Add another 5870 or go 470 SLI?

[equinox654]

I have my eyefinity setup going and love the crap out of it. Im looking to get a little more performance in bad company 2.
Right now I have a 1gb 5870.

Would you guys buy another 5870 or pickup 2 gtx 470s or even 460s to replace it?

I can afford to go either route as I would sell the 5870.

Thanks

 

[Blacklash]

I'd wait for the following cards to hit; HD 6950, HD 6970 and GTX 570. I've heard arrival times from Dec 7th to the 15th.

A single overclocked HD 6970 might be enough for eyefinity. They're going to be 2Gb cards with a good deal of muscle.

Folks that prefer nVidia for multi-monitor gaming may want to look at two OCed 570s. Of course two 580s would be even better, and they would cost a good deal more.

Personally, If I were running 3x LCDs at a decent res, I'd want a 2Gb card. Kyle has shown before how 1Gb cards can rapidly degrade in performance when they approach their ram limit in those situations. Remember, two 1Gb cards do not = a 2Gb frame buffer. Ram is not shared in SLi or Crossfire.

 

[-Sn1PeR-]

Out of curiosity, what kind of performance are you getting from your 5870 in eyefinity in multiplayer BC2? Also what settings do you use? My CPU is maxed out at 99% when I play BC2, so I'm wondering how much better it will get when I finally jump to SandyBridge.

 

[Kalster]

If it had to be between buying another 5870 or picking 2 GTX470s, I'd go with an extra 5870.

But if you could wait, I suggest waiting for the new 69xx to come out, then weight your options.

 

[equinox654]

Out of curiosity, what kind of performance are you getting from your 5870 in eyefinity in multiplayer BC2? Also what settings do you use? My CPU is maxed out at 99% when I play BC2, so I'm wondering how much better it will get when I finally jump to SandyBridge.

I get 30-45 fps in 5760x1200 in dx 11 all high. No aa and 8x AF

DX 9 no AA 8xaf i get 50-60 and drops to the 20s in smoke grenade battles.

 

[bore_u2_death]

25x16 = 4.09MP
57x12 = 6.91MP

57x12 displays 69% more pixels than 25x16. In the recent 5970 comparo, the card's 1GB of VRAM means that it chokes up with AA at 25x16.

Based on these facts, the conclusion I draw is that it may be worthwhile to go with GPUs that have more than 1GB of VRAM. The GTX 470 has 256MB more, I am not sure if that would be enough for such a high resolution.

At this time, I say do more research, and wait for the 6900 series to hit. Once the price/perf. landscape adjusts for their availability, assess your choices again.