What current cards are comparable to 2 x 4870X2's ?

[Baron]

With these new cards on the market I am starting to get the itch to buy a new card(s).
I could drop CF as currently I tend to favour ATI cards but just want a modern card that is comparable to my current set up.
Any advice.........I am open to Nvidia/ATI cards....and whether to CF/SLi or just settle for one card.

I run two monitors, a 22" and a 24"...and game on the 24" 1920 x 1200.

Also not bothered about Physx(?)/CUDA etc or Eyefinity.

I am currently thinking about a 6950 as I believe them to be a bit quieter and less power hungry than an Nvidia comparison.

Note...I used to always run Nvidia cards until the 4870x2's came out and went for them in Nov 08 as they were the best card on the market..........plus I went mad with my money and got two...:)

[MrWicked1968]

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=637&card2=618

[Baron]

Interesting site.......thanks for the link.:beer:

Being a bit of a numpty, I think I have gleaned that there is not much difference between the 4870X2/6950.
Exceptions that it has DX11 and 'probably' draws less power and is quieter ?

The 4870X2 still seems to be a respectable card, so maybe check out the new issue cards when they turn up later on this year ?.

[McSteel]

I don't think it's worth upgrading from CF 4870x2s, since you're looking at upwards of $400 just to match their performance. DX11 is mostly irrelevant, as the eye-candy it brings comes at a steep computational power cost at high resolutions. You should probably stay with your current setup for at least half a year.

[Elledan]

I agree, I'd wait for the next generation of cards (79xx/GTX6xx?). Although I'd be sorely tempted to go with a GTX580 SLI setup :)

[Baron]

Thanks all, and I was coming to that conclusion that the 4870 X2's are still pretty good cards.
So I will wait, and my wife and wallet will smile for much longer.....:D

Not sure about GTX580's in SLi, they seem rather over priced, but if I were to buy Nvidia, I reckon GTX570's SLi'd would be a better option.
Just me though........:D

[allikat]

SLi 570s is a great option indeed.

[McSteel]

Yeah, since 570s are basically optimized 480s, so that they generate less heat (and draw less current) at same or better performance level. Still, you'd see a ~10-30% performance increase (30% in TWIMTBP games at best, mostly around 15-20%) for ~$700... Is it worth all that money?

[Baron]

I am not sure that I would go CF/SLI in one go...........like I did in Nov 08 costing me around £700.

I think this time I would buy one card and then later on another one.
The GTX570's do look attractive though, and so do the 6950/6970's, and decision time comes as to whether to pair say a couple of 570's or 6950's........or, just stick with the fastest single card.
It seems a shame to have a board that has 3 pci-e slots to not at least use two of them...:D

But, as it has wisely been pointed out, there would be no point at this moment to jump on these latest offerings as my cards happily play all the games I use...............most are old DX9 games (UT series, BF1942/2/2142 + mods, C&C Gens/ZH/SupCom etc..) and the most 'modern' game is Crysis.
I usually buy my games some years after they are out.......much cheaper that way, and feel in no need to fork out some £35 or so for the latest game on the market.........I still get plenty of fun from my old games.

Thanks for all advice.

[Cprossu]

A little late, but I'll throw it in anyway. 2 softmodded Radeon 6950's are the only thing that I'd think would make sense, and you would probably save on your power bill and you wouldn't be heating your room as much, but you've got a pretty killer setup as it is, that many would kill for. Keep running with it as long as you can, and you'll reap the rewards of quicker and less expensive cards later on.

[Baron]

No worries about the late reply........I welcome any...:D

I believe the first issues of the 6950's are the ones that can be modified to the 6970 BIOS, as I believe later models will have this feature disabled.

I had thought of doing (later this year) a complete rebuild and maybe move to the new Sanybridge cpu's.
But that would mean another change of board etc, so I think I will stick with my current X58 board and get a faster cpu and change my 6 x 1GB sticks of memory to 3 x 2GB sticks.
I had though of moving to an SSD drive, but it seems to me spending some £200-300 for a 120-240GB for a speed increase of a few seconds does not seem worth it............my boot up time is around 55 seconds from first boot up screen to fully working desktop.......i.e. when the gfx cards fans kick in.

