HD 5870 vs HD 4870 CROSSFIRE

[notty22]

Well most 'scaling issues' might be things like the presumed power of the two cards together is less than expected. Sometimes certain games will only 'see' one gpu, but , most popular games all end up supporting crossfire. If you have 2 cards (card a) that individually have 66% of the power of card B, crossfiring them in best case scenarios gives you better performance than card B. In worst case situations, you might only have the power of one card, 66%. Depending on price , availability , power and heat environment, one choice might be better than the other.
Ideally with your 4890, crossfiring with a card as close if not the same model is always best case scenario.

 

[Ona Island Ina Sea]

Well most 'scaling issues' might be things like the presumed power of the two cards together is less than expected. Sometimes certain games will only 'see' one gpu, but , most popular games all end up supporting crossfire. If you have 2 cards (card a) that individually have 66% of the power of card B, crossfiring them in best case scenarios gives you better performance than card B. In worst case situations, you might only have the power of one card, 66%. Depending on price , availability , power and heat environment, one choice might be better than the other.
Ideally with your 4890, crossfiring with a card as close if not the same model is always best case scenario.

The reason I bought the 4890 was everything I had read stated that it was on par with the 5850 (and I got a combo deal at newegg that delivered the 4890 for half the cost of the cheapest 5850). Other then DX11 and Eyefinity is this true. So wouldn't a 4890/4870-50 CF whip a 5850 in the numbers game. In the real virtual world I'm not sure what that means. lol We can only see flicker below 20-25 frames per second when watching a movie and I understand how an increase in game action would slow frame-rates down some-what. Are frame-rates of 100-150+ really benefiting the performance / perception ratio? From an energy use, heat production angle, would limiting high frame-rates be of benefit? If we can't "see" an increase in performance past a certain point, what is the point?

Thanks for your in-put.

 

[notty22]

Other people can weigh in here, the 4890 was the top single gpu card from last generation, the 5870 is the new top.
ATI along with the die shrink,dx 11, eyefinity , ATI added some serious extra architecture, its why they are so popular.

notice the first 3 lines.

 

[Ona Island Ina Sea]

Other people can weigh in here, the 4890 was the top single gpu card from last generation, the 5870 is the new top.
ATI along with the die shrink,dx 11, eyefinity , ATI added some serious extra architecture, its why they are so popular.http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr185/notty222/5850vs4890.png
notice the first 3 lines.

So looking at the table and just adding the numbers (except for the core clock) it would appear that a 4890/4870 CrossFire would be on par with a single 5870 and with the extra ram might beat the 5870 in some situations. And, I'm guessing, a 4890/4890 CF would whup it aside from being a power-pig.

 

[Ona Island Ina Sea]

Well i currently own the HD 5870
and at the moment i have the best pc at school.
but my mate has got his hands on a HD 4870 and is planning on crossfiring it
his card is this one http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2971
Will his setup be better? as in was this upgrade for him better in performance and price than me?
What would get a better 3d mark vantage score?
ty guys

Hi rhysdalegend

You get your answer? How are things down-under? Looks to me like you either up-grade your motherboard/processor so you can CrossFire a pair of 5870s and for sure whup your friend. Or if your board is sli ready trade your 5870 in on a pair of the promised new Nvidea cards whenever that happens.

I hope you guys stay friends.

 

[sabot00]

So looking at the table and just adding the numbers (except for the core clock) it would appear that a 4890/4870 CrossFire would be on par with a single 5870 and with the extra ram might beat the 5870 in some situations. And, I'm guessing, a 4890/4890 CF would whup it aside from being a power-pig.

You are correct in that a 4890CF does beat the 5870 in modern games that use CF nicely, however VRAM in both CF and SLI is redundant as each GPU only accesses from its own buffer.
The VRAM is not added up, if GPU1 needs Texture1 then it will load it to RAM1, if GPU2 needs the same texture it needs to load it to RAM2.

The reason 4890's beat a 5870 is that not everything was doubled, for example L1/L2 cache size was not doubled nor the speed & width at which they operate, neither was memory bandwidth.

 

[Ona Island Ina Sea]

You are correct in that a 4890CF does beat the 5870 in modern games that use CF nicely, however VRAM in both CF and SLI is redundant as each GPU only accesses from its own buffer.
The VRAM is not added up, if GPU1 needs Texture1 then it will load it to RAM1, if GPU2 needs the same texture it needs to load it to RAM2.

The reason 4890's beat a 5870 is that not everything was doubled, for example L1/L2 cache size was not doubled nor the speed & width at which they operate, neither was memory bandwidth.

Hi sabot00

Thanks for your input. "Learn something new every day" is my motto

 

[rhysdalegend]

Hi rhysdalegend

You get your answer? How are things down-under? Looks to me like you either up-grade your motherboard/processor so you can CrossFire a pair of 5870s and for sure whup your friend. Or if your board is sli ready trade your 5870 in on a pair of the promised new Nvidea cards whenever that happens.

I hope you guys stay friends.

Haha, yea i did, just the other day 10.3 drivers were released for my hd 5870 and now i get 18942 in my 3d mark vantage score, he gets 15 thousand with his new setup the phenom 11 x4 and his 4870cf.
Down in australia is going pretty sweet, just hit winter..bit cold but cant complain. Im planning on crossfiring my hd 5870 since the new nividia cards have just came out and prices are dropping.

Yea were still friends, we had a company of heroes lan 5 days ago, best rig in the house ( POINTS TO ME)

Thxs for allt he help guys, happy gaming!

 

[JofaMang]

Editted to remove my mistake, thinking about 06, not vantage 😀

 

[jonpaul37]

His crossfire isn't working. I broke 16k with my 710x3 and a single 4870 512mb card. Both overclocked (710@ 3.6, 4870@ 810/1075 iirc) but at saner clocks would still hit 15.5k.

Jofa, this is weird to me, my 3DMark Vantage scores are lower than yours?

Q6600 @ 3.3
5870 @ 900/1250

CPU score = 11504
GPU score = 17358
Tot score = P15339

 

[JofaMang]

Jofa, this is weird to me, my 3DMark Vantage scores are lower than yours?

Q6600 @ 3.3
5870 @ 900/1250

CPU score = 11504
GPU score = 17358
Tot score = P15339

Yeah, is screwed the pooch on that one, thanks for pointing it out. I was referencing 3dmark06 scores. My Vantage best score is P9950, GPU-9975, CPU 10025. Will edit the mistaken post 😀

I have to say though, your Q6600 gets quit impressive CPU numbers. My 965 at 4ghz only gets 10650 or so in CPU rating.

 

[jonpaul37]

thanks! i usually have it clocked to 3.6 too, i must have forgotten to OC it to 3.6 from 3.3 that time, if fact, i'm not even sure why i have it at 3.3 in the first place!