Dual Card Suggestion for 5760 x 1080 Gaming

[CroSsFiRe2009]

I typed up a whole bit but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have made sense so just ask yourself these question
A.) Are you willing to pay $1200 to go all out for entertainment/hobby
B.) When the next gen of cards comes out faster and that $600 card you shelled out for 6months ago has the same perf. as a $300 one, is the difference you spent on the cards to game a few months earlier at your desired fps worth it?
C.) Are you going to be able to fight the upgrade bug till the next gen of cards?
D.) Are any games coming out during the planned lifetime of your cards that you absolutely HAVE to play that might turn the fps to molasses?

There's no perfect answer, just how much you're willing to spend. At that resolution, best bang/$ goes out the window since you seem to want the absolute best.
If that disposable income in your wallet is deciding here, I think you need to reconsider how much you're spending on all this.

My own 2 cents out of all this, 6970's all the way. I really doubt you're going to be able to hold back on upgrading and skip a generation but feel free to prove me wrong. :D

[Arinoth]

Originally Posted by Aix

Yeah, if money is no object and you only want the very best...580 3GB SLI. I don't think you'd be upgrading for quite awhile if you bought at 580 3GB SLI setup, and honestly it was the first time I'd ever had a setup that didn't have me thinking "I wonder if the next series will have the little bit more that I want" power-wise.

If, however, you want a similar experience but for $300+ less, 6970 CFX is still very good, and the option to run Eyefinity in single-card mode is nice too. You will have an extremely difficult time getting a 6990 these days due to the current popularity of Bitcoin, and there are currently no custom coolers other than water cooling, so noise could be a factor there as well.

What monitors are you using? The main reason I chose the DirectCU cards was because they sported 4x DisplayPort outputs, which all of my monitors support. I became somewhat annoyed with a screen-tearing issue that is introduced when you mix DVI and DP inputs at the same time.

Yeah well I'll be using a display port to DVI adapter as all my monitors support are VGA and DVI connection/cables. I still wish the 580s either the 1.5 or the 3gb weren't so overpriced (in my mind) though I suppose there is always the nVidia premium when it comes to their highest end cards...

Originally Posted by GT7R

Hmm not sure they will be much of an upgrade from his OC'ed 560s...

As others have said - 6970's will give the best performance per buck, but personally would invest in 570's/580's just to avoid the headache of CF drivers. You'll get much more satisfaction for your money with the 580's.

Exactly, the 6950s on reviews have been beaten at times by the 560 Tis and I'm looking at something that'll last me hopefully well into the next generation of cards (maybe even allow me to skip them for once). With that in mind I could go for the biggest bang and hope the new architecture doesn't blow the 580 3gb out of the water off the bat...

Originally Posted by CroSsFiRe2009

I typed up a whole bit but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have made sense so just ask yourself these question
A.) Are you willing to pay $1200 to go all out for entertainment/hobby
B.) When the next gen of cards comes out faster and that $600 card you shelled out for 6months ago has the same perf. as a $300 one, is the difference you spent on the cards to game a few months earlier at your desired fps worth it?
C.) Are you going to be able to fight the upgrade bug till the next gen of cards?
D.) Are any games coming out during the planned lifetime of your cards that you absolutely HAVE to play that might turn the fps to molasses?

There's no perfect answer, just how much you're willing to spend. At that resolution, best bang/$ goes out the window since you seem to want the absolute best.
If that disposable income in your wallet is deciding here, I think you need to reconsider how much you're spending on all this.

My own 2 cents out of all this, 6970's all the way. I really doubt you're going to be able to hold back on upgrading and skip a generation but feel free to prove me wrong. :D

A) I'd prefer not to spend 1200$ on just two video cards, hence my deliberating quite a bit before pulling the trigger on any solution really
B) That's always the problem with not knowing what the next gen performance will be, only assuming it'll be a bit better. The only upside to next gen is we're not predicted to see anything until around Jan 2012, which essentially means 6 months of essentially no real improvements on gpus (at the high end range)
C) I more or less need to upgrade as quite a few of the 2011 games are forcing me to run them at medium or lower settings to get the full use/affect of 5670 x 1080
D) Refer to prior statement

I would love to be able to skip out on an entire generation provided what I purchase can essentially hold its own at the resolution and quality setting I'm looking for (5670 x 1080 at the near highest settings).

