5870 vs 6870 at current prices

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Dougx1317

Dougx1317

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Aug 2, 2008
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I have read many reviews and benchmarks for the 6870 and most recommend it as a good buy. However, there have been significant price changes since these were written. With the 5870 being almost the same price as the 6870 and having many more stream processors, wouldn't it be a better card? Is 2GB worth it in any game? Which card would you recommend? Where is the 6970/6950 that was supposed to come out a while ago?

GTX470 1.25GB - $230 AR
6870 1GB - $240 AR
5870 1GB - $250 AR
5870 2GB - $340 AR

I currently have a 4890 1GB.
 
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Of the ATI offerings, the 5870 1GB is you best bet. The 5870 will outperform the 6870.

I actually have a 6870 in one system and I do like it, but it is more on par with a 5850 in terms of performance.

Also, you really don't need the 2GB version. Virtually no current games can use more than 1GB on the GPUs themselves.

My recommendation is go to for the HD5870 with 1GB. Good luck!!!
 
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I would agree with colgeek for pure performance in a single card go with the 5870, also 2 gb is definatley not worth it for gaming unless you can get it for the same price, but performance wise 1 gb is gonna give you the same in 99% of todays and tomorrows games. I am in a similar boat with my 5770, personally im shooting for a 5850 or a gtx 470, which ever one i can find a better deal on, but in my case im leaning towards ati with my crossfire capable setup but even the 5850s seem to scale really well, its a tough choice
 
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there was a sub 200 AR 5850 on newegg a couple days ago which has been sold out or the price has changed but deals like this seem to be popping up every day, I have seen the 470s for cheap too, but its kind of hard to justify the extra hundo on a 5870 even though its more powerful id rather oc the crap out of a 5850/6850/6870 and be happy with that.
 
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if i were to buy right now heres what id go with::


currently here is the cheapest 5850 on newegg (XFX) $ 189 AR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150477&cm_re=5850-_-14-150-477-_-Product


Saphire 5870 290 AR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102872&cm_re=5870-_-14-102-872-_-Product

XFX 6870 240 AR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150506&cm_re=6870-_-14-150-506-_-Product

and the gtx 470s seem to be in the 240-250 range

overall no matter what you get imo you gonna be paying anywhere from a 5-40 dollar markup of what you may have had the card(s) at a previous place or time which is not bad. Overall a very tough decision but for the money i would almost go 6870 with the 5850 as a strong second if not first choice.
 
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Thanks for all of the replies. I want to get a card that will be noticeably better than my 4890 which is why I am hesitant to only get a 5850 instead of a 5870. With a crossfire capable board, I would like to go with ATI. It is an 8x/4x board, so a single GPU setup would be ideal. Would two 5850 be bottlenecked by this?

With only a $10 price difference, what would make the 6870 a good buy? Can 6870 OC to meet or beat a 5870? Does it have any Practical features that the 5870 doesn't have? (I remember reading something about a new type of AA. Is that worth anything?)

jjb8675309: Why did you pick a $290 5870 over the $250 version by the same brand?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102883

Does anyone know what happened to ATI's 6970/6950 that was supposed to come out a few weeks ago? Would either of them be under $350 or so?
 
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If not the GTX470, then I would pick the 6870 for it's improved DirectX 11 tesselation over the 5870. 2011 will see many more games utilizing DirectX 11 tesselation. The GTX470 will do a better job of it than either the 6870 or 5870, but the good ones are $240 and above.
 
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I agree with matto17secs i didn't see the 250 5870 which is a great deal, Whether dx11 and tessellation are truly utilized in the coming year is yet to be seen but he does have a point if the card being purchased is a dx11 card. I hear 4X 8X isnt too bad but for 2 5850s it might be, like you said a single card solution would be the best so now after thinking about it I would personally go for the best 6870 or gtx 470 you can find. Maybe even a gtx 480 if you can find a good deal on one, bu tmost likely i would go 6870 or gtx 470 oc it a bit and it should be around the ballpark of a 5870 and should prove to be more powerful as tesselation and dx11 features increase, which would make sense given that the two big gpu companies are marketing such features heavily now, man still a tough call
 
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Two 5850's would be about $360 AR. Would these end up being a better solution than a single 5870 for $250 or GTX470 for $220? It raises my budget about $100, so it would have to be a significant improvement. I have heard of games that don't use crossfire, stuttering problems, and a few other issues with multi card set up's. Would two 5850's make sense instead of a 5870?

If I wanted to go with a multi card set up, I could also have the option of getting a second 4890. The reason I haven't gotten one so far was the issues I've read about and the 8x/4x that my motherboard is.

5850 1GB for $180 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150477
 
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The reason I'm hesitant to get a single 5850 is that I'm not sure that it is a large enough improvement over my current 4890. I think a 5870 is my minimum for a single card upgrade.

If crossfire is a viable option for me, I can get a second 4890 for about $125 used. I'm not sure if this would be a good idea though. I think I remember 2 4890's being about equal to a single 5870. I don't know if it would equal that in all games though. Anyone have thoughts?
 
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Have you looked at the Tom's Graphics comparison charts? There you would be able to compare one GPU (and when in CF mode) to another.

I would stay away from 2 4890s. Lots of heat and power use there. The HD58XX and HD68XX GPUs are much more efficient.

Whether you need 1 or 2 GPUs really depends on what resolution you game at, the balance of the rest of your system, and the settings you play at.
 
