Upgrading from two 5770s..

[Scottstimo]

Hello, everyone-

I am currently running two Sapphire Radeon HD 5770s (full system specs below), and I am looking to upgrade my video cards to something within the $250 range.

From my research, I have narrowed the possibilities to a GTX 560 Ti (likely to be this one), and I was wondering if I would see a performance increase. ATI has kind of screwed me over with drivers since I have two cards, so I figure this upgrade would be worth it.

I also found this card earlier today, and it looks like a strong possibility. And it's only $170!

tl;dr Looking to upgrade from two 5770s, need help deciding between this and this.

System specs:

Motherboard: MSI P55M-GD45 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7860
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory
Video Card # 1: SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossF
Video Card # 2: SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossF
Hard Drive # 1: HITACHI Deskstar HD31000 IDK/7K (0S00163) 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified Cros
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

 

[Scottstimo]

Anybody?...

 

[king smp]

Going by Toms GPU Hierarchy chart
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,2997-7.html
a 560 Ti is equal to HD 6950
and a HD 6950 will beat a CF HD 5770
but I am not sure by how much
all the CF HD 5770 benchmarks are older
The CF 5770s match up to about a HD 5870 roughly

On Toms Hierarchy chart a HD 5870 is in the same level tier
as a 560Ti and HD 6950

So it probably wont be a dramatic performance differece
but you will have alot less heat
less power usage
and also more stable drivers

Of course if you eventually SLI two 560Tis then you will see
a performance difference

If it was my money I would do it
You can always Ebay or Craiglist the 5770s for some decent money right now
and make up a chunk of the 560 Ti money

 

[Scottstimo]

Going by Toms GPU Hierarchy chart
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,2997-7.html
a 560 Ti is equal to HD 6950
and a HD 6950 will beat a CF HD 5770
but I am not sure by how much
all the CF HD 5770 benchmarks are older
The CF 5770s match up to about a HD 5870 roughly

On Toms Hierarchy chart a HD 5870 is in the same level tier
as a 560Ti and HD 6950

So it probably wont be a dramatic performance differece
but you will have alot less heat
less power usage
and also more stable drivers

Of course if you eventually SLI two 560Tis then you will see
a performance difference

If it was my money I would do it
You can always Ebay or Craiglist the 5770s for some decent money right now
and make up a chunk of the 560 Ti money

Alright, cool. Thanks for the advice.

 

[king smp]

Here is the benches
CF 5770s vs 5870
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/sapphire_hd5770_crossfire_review/4

and on the Toms chart a 5870 is equal to a 560Ti and HD 6950

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, unless you are particularly interested in not having to deal with Crossfire any more I don't think there's a worthwhile upgrade for the kind of money you are talking about. If you didn't factor in that you can sell the HD5770s and add that to your budget to snag a GTX 570 or HD6970 then that is something to consider.

 

[king smp]

I just realized that is a nice CF setup with the HD 5770s
I would consider buying two HD 5770s if I saw a reasonable price on Ebay or Craigslist
It is a nice little setup for gaming
Can handle almost any game at 1920x1080 with some pretty good settings

jyjjy made a good point
if you factor in current budget combined with the money for the HD 5770s
(between $150 to $200 for the pair on Craiglist or Ebay)
the OP could afford a strong card like the GTX 570

 

[Scottstimo]

Would you guys recommend a different model of 560 Ti? Or is the one I picked fine?

I'm looking at this one now, as it has better specs than the MSI one and is also cheaper.

 

[Scottstimo]

Or maybe this one, since it's the highest rated 560 Ti?

Crap, there's so many choices..

 

[jyjjy]

The Zotac card you linked is a GTX 560, not a GTX 560 Ti. They are not the same. The Ti model has 384 shader units while the non-Ti card has 336 as well as a slightly lower reference core speed. At reference speed the GTX 560 Ti is not actually going to be an upgrade over what you have now but if you overclock the card(should get to 1ghz) you should see a decent boost. As such you should be looking for a model with the best cooling IMO. The MSI Twin Frozr/Hawk, Asus DirectCU and Gigabyte Super OC cards would all be good choices.

 

[Scottstimo]

Alright guys, thanks for the help again. I've narrowed it down to these two cards. Your thoughts?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

I'm inclined to get the Asus one, but only because it's in stock right now.

I'll probably also OC the cards to the 1000 MHz Core Clock range, in case that makes a difference in advising me.

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, the DirectCU would be a good choice like I said. Here's a review. It's for the "TOP" model but the only difference is the factory OC(which doesn't matter if you will OC on your own.)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_560_TOP_Direct_Cu_II/1.html

 

[Scottstimo]

Best answer selected by Scottstimo.

 

[Scottstimo]

One final question before I take the plunge..

How will this card hold up to future games, such as Skyrim?

I image that's a hard question to answer, but I'm a big fan of running all my games at max settings. In any case, do you think this card will be able to hold it's own for a while?

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey