Worth it upgrading to a 580 from 2x5870's? 25x16 rez

[Riotvale]

I've got a pair of CF 5870's but I think one of the cards is kinda giving out. I use a 25x16 res and was wondering if ditching the two 5870's and replacing them with a 580 would be worth it at this point.

Couple factors:

-the new 7xxx series might really reduce the price of 580's.
-7xxx series might trump 580's performance dramatically
-crossfire has too many issues with the games I play (skyrim, SWTOR, noticable stuttering)
-will probably reduce temps going from 2 cards to 1 (nice case for airflow though corsair 700d with lots of fans in push/pull

Looking at the bench results from a pair of 5870's vs 580 with anandtechs resources, i see that the 5870's still hold a performance advantage in many tests (well duh, 2 cards vs 1). The thing is.. the games tested (Crysis, battlefield 2, battleforge, civ5, dirt2, etc) are pretty old and I don't even play any of them, so I take those results with a grain of salt not having significant comparisons to the titles I'm invested in.

Any suggestions would help. It's not critical cause i'm sure one 5870 could possibly tide me over until the 7xxx's release into the market, but I could be steered in either direction.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Some games will probably perform better, but many will not due to the 5870's only having 1GB of memory. That resolution can easily gobble up 1GB and then some. Then when you factor in situations where CF doesn't scale well or work at all, and chances are that overall it would not be a better solution. I'd stick with the one GTX580 in this situation.

But, if you are just looking to unload the GTX580 while prices are still good, than the 5870's will probably be ok as a holdover for a month or two.

 

[Riotvale]

Steve many thanks for the super quick reply. I hadn't even considered the issue of the 5870's only have 1gb or ram. I guess the 580 ships with a stock 1.5gb, but I think I also saw a 3gb variant (or am i wrong?).
Would adding an extra 500-1gb of ram at that resolution make a huge impact in FPS or just visual quality? Either way, I'm not sure

Anywho, perhaps if I could find a nice price for a used 580 than I might bite the bullet. Or as you suggested, just hold out for a month or two and see what the 7xxx's do to the 580 performances... and prices.

 

[lavaheadache]

I went from crossfire 5870's to a single 580 on a 2560x1600 display. You probably won't notice much difference other than stable predictable performance. A GTX 580 is in the ballpark of 30% faster than a single 5870 which can already perform decently at 2560x1600.

As far as being worth it this late in the game? Worth is entirely dependent on you. Are you going to have regret if and when the 7K series comes out in a short while and wipes the floor with a 580?

The 580 is plenty for Skyrim at 2560 maxed out (except AA) with all kinds of texture mods. I run with AA off because things get a little choppy with it.

 

[Qbah]

Some games will probably perform better, but many will not due to the 5870's only having 1GB of memory. That resolution can easily gobble up 1GB and then some. Then when you factor in situations where CF doesn't scale well or work at all, and chances are that overall it would not be a better solution. I'd stick with the one GTX580 in this situation.

But, if you are just looking to unload the GTX580 while prices are still good, than the 5870's will probably be ok as a holdover for a month or two.

OP wants to do the opposite He has 2 HD5870s and wants to switch to a single GTX580.

Short answer: no
Long answer: nooooooo (a GTX580 is the same speed AT BEST, usually slower)

Wait for the new cards.

 

[Riotvale]

I think i will win in both scenarios

Scenario 1 - Wait for the 7k's to arrive -> Performance kills 580, but still costs an arm and a leg? -> Lowered price on 580 -> WIN

Scenario 2 - Wait for 7k's to arrive - Performance kills 580, and DOESN'T cost and arm and a leg, but simply just an arm or just a leg? -> Lowered price on 580, but skip that card -> WIN

Looks like the best option for me is to just wait it out for a couple months. The only caveat is that here in Canada we are tremendously, notoriously slow at getting the shiniest, bestest, fastest, premiumiest newest cards when they are released to the market. So it might be more than just a few months before I can get my grubby little mitts on one.

Thanks to all that replied.

 

[SlowSpyder]

OP wants to do the opposite He has 2 HD5870s and wants to switch to a single GTX580.

Short answer: no
Long answer: nooooooo (a GTX580 is the same speed AT BEST, usually slower)

Wait for the new cards.

DOH! I read it as the opposite for some reason. I doubt I'd go from two 5870's either, unless I knew games were tanking due to VRAM. I think I'd probably wait for the Radeon 7xxx that are supposed to be right around the corner.

