Is it worth to upgrade from xfire 5850 to 6970?

[CheeCha]

I have a xfire 5850 already installed in my system and on the other hand my friend shares the same brand product but different model i.e. xfire 6970. Now my friend is planning to switch some other GPU and what I am thinking is to get his 6970 and replace it with the existing one which I own. But I am not sure how interesting it would be to have this in my system.

Already Googled it and tried to find certain information regarding this model. Now I just wanted to know from you all people whether it is worthy to upgrade my GPU or should I wait for the latest and stronger GPU to come up?

[Bageshri27]

I too have the same requirement. Need to upgrade my complete system, especially the GPU. Even I searched out a lot for the necessary information, after when I Googled i found that there seems to be less shops that actually have XFX 5850 XXX which are sold out at $400 including ADU, and learnt that most of them have now also stopped making it. So now I looks like I can’t even xfire unless and until I go with another brand.

When 6950 was actually released and was unlockable to 6970, one of my friends wanted to somehow switch to the overclocked 5850 (950mhz core) to the 9650. So therefore he unlocked from 6950 and flashed it to 6970 not just this he also overclocked to 900mhz.

[Amy_i3]

For your kind information, let me bring to your notice that 6970 doesn’t makes much difference when compared to 5850. Everyone knows that 6970 is however much faster than the 5850 but not as much as expected, I guess it would be some 20% faster than 5850.

Anyways speed does mean a lot but when it comes to supporting the game both stands at the same place. 6970 cannot handle that game which 5850 does not supports. So therefore we can say that when supporting games are considered then both stands at the same place. And for me supporting higher games were more important.

[sArkar]

Have some doubts regarding the resolutions and monitor setup. First of all let me tell you that I have a 23” 1920x1080 monitor. And regarding resolution I think I have a standard resolution and not such extreme one. My native resolution is not too damaging so therefore I think I can upgrade to a single faster GPU that can somehow be proved to be a good decision. I always had an intention of buying another 5850 but by looking at the current status of this model in market seems like its too expensive. I can however sell out my 5850 and can plan for paying for a cheaper upgrade to 6970, hope that this could bring a bit noticeable difference with the games that I play.

[Dixie-R]

Hey same here even I found 6970 not so impressive so therefore I suddenly sold out 6970 and then later on bought some other cheaper 5850 which I feel was much better than 6970 for crossfire. Even I give more priority to games as I play games a lot. Speed and smoothness does matters a lot but then when it comes to handling and supporting then it give more preference to them. I would better suggest you all to do the same.

• 5850=100%
• 5850 oc=120%
• 5850cf=190%
• 5850 oc cf=220%

[Emeryjon]

I do agree with you all, 5850 is genuinely a good card but however as mentioned above even I do agree that 6970 is faster than 5850 no matters with how much difference it is faster. Depending upon the resolution we can sure say that 6970 is not just faster but also it excels with the new dx11 stuff and also clocks higher. If your 6970 is about 2GB, then without any doubts believe that it is going to work great and also it will help you a lot with respect to those games that actually tries to use more than 1GB of Video Ram (BF3). You know I did went for 5850 Twin Frozr II and trust me it was truly a great experience which showed a huge noticeable difference.

Also 6970 is faster at DX11 things just because of those 6000 series improvement with that aspect.

[singham2011]

I would like to make you only three important statements.

1. A single 6970 is a solid card in itself. Once if you go for 5850 CFX then you must know that it is faster but more power consumption than a 6970. But that is a provided with single vs dual.
2. Also the performance depends upon the game you play only if it completely supports CFX and make use of the cards.
3. If possible you can surely go for another 5850 for lower price which will be faster, but if you do not prefer this option then go for the 6970 and sell out 5850

[AnbuP]

Already Googled it and tried to find certain information regarding this model. Now I just wanted to know from you all people whether it is worthy to upgrade my GPU or should I wait for the latest and stronger GPU to come up?

I think you must surely wait for some other series as you yourself said because as per my knowledge I personally believe that upgrading from 5850 to 6970 is surely not going to be proved much worthy. Some people do get comfortable with it where as some don’t. Instead of that you can better wait and then go for HD7000 series if you are not satisfied or do not want to go for crossfire. Make sure that you can wait for few more months if you really prefer to go for HD7000.

My uncle switched from GTX460 1GB HD5850 to HD6950@6970 2GB and with the reaction I can make out that he was quite satisfied with that change.

Also my other friend went from a 5850 to 6950>6970 and he said that it was really a good upgrade, there was no a single game out that he can't play in ultra and there are some that were just to slow with 5850 that now plays great on the 6950.

[BonnieT]

Everything depends upon what resolution you are supposed to play your game at. I mean to say that if you need a card better you check out your criteria first and the go for according to your requirement and not with what is present in the market or the manufacturer provide.

Always remember that the best card is always the best single GPU that you can afford. Suppose if I am running a dual monitor or if I wanted a decent performance at 1920x1200 and above resolution then definitely I would go for single 2GB card of either 6950 or 6970. Now I think there is some diminishing return on crossfire setup, especially if you are having an older version or generation of GPU. The other alternative I would personally consider in place of 6970 with respect to same price range will be 2 x 6850's in Crossfire. Surely you might get a better and equal performance upto 2560x1600. I went for 6970 which is till now working fine and also I am completely satisfied; let me tell you that I switched from 5850 to 6970.

[Girr]

Have some doubts regarding the resolutions and monitor setup. First of all let me tell you that I have a 23” 1920x1080 monitor. And regarding resolution I think I have a standard resolution and not such extreme one. My native resolution is not too damaging so therefore I think I can upgrade to a single faster GPU that can somehow be proved to be a good decision. I always had an intention of buying another 5850 but by looking at the current status of this model in market seems like its too expensive. I can however sell out my 5850 and can plan for paying for a cheaper upgrade to 6970, hope that this could bring a bit noticeable difference with the games that I play.

If you want to play BF3 @1920x1080 ultra then you will surely need a 6950/70. Otherwise you could probably wait for 7xxx series what would be out by next month I guess.

You can also try out sapphire xtreme 5850, according to my information I read out that it has been recently re-luanched and is selling out at $150. I recently found and bought one for m CFX few months ago. You need to do bit kind of R&D in order to get it work properly but then once if it works then surely all your games would be going well.