580M SLI vs 6990m Xfire

[locust76]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sure there's a slight performance bump, but personally, I wouldn't want to risk having problems cause of a slight upgrade.

What problems are you referring to?

Both the 6970M and the 6990M would be a huge improvement over the 460m. According to notebookcheck.net, the GTX 480M is about 34% faster than the 460M, the 6970M should be about 29% faster than the 480M and the 6990M is about 15% faster than the 6970M, so from a GTX 460M to 6990M is a huge leap.

Then double that with Crossfire.

(As a point of reference, apparently two 460Ms in SLI are 2% faster than a single 6990M, so theoretically you'd be doubling your graphics performance, according to notebookcheck.net, of course...)

[daveh98]

OP you are kinda asking an impossible question without pertinent information; like price difference. It's like you are calling an insurance broker asking for the quote without telling the broker what kind of car you have. Price per dollar is very important, the type of games you play and your expectations. So, without you being specific..you can't get any meaningful answer. The 6970 is a bit slower than the 6990 and some games it is a negligible difference.

[DumbDumb]

OP you are kinda asking an impossible question without pertinent information; like price difference. It's like you are calling an insurance broker asking for the quote without telling the broker what kind of car you have. Price per dollar is very important, the type of games you play and your expectations. So, without you being specific..you can't get any meaningful answer. The 6970 is a bit slower than the 6990 and some games it is a negligible difference.

ok.. here is whats going on.. do to a problem i was having they are willing to swap my video cards out.. at first they wanted to just replace the the 460s.
I told them id like to get away from nvidia and and go with ati and they told me they didnt have any thing to offer me comparable to the 460s on ati's side..
so i asked what the difference would be.. the rep put me on hold and told me when he came back he had 2 options..
option 1. if i buy a 1 year extended warranty they would upgrade me to dual 6970s..

and option 2. if i buy 2 years of extended warranty they would upgrade me to
dual 6990s..

option 1 is 539.00 and option 2 is 1080.00

is it worth it? I think it is.. not only am i buy an extended warranty IM GETTING A VIDEO CARD UPGRADE..

SO THAT IS WHY IM ASKING WHAT TO GO WITH..

[minnus]

Wow - thats some really expensive warranty...

It only costs about $600 for three years when building out.

[daveh98]

Given that information go with the 6970s. I can't say it's a 500 dollar difference. Some games seem to go head to head with the 6990 but a few games seem to really favor the 6990 (BF3 and Crysis 2 off the top of my head). Now you can still run the games near max with 6970s CF. It is a WAY better solution than what you currently have and I could say it's worth the 500 difference with the warranty. I had 6970s; they are powerful.

With that being said, maybe counter with an "option 3." You will do the 2 year extended warranty at the quoted 6990 price but for the 580M. The 580M is a bit more powerful than the 6990 but I have seen some very very noticable image quality improvements after leaving the AMD camp. Most likely your 460M SLI (though much weaker) would still have better IQ than the 6970/6990. I was playing L4D2 as it's a staple game I play, and couldn't believe the amount of small details (tattoos on characters etc) that were much cleaner on the Green side. However, given what you state currently, I personally would go 6970 all day.

[DumbDumb]

Given that information go with the 6970s. I can't say it's a 500 dollar difference. Some games seem to go head to head with the 6990 but a few games seem to really favor the 6990 (BF3 and Crysis 2 off the top of my head). Now you can still run the games near max with 6970s CF. It is a WAY better solution than what you currently have and I could say it's worth the 500 difference with the warranty. I had 6970s; they are powerful.

With that being said, maybe counter with an "option 3." You will do the 2 year extended warranty at the quoted 6990 price but for the 580M. The 580M is a bit more powerful than the 6990 but I have seen some very very noticable image quality improvements after leaving the AMD camp. Most likely your 460M SLI (though much weaker) would still have better IQ than the 6970/6990. I was playing L4D2 as it's a staple game I play, and couldn't believe the amount of small details (tattoos on characters etc) that were much cleaner on the Green side. However, given what you state currently, I personally would go 6970 all day.

lol so your telling me that the 460s will put off a better image than the 6990s?
Really? I heard that the iq for the 580s and the 6990s were about the same..
I like the picture i get with the 460s I just want better hardware to kinda future proof for newer games coming out..

but basically they wont do the 580s.. and i dont plan to get rid of this computer for a while..(my GF WOULD KILL ME!) so my choices are the 2 i listed.. 6970s or 6990s.. in the long run would the 6990s be better than the 6970s? with driver updates and such?

[daveh98]

lol so your telling me that the 460s will put off a better image than the 6990s?
Really? I heard that the iq for the 580s and the 6990s were about the same..
I like the picture i get with the 460s I just want better hardware to kinda future proof for newer games coming out..

but basically they wont do the 580s.. and i dont plan to get rid of this computer for a while..(my GF WOULD KILL ME!) so my choices are the 2 i listed.. 6970s or 6990s.. in the long run would the 6990s be better than the 6970s? with driver updates and such?

Quite honestly the drivers will support both. If you have the money and want to pay 500 for 10% performance improvement then go for it. They are better cards. But I think the 580s/6990/6970 will all be outdated relatively the same. Your call. The 6990 is 10%-20% better. How important that is for you can only be decided by you. Good luck.

[g8ts]

I'd stay with the 6970's save the extra dough for down the road upgrades. What will the 6970's not run right now? Video cards change so fast and if your planning on keeping the system for awhile...and it's faster than anything you have...wait and see...plus when the 6990's or 580's drop in price that my be a nice upgrade for the $$$.

[Mr. Fox]

The AMD versus NVIDIA "war" will never, ever, have an end as long as both companies are producing enthusiast video cards. They both have their pros and cons, and red-to-green/green-to-red converts are rare. In the end, it's all a matter of personal preference. It's really no different than the Ford versus Chevy debate.

We already have way too many threads covering this debate for this one to be allowed to remain open as a new stand-alone thread...

580m vs. 6990m

Nvidia 580m vs AMD ATI 6990m for M17x R3 ?

AMD HD 6990m vs Nvidia 580m GTX - Discussion Thread

NVidia 580M VS AMD ATI 6990M on Alienware - Missed points

...merging with this one: 580M SLI vs 6990m Xfire

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Thanks.

[DumbDumb]

iM SORRY FOX BUT THIS THREAD YOU MOVED WAS NOT A green vs red debate.. it was a question about which is the better card.. both being ati cards.. the only reason nvidia is even listed is because i have 460s currently in my note book.. I was offered the upgrade options of 6970s and 6990s..
so why would my thread be moved to a nvidia vs ati thread?