Crossfire 6970 or sli 485

If money is not a problem, which GPUS would you pick? Crossfire 6970 or sli 485

If we do get these mobile GPUS 580/585 and/or 6990(dual GPU) which one is better? Again sli 580/585 or 6990(dual GPU)

I might get the M18x this spring or summer.

Thanks

 

probably 6970 from the looks of it.. Crossfire scales better than SLI so even though single 485M have a small lead in scalling 6970 will be more efficient.

 

485m SLI if you don't care about the price/performance ratio.

 

6970M Xfire definitely! Cheaper and slightly better from the benches I saw.

 

features packed with, 485m SLI definitely.

 

Um... I am still unsure.....might get sli this time.

 

HD6000 series scale much better, with near 95% scalability dependin on resolution, compared to something like 75% for sli.

So HD6970 CF should give better performance, and run cheaper.

485m is still a good option, it will just be much more expensive, and will most probably be a bit slower.

 

6970CF

On the 6990 and 580/85, I honestly have no idea, and until we get some samples, it will be difficult to say. Judging from the desktop 6990 and 580/85, the 6990 would be better.

 

Why is it that people seem to think that the 6990 should be compared to the GTX 580/585?... considering the 6990 is a dual GPU card and the GTX 580 isn't, yet they perform comparatively the same in a large number of cases, that's extremely disappointing performance yet again from AMD's line-up.

This is just like the whole GTX 285 vs 4870 X2 crap again.

If I had the choice and money was no limiting factor, I'd definitely pick NVIDIA. Buying an AMD card is like buying a Lamborghini without an engine.

 

It's all about the price. It doesn't matter if it is a dual GPU or not. Also, the HD6990 performs between 50 to 100% faster depending on the game, than the GTX580.

And they compare to it because it is the current highest end from Nvidia until they release their own dual GPU.

Right now the current HD6000 lineup are phenomenal cards, with amazing crossfire scalability and price, performance and energy efficiency. Well... I can't say that for the HD6990, because it threw everything away for performance. Just like the 400 Nvidia series.

 

Ive seem to have read a couple of thread stating that there have been issues with some crossfire setups not being able to run in crossfire mode. I dont kmow if amd has rectified this.
But if history is to be the judge, it does seem to favor nvidia in terms of dual gpu functionality.
It would matter not if tthe amd scaled better, but if you could run it in fewer games that advantage wouldnt matter...
Well just my opinion.

 

Comparisons between gtx570/580 and hd6990 is nonsense right now, we can do some comparisons when gtx590 will come out.
Also two 6970m cant be compared to a desktop hd6990. The mobile version is based on the precedent generation and probably its performance is somewhere between desktop hd5770 xfire or hd5850 xfire.
Sli gtx485m should be like desktop gtx460 sli or gtx470 sli.

This said, id go for sli 485m. Its more pricey yes, but physx and cuda are two features great for hardcore gaming.
Ive owned both brands on my desktop rig, and since i like to take advantage of the features of the games at his best, initially i made an hybrid setup (ati and nvidia for physx) but i wasnt quite satisfied.
I switched to my current gtx570 and im amazed how well this card handles everything at smooth frames even with physx features are on high.

Most peoples says physx isnt needed at all, but for me it adds more depth to the gameplay that is imperative for having a full immersion.
Ive played as an example mafia 2 without physx and then with it enabled and it changed alot the gameplay experience alot.
It adds realism and thickness to the gameplay making it feel real and immersive.
Going back to without physx makes the game looks and feel bland and empty, and keep in mind that physx in mafia 2 isnt even that outstanding
Great implementations like batman and metro 2033 shows what that technology can do and im sure that in the next games things will get better and better.

BUT theres a catch. First you have to think how much it matters to you those features. Second, if those doesnt matter, then youll be fine with ati solution, but analyze the games you will want to play carefully as alot of them are optmized for nvidia and some for atis, so i had to choose the green team again for my games since ati performance was poor in them (hawx2,lp2,bulletstorm,cod and so on).

Third, the drivers.Ati is still holding the flag of the worst driver support ever. If they fix something, they break 100 things. Nvidia isnt much better, but their drivers have clearly the edge in optimizations, features and updates.

Xfire may scale better, althought i beg to differ. Take a look at guru3d ati driver section, there are peoples who are still forced to disable xfire because the driver support either sux or is broken.
Peoples are still using december 2010 caps (10.10e) because newer caps have some serious issues with games that were fine before.
Sli depends alot on how much the cpu can feed the cards. But the driver structure of nvidia and their management easily enables you to force sli or edit your own profiles easily, extending the official compatibility even further.

Sorry this post was long and boring, but as an ex hardcore ati user is my duty to inform you about pros and cons of both brands.

One thing is sure: my gtx570 halved all the problems i had with my hd5870 without running and going crazy around with radeon pro, without the use of tweaks to get games running proprely.

My 2 cents.

 

But, if you have a nice CPU, PhysX won't be needed.
PhysX is just a gimmick, it's simply performs Physics tasks on the GPU instead if CPU.

Also, FYI, ATi Stream = NVidia PhysX. And Stream is starting to be very popular.

And : DirectCompute = 10x(PhysX+Stream)

So yeah... My 2 cents.

 

Just a couple of things, HD6970m is based on the newer HD6000 series, being an HD6850 with lower clockspeeds. So its performance is way better with CF than previous HD5870m.

The scalability of Cross Fire being better is only recent, something that came with the HD6000 series as well. You see how an HD6950 is not as fast as a GTX570 even if it tries to get close in performance? Well, with CF things change. SLI GTX570 and CF HD6950 not only become on par, but at higher resolution and settings, the CF setup actually triumphs the SLI one, even though it is actually cheaper .

As for drivers... both companies, as you mentioned, have their issues, but even the games that perform better for nvidia, does not make them unplayable for ATi. The reverse applies as well.

Finally, CUDA is useless as of now, and while physx is indeed personal preference to help bring a different atmosphere to the games, being propietary makes it a tad difficult to fully utilize in all games made. That, and the fact that nvidia purposely makes it difficult for ATi users to enjoy physx when paired in a ATi+Nvidia GPU combo.

 

Why has no one mentioned that fact that AMD cards have terrible mobile driver support?

That reason alone is enough for me to stick with Nvidia.

 

I sure dont know what you are talking about, if optimus was a point of matter here, the drivers would be an issue, since its not, well both are basically the same

 

PhysX is not a "gimmick". I see you keep posting that it's just on the GPU instead of the CPU, and there's a lot wrong with that assertion and the implications it carries.

That said, PhysX is not necessary, and I would put my money on something that did physics on any GPU, not just one company's. But as long as you have a fast GPU, it'll be faster to do physics on the GPU than the CPU because the GPU is designed for that kind of calculation.

 

Yeah... I think I'm a fanboy...

Still, PhysX is just like Stream, so now it all comes to down to performance. Where most of the time, it's AMD's field.

And again, this is my opinion based on my reviews.