[Arinoth]

Pole added, I need to pull the trigger soon (hopefully this evening with a sale) as used cards seem to be impossible to find

[The RealRollo]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

I feel upgrading to the 570s wouldn't be enough of an overal system improvement in allowing me to keep the cards long term. I am impressed I was able to keep these 560 Tis in my system for 6 months, however my next upgrade I might as well go big so I can perhaps skip a generation or half a generation whenever the new cards come out (presumed early 2012).

Same comment goes towards the 6950s, they are alright cards however they won't offer enough of an overall improvement for longer term that 6970s or 580s can offer.

How much are used 6970s or 580s worth, provided they aren't the standard heatsink instead the aftermarket ones such as the twn fror (as an example)

GTX570s trade blows with 6970s, and with 2.5GB of RAM they should fare even better.

HIS Radeon HD 6970 2 GB Review - Page 29/33 | techPowerUp

At 25X16 the 570 had 95% of the performance of a 6970, and that's the 1.2GB version.

I can tell you as a person that is using GTX560Ti Sli for 57X10 gaming, and has used GTX570 SLI for it, when the 570s weren't limited by their VRAM it was a big upgrade.

Still think the 2.5 GB 570s are the sweet spot, and highly doubt the 5% more performance of the 6970s, or the 15% more of the 580s, will make a "future proofing" degree of difference.

[Arinoth]

You can't use 25x16 reviews to project what 56x10 resolution performance will be due to the fact they operate completely differently and at times has shown to be exact opposites once you crank everything up near max.

The 5% more performance 6970s happen to be priced less then the 2.5GB 570s, essentially taking them off the table to me.

[Xeven]

As an added note (coming from a guy who had 3x570/1.28, 3x6970 and 3x570/2.56). Hardware wise, I find little fault in investing with the 6970s, it's a tad louder and hotter than the reference 570 but it is excellent nonetheless. Driver wise, that's another story altogether. If it works with your game, it will work well... very. If the drivers won't play nice with your specific game, you're pretty much SOL waiting for a patch.

Comparing the 570s 1.28 vs 2.56 @ 5760x1080. You gain nothing if you don't go for higher AA/AF. That's it. Games will still slow down in places where the architecture is the bottleneck but lessens/stops choking when VRAM becomes an issue. If being limited to 2x/4xAA max (if at all possible) is not an issue, get the reference 570s. They're cheaper and run (much) cooler than the eVGA 570 2560MB with it's "HD" design. If you're the type of guy who likes cranking up settings then obviously the 570 2560MB is for you.

As for the poll, I'd get 2x6970s. I liked them, but the games I had at that time just didn't work properly due to driver "issues". So just verify that your games work with them first.

[Arinoth]

What games did you have these driver issues with your 6970 in xfire, as well as what driver version were you running at the time?

Do you think the 6970 x2 have enough horse power to keep me going with relatively to high settings for say about a year from your own experience or should the extra power the 580 offers (1.5 or 3gb) help seal the deal better.

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

What games did you have these driver issues with your 6970 in xfire, as well as what driver version were you running at the time?

Do you think the 6970 x2 have enough horse power to keep me going with relatively to high settings for say about a year from your own experience or should the extra power the 580 offers (1.5 or 3gb) help seal the deal better.

Remember ARinoth, don't get the 3GB cards. The architecture of the Fermi won't make use of the 3GB.

Personally I vote 580's,

ST

[Arinoth]

Originally Posted by Soultribunal

Remember ARinoth, don't get the 3GB cards. The architecture of the Fermi won't make use of the 3GB.

Personally I vote 580's,

ST

Yes and no, they shine when you are using more then one monitor, evident in some reviews I've seen here and on the web.

I'm going to sleep on it, though I do want to be able to essentially skip an entire generation if possible, and looking at the results I'm thinking the 580 3GB in sli has the most potential to do this. I love the 6970s though I don't think they'll stand up quite as well with whatever is going to be out there for the next gen and the 3gb for each 580 may give it better longevity when it comes to that...

[Aix]

Originally Posted by Soultribunal

Remember ARinoth, don't get the 3GB cards. The architecture of the Fermi won't make use of the 3GB.

ST

What data are you referencing when you say this?