HD5870 vs. HD6970 vs. GTX570

[STMahlberg]

In a couple more weeks I will be able to order the GPU's for my rig; the problem I am having now, is deciding which cards to order. I have had to change what I was originally going to do because of technical issues.

I have narrowed the field down to (3) cards and want to know what you guys think that I should get and why.

I did the poll so I can keep track.

Thanks.

[c303a]

I would go with the GTX 570 but only because I prefer to run Nvidia over ATI and I run the Nvidia apps. Personally I do not like ATI. I think you should look at the apps you intend to run and then pick your cards by what will do best for you. It is the oft said fact, your box, your choice as to what you crunch.

[Maxwell]

If you're thinking of running dual cards, I would mix. A 6970 and a 570 would be pretty sweet. Tank_Master has done this with good success...

[Fire$torm]

I would go with the GTX 570 but only because I prefer to run Nvidia over ATI and I run the Nvidia apps. Personally I do not like ATI. I think you should look at the apps you intend to run and then pick your cards by what will do best for you. It is the oft said fact, your box, your choice as to what you crunch.

+2 (-1 for the no love of ATI )

If you're thinking of running dual cards, I would mix. A 6970 and a 570 would be pretty sweet. Tank_Master has done this with good success...

+1 This works like a charm in Win7.

[STMahlberg]

I would go with the GTX 570 but only because I prefer to run Nvidia over ATI and I run the Nvidia apps. Personally I do not like ATI. I think you should look at the apps you intend to run and then pick your cards by what will do best for you. It is the oft said fact, your box, your choice as to what you crunch.

+2 (-1 for the no love of ATI )

If you're thinking of running dual cards, I would mix. A 6970 and a 570 would be pretty sweet. Tank_Master has done this with good success...

+1 This works like a charm in Win7.

It did not occur to me to mix cards. I had figured that some universe-ending-temporal-rift would occur thereby making it a bad choice... kind of like "don't cross the beams."

I like the chart that you put together Fire$torm and I like the idea of having more crunching options with the Nvidia cards; however, I like the shear speed that ATI seems to possess. I know that Nvidia is a good name but my HD4850 blew the 9800GTX out of the water on performance... So since that purchase I have avoided Nvidia.

As far a c303's question, I find it a bit of a funny question to ask a cruncher... all of them of course... but perhaps my attitudes towards crunching has changed and I am starting to fall in with the MM crowd. It is a relevant question to ask which since the answer is all of them, then the card selection defaults back to Nvidia as the answer.

But still, having the raw horsepower of a 6970 is alluring. I know that everyone has yet to chime in on this thread but I think at the moment I am leaning towards a 6970 and a 570. I'm a "want it all kind of guy" so this combination seems to be a fit.

[Maxwell]

I like the chart that you put together Fire$torm and I like the idea of having more crunching options with the Nvidia cards; however, I like the shear speed that ATI seems to possess. I know that Nvidia is a good name but my HD4850 blew the 9800GTX out of the water on performance... So since that purchase I have avoided Nvidia.

Try PG - The 570 will probably do 500k there, and someone with a 6970 will have to tell how well that one can max out...

[DrPop]

Tough choice at the moment. The 5870 has a LOT of shaders. Major RAW horsepower there. However, the new 6970 should in theory, eventually outperform it.

The tough part is that neither the drivers from ATI, nor the BOINC Applications themselves, are optimized for the new architecture of the 6970. Who knows how long that will take? When it happens, they will be blazing fast.

The GTX570 will beat them both out on one application - PG. If that's cool to you, then go ahead and pay the big bucks for it. The other thought is that having the NVIDIA card would then let you participate in ALL GPU apps for your MMs...but the list of "one GPU only" supported apps is narrowing, and eventually I'm sure all GPU supported projects will be running on both NVIDIA and ATI as the whole GPU computing sector matures.
After reading Anandtech's review on SandyBridge, I can even envision support for Intel GPUs at some point in the future. It's all coming together on some level...

[Slicker]

Right now, I think you have to OC the 6970 in order to match a 5870. While the nVidia card will get obscene credits in PG, that's really the only project where they run better than ATI cards. They still haven't exactly explained how they decided on the credits there other than potentially a random number picked out of the blue. OpenCL favors nVidia though so that's something to consider. Then again, CUDA existed before CAL as well and the same native code running in both shows that ATI has the edge. CUDA drivers seem more stable, but I can't stand how nVidia re-brands their old cards over and over and over again with new numbers. So, for me, it is a tough decision. I have both. But in the end, it is +1 for ATI.

[STMahlberg]

Right now, I think you have to OC the 6970 in order to match a 5870. While the nVidia card will get obscene credits in PG, that's really the only project where they run better than ATI cards. They still haven't exactly explained how they decided on the credits there other than potentially a random number picked out of the blue. OpenCL favors nVidia though so that's something to consider. Then again, CUDA existed before CAL as well and the same native code running in both shows that ATI has the edge. CUDA drivers seem more stable, but I can't stand how nVidia re-brands their old cards over and over and over again with new numbers. So, for me, it is a tough decision. I have both. But in the end, it is +1 for ATI.

So hard to decide... maybe now I'll try the 5870 instead with a 570. I don't know. I would have an easier time choosing a hooker. hmm....

[STMahlberg]

Too many decisions but this is what I went with based on some recommends, my knowledge, personal likes, and price... and I get (2) $15 gift cards.

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5870