HD5970 vs HD6950

[mike30]

Hi community, I found something weird this week end and I wanna know your opinion.

One of my friend got a XFX 6950 card. However, since a few weeks he had some weird bug and split screen bug and gray screen of death. So before RMA it, XFX asked to plug it in another computer. So I used mine. The driver package is the same for the 5970 and the 6950 so I did a complete fresh install of 11.9 Catalyst driver using driver sweeper etc....

So after installing the HD 6950 I started BFBC2 to reproduce the bug that my friend had in his PC.

Here what I found strange. the lighting was more beautiful and the movement was smoother than my HD5970. I know it's not the same generation but.......

Anyway, my friend bug appeared after 1 minute of playing so I confirmed my friend that he have to RMA the card.


SO back to my baby hd5970, i double checked my observation and seriously, the lightning is uglier and the gameplay is not so smooth. I mean, i do have 60fps all the time(vsync enable) but the game is not smooth as seen on the hd6950.

Is it normal???


Some clarification:
I oced my i5 750 to 4.1 ghz to be sure I'm not bottlenecking my HD5970(i can go higher if required since I water cooled my CPU). Also, I tried to OC a bit my card using CatalystControlCenter Overdrive. And I didnt see any improvement. Only in benchmark i have an higher score

 

[jjb8675309]

I really doubt your psu would be able to handle it... but then again it is a quality 750w unit so who knows...

 

[mike30]

yup, ill try the easiest solution tonight to see what happen and let you know. ( disable CF, try with vsync disable, leave it with triple buffereing...etc.)

As soon I get my hand on my old 5870, I will trifire it and let you know too. I have a friend with a 1000W PSU so before buying a new one, I'll see if it resolve my problem. Is it me or a 5970 + 5870 is so overkill...LOL. But still a nice to have!!

 

[jjb8675309]

sounds good let us know what happens

 

[spentshells]

A 5870 is on par with a 6950 so there really is nothing to gain by switching to a single 6950, Test test test, maybe OC to stock 5870 speeds after the CF is disabled

 

[mike30]

I meant Ill try my 5870 in a trifire setup.

 

[hapkido]

I've never noticed microstuttering on my CF 5850s unless my FPS drops down to around 25-30, but at 40+ it seems very smooth. I use Vsync only if there's bad screen tearing, but even then I can't say I've seen stuttering.

I know the 5970s were a bit problematic, but definitely trifire with a 5870 should alleviate the issue and be cheaper (used ones for as little as $50). I mean sometimes it's just not practical to go spend another $250 on a GPU that isn't even going to perform better (fps and setting wise).

Exactly. It's spending money for the sake of spending money.

Unless you're getting way more than 60fps (where you're most likely to see screen tearing), there's no reason to enable vsync, since screen tearing isn't a multi-gpu related problem. I change my settings accordingly so I'm always getting 50+ fps, and I don't ever notice micro-stuttering. If you're getting so many fps that you're noticing screen tearing, turn up your settings. If you're maxed out, run in a borderless window to disable crossfire (since it only works in full screen) or disable it for that game.

To tell someone to ditch their multi-gpu setup for a more expensive, less powerful card, instead of adjusting their settings to work with their gpus, is really bad advice. With crossfire, disabling vsync is a lot easier than selling a 5970 and buying a $300 less powerful 570, just to turn vsync on for no reason.

 

[jjb8675309]

A 5870 is on par with a 6950 so there really is nothing to gain by switching to a single 6950, Test test test, maybe OC to stock 5870 speeds after the CF is disabled

yeah agreed

 

[jjb8675309]

Exactly. It's spending money for the sake of spending money.

Unless you're getting way more than 60fps (where you're most likely to see screen tearing), there's no reason to enable vsync, since screen tearing isn't a multi-gpu related problem. I change my settings accordingly so I'm always getting 50+ fps, and I don't ever notice micro-stuttering. If you're getting so many fps that you're noticing screen tearing, turn up your settings. If you're maxed out, run in a borderless window to disable crossfire (since it only works in full screen) or disable it for that game.

To tell someone to ditch their multi-gpu setup for a more expensive, less powerful card, instead of adjusting their settings to work with their gpus, is really bad advice. With crossfire, disabling vsync is a lot easier than selling a 5970 and buying a $300 less powerful 570, just to turn vsync on for no reason.

yeah looking back at it youre right, it is not worth it OP is better off keeping what they have...

for me I hate screen tearing so when I spend big dough on a gpu I at least expect to use it...

beyond that the microstutter for me was unbearble

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey