ATI Video cards

[x-spades-x]

I recently ordered two ATI 5970's that was back in February and they are still on back order (duh right?), now here my thing, should I continue waiting for the two 5970's and put them in crossfire like I had planned? Or should I just cave in and downgrade to two 5870's. The reason I wanted the two 5970's is because I play on a 32" tv and play in 1920x1080 and I wanted the beefy cards for if I get another 32" tv.


so...

wait? or take the two smaller cards....

i was able to wait a while but its getting ridiculous... dont companies want to make money enough to make their product lol.


edit::

I believe that for the price of the two cards, I may be able to get three 5870's, my mother board is a ASUS P6X58D Premium (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131614) with a 1200W PSU and 12g of RAM... would that be worth it as well? I believe I read that for three I would need to use 16x16x8 or something like that... would that lose the effect of three cards?

[Stoic Sentinel]

First of all, it's pretty damn important that that PSU you have there is branded. So... is it?

And your mobo can only run the cards in 16 x 8 x 8 or 16 x 16 x 1.

[x-spades-x]

here is the PSU I have.

Newegg.com - COOLMAX CUQ-1200B 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

And as far as the 16x16x1 what does that mean as well as how does it effect how it works

[Stoic Sentinel]

I know that Coolmax PSUs tend to be a little iffy sometimes, and can't put out (ex: 1200w of continuous power)

Well, if you are just using dual crossfire, it's recommended to go 16x16x1, but if you're going with the 3 5870s in tri crossfire, you should use the 16x8x8 setting.



***EDIT***
I would just crossfire 2 5970s instead of 3 5870s, iirc, in benchmarking, the 5970 did about the same as 2 5870s crossfired in some games, some less, but crossfiring 2 5970s would probably match 4 5870s in terms of performance.

Source:
ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB: The World's Fastest Graphics Card : Introduction

[SocketMan]

I'd go with the new 2GB version of the 5870,higher clocks and more video buffer then 5970
or the standard 5870.

As far as the "best bang for the buck" goes,then that would be the 5850 and the 5770 (crossfired if needed).

[x-spades-x]

well thats the thing, I was going to crossfire two 5970's nut the ship date just keeps being pushed back over and over and I want new video cards before I finally get them and they are outdated


I cant find these 2gb 5870's, where can you get them?

[SocketMan]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102884

Grab a couple before the prices go up again.

It's more then enough for any game (at 1920x1080) that is out atm

[x-spades-x]

my thing is that I orderd the 5970's already, so I have $1200 invested in cards, so I could just call and have them send me three 5870's. for the same price and I dont spend anything.

I didn't go through new egg however so I will more than likely need to go through the same company.


also. what about maybe 2 or 3 of the nvidia 295?

[x-spades-x]

any other thaughts on this at all? I am going to wait for one more week before I make my decision.

[Sveinovewes]

You can only have 2 of the 295, it is a dual GPU card.
The 5970 is about twice as fast as the 295 and it has DX11.

[Jaymz]

Options....

You can get two 5870's now which will still be super fast. I have one and can play Dirt 2 @ 1920x1080 all maxed out with pretty high FPS.

...or...

You can get a 5870 for now if you're sick of waiting. Then get a 5970 later and go tri-fire. Still going to be insanely fast.

...or...

You can wait and get the 5970's, best option if you're spending that much anyway. 5970's are smoking the new Nvidia's that are just coming out btw. Most sites are claiming that overclocked 5870's do the same.

[VoXiNaTiOn]

Agree with Jaymz here, I reckon a single 5870 will do you fine, should even do Crysis on near max settings (Without AA). Then if you find yourself wanting more, grab another 5870 (Possibly a third as well, but 3 way CrossFireX can be a bit iffy at times apparently.)

[x-spades-x]

I wanted to wait it out too, but with the 5 month wait it can be a pain, especially when I am using a 8800gts right now. When i get back from the field, if I havent heard anything I am gonna switch to the 5870's.. just need to decide 2 or 3

[VoXiNaTiOn]

I'd go for 2 at first, 3 way doesn't scale as good as 2 way and you should be more than happy with 2x 5870s. Should comfortably max everything at 1920x1080.