In the market for a new GPU...help AMD6970 vs. GTX570

[major347]

I have been trying to keep up on the newest cards from AMD and Nvidia but I am at a stand still for which one to go with. I am either going with the AMD 6970 or the GTX570... I like that the AMD is the faster of the two cards, but when you turn on all of the directx 11 features the 570 takes the lead. I know AH is currently not DirectX 11 so advantage AMD. I do play other games that are DX11 so thats the 570. I play AH about 3 times more than the other games so back to AMD  I like to think about the future so AH might one day might go to DX11?

Does anyone have any idea if AH runs better one card or the other?

My current homebuilt PC: Vista 64 bit
motherboard: ASUS m4a79xtd evo
CPU:              AMD PhII 955 (little OC to 3.4 my luck i got one that doesnt like to be overclocked)
Memory:        G skill 1600 8g
GPU:              EVGA 9800GTX+

I know my system is a little old going to upgrade in about a year

[Debrody]

You simply cant go wrong. The speed difference is very small between theese cards, doesnt really matter which settings you are using.
Since both cards run AH maxed out easily (hell they will run everything maxed out easily for a couple years) i would choose the cheaper one. With the same price, i would buy the AMD one.

[zack1234]

I have the Amd card its very nice 

[Krusty]

In terms of AH both cards will blow AH out of the water. Don't use AH as your graphical benchmark. I doubt it'll go DX11 anytime soon. You don't buy 6970s or GTX570s for Aces High. It's like killing a bug with a 100-ton anvill. Overkill. If you play other games also take that into consideration.

I have the XFX 6970 and it's a good solid card. Lots of muscle. 3840x1024 3-monitor gaming and it can handle most of what I throw at it. Only some of the very latest newest games need to turn some of the settings down (but remember, 3 monitors, and I have the option of crossfire setup with a second video card!). Fan can be a little "whoosh"-y at times but it's not horrible. I don't know if the GTX is any worse (noise wise).

Power wise it's a great card. The 6990 is even better though (dual-GPU on a single card).

[guncrasher]

I had the 9800gtx+ great card, but after the update from last year it would sometimes give stutters and mini freezes specially around cv's and large furballs.  one thing I always found funny was when flying over ground i would see the trees appear right in front of my eyes.

if you get another vc you may not see more details but they will load faster and no more mini stutters/freezes.  sometimes i find it cool watching everything with all candy on and shadows at 4096.  specially the water reflections seem to move normal.

semp

[cattb]

nvidia has better tassellation then amd in the midrange cards. Also I thought I read about the physx, is geared towards the nvidia cards.( I can't remember on that part)

ATI has the eyeinfinity and seems to shine more then nvidia when used with higher resolutions.

Since were talking about the upper end cards, I never did a comparison. One thing I would do myself is some research between the 2 cards and look at the games you play and see which card does better.

Some cards seem to do better then the others depending on the application and the system setup. The cards you mentioned are overkill for AH, that was already mentioned.

[Krusty]

2 very good topics:

physx and tesselation


The tesselation mode on top-end nvidia cards is rather interesting. AMD isn't without it totally, as there is some option about tesselation in the control panel. However I think it's more specific to certain terrain mapping techniques, whereas the nvidia option is more for nearby model shapes and such. I think the tesselation options will be easily added to AMD cards in the future, or at least the software will do the same work on pre-existing cards.

Physx is a very limited code-set where game coders can program in using this library. It's basically a partical physics type of thing. If the game doesn't code for it from the start, it does not benefit or detract to use either nvidia or AMD cards. When it DOES code for physx, only nvidia cards can run with it, but IMO it's a very minimal thing and game coders can achieve the same result by doing the code/effects themselves, rather than relying on nvidia's hardware. It has to do with glass shattering, things flapping in the wind, etc. None of which AH makes use of.

Here's a quick example of Batman: Arkham City physx on and off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trq6B4anzjM

Of the 2, physx is IMO a marketting gimick and rarely used in games. It's something that doesn't change a game or make a difference. The tesselation looks interesting, though, but IMO it'll be on AMD cards soon enough. It's not something that makes or breaks the game either, as this is usually handled in games with higher-polycount 3D models.

[Getback]

Upgrade to W7. You will be very happy.

[1Cane]

Krusty   Will a single 6970 run 3 moniters?If so what  Brand and model # please.

[Krusty]

The 6970 will run 4 monitors depending on the resolution. It has 2x dual DVI, 2x mini-DP, and HDMI.

Now all my monitors are rather .... why mince words... They're OLD/CHEAP. I plug 2 of them into the DVI ports. Because their max resolution is only 1280x1024 this works. If it was a high def monitor, it might need both DVIs for dual input to 1 monitor.

I've run 2 passive adapters for the DVI in a different setup before settling on what I have now. Again, because they are lower resolution I can get away with passive. If you have higher def (1080i, and higher?) you will probably need the active adapter which costs more.

That said there's nothing stopping you from having 4-5 monitors on this one card. It has the muscle to do it, though in the very graphics intensive games I have to turn down a couple of the more advanced graphical effects (just some, I still enjoy decent eyecandy) and game at 3840x1024 with up to 50fps (pretty smooth gameplay). For AH I can max it all out with no worries (at 3840x1024).


EDIT: Just FYI:

i7 960 running stock 3.2GHz
Corsair tri-chan kit, 6GB at 1600 MHz
HD 6970 2GB
SSD primary
1Tb backup

[MrRiplEy[H]]

The 6970 will run 4 monitors depending on the resolution. It has 2x dual DVI, 2x mini-DP, and HDMI.

Now all my monitors are rather .... why mince words... They're OLD/CHEAP. I plug 2 of them into the DVI ports. Because their max resolution is only 1280x1024 this works. If it was a high def monitor, it might need both DVIs for dual input to 1 monitor

Umm.. no. Your dvi ports are already 'dual dvi' you can't connect two separate dvi outputs to a single monitor. A single dual link dvi-d will handle resolutions up to 2,560 × 1,600 @ 60 Hz. And that conveniently happens to be the resolution the top 30" monitors use.

[Krusty]

Well I've seen some plugs that take both DVI inputs and combine into one monitor cable, and have assumed that is some kind of dual-DVI connection. Seeing as I've never had a monitor that used it I don't know the specifics. I assume when using a high def monitor you can only get one monitor from the DVI plugs?

[Krusty]

Brand and model # please.

Oops, forgot this part.

This is the card I have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517

[Getback]

Oops, forgot this part.

This is the card I have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517

Crossfire support Yikes, 700 bucks right there.

Very nice card though.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Well I've seen some plugs that take both DVI inputs and combine into one monitor cable, and have assumed that is some kind of dual-DVI connection. Seeing as I've never had a monitor that used it I don't know the specifics. I assume when using a high def monitor you can only get one monitor from the DVI plugs?

Nope, each DVI output is capable of handling the full resolution. Having said that it's quite another story if your graphics card will be able to give any fps when running maxed out and dual/triple head. Theoretical maximum resolution is 8192 x 8192 on ATI Eyefinity.

Those 2in1 plugs you mentioned may be meant for connecting two computers into a single monitor. May be.