Graphics Card Question

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
So basically I'm doubting whether the graphics card I'm choosing is the best option. I'm pretty much getting this PC mainly due to Final Fantasy XIV and I'm not sure whether to go for an HD 5970 or a Crossfire HD 5870. At the moment I don't believe their has been any confirmation whether Crossfire/SLI will be supported (although I imagine it will be).

If it is supported I'm veering towards the Crossfire since I believe the 5970 performance is limited from 2 5870's down to 2 5850's? Is this correct?
 

Zeplini

Moderator
Moderator
id go with matt and then if you are feeling rich a few months down the line you can add a second ;)
 

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
id go with matt and then if you are feeling rich a few months down the line you can add a second ;)

I was actually thinking about doing this but not sure what the power requirements would be. I dont think I could afford the 1500w PSU by next month and ain't too keen on the 1200W quad rail.
 

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
I could also maybe stretch the budget for 2 GTX480's SLI instead (depends how much I spend on a trip to Magaluf as well as saving some money for Muse in London).

So my options for the GPU's atm are basically either 2 5870's, 2 GTX480's or 1 HD5970

Basically my setup as it stands would be:
Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (£82) (or an HAF-X)

Overclocked CPU
OverClocked Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-930 (2.8GHz @ max 3.8GHz)

Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI

Memory (RAM)
12GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, INTEL X.M.P (6 x 2GB KIT)

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
40GB Intel® X25-V 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 170MB/sR | 35MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
1TB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 1000W MODULAR PSU (HX1000) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£172)

Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£95)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

would this be adequate cooling for 2 GTX 480's if I where to choose them? Or overkill?
 
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Xavien

Enthusiast
I think you can add two 5970 as i nearly went for it in my setup, i was told though that its total overkill unless your running multi monitors which im not, also it means at least a 1200w powersupply which is like running a small portable air con unit and thats going to be heavy on electricity so i opted out and just went for one of the cards. FFXIV is very intensive and it gives even my system a good run for its money. (watching my nda here)
 

Sleinous

Author Level
If you wanted to save the money, you could switch out from 12GBs of Kingston to 6GBs. Although having more total RAM is better than less RAm, higher clock, 12GB is massive overkill, especially as 4GB modules will ONLY go down in price, so one day we'll all be switching out to 4GB modules. You'd say yourself a good £80 already there. Also if you're going for SLI, 932 might be a better option. I say this because if you have a PCI wireless card you're a bit stuck for space after (atleast thats the way it is in the Rampage). I can't use the bottom cie x16 fro a double thickness gfx card as it wouldnt fit due to my PSU, the 2nd from the bottom can't be used because there is the PCI slot inbetween 3 and 4, so again, double width cards are a no go. Leaving you with slots 1 and 2, not particularly good for airflow but i'm confident with the 932 that it'll be ok. Just my 3 pence.
 

Xavien

Enthusiast
I know alot of people will agrue with me but to be fair im not a great fan of SLI, ive ran SLI on every card pre the 200 series and ive not actually been that impressed with it. I gave up with it when i bought my nvidia 275 overclocked 1.7gb for my old system. I never really saw a huge increase in preformance. I read a website article on how SLI and Xfire work which was quite interesting. One of the setups with them is that one card renders the top half of the screen and the other the bottom half so i guess its less strain on each of the cards, and the xfire (ati) had brought in a new "chessboard" way of rendering which was better then what nvidia had produced. Of course i daresay this has all changed now with the new nvidia cards so maybe SLI is better then it use to be, but its worth looking into before you buy two cards to be sure that its going to be cost affective. Depending on what you intend to do with you pc.
 

Matt

Bright Spark
Good shout that X. I can't see myself ever go back to a two card setup, there will always be problems with such setups. Single card all the way for me.
 

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
So do you think it'd be better just sticking with the 5970 then and maybe looking to go to the next processor up? Dont know how possible this will be as it's quite a jump but I do get an overdraft increase with a new year of Uni as well as my first loan payment through which should hopefully cover it...
 

Sleinous

Author Level
HMFC, Uni too aye? :p Whata boutthe grants and stuff? :D
Maybe next processor up, or next case up and next mobo up? Personally i'd go for the stuff which is the biggest pain to upgrade, for me that is PSU, and mobo, because once theyre outdated, you have to rip it all apart to get to them :p
 

HMFC_Riley

Enthusiast
HMFC, Uni too aye? :p Whata boutthe grants and stuff? :D
Maybe next processor up, or next case up and next mobo up? Personally i'd go for the stuff which is the biggest pain to upgrade, for me that is PSU, and mobo, because once theyre outdated, you have to rip it all apart to get to them :p

I only get the student loan. I can't complain too much... Being Scottish I get all the tuition fees paid off for me :p

This PC's going to be doing me a long time so the next time I probably have any money to upgrade it'll most likely be to a new machine altogether!
 

Xavien

Enthusiast
I agree with Sleinous, unless your happy to upgrade stuff yourself. Its hard for me to say how good my 5970 is over my last card as everything in this system is totally crazy but it renders in daz 3d so quickly its almost impossible and apart from ray tracing ive seen several bench tests on the net that say it still out preforms the new nvidia cards, which is why i went for it.

I was recomended to only have a 800w PSU with this system but i run alot of usb storage devices so went for the 850, so make sure your PSU is up to the task if you run lots of storage devices like me.
 

Sleinous

Author Level
I only get the student loan. I can't complain too much... Being Scottish I get all the tuition fees paid off for me :p

This PC's going to be doing me a long time so the next time I probably have any money to upgrade it'll most likely be to a new machine altogether!

I dont get tuition fees paid for but I get grant from my county and from uni and from gov, so in the end I make a profit on every year I spend at uni ;) thus I dont need the loan xD

If it's gonna be long term then graphics owuld be your weakest link. If you are 100% certain that your next PC will not contain anything important from this one.
 
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