ATI 5000 series vs 6000 series

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arkangel101

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Dec 24, 2010
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Hi
This is my first post as i'v looked all over the internet and couldn't find a conclusive answer anywhere and I have a couple of questions first about the card I'm running (ATI4870 512Mb) and what I'm looking to upgrade to in the future.

Firstly my graphics card at the moment, my major question is the point of cooling and heat. Basically in some games (in some cases not even the most taxing) my card will run at 110 celsius with the fan running at 80% and still above 100 celsius when I maually run the fan on 100%. I have not altered the clocks in any way and the card came pre installed in the computer (Dell XPS, which I have read have some cooling problems anyway), I would put this down to circulation and the stock cooler but it only runs this on some games, and others it runs fine on max everything. It doesn't usually shut down due to this (it did one but hoovering out the computer fixed that) and will run completely normal at 110 celcius.

Now my question about upgrading is this. Im looking to spend maybe £250 at most (could stretch a bit more) for an ATI upgrade (I say ATI as I'v read that these are better money wise than nvidia at the moment). I am looking at the HD5870 vs the HD6870 and possibly up to the HD5950 vs HD6950. Below I have written the stock clock speeds and thats whats confusing me, should I go for the higher clock speed or the higher memory speed. Also is eyefinity inportant and I can't crossfire as my mother board is quite basic.

HD5870
Core Speed: 850 Mhz
Memory Speed: 1200 Mhz
Cost:XFX £214.19 1Gb
Eyefinity 6 ??
Vs

HD6870
Core Speed: 900 Mhz
Memory Speed: 1050 Mhz
Cost: Sapphire £218.23 1Gb

Vs

HD5950
Core Speed: Can't Find
Memory Speed: Can't Find
Cost: Not sure this card is produced at moment
Vs

HD6950
Core Speed: 800 Mhz
Memory Speed: 1250 Mhz
Cost: Sapphire £269.06 2Gb

Ok there we go, I could stretch to them all, so what should I go for, and by the way what is eyefinity 6 ???

Thanks for your help :)

P.S. When I get the new card I may want to overclock it or cool it more than just the stock cooler, I know the 6950 has a sold upgraded fan given rave reviews, but what about the others and is it worth cheap watercooling
 
Oh my computer is a Dell XPS and I have not altered it at all.
OS: Windows 7 professional 64 bit
CPU: Intel i7 (2.67Ghz)
Ram: 6Gb (1333Mhz DDR3 I think)
Screen size is 1680x1050

If you need anything else just ask :)
 
Okay, to start you offf, your hd4870 temps are SUPER high. I think you meant the hd5970 instead of the hd5950. The hd5950 is not a real card. the 6xxx series cards, even though higher number, are weaker. The hd6850 < hd5850, hd6870 < hd5870. Like that. The best card there would be the hd5970 in brute power, but for just running all games on the market the best choice would be the hd6870 or hd6950. The hd6xxx series are the best because the have 2nd gen. DX11, new drivers, etc. My hd6850 will run anything out at the moment with playable fps, so the hd6870, being stronger, will be even better. If you want to play the new games for a while I would get the hd6950. If you want brute power at a good price I would look at some hd5870s if you do not care about better scaling, 2nd gen DX11, drivers, etc. I would go with the hd6950 to be a bit future-proof. Hope I helped. 😉

P.S. What is your PSU?
 
Not sure just the stock one from Dell, I probably will look at an upgrade o n that if a problem arises.

As with the cardes the 6950 has a clock speed of 800 (not 880 but the sapphire one did report that on its website), so what I would want to know is looking for high end graaphics (crysis etc) should I look for higher clock speed or memory speed, and i could get the HD6950 but the core speed is higher on the 5870 so thats whats confusing me

Anyone know what I could be looking at if I decided to get better cooling and did some mediocre overclocking ??
 
The reason I was confused by this was with some games such as Civ 5 on very high everything the card went that hot, but on higher power games and even in some respects games like crysis the heat usually doesn't get higher than 80 maybe 90
 
the reason your card overheats bad b/c of some games is no doubt a compatability issue. eyefinity siox means you can have surround sight with up to six monitors for example if you connect six monitors to the card and then put them side by side your game/movie will span accross all monitors and the newer cards have a lower clock speed because ati was focusing on fixing drivers instead of increasing brute strenght of the cards so the compatability issue wont happen (hopefully) with the newers cards

ps. sorry for any bad grammer/spelling never been to good at english
 
get a new psu, and get a 6870 for your resolution you should be able to max out 99% of games except for maybe crysis and metro....

XFX 6870 200 AR (great deal imo)

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

the 5870 is good too but often more expensive and really not that much faster than the 6870 and the 6870 at stock falls in between the 5850 and 5870.. but at that price I would say the 6870 is the best buy at 200 AR. The only other option that I can see is to wait a few days for the gtx 560 which will cost around $250 and supposedly perform around the same as a 6870... those are my thoughts

for your resolution the 6950/6970 are not worth
 
Those temps aren't high, it's a defect in the manufacturing/assembly process where the GPU doesn't touch the heat sink of the cooler, the cooler is incorrectly installed,

as for the 5000 vs 6000 the newer series is always better regardless of clock rates.
 
