Alienware R3 vs R2 5870 or 6870

Hey guys, im about to buy an alienware both same specs
one of them is R2 and the other is R3
which GPU should i get 5870 or 6870 for gaming ?
which is faster ?
because i heard a lot of people saying that the 5870 is faster than the 6870
so i need your advice
plz help

 

The 5870 is faster but not by much and a small overclock on the 6870 will bring it up to the same speed.
I think you have to base your decision of other aspects because I doubt that you will notice the difference

 

I have my dual 5870s and love them...that being said, there is something to say for not having to deal with the headache that crossfire can be sometimes.

Often I have to wait for the application profiles to come out before a game will really take advantage of my crossfire cards (for instance, with my new game "Rage"). Other times (like with Gothic 4) Crossfire support never happens or it supports it but doesnt seem to make a difference (like with Mass Effect--although this happens the least often).

But then again, I am not really much for OC'ing my cards either. Everytime I try I never seem to have the same luck as others do.

Any chance you could spring the extra $$$ for the 6990m? I think would put the debate to rest wouldnt it? Then it would be faster either way and you wouldnt need to worry about the crossfire issues.

On a side note though, I dont want to give a bad impression of crossfire. For the most part it works really well. Just sometimes you have to wait for the driver/application profiles

 

it depends on display res.
If R2 has WXGA+ it'll be my choice.

 

If you have the money to spare, the R2 would have more upgradability. Dual 6970/6990's if your crazy enough.

 

thanks for the quick response guys ^^
my budget is about 1200$ so im gonna pick one from outlet
i hope i can find the 6990 for that price

and i heared some stuff about the screens the RGB is the best out there right ?
whats the worest so i can avoid 'em when buying ?

 

any resolution that isnt 1920x1080(R3)/1920x1200(R2) are bad,

 

R2 with 6970 Xfire plz. lol!

 

yeah so i think ima get the R3 with the 6970 this should be much better than the 5870 ? or almost the same ?

 

R2 man, and xfire it up.

 

AMD Radeon HD 6970M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

A tiny bit of google-fu yields the answers!

 

weird double post!

 

Ati 5870m works to 700/1000, amd ati 6870m works to 675/1000, the diference es ridiculos
It's the same performance

 

A 6970 is a fair bit faster then a 5870, but not faster then crossfire 5870

 

Crossfire 5870's(two slightly underclocked desktop 5770's) is the equivalent to a slightly underclocked desktop 5870(when both cards are utilized), and a 6970m is the equivalent to a 6850. The dual 5870's are faster when both are utilized, 6970m is faster 1v1. But if you OC to 850/1200 you will get full 5770/5870 desktop performance. Depending on if both or one card is being used. You can also upgrade to dual 6970's/6990's which will beat the pants off any R3 and is almost equivalent to an M18x - sandy bridge and macro keys. R2 is the better buy by far. Also a desktop 5870 is comparable to a desktop 6970.

 

Thanks Mkelliny

i heared the none 1080 or 1200 screens are very bad is it really that bad ?

now i have more stupid choices again
1. Crossfire 5870 but with 1600x900 resolution
2. 6870 with 1920x1080
3. 5870 with 1920x1200 LED RGB

 

i've heard many complaints from other posters here about the 1600x900 screen quality. there's bleeding around the edges and someone complained yesterday about faint vertical lines. I'd avoid this screen

 

Option 3 a second 5870 is like $200 bucks or so now. RGB LED FTW!

 

The first is WXGA+ 1440x900
It's quite good display. Much better than 1600x900 from R3

If you are looking for max performance and don't plan to do any upgrades in future is the best option.
M17xr2 WXGA+ CF is the fastest 17" laptop now.
Of course you can mod R2 with 6970/6990 but with standard configuration The first option is the fastest.


Look at this. I made this tests.

BFBC2 mp Valparaiso 32 players
All on and high + AFx4 AAx4.

Code:

M17xR2 CF WXGA+  (gpu drivers 1 year old !!!)

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
  3605,     44414,  59, 116, 81.168

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
  4121,     57081,  59, 109, 72.196

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
  3287,     43119,  50, 129, 76.231

Code:

M17x R3 6990m FHD (latest driver from dell website)

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
  4079,     60000,  36,  81, 67.983

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
  4093,     60000,  36, 145, 68.217


Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
  2125,     32229,  56,  82, 65.934