Obvious question is obvious: CFX 6970 or 1 7970?

[KAC]

Pricing will be give or take the same with minor difference making 7970 about 50 boners more expensive option for me.
I want preferably headache free gaming with option of 3D to boot. What seems to be the more sensible option?
Need to decide pronto. Also please look at my psu and tell me if it can sustain CFX 6970. Don't want to fork out anymore cash on a PSU on top of everything.

Thanks gays!

 

[nycdarkness]

PSU will do just fine for cfx 6970. I would take the 7970. Can always cfx that later on. Can't really go wrong either way.

 

[madyasiwi]

Get the one with the latest architecture because they'll most likely be the focus of the driver team moving forward. Even the rest of their GPU + APU is VLIW 5. Cayman is basically the bastard child that doesn't really meant to be -- if it wasn't because TSMC cancels their 32 nm process.

 

[jam2k]

I would take the 7970. Can always cfx that later on.

.

 

[demo]

If the difference is only 50 jizzwads, go for the 7970, but I would have thought you could find a 6950 or 70 for pretty damn cheap in the next few weeks which will be faster too..

 

[KAC]

I need to check that shiz out yo! Above is my conjecture. Also want hassle free 3D. CFX 3D is still very nascent on ATi.

 

[demo]

Also want hassle free 3D.

Then you should have bought a GTX580

lol but in all seriousness you bring up a good point, I know CFX was just recently added to TriDef, but its probably a little immature at this point.. 7970 might be a better overall option even if it is slightly slower than 6970CFX across the board.. plus as others have said you can get another later for CFX, at which point TriDef drivers will be more mature.

 

[KAC]

Yeah, I just need to find out what the prices are like this weekend. If all goes well, I may invest in either but I am definitely upping the GPU horsepower. My mind is set on it. I am almost regretting a 23" monitor now and would've rather gotten the 27" but honestly, that thing was 820 US. This was 320 US. The spare dime, I am going to fork on more GPU horsepower so it should be good.

 

[Gandalfthewhite]

7970 I will always prefer a single card architecture to a dual card solution when it comes to graphics cards. The headaches from both camps when it comes to running dual cards is just not worth it to me.

 

[demo]

Yeah, I just need to find out what the prices are like this weekend. If all goes well, I may invest in either but I am definitely upping the GPU horsepower. My mind is set on it. I am almost regretting a 23" monitor now and would've rather gotten the 27" but honestly, that thing was 820 US. This was 320 US. The spare dime, I am going to fork on more GPU horsepower so it should be good.

Yeh bigger is better for 3D, the sense of depth and pop out is maginfied with larger displays too, which is why I have a 40" LED on my desk . Even though I can only use 720p on it in 3D over HDMI I dont care what anyone says, I have owned 1440p IPS displays etc, I can get better results out of that $1500 display at 720p. I've learnt res isnt everything as long as you have enough filtering like AA, SSAA etc. To me frame rates (120 per eye) clarity in motion and when it comes to that display; post processing, make the bigger difference. But PC purists wont hear of it, and thats fine, but they are missing out

7970 I will always prefer a single card architecture to a dual card solution when it comes to graphics cards. The headaches from both camps when it comes to running dual cards is just not worth it to me.

I've had nothing but smooth sailing with TriSLI, and tbh dual CFX is great aswell, this isnt 2005.

 

[noko]

Yeh bigger is better for 3D, the sense of depth and pop out is maginfied with larger displays too, which is why I have a 40" LED on my desk . Even though I can only use 720p on it in 3D over HDMI I dont care what anyone says, I have owned 1440p IPS displays etc, I can get better results out of that $1500 display at 720p. I've learnt res isnt everything as long as you have enough filtering like AA, SSAA etc. To me frame rates (120 per eye) clarity in motion and when it comes to that display; post processing, make the bigger difference. But PC purists wont hear of it, and thats fine, but they are missing out



I've had nothing but smooth sailing with TriSLI, and tbh dual CFX is great aswell, this isnt 2005.

40" LED 3D . I too think bigger is better for 3d, get a way from the doll house characters and objects with a smaller monitor doing 3d.

As for problem free 3d , I don't think that is happening from anyone. Even games that are suppose to be 3d, like Dues Ex and Crysis 2 turned out to be crap in 3d.

 

[KAC]

Hmm, I simply do not have the real estate to put in even a 27" on my desk. Also the 32" LED panels with 3D did not have proper 120 Hz output so would've been extremely challenging to get the performance I am getting. Also I got a bad headache after pumping 3D for about 2 hours. I expect it to not improve since I do get a headache after watching every 3D movie in a cinema. Feel the 23" is serving its job well as it is but 27" might have looked better. However, the cash outlay was simply too large to consider it even.