Those temps aren't high, it's a defect in the manufacturing/assembly process where the GPU doesn't touch the heat sink of the cooler, the cooler is incorrectly installed, as for the 5000 vs 6000 the newer series is always better regardless of clock rates.
Click to expand...

the statement about the 5 and 6 series is extremely vague and for the most part incorrect, how do you figure when a single 5870 is stronger than the 6870 and 6850 and darn close to the 6950 cmon man this is not a valid argument
 
manufacturer defect or not I would look to airflow/dust/case issues that are basically not helping your situation. You would be better of with a $30 thermaltake v3 case then any dell case because they have no airflow imo.
 


the 6870 is better than the 5870, but in some cases the 5870 mAY out perform it, the newer is always better IMO.
 
wrong again the 6870 is just below the 5870, yeah I think the 6870 is a better buy because its newer tech and when oc'ed a bit it can be right on par with the 5870, but in general at stock clocks the 6870 is worse, if you are talking crossfire then yeah the 6 series scales better but for a single card your argument is moot
 


wrong again???

what are your sources? according to what benchmarks do you state this?

Stop calling me wrong!
, my statements are an average of benchmarks by PCmarkvantage, Passmark, furmark, Crysis, heaven benchmark, and some other games.

My statement is 100% correct because I used different resources and got the average, the 5870 beats the 6870 more often than vice-versa but, the 6870 always wins in the newer games and programs because "newer tech" will perform better with newer software and games and when the newer games and programs start utilizing the features of this card and it's "newer tech" it would out perform the 5870.
In this year 2011, newer software and games will start utilizing PhysX for example in NVIDIA cards,

and AMD PowerPlay and Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) in AMD/ATI cards.

I was going to explain that but I was too lazy to type so I just said that the 6870 was better. I aimed to make a future proof statement because what we state now will be read by other people.

Please don't be rude and politely correct me if you think I'm wrong or ask me why I made a particular statement.


 

You are wrong,
no airflow problem could ever cause such high temperatures.
I've seen people with excellent setups having problems like this AND I also have proof by someone who had removed and checked the heat sink, some times it just needs tightening, other times it could be complex in which it is graded or cut wrong; a manufacturing defect.

You should check the heat sink or contact your seller.
 
Dust bunnies could also cause serious heat issues, and that could be considered an airflow problem too.

Anyways, don't be surprised by Civ 5. It actually is a demanding game on a system when you are zoomed out a little.
 
wrong again???

what are your sources? according to what benchmarks do you state this?

Stop calling me wrong!
, my statements are an average of benchmarks by PCmarkvantage, Passmark, furmark, Crysis, heaven benchmark, and some other games.

My statement is 100% correct because I used different resources and got the average, the 5870 beats the 6870 more often than vice-versa but, the 6870 always wins in the newer games and programs because "newer tech" will perform better with newer software and games and when the newer games and programs start utilizing the features of this card and it's "newer tech" it would out perform the 5870.
In this year 2011, newer software and games will start utilizing PhysX for example in NVIDIA cards,

and AMD PowerPlay and Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) in AMD/ATI cards.

I was going to explain that but I was too lazy to type so I just said that the 6870 was better. I aimed to make a future proof statement because what we state now will be read by other people.

Please don't be rude and politely correct me if you think I'm wrong or ask me why I made a particular statement.
Click to expand...


still disagree with you, the 6870 does not always perform the 5870 in newer games here are several examples since you are so ignorant. In the end the cards are relatively the same but to say that the 6 series is always better is just incorrect.

here are some examples for you kid:

http://www.visualdreamers.com/news/amd-radeon-hd-6870-vs-5870/

in all the benchmarks including your "new" games the 5870 wins

the bottom line is that the 5870 is equal or better in most current games as a single card, but if you are going for crossfire then a 6870 would be the logic choice, I don't know why your getting all bent out of shape, I'm not calling it something its not, I just had a problem with the statement in saying that the 6 series is always better than the 5. I mean we could be having the same argument over the 5850 vs 6850, I mean the 5850 is more powerful, the 6850 scales better and they both oc like demons. the 69XX series are better than any 5 series card imo (except the 5970) but that is a totally different subject, do you get my point... the six series is not always better and if someone is in the market for such a card, and they can find a good deal on a 5 series then oftentimes it will be a better buy then going with the 6 series imo especially if the person is only running one card. The truth is aside from subtle tessellation, dx11, and scaling improvements the 6 series is not that different from the five series so if the price is right the 5 series is a better value for pretty much the same or slightly better of a chip... this is coming from someone who bout a 6870, mainly because I bought into the new features and wanted better scaling for crossfire, but in hindsight I think if I could have gotten 2 used or new 5850s for cheap than I would be just as happy. In the end it comes down to personal preference and yeah you can think that the 6 series is always better, heck they are great products but in my personal opinion, I disagree for those reasons that I discussed.

 
I know I gave you just one source but its tough to find the 5870 against the 6870 but in general I would say this source represents what I have seen in the past in benchmarks when the 5870 is pitted up against the 6870
 


yeah which imo will build up fast in a crappy dell case
 


Well it's obvious that the 5870 has a faster GPU, but by better I don't mean faster, I mean the better choice between the two as it has features which will be utilized by future games like APP and stuff which will make it perform better in the games compared to the 5870.

Well, I think my statement was incorrect, the 5870 is faster yet the 6870 has a lot of pros over it like better performance Crossfire ,I should have been more clear but don't you agree that the 6870 is a better buy than the 5870?
 
yes I do agree, man me and you have had some good arguments on various threads, overall, even though we have disagreed and got mad at each other, I have enjoyed firing back and forth with you. This comment you made, shown above, is good you explain your reasoning well, anyhow yeah the 6870 is def a better buy and thats why I bought one.
 
mn96 and jjb8675309 you are both wrong, take a look at newegg 5870 prices, they are really cheap 229 after MIR, and preform faster than the 6870 in 90% of the games.
 
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