Is a 7870 sufficient for Dell U2713hm gaming?

gillmanjr

gillmanjr

Member
Hello all, I recently upgraded my rig with an XFX 7870 2 GB and I am planning to pick up a new 27" Dell Ultrasharp monitor primarily for gaming. For those who don't know that is the newest Dell IPS monitor that runs in 2560x1440 res. I am wondering if you guys think the 7870 is going to be sufficient enough to drive this monitor for all the newest games. My rig is as follows:

Gigabyte UD4H mobo
Intel i3-3220 3.3 GHz
8 GB Gskill Ripjaws
2GB XFX Radeon 7870

If you think I would need additional VRAM would you recommend that I go with a single 7950 or higher, OR get a second 7870 to crossfire? Do the 7870 cards crossfire well?

I have also been considering a 3 monitor eyefinity setup using three 24" Dell Ultrasharp in 1920x1200 (U2412M). I think that would be an amazing setup but I am guessing would probably require substantial graphic card power to hit high fps while gaming. Also, the reason why I am reluctant to do the 3 monitor setup is because I also use my PC to watch TV and movies in my bedroom and I'm not sure how well that would work. What is your opinion on that: should I go single Dell U2713hm or triple Dell U2412M?
 
Last edited:
Multi GPU setups are only really worthwhile with the top end cards. You're much better off buying the most powerful single card you can afford. Also remember that when adding a second card, the Vram of both cards is not added. For example a pair of 7870 2GB cards in Crossfire does not equal 4GB. You still only have 2GB of Vram.

AMD drivers also have a bit of a tendency to be flaky with crossfire setups.

If you can afford a pair of 7870's then you can afford a 4GB 670 or a 3GB 7970. My advice would be to go with one of those, where the extra Vram is very helpful at resolutions above 1920x1200.

With regard to multi monitor setups. I had 3 monitors about a year ago, but got rid of them pretty quickly. I didn't like it at all. It felt so imposing on my desk and the amount of light that came from it used to give me a headache. Whilst it's ok for gaming, I didn't find it great and it just makes all other normal computing tasks a pain. I went back to 2560x1600 which is much better.
 
Spesh said:
Multi GPU setups are only really worthwhile with the top end cards. You're much better off buying the most powerful single card you can afford. Also remember that when adding a second card, the Vram of both cards is not added. For example a pair of 7870 2GB cards in Crossfire does not equal 4GB. You still only have 2GB of Vram.

AMD drivers also have a bit of a tendency to be flaky with crossfire setups.

If you can afford a pair of 7870's then you can afford a 4GB 670 or a 3GB 7970. My advice would be to go with one of those, where the extra Vram is very helpful at resolutions above 1920x1200.

With regard to multi monitor setups. I had 3 monitors about a year ago, but got rid of them pretty quickly. I didn't like it at all. It felt so imposing on my desk and the amount of light that came from it used to give me a headache. Whilst it's ok for gaming, I didn't find it great and it just makes all other normal computing tasks a pain. I went back to 2560x1600 which is much better.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info but I have a comment: you say that multi GPU setups are only worth it for top end cards. But the top end cards change every 6 months OR LESS. Wasn't the 7870 the top end card LESS than a year ago? I think its kind of pointless to say that its only worth it with the top end cards as a card is only top end for a few months, maybe a year at the most. Also, I've read differing opinions about the functionality of crossfirex, some people are saying that AMD has really improved the drivers for the more modern cards (78xx and 79xx). Does anyone here use a x2 7870 setup in crossfire?

Also, what do you think about a single 7870 driving a Dell U2713, do you think it would be enough?
 
Its simply better bang for your buck to buy a stronger card than a weaker lesser card, unless your going for like x2 660Ti to beat the performance of a 680 and more to the point, you are going to want a card or multiple cards in the 300 dollar range to drive a dell 27 at that resolution.
 
Last edited:
gillmanjr said:
Thanks for the info but I have a comment: you say that multi GPU setups are only worth it for top end cards. But the top end cards change every 6 months OR LESS. Wasn't the 7870 the top end card LESS than a year ago? I think its kind of pointless to say that its only worth it with the top end cards as a card is only top end for a few months, maybe a year at the most. Also, I've read differing opinions about the functionality of crossfirex, some people are saying that AMD has really improved the drivers for the more modern cards (78xx and 79xx). Does anyone here use a x2 7870 setup in crossfire?

Also, what do you think about a single 7870 driving a Dell U2713, do you think it would be enough?
Click to expand...

The top end cards last a year or more, that is the length between generations. The hd7970 was the first card from this generation to even come out and it is much better, the 7870 came out like 2 months later.

Since you already have one, for your money i'd say the crossfire setup is the most cost effective
 
One 7870 will be alright for that resolution. Don't expect to play everything maxed, but it will still be good performance in most games. 2gb of VRAM is fine for a single 1440 display.

