Should i sell my Dual Ati Radeon 5970's to get 1 Ati Radeon 6990 4gb?

[Diabolical]

ok, well here's the problem, ive been trying to max out battlefield 3 at ultra high setting with my comp, (GPU: Dual Ati Radeon 5970's, CPU: Intel i7 920 (overclocked to 3.8ghz), PSU 1200W, OP window 7, Ram: 6gb (1333mhz))
but i im getting extreme lagg, my FPS will randomly drop from 60-70 FPS to 20.. and even tho my FPS is showing me that its at 60 FPS, my gameplay will still be choppy. People are maxing out battlefield 3 with a 3.4ghz processor and a 6950 graphic card (well thats what i saw on youtube). I cant play the Fault line mission (gametrailer of BF3) on campagin mode at max graphics becuase my pc will just spazz out, and ive been recently been getitng this error where a blue screen would pop up and say to prevent internal hardware damage, window is shutting down blah blah blah, and it automatically restarts my pc..SmarteyBall has suggested to get rid of the 5970 becuase these cards are apparently known to cause problem at crossfire mode and told me im better off with 1 gpu. Im not really a computer expert, i dont really benchmark, or any of that stuff, i just like playing my games at ultra high graphics with no lagg. So should i sell both of my 5970's to buy a Ati radeon 6990?

 

[stormy13]

You would be taking a step backwards as your 2 5970's are faster than the 6990. Also you would be trading 2 cards in Crossfire for a single card with 2 GPU's on it that also runs Crossfire.

As far as performance in the game, are you using the 11.10 Preview 3,

http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/1810-latest-amd-catalyst-video-driver-windows-7-a.html

with the latest 11.9 CAP 4,

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

 

[smarteyeball]

So should i sell both of my 5970's to buy a Ati radeon 6990?

The 6990 address a lot of the issues of the 5970's but it's still an x2 card. x2 cards will always be 'special' or temperamental. This is largely due to lack of driver support.

Both AMD and Nvidia focus their attentions on the flagship cards; the single GPU's like the 6970/580 and those cards that sell the most.

x2 cards are different because they are 'enthusiast' cards. They don't sell as many. As such the driver support focus is less because it's not cost effective to concentrate on these cards. The older they get, the more sporadic the support becomes. Ask anyone who's running/ran a 1-2 gen older x2 card how the support was.

If you wish to stick with the Crossfire route, I'd go two 6950's or 6970's. Or if you wish to give nvidia a try, a pair 570's or 580's.

Stormy is correct that technically it is a step backwards - but raw FPS isn't everything. I took a 'step backwards' when I replaced my 5970 with a single gtx 580. It was the best move I made. I replaced raw fps for higher average minimums, less spikes and overall superior gameplay. On paper - I lost. In reality, I won.

However I've done a bit of a skim through some of your other posts and you have something else going on with your computer you need to fix first. It sounds like it came from the factory unstable.

A new card/s may not be the magic bullet you are looking for and I certainly suggest exploring all free options first.

Between that and the 'right drivers' you might find a balance you're happy/can live with, without having to sell your cards.

At least make sure the PC is stable to take new cards.


Start by removing a card and resetting the OC to default. Then try the latest drivers and CAP. If you can play without crashing @ stock with one card, concentrate on your overclock and one card. Only add the second card if/when the PC is completely stable.

 

[Diabolical]

You would be taking a step backwards as your 2 5970's are faster than the 6990. Also you would be trading 2 cards in Crossfire for a single card with 2 GPU's on it that also runs Crossfire.

As far as performance in the game, are you using the 11.10 Preview 3,

http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/1810-latest-amd-catalyst-video-driver-windows-7-a.html

with the latest 11.9 CAP 4,

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

downloaded both update, and it still resulted in bad horrible coniditons once again, i had FPS dropped down as far as 1, my screen completely froze for a good minute.. I cant wait until they start benchmarking Battlefield 3.. Im starting to think about overclocking my GPU..

 

[Diabolical]

Well i just figured out by going to the AMD forums that EVERYONE is having the same problems with crossfire, or the gpu. Everyone is complaining about terrible performance with dual 6970, 6870, 5870s, 5970s, 6990.. they are all getting below 30 FPS and has similiar problems such as Lagg, choppiness, terrible gameplay etc etc... its good to know that im not the only one out there... I knew i shouldve gone with Nvdia..

 

[Beta]

There is nothing wrong with CrossfireX. I had a 3870x2 and a 4870x2 and what I had found out after many years of having issues is when you have a good working driver not to update the driver. Just update the software using customize install.

As for selling the card I would wait until right before the 7xxx series comes out sometime next year.

 

[stormy13]

Turned hyper-threading off on that i7 yet? Seems to fix or at least lessen it a lot for Intel users, regardless of whether they are running Crossfire or SLI.

And for BF3 the grass isn't necessarily greener as far as BF3 goes either,

BF3 Stuttering Fix 285.62 - Guru3D.com Forums

same stuttering as Crossfire when running SLI. At least I haven't seen any AMD users complaining about missing ground textures yet, like there is in that thread.

 

[razy60]

From what i have seen and read at the moment it is best to switch off crossfire/sli and just use a single card until any patch's come out.

 

[pparks1]

i just like playing my games at ultra high graphics with no lagg.

I know we have chatted about this before, but do you actually "see" a difference between High and Ultra? I understand your desire to want things maxed out, and you have hardware that should max it out, but have you actually switched between the two to see what difference it really makes?

Stormy is correct that technically it is a step backwards - but raw FPS isn't everything. I took a 'step backwards' when I replaced my 5970 with a single gtx 580. It was the best move I made. I replaced raw fps for higher average minimums, less spikes and overall superior gameplay. On paper - I lost. In reality, I won.

Yes, raw benchmarks and maximums are not the holy grail.

It's also why I repeatedly ask people why they are obsessed with keeping settings at Ultra at any cost if they can even see a difference between High and Ultra. If they cannot "see" a difference, or say they see less than 1% difference.....can you really justify spending hundreds of dollars upgrading and reconfiguring. Sure, on paper they are not on Ultra...but in reality if it runs good and smooth and still looks absolutely stunning....and they save hundreds of dollars...I would call that a win.

Well i just figured out by going to the AMD forums that EVERYONE is having the same problems with crossfire, or the gpu. Everyone is complaining about terrible performance with dual 6970, 6870, 5870s, 5970s, 6990.. they are all getting below 30 FPS and has similiar problems such as Lagg, choppiness, terrible gameplay etc etc... its good to know that im not the only one out there... I knew i shouldve gone with Nvdia..

Well, if everybody is having the issue, it will likely be fixed. It does seem that there are far more AMD/ATI video problems at present with this game.

I just went through a video card upgrade and was torn on the AMD/ATI and Nvidia cards. On paper, it seemed like the AMD/ATI had the advantage. But my past experience with AMD/ATI and the catalyst driver set have never been stellar and that was the reason I decided to just stick with Nvidia. And since I was nvidia before, switching cards was more plug and play as I didn't have to uninstall driver sets when i pulled the card switch.

From what i have seen and read at the moment it is best to switch off crossfire/sli and just use a single card until any patch's come out.

That's been my opinion of SLI/Crossfire forever. I've never had a crossfire/SLI setup, nor any desire to ever try one because from what I read, people seem to have a myriad of problems resulting from it. 1 card with 1 monitor has always provided solid enough results for me.