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We need to make two leaps from different reviews. The key will be comparing the 5870 vs. the GTX295, and then the 4890 in Crossfire vs. the GTX295. These reviews show the order as 4890 Crossfire 5% > GTX295 6% > 5870. Therefore, a 4890 in Crossfire will beat a 5870 by ~10%, but will lose DirectX 11.

perfrel.gif


perfrel.gif
 
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The charts show a 4870x2 higher than a 5870 which would mean that two 4890's would be higher than a 5870. (Assuming the charts are correct) That would be a lot of noise, heat, and energy use. I know there are disadvantages, but there is also a large price advantage. Do you think that the disadvantages outweigh the $140 in savings of the initial cost?

I play at 1920x1200 resolution with an i7 860, 4GB of RAM, 2x SSD in RAID 0, and currently a 4890 1GB. I like to play at the best settings my system will allow.

Here is a link to a review specifically about 4890's crossfired. The conclusion supports what has been said here on both sides. It doesn't have the 5870. (Maybe same review Matto17secs found)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_4890_CrossFire/25.html
 
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2 4890s would be impressive if you can live with the after effects (heat, power, noise) and the price is right as well.

Of course, if you went down that path and wanted to go with a newer GPU config later you could always sell the 4890s (or keep as backups).

Your call. Not bad logic at all.
 
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I would base your decision on which games you play. If you play any DirectX 11 games, or are looking forward to new DirectX 11 releases, then get the 5800 or 6800 series.

If you don't play any DirectX 11 games, or are not expecting to play any of the pending DirectX 11 releases, then get the cheaper 4890 for Crossfire.

Here is a list of DirectX 11 games and upcoming releases:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_11_support
 
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Would 4890's in crossfire seem to be better than a single 5870 (in terms of performance), but would the real world results be the same? I know I have read somewhere about problems with crossfire setups like stuttering. I don't know if that was game specific or something. Do you guys know of any issues like this?

Two 4890's would be so cheap that it wouldn't be a huge loss if I wanted to upgrade again soon. They aren't going to depreciate very fast at this point.

I don't play any of the games on the DX11 list. I was surprised to learn that COD Black Ops is only DX9. I don't think that I will need DX11 for a little while. And features like Eyefinity won't be necessary for me.
 
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A single card solution is always more stable than a two card setup. My understanding of Crossfire is that AMD needs to release a profile for each game in order for it to work. On new games, you usually have to wait a while before a new profile is released.

I thought this was a pretty telling quote from Guru3d, when they reviewed the 6800's in Crossfire:

"So over the years Multi-GPU support has improved quite a bit, AMD still isn't up-to snuff at the level of NVIDIA though, multi-GPU supports still literally and directly remains the Achilles heel of ATI's Catalyst drivers. For years now we have been requesting user-based multi-GPU profiles. See when a new game comes out, multi-GPU support will not be supported by the Catalyst driver. ATI will always need to update this through drivers or downloadable profiles. What ATI needs to do is to allow the end user to make custom profiles per game. A small tip, renaming your game-executable towards a game title that is supported can, not always but often, help out."
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-crossfirex-review/15
 
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I had a 4890 and moved up to a 5870. GET IT! bur seriously a GTX 470 or 5850 will be minor upgrade. 5870 1GB like others said is good to go. I read up on manufactures though. Some have really loud fans/heat issues. 6870 is between 5850 and 5870.
 
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An important factor to consider with crossfired HD4890s is power usage. 2 HD4890s is going to use 115w at idle which is quite a lot. Energy efficiency at idle has increased a huge amount since. Crossfired HD5850s use 40w and 2 HD6870s use less than 30w and a single HD5870 uses 20.
This difference in power usage can add up to a lot on your power bill, especially if you are the sort that leaves your computer on 24/7. If you do so then over the course of a year the difference between crossfired HD4890s and an HD5870 would be approximately $80 on your power bill at average rates for the US.
So while HD4890s may seem a lot cheaper on the surface the power costs can make it not as much of a bargain as you think.
 
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good point on power consumption, a question which may entice the op; is it true that a heavily oc'ed 5850 can reach 5870 levels? does anyone have any benches confirming or denying this or is it really just an unrealistic scenario? And yes i do realize that this will throw the power consumption off but im just curious for the op's intents as well as my own
 
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Here is an article with numbers for an HD5850 clocked at 1ghz;
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx5850/
It beats the HD5870 in 6 of the 8 games tested. Keep in mind this article is from soon after the HD5000 series was released so it is using early drivers for those cards. Also to reach those speeds you'll need to increase the voltage on the core which was possible on all of the reference models but these days is limited to the just DirectCU and Twin Frozr versions of the card as far as I am aware.
 
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wow thanks a lot man,even with a non volt-mod overclock, I would be pretty happy with that for now, the only thing that concerns me would be in the future how crossfire driver issues effect the pain in the ass factor, and the micro-stutter that everyone reports>> , if I decided to go that route over a single card so maybe better to wait for a more powerful single card or go for a 5870, but on the other hand....in the review, the highly oc'ed 5850 was overkill for pretty much everything (at the time)and even had impressive numbers in crysis warhead...
 
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Check out some of the more recent reviews on that site such as this one;
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/asus_eah6850_directcu/
You'll see that with overclocking taken into account there usually really isn't all that much difference between any of the HD5850/70, HD6850/70 and GTX 460 1gb. A GTX 470 with a high OC is a notch above those if you are willing to live with the power/heat/noise of such a card when overclocked.
If you plan on crossfire or SLI in the future I would stick with the HD6000 series or the Nvidia cards as crossfire scaling in the HD5000 is a bit weak comparatively.
 
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