 

[Riotvale]

what issues would i experience from games tanking due to vram? I'm not sure what i'm looking for

 

[lavaheadache]

Mem swap. It would chug as it tries to load textures.

 

[Grooveriding]

I would stick to the 580. I had two 5870s at the same resolution and got rid of them because of running out of VRAM in some games with the right settings.

An upgrade to one of the upcoming AMD 7970s would be the right choice, if you sold the 580, it could very well cost you hardly anything at all to make the switch.

 

[Jacky60]

Am one of only two people to actually read the op????

He has 2 x 5870's NOT a 580 you morons! I meant that in the best possible way -you aren't morons BUT replacing 2 5870's with a 580 will see possible occasional performance improvements where the extra memory helps but more often poorer performance as 2 5870's are generally quicker than a single 580. Wait until the next gen is out then decide but upgrading/sidegrading/downgrading this late in the 580's life (Nvidia stopped making them) isn't a good idea.

 

[lavaheadache]

Am one of only two people to actually read the op????

He has 2 x 5870's NOT a 580 you morons! I meant that in the best possible way -you aren't morons BUT replacing 2 5870's with a 580 will see possible occasional performance improvements where the extra memory helps but more often poorer performance as 2 5870's are generally quicker than a single 580. Wait until the next gen is out then decide but upgrading/sidegrading/downgrading this late in the 580's life (Nvidia stopped making them) isn't a good idea.

I assume I am the other 1 of 2.

 

[Riotvale]

ha, you guys play nice!

I wasn't aware nvidia stopped making 580s though. I'm gonna try to NOT get my hopes up too much that 7xxx high end will kill the 580. I'll be happy with a 30 percent perf difference although that may be asking too much

 

[Nintendesert]

At this point no, not with rumors of the 22nd or January 9th for 79xx cards. I have a single 5870 so I've been waiting myself as well. I want to replace it but the current gen just doesn't offer anything that significant that makes me want to spend the money. Now we're close, so I'm waiting a bit longer!

 

[Arkaign]

The 5870 has to rank up there near the 8800GTX for longevity. It even outperforms the 6950 2GB in a number of ways, and totally blows the stupidly named 6870 out of the water.

 

[Arkadrel]

Isnt 2 x 5870 > 580 in speed by alot?

also why not wait if their not dead yet? instead of paying insane price for a 580 about to drop alot in price.

say you buy a 580, for 500$ or so now, and a month from now its 300$.
Will you be happy paying over price for something thats slower than what you own? only to see it dive 200$ down in price a month lateron?

 

[Riotvale]

Yeah, taking a look at the prices I can get a 580 for here in Toronto, i'm looking at about 600+ with taxes in. I wouldn't have minded paying that for a card at the beginning of it's cycle, but after doing some more thorough reading on the perf differences between 2x5870's and a 580, and knowing of an impending price drop in the next couple months; factors that convinced me to hang on to my existing cards for the next little while.

 

[RussianSensation]

Yeah, taking a look at the prices I can get a 580 for here in Toronto, i'm looking at about 600+ with taxes in. I wouldn't have minded paying that for a card at the beginning of it's cycle, but after doing some more thorough reading on the perf differences between 2x5870's and a 580, and knowing of an impending price drop in the next couple months; factors that convinced me to hang on to my existing cards for the next little while.

$600 is insane for a card that's going to be beaten by the HD7970 in less than a month. If you want to drop $600, you'd be far better off selling those 5870s and doing a cheap upgrade to 2x HD6950 2GB cards and trying to unlock them. At 2560x1600, GTX580 is not much faster than an HD6970. Just wait until HD7950/7970 launch and see what happens.

 

[3DVagabond]

Yeah, taking a look at the prices I can get a 580 for here in Toronto, i'm looking at about 600+ with taxes in. I wouldn't have minded paying that for a card at the beginning of it's cycle, but after doing some more thorough reading on the perf differences between 2x5870's and a 580, and knowing of an impending price drop in the next couple months; factors that convinced me to hang on to my existing cards for the next little while.

Mate, with current drivers your 2x 5870's are going to be considerably faster than a single 580. The exception being when you need 1-1.5 gig of vram. If that happens, turn AA down a bit. Wait for something that's as fast or faster in a single gpu, would be my advice. It might be the HD 7000's? It might be Kepler?