5870 Crossfire $680, 5970 $650, or fermi?

[pink315]

Im half way through a new build and just waiting on a motherboard and gpu set up.

My question has to deal with the gpu set up though. Currently I have a 27inch 1080p hp monitor that i plan to use till some thins bezel eyefinity setups surface. I'm not sure if I should buy a crossfire setup at $680, a 5970 with the lowest price ive seen at $650, or wait for fermi?

The crossfire price is possibly only for today, so a quick response would be appreciated. I'm uncertain fi nvidia will release something that will sink the 5870 crossfire for the price. I like the idea of 5970 so with most motherboards, i could add a second card on a full 16 lane. Other wise with current motherboard options (x58 usb3 sata6) I'm limited to a 16/16/4 or a 16/8/8. Currently we wont have a x58 board with usb3 or sata6 till march when the asus rampage 3 is released. So if i grab the crossfire setup, when i add a third card ill be dividing bandwith

 

[capt_taco]

Wait for the Fermi to come out. Then buy an ATI card for cheaper.

The Fermi isn't going to drive down prices (if you ask me, it's probably going to cost a clanking fortune when it comes out), but I bet prices on the 5870 come down on their own in the next three months or so.

Also, if you can wait and get USB 3.0, that might be a feature that turns out to be worth it.

And don't worry about the bandwidth of a third slot. Using more than two cards is just a waste of money for the small performance boost it gives you. When you add a third card, you'll almost invariably be better off adding a single card of whatever newer generation is out.

 

[paperfox]

Two and three card setups are more of a 2550x1600 resolution territory. You will have way to much graphical horsepower untapped with a 1080 setup, so Id say save your money and upgrade as needed. A single 5870 now will keep you going and a second 1-2 years later will be more than enough in my oppinion.

 

[pink315]

thanks for the reply guys, i made a mistake in my question.

There are motherboards out now with sata6 and usb3 for the x58 but i meant to say we wont have any x58 sata6 usb3 with the nf200 chip to increase bandwith. In march the rampage 3 is coming out with 16/16/16, thats what i meant. I can currently buy a x58 with those options i would just have 16/16/4 or 16/8/8.

good examply is the x58 premium from asus for 300 but thatboard doesnt support sata6 raid, but an alternative is gigabytes x58 refresh which has 3 boards at various prices and power phases but all include x16/x16/x4 and all include sata6 raid. The raid feature in my opinion would be nice.

Back to the video though, I agree a 5870 now and another later would suffice, but I'm worried another resource hog of a game might come out like crysis and ill be looking to upgrade again