Sorry, I digress..........:D

[McSteel]

If you're looking to score on the whole 6950 -> 6970 thing, this (http://www.powercolor.com/Global/products_features.asp?id=330) is the card to get. Not only does it have the highest unlock ratio, it also features dual BIOS chips, so you can't possibly brick it. The single point of failure when unlocking the new Radeons is memory timings. The 6970 uses tighter settings, and most AIB partners adhere to the looser timings recommended for the 6950, in order to keep the cost down by using less capable RAM. PowerColor uses the same memory that's used on the 6970. Even if they change it, there are ways to edit the timings in BIOS, so until AMD does something to stop this, I see no reason to buy a 6970 over 6950...

[Baron]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I had a quick look around and think this is the one:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/250399

I have no knowledge of PowerColor and RMA and after service reputation.
I normally bought BFG/Gigabyte.
BFG was excellent (but now sadly defunct), and have had no need so far to test Gigabyte.

How do you rate PowerColor ?.

With my monitor res. 1920 x 1200 I think a 6950 (or two) would be ideal.

Thanks again.

[Cprossu]

I haven't had a good time with gigabyte, BFG always did their RMA's nicely and I'll miss them, but I won't miss the unreliable cards I used from them.

So far I've had good luck with ATI's (not defunct) house brand, Visiontek as they are today, Diamond as they are today, and XFX.

Powercolor runs the ATI reference usually, so they are generally a good choice, I've also heard good things about HIS..

but by all means though stay away from sapphire.

[Baron]

Thanks Cprossu.

Not heard good things about Sapphire, and their forums put me right off too, as a 'know-it-all' Mod perhaps (Gecko...or something) pissed me off and put me off the brand as well some time ago.

Yep BFG was nice and easy and even quickly answered an email I sent them yonks ago.
My last card was a BFG 7800GTXOC that started playing up when about 3 years old, and the RMA was a quick and painless experience.

Thanks for the pointers to the other brands.

I have only ever had to RMA twice (leaving aside the 4 Tagan PSU's that died after about 9 months, but the RMA process was good).....one was the BFG card and the other time was my Corsair HX620 which died after about 3 years............that was a good experience too, but very painful in the wallet.
I had to send my unit to Holland which cost incl. insurance some £36 !!
Although I am a fan of Corsair products, I dread to think what the HX1000 would cost due to its weight, should I need to RMA it.
I did receive back a brand new sealed HX620, which I was impressed about, but the RMA costs are a bit steep as there is no UK Depot for these things.

So when it is time to retire my HX1000 I would seriously consider another supplier........Seasonic/Antec for example.

If the maker of a GFX card has a UK address for RMA's then I would look at their products...........is there a way one can find out where an RMA unit has to be posted to for a certain make ?.

[McSteel]

Unfortunately, I think there isn't a TUL/PowerColor office in the UK, the nearest one(s) being in France and Germany, I believe... They used to handle the usual two year warranty by delegating the responsibility to the retailer for the first year, then taking over for the second. In special cases, they do take responsibility inside the first year, if needed. More info about warranty here (http://www.powercolor.com/us/support_warranty.asp). I haven't used their RMA service myself, but one of my friends did, and he said that he had no problems whatsoever, but it did take them a total of 26 days to deliver the replacement, counting from the e-mail in which they confirmed that they received the damaged card. So just over a month from card death to new card. They claim strictness in their warranty validation, but they actually allow aftermarket coolers (of any kind) so long as there's no damage to the card.

[Baron]

Thanks for your reply.

It seems we are a bit screwed here in the UK (along with high prices etc...:()
with not many makers having an office or something here in the UK.
We do spend a fortune on their parts, but RMA's can be a bit costly posting abroad.
Luckily, a GFX card being lighter (just...:D) would not cost so much.
Also, as I said I have had very good service life out of the many parts I have bought, so my experience with RMA's is limited.

Anyway, I am most grateful to you all for taking time to post advice.....appreciated.

If I decide to buy a new card, then I think I will go for the 6950, and maybe add another one later on..........am I not into overclocking (it always goes wrong) so I usually try and get the fastest stock part from the start, within my budget.
I could go for the GTX570...........but I sort of like to support ATI being as they are the underdog, and need all the help they can get with sales....:D