6870CF or 5870CF or........

[Dewy]

As the title says what is better 6870 crossfire or 5870 crossfire? From what I know the 6870CF preforms on par with 5870CF, some cases worse and some cases better--about time radeons have better crossfire scaling. Considering better drivers the 6870CF could pull ahead of 5870CF. Also the 6870 has loads of goodies the 5870 doesn't. I already have a 5870 but can easily sell it for the cost of the 6870, going on ebay prices I can sell a used 5870 for more than a 6870. What about the 6970? I can pick one up now and another one for crossfire early to mid next year. I heard the 6970 is alot better now as the release drivers were horrid. Or something else? I didn't mention a nVidia but I'm open to suggestions.


In saying that anyone want a 5870 in good condition--that is if I don't go for a 5870CF? mrcrusty, it's going cheap and I live in Australia?

[Freddie]

The scaling is impressive on the 6870 sometimes it results in more 100% scaling in some situations. The 6870 does support 6 way eyefinity, 3d blu-ray and morphological AA but just buying another 5870 would be less hassle and there's plenty of bargins around with AIB trying to clear out their 5870 inventory.

I do prefer to have a stronger single card and the 6970 is keenly priced and again if you crossfire with this bad boy the scaling is just as impressive untill you hit CPU bottlenecks which will happen with top end cards. If I were you I would go with another 5870 because its less work provided your PSU can cope with it (and your case for that matter, that's a lot of heat).

[mrcrusty]

Lol, I only just got Jaketh's 5870, so Crossfire could be in the works, but I'd need a new PSU plus I don't need Crossfire, so no thanks.

Also, I'd recommend holding off on the 6970 for a while. It's a decent card, but it's not worth $500. The 6950 or 6870 is much better for the money.

[Ishan]

Crusty can buy it but you have to purchase a GTX 470 from him and give him a 800W PSU as a Christmas present.

If you are gonna use the extra features that 6000series provide than go for 6870CF otherwise no 5870 is way to go then.

[Dewy]

Totally forgot about heat Freddie. Right now heat is a non issue but I think it would be with two graphics cards. Any suggestions with cooling? Right now I'm thinking of VGA cooling (heat skin and fans) but have no idea about good brands.

[Freddie]

Totally forgot about heat Freddie. Right now heat is a non issue but I think it would be with two graphics cards. Any suggestions with cooling? Right now I'm thinking of VGA cooling (heat skin and fans) but have no idea about good brands.

If your case has space for a side mounted fan to cool the video cards it would worth the extra $10 and get another case fan. Running 2 cards can add 10c easy to video card operating temperatures.

Lol, I only just got Jaketh's 5870, so Crossfire could be in the works, but I'd need a new PSU plus I don't need Crossfire, so no thanks.

How are you getting on with he's old card? Are you getting the truck load of problems Jake was getting? To be honest I'm surprised you bought it considering the problems he was getting with it although the fact he got back from the manufacturer who sent back as it was suggests PEBKAC was the issue.

[mrcrusty]

If your case has space for a side mounted fan to cool the video cards it would worth the extra $10 and get another case fan. Running 2 cards can add 10c easy to video card operating temperatures.



How are you getting on with he's old card? Are you getting the truck load of problems Jake was getting? To be honest I'm surprised you bought it considering the problems he was getting with it although the fact he got back from the manufacturer who sent back as it was suggests PEBKAC was the issue.

PEBKAC or maybe some sort of driver issue.

Thing runs cooler and smoother than my GTX 470 at stock (higher min fps), and it overclocks fine. 910/1275 rock stable in Furmark, Kombustor and games from the stock 850/1200 without touching voltage.