NEED HELP! 5970 CrossfireX or GTX 480 SLI

[XgameR666]

As the topic says...its a tough choice, and I need help deciding. I currently have 2x sapphire 5970s in CrossfireX and the performance and pure fps numbers it puts out are phenomenal, but it lacks that smoothness that i had with my old gtx 295 (despite it being a multi gpu card), so I am thinking im dealing with microstuttering here. Also benchmarks like heaven 2.0 and games like metro 2033 make me wonder since GTX 480s perform significally better and are very close to 2x 5970s in performance, which makes me think that the same situation will prevail in all upcoming dx11 titles. I just jumped the gun and ordered 2x eVGA GTX 480s and will sell my 5970s on ebay or 480s if i dont like them, but i still have time to cancel the order as well. Do you think its a good idea? Will i gain anything in terms of smoothness or will i only lose performance? The main thing i dislike bout 480s is their performance in bad company too where they geet 90-110 fps in SLi vs 140-200 i get with my CrossfireX setup thats at 1920x1200 8xmsaa 16af all settings maxed, and i really like that. But other games dont feel as smooth even though fps is high it just lacks the nvidia smoothness that i atleast felt with my gtx 295 back in the day. Does anybody have hands on experience with both setups and can share his opinion on it? I mainly game at 1920x1200 and at max everything and 8x msaa, and now neither setup is an overkill anymore with games like metro 2033 putting them to its knees. One other major factor is eVGA's warranty and customer service which i simply love and which you can only get by going with nvidia cards... Try to either convince me or talk me out of it as I have until Monday to cancel the order and stick with my 5970 crossfireX setup, I am totally lost at this point.

system specs:

i7 920 @ 4.0
12GB OCZ DDR 3 @ 1480 9-9-9-24-1T
eVGA Classified X58 E759
Sapphire Radeon 5970s in CrossfireX
1000 watt Silverstone Strider PSU
2x Spinpoint F1s in Raid 0
Win 7 64 Ultimate

 

[Ogilvy]

i'm ATi fanboi...

I'd go with GTX 480 SLI ...if you can stand the heat and power draw.

 

[Alanstein]

You won't see the difference between 100 and 150 fps. At all.

I think you're being completely ridiculous. Why would you need sli 480s with a 1900x1200 screen? My 5850 plays the game fine, and i have a higher resolution than you. Before i dropped a grand on video cards, I'd get at least a 30" screen.

Try enabling Vsync and see if the micro stuttering exists. If you can't stand seeing your fps at anything lower than 500, then grab the 480s and deal with your room being a sauna.

 

[Ogilvy]

You won't see the difference between 100 and 150 fps. At all.

I think you're being completely ridiculous. Why would you need sli 480s with a 1900x1200 screen?

The man wants high AA and butter smooth framesrates...

 

[XgameR666]

@ Alanstein: i dont think you read it correctly...i already have TWO 5970s in Crossfire X which are raw power wise more powerful than 2x 480s in SLi but i want a smoother experience, and no neither setup is an overkill atleast for metro 2033 which looks to be another crysis.

The main problem that im having is that 5970s dont hold consistend fps while they do have skigh high highs. In dirt 2 for example it can be around 220 and then suddenly drop to 150 and cause stuttering which is annoying when you are racing at high speed, and that happenes to all the games pretty much ...fps fluctuate too much. So i was wondering if 480s in SLi hold a more consistent frame rate and therefore offer a butter smooth experience without any jerking.

 

[shansoft]

@ Alanstein: i dont think you read it correctly...i already have TWO 5970s in Crossfire X which are raw power wise more powerful than 2x 480s in SLi but i want a smoother experience, and no neither setup is an overkill atleast for metro 2033 which looks to be another crysis.

The main problem that im having is that 5970s dont hold consistend fps while they do have skigh high highs. In dirt 2 for example it can be around 220 and then suddenly drop to 150 and cause stuttering which is annoying when you are racing at high speed, and that happenes to all the games pretty much ...fps fluctuate too much. So i was wondering if 480s in SLi hold a more consistent frame rate and therefore offer a butter smooth experience without any jerking.

all multi-GPU will have that issue right now.

also, 5970 CF is not a good idea. less than 1GB buffer is already horrible enough, and Quad GPU is even worse..

if GTX 480 SLI is your only choice, go for it, but the heat problem is pretty annoying, unless you manage to use 1/3 PCIE slot or water cool it.

your other choice would be 5870 2GB CF, which would do the same.


PS: Metro 2033, none of the setup can max out this game, so don't put your hope up for it..

 

[Alanstein]

Metro 2033 is a pretty badly optimized game. Anything will struggle to run it. It is my opinion that either setup will be extreme overkill for your setup on anything other than metro.

I don't think you read my post. Enable vSync, see if that corrects the problem, and if not, go with 480 SLi. I would encourage you to read up on the subject, however, because almost all multi-gpu setups have some form of micro-stuttering issue.