Ok so I currently have 2 x Zotac GTX 470's in SLI, they are under water and until now have performed faultlessly, but Ive recently upgraded to a triple display setup (1920x1080) so Ive been looking to go down the AMD route... My question is, which one do I need to improve on what I already have, bearing in mind my budget is approx £400 including the relevant block, possibly a tad more? Or should I just stick with what I have? I havent tested the setup yet, but going on reviews etc, AMD seem to have better driver support for triple setups and less issues with a single card setup with the option to crossfire in the future... I await the sparks that will no doubt fly!
AMD are certainly better for multi monitor, I'd advise getting a 6950 or two (without water blocks if you get 2 since otherwise would be over 400)
Am I right in thinking these can be flashed to 6970 spec too us getting dual 6970's, what kind of increase would I be looking at? Thanks!
Well what fps are you getting in games? The latest CPC has an article about the best GPU set up for multi monitor, a single 6970 gets an average of 30fps in BFBC2 at 5760 x 1080 on max graphics whereas 2 x 6970's gets an average of 54fps.
I think most of the unlocking on 6950s has now stopped, it seemed to be only the first ones that were made that could do this.
Depends on the exact cards you get, some can yes. Not sure how it would compare to your current setup, 2 6970s should be more powerful, but also as said already, the drivers are far superior (for once) when it comes to multi monitors, I find multi monitors with nvidia a right pain.
I would just wait and test the setup. If it is manageable I would wait until the next lot of gpus in order to upgrade as these will probably give a more noticable increase. 2x470 shouldn't be too bad on triple monitors
Ok thanks guys, time to play the patient game me thinks... I'll try out the 2 x 470's first then make a decision based on that, I'll let you all know how it goes, thanks for the quick advice!
2x GTX470s are much faster than anything currently. It might lose out on shoddy SLI support to a HD6970 in some games, but the GTX470 SLi is still not something to be scoffed at.
It isn't the fastest (that's a grammatical error on my part) but it's still quite fast. And it beats out the HD6970. http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-470-2-3-way-sli-review/6 http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-6950-6970-review/22 Feel free to peruse the benchies. Although I will concede that it loses out at 2560x1600 due to lower VRAM, but if you're below that, the GTX470 SLI'ed is still quite a force to be reckoned with.
I also believe that Gtx 470`s in sli are faster than a 6970 , I think if you wasn`t water cool ing those babies i would opt for the 6970, but seeing as you have a firm watercooling solution I don`t think you can do much better. (p.s. I have no evidence to support my comment)
