ATI 5970 vs. 470s in SLI

[checkeredhat09]

Ok so I'm probably opening up some huge can of worms here, but I need advice. I'm looking to drop about 700 dollars on graphics cards, maybe now, maybe in the fall.

So my question is: How does the 5970 with its two gpu's stack up against 470's in SLI?

Either option will cost exactly $700 atm, so I just want some opinions. One or the other?...or just wait for the 6xxx or 5xx series cards which are supposed to be released Q4 2010 I heard

[Rinne]

Don't know if you should wait, as no one knows how the hd6 series will do, yet.

The 5970 and 470 should be about equal, with the 5970 using far less power and the 470's fairing better when tesselation comes into play.

[mattspalace]

GTX 470's in SLI are typically faster than a single 5970.

Nvidia is also preparing to release a new driver update that is showing very significant performance gains for SLI especially at 1920x1080 and above.

For $700, I think it's a pretty good solution, but Newegg has a few on sale for $329, which makes it even more attractive.

[Zantal]

Nvidia is also preparing to release a new driver update that is showing very significant performance gains for SLI especially at 1920x1080 and above.


are you talking about the 257.15 drivers?

[mattspalace]

uh huh. :D

Just not an official release yet..

[checkeredhat09]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I've always been an nvidia guy, and the more I've been reading lately about tesselation and DX11, the more I think that nvidia is the way to go for the next generation of games.

The only thing that attracted me to the HD5970 was the fact that it's just one card, so no worries about SLI, which is not a huge hassle, but just one more thing to work out. Also, I planning them for a watercooling setup, and the additional price to water cool 2 cards vs 1 card is quite a bit.

Also, on a related note. I keep hearing that the hd5970 is supposed to OC really well. Does anyone know about the OC'ing potential for the 470's?