maybe thats the difference from living in Canada ?

My card idles at only 31-32*C. That's full 10*C lower than all of those cards Kyle tested. Then again my GTX470 was a good 15-20*C cooler than what most reviewers found. It probably has to do with great airflow of the Azza case and 21-22*C ambient temps.

I think it depends on the review. In TechReport's review, the 6970 is not hotter or louder than a GTX570. In ComputerBase.de's review, the 6970 was only 1*C hotter than a 570. They are more or less comparable.

If the OP is looking to buy a videocard in October 2011, I don't see the point of discussing current cards.

 

[Arkadrel]

Why is the GTX 580 superior to the Radeon 6970?

I thought up a answear

Because the 6970 is a 389mm^2 chip, the 580 a 520mm^2 chip (34% more).
Because the 6970 avg. power load is ~150watts, the 580's is ~200watts (33% more).

Thus... its only logical that its ~10% or so faster.

 

[Elfear]

For

1680x1050 gtx460/6850/6870
1920x1080 gtx560/gtx570/6950/6970 or gtx460/6850/6870 SLI/CF
2048x1536 gtx570/gtx580/6970 or gtx570/6950/6970 SLI/CF
For more than one monitor
gtx570/gtx580/6950/6970 SLI/CF

Depends on which monitors you're talking about. I think for 5040x1050, you'd start running into vram issues with the 570s. At 5760x1080, you would probably find situations where even the 580 ran out of vram unless you go with a pair of the 3GB models.