Final thing, it seems bias is still towards a 7970. I will report back once I am aware of the pricing and then solicit more opinions on the matter. If the 6950 dropped to 250 US range, then it might be worth considering a second card since I will only possibly get 200 US out of this one.

 

[demo]

40" LED 3D . I too think bigger is better for 3d, get a way from the doll house characters and objects with a smaller monitor doing 3d.

As for problem free 3d , I don't think that is happening from anyone. Even games that are suppose to be 3d, like Dues Ex and Crysis 2 turned out to be crap in 3d.

No there is no such thing as 100% problem free 3D, but the difference is 10 to 1.

Hmm, I simply do not have the real estate to put in even a 27" on my desk. Also the 32" LED panels with 3D did not have proper 120 Hz output so would've been extremely challenging to get the performance I am getting. Also I got a bad headache after pumping 3D for about 2 hours. I expect it to not improve since I do get a headache after watching every 3D movie in a cinema. Feel the 23" is serving its job well as it is but 27" might have looked better. However, the cash outlay was simply too large to consider it even.

Final thing, it seems bias is still towards a 7970. I will report back once I am aware of the pricing and then solicit more opinions on the matter. If the 6950 dropped to 250 US range, then it might be worth considering a second card since I will only possibly get 200 US out of this one.

Go for the 7970 for sure imo. And, I dont get headaches from 3D, but I also dont use extreme settings. I think half the problem is, like in many 3d movies they have funny convergence settings and often focusing on certain objects strains your eyes, especially when they are touching the edge of the display and "broken". This is the main reason I would never use 3D surround, the bezels would be constantly breaking things and messing with my eyes.

 

[Higgy10]

Demo half the prob is some people cant handle 3d no matter what settings are used and if 1000hrs are used to tune it. Especially i n KACs situation where 3d requires tylenol or aspirin!

 

[demo]

Yeh thats fair enough, I'm not the sort of person that gets headaches or migraines ever anyway, cant remember the last time I had an aspirin for anything.. perhaps I just have a hard head

 

[KAC]

Still too early to call it a headache. I do have extremely sensitive eyes and that has always been an issue (my eyes used to get water in them when I was 10 looking at sun ). However, I have gotten past it and they no longer do any of the pansy stuff anymore. I also do not wear sunglasses now and can go out in 50C heat without any impact.

I might be able to get over 3D headaches once I put in some gametime. I think the other day, it was a mix of watching at 3D images w/o glasses, switching between games, monitor not reverting back to 3D causing highly distorted display further requiring me to concentrate and go back to 2D mode and all the shitstorm like that. Plus I was switching back and forth across about 10 games at varying levels of 3D/2D all that jazz.

Result, 2 hours later, a headache lol.

However, tomorrow is the day. Hope the cards are out by then with the prices.

 

[Danny Nissan]

I think that CFX will piss you off, considering how AMD has been late with CFX support on games this year.

Go with one 7970 and save yourself the trouble.

 

[Riou]

If you are buying new, get the 7970 imho. Allegedly the 7970 overclocks very well, so an overclocked 7970 can perform close to a stock 6990 or GTX 590.

Edit: Hmmm you already have an unlocked 6950. It depends how much you can get from selling your 6950 or how cheap the 6950/6970's become.

 

[KAC]

If you are buying new, get the 7970 imho. Allegedly the 7970 overclocks very well, so an overclocked 7970 can perform close to a stock 6990 or GTX 590.

Edit: Hmmm you already have an unlocked 6950. It depends how much you can get from selling your 6950 or how cheap the 6950/6970's become.

$190 bucks for my card offered

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Still too early to call it a headache. I do have extremely sensitive eyes and that has always been an issue (my eyes used to get water in them when I was 10 looking at sun ). However, I have gotten past it and they no longer do any of the pansy stuff anymore. I also do not wear sunglasses now and can go out in 50C heat without any impact.

I might be able to get over 3D headaches once I put in some gametime. I think the other day, it was a mix of watching at 3D images w/o glasses, switching between games, monitor not reverting back to 3D causing highly distorted display further requiring me to concentrate and go back to 2D mode and all the shitstorm like that. Plus I was switching back and forth across about 10 games at varying levels of 3D/2D all that jazz.

Result, 2 hours later, a headache lol.

However, tomorrow is the day. Hope the cards are out by then with the prices.

It took me a couple of weeks to really get used to watching 3d content. I never got any headaches but when I got my first display I found even 25% depth to be a lot. At 40% it was eye popping. Now I'm actually trying to limit the depth that I use since I was getting too used to a high depth even 40% in a lot of games felt flat to me.

You'll get used to it in time.