Just Bought A 6870

[infiltrator_2k 29]

After doing a fair bit of research regarding the latest cards, today I decided to buy a HD6870. Admittedly, I did want to ideally go for Nvidia card, although as always it was horses for courses (excuse the expression). The GTX 580 is undoubtedly the card to go for, although IMHO at £400 it's just too expensive ATM given the difference in performance between the two. At just less than half the price I managed to purchase a XFX HD6870 Black Edition for £198 delivered. If the ArmA2 card benchmarks are anything to go by it's definitely the best card for your money, although no doubt some will disagree. I'd be interested in hearing some other people's opinions experiences.

[SPC.Spets 21]

is a great card, nvidia is too expensive agree

[d3lta 10]

After doing a fair bit of research regarding the latest cards, today I decided to buy a HD6870. Admittedly, I did want to ideally go for Nvidia card, although as always it was horses for courses (excuse the expression). The GTX 580 is undoubtedly the card to go for, although IMHO at £400 it's just too expensive ATM given the difference in performance between the two. At just less than half the price I managed to purchase a XFX HD6870 Black Edition for £198 delivered. If the ArmA2 card benchmarks are anything to go by it's definitely the best card for your money, although no doubt some will disagree. I'd be interested in hearing some other people's opinions experiences.

any benchs?

[infiltrator_2k 29]

any benchs?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/11/09/nvidia-geforce-gtx-580-review/5

[Rich_R 1087]

My 2 cents....current owner of 2 5870's in crossfire (upgraded in May '10)

I've always had Nvidia cards before this, performance aside, Nvidia is MUCH more user-friendly with drivers (installation, patches etc).

Performance wise, 580 aside ATI had cornered the market on sheer muscle in their cards. BUT, all this power is handicapped by the inconsistent dirvers and ATI cards crippled by any kind of AA implentation.

I have been so frustrated with not only the hassle with installation of drivers but also the inevitable rolling back of said drivers when they seem to do more harm than good.

I have been seriously considering swapping out the crossfire 5870's for one single 580. But there is supposedly a lot of movement in the videocard industry right now with everyone holding their breath to see how ATI responds to the 580 (and 570) and how Nvidia responds in turn. It could mean a drop in the price of higher end video cards.

From what I've seen crossfire is hit and miss in general with gaming and doesn't appear to offer any advantages with ARMA 2. I proved this to myself last night, starting crossfire enabled and disabled resulting in exactly the same benchmarks with both.

Sorry about the lengthy reply, but wanted to give some insight to what I've looked into and learned over the last week or so looking at the different video card options.

[walker 0]

Hi all

ArmA II benchmark 6870

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/10/22/ati-radeon-hd-6870-review/6

PS there is an existing hardware thread about how will my PC play this.

Kind Regard walker

[bangtail 0]

After doing a fair bit of research regarding the latest cards, today I decided to buy a HD6870. Admittedly, I did want to ideally go for Nvidia card, although as always it was horses for courses (excuse the expression). The GTX 580 is undoubtedly the card to go for, although IMHO at £400 it's just too expensive ATM given the difference in performance between the two. At just less than half the price I managed to purchase a XFX HD6870 Black Edition for £198 delivered. If the ArmA2 card benchmarks are anything to go by it's definitely the best card for your money, although no doubt some will disagree. I'd be interested in hearing some other people's opinions experiences.

You could have grabbed a 570 although the 6870 is a decent card (as long as you are only using one).

[someboy 0]

Don't forget to tell us how good it runs for you Infiltrator. I plan to upgrade my card soon, and the 6870 has big chances (I will probably wait a little more to see if prices drop).

[cjph 0]

Hm, 570s are priced around £280 here in the UK, with 6870s available for £170, and £185 for 5870s. Is the performance between the two camps worth over £100 ? Wifey still has to decide on a Christmas present (and I'm not worth a 480 :-( ).

[max power 21]

I swapped out 2 Crossfire X HD3870x2s for a single 6870. I have not looked back even for a second.

[Banderas 0]

Hi all

ArmA II benchmark 6870

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/10/22/ati-radeon-hd-6870-review/6

PS there is an existing hardware thread about how will my PC play this.

Kind Regard walker

Seems like from this that 5870 has slightly better performance.

[max power 21]

Yeah. ATI changed their naming scheme slightly so the 6870 now would be the 6770 in the old naming scheme.

[Leon86 13]

Yeah, pretty confusing considering the price and performance difference between 5770 and 6870.

[avengerzx 10]

Leaked details of HD 6970 are slightly slower than GTX 580 seen on vr-zone.

6970 benchmark for Unigine Heaven 2.1 with 8xAA, 16xAF @ 1920x1080. 3.4 FPS Lowest and 61.2 FPS Highest.

[bangtail 0]

Leaked details of HD 6970 are slightly slower than GTX 580 seen on vr-zone.

6970 benchmark for Unigine Heaven 2.1 with 8xAA, 16xAF @ 1920x1080. 3.4 FPS Lowest and 61.2 FPS Highest.

Nah, it's around 570 performance and roughly 15-20% slower than the 580. There is nothing 'slight' about that.

Edited December 13, 2010 by BangTail

[someboy 0]

Many different "benchmarks" being released these days. Better wait for official reviews to get a clear idea (also in pricing).

[bangtail 0]

Many different "benchmarks" being released these days. Better wait for official reviews to get a clear idea (also in pricing).

Pricing is the only place AMD will compete this time round. Nvidia may have been caught with their pants down last year but it seems they were ready this time.

[someboy 0]

Pricing is the only place AMD will compete this time round. Nvidia may have been caught with their pants down last year but it seems they were ready this time.

Still, AMD has the option of releasing a dual cayman early next year. Nvidia might have trouble with a similar approach, due to power constrictions. Anyway, does not the 5970 still beat the 580?

We are probably going a little bit OT here...

[bangtail 0]

The 5970 is dual GPU.

The Red camp loves to try and make this argument but the 5970 is old and CF is badly broken on it. I've seen single 480s/580s beat it in some tests although it's hardly important, it's 2 GPUs, so it should be compared as such.

http://www.maingearforums.com/entry.php?24-So-You-Want-To-Buy-A-GeForce-Part-2

Any 2 Nvidia GPUs in SLI will beat it from the 470 up.

If I put 3 580s on one PCB, then it would be the fastest card, right? :rolleyes:

But you're right, this is way OT, so I digress.

Edited December 13, 2010 by BangTail

[Flubadoo 10]

Hm, 570s are priced around £280 here in the UK, with 6870s available for £170, and £185 for 5870s. Is the performance between the two camps worth over £100 ? Wifey still has to decide on a Christmas present (and I'm not worth a 480 :-( ).

The GTX 570 is actually better than the 480.

[infiltrator_2k 29]

I think the 6870 will perform a lot better in crossfire with better driver support.

[infiltrator_2k 29]

Well guys, I've installed the 6870 in the configuration listed below & I have to say I'm extremely please with the performance so far. The surrounding environment obviously dictates to what frame rate I'll get, although so far I'm probably averaging 40FPS maxxed out @1920, but that's just an estimate. The new 10.12 driver would have of course improved performance since the initial benchmarking. However, I'm experiencing ArmA2 locking up & not responding, so there's something not quite right. :confused:

[Dwarden 1124]

remember these benchmarks of A2 are with old drivers and old game build ...

consider the 6870 bit faster than 5870 especially if HQ AF and AA is used also the MLAA will be faster than on 5870 ...

in short it's improved replacement of 5870 but not new generation, that is 6970 ...

[kdjac 19]

Santa said i cant have my 6870 till next week :(

[infiltrator_2k 29]

Santa said i cant have my 6870 till next week :(

Lol! what torture!