If you are planning on 3 1440 monitors I would look at 2 higher end cards with 3gb of VRAM or better.
 
gillmanjr said:
Thanks for the info but I have a comment: you say that multi GPU setups are only worth it for top end cards. But the top end cards change every 6 months OR LESS. Wasn't the 7870 the top end card LESS than a year ago? I think its kind of pointless to say that its only worth it with the top end cards as a card is only top end for a few months, maybe a year at the most. Also, I've read differing opinions about the functionality of crossfirex, some people are saying that AMD has really improved the drivers for the more modern cards (78xx and 79xx). Does anyone here use a x2 7870 setup in crossfire?

Also, what do you think about a single 7870 driving a Dell U2713, do you think it would be enough?
Click to expand...

The 7870 was never top end.

I don't know what you mean by cards only being top end for a few months. The point is that rather than running SLI/Crossfire on a lower end card, you should spend the money on a single high end card. Multi GPU is for when a single top end card is not enough power. It often can create as many problems as it solves due to driver/game support.

AMD has always been flaky with Crossfire drivers (even more so on the lower end cards). They have improved with the 7000 series, but I still here a lot of people reporting problems on other forums.

If you bought the 7870 recently, then you've shot yourself in the foot a bit as it will be extremely underpowered at 2560x1440 and adding a second card may not yield the sort of gains you would expect. The only way to get round it will be to run games at significantly lower than optimal settings. Speaking from experience, games like BF3, Crysis etc will rape that card on a 27" monitor.
 
Last edited:
salvage-this said:
One 7870 will be alright for that resolution. Don't expect to play everything maxed, but it will still be good performance in most games. 2gb of VRAM is fine for a single 1440 display.
Click to expand...

Not according to my own testing. Crysis 3 was using 3.2GB of Vram when I tested it and BF3 not far behind.
 
I can't really speak for Crysis 3 but BF3 (high with mxaa enabled) is using 1600mb on a 64 player server. I am using a 1600 monitor. I know that it would be more if you are using higher settings of AA/AF but I don't think he will be fully maxing out the game with one 7870. I could be wrong.
 
BF3 @ Ultra and 8x AA was using 2.6GB on a 32 player map when I tested it. I have the same monitor as you, so it was tested at 1600p.
 
If your card only has 2GB Vram then it will show that the game is maxing out at around 1988Mb. You need 3Gb or more to see the real usage.
 
Spesh said:
The 7870 was never top end.

I don't know what you mean by cards only being top end for a few months. The point is that rather than running SLI/Crossfire on a lower end card, you should spend the money on a single high end card. Multi GPU is for when a single top end card is not enough power. It often can create as many problems as it solves due to driver/game support.

AMD has always been flaky with Crossfire drivers (even more so on the lower end cards). They have improved with the 7000 series, but I still here a lot of people reporting problems on other forums.

If you bought the 7870 recently, then you've shot yourself in the foot a bit as it will be extremely underpowered at 2560x1440 and adding a second card may not yield the sort of gains you would expect. The only way to get round it will be to run games at significantly lower than optimal settings. Speaking from experience, games like BF3, Crysis etc will rape that card on a 27" monitor.
Click to expand...

I guess I am completely confused with GPU "generations" then. Seems like a new number comes out every other week. :confused:

Are you sure about what you are saying here with regards to the 7870 crossfire? I read posts on other fora that said a x2 7870 crossfire setup easily outperforms a 7950 and will outperform a 7970 when oc'd. I also read that the latest driver for the 7870 was excellent....
 
gillmanjr said:
I guess I am completely confused with GPU "generations" then. Seems like a new number comes out every other week. :confused:

Are you sure about what you are saying here with regards to the 7870 crossfire? I read posts on other fora that said a x2 7870 crossfire setup easily outperforms a 7950 and will outperform a 7970 when oc'd. I also read that the latest driver for the 7870 was excellent....
Click to expand...

It's game dependent and relies heavily on AMDs drivers, which as I've stated before are prone to causing headaches for Xfire setups. You may get decent performance, you may not. Any performance you do get will most certainly be at the expense of microstutter, heat, power draw, space and noise.

If I were in your shoes I would be selling the 7870 and replacing it with a GTX670 4GB, or if you wanted to stick with AMD, a 7970. Either of these solutions would give more consistent performance and have enough memory to run 1440p properly. 2GB is always going to limit you at that resolution.
 
Last edited:
salvage-this said:
I can't really speak for Crysis 3 but BF3 (high with mxaa enabled) is using 1600mb on a 64 player server. I am using a 1600 monitor. I know that it would be more if you are using higher settings of AA/AF but I don't think he will be fully maxing out the game with one 7870. I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

How can I change settings of AA/AF for higher performance,have tried,but not suceed yet?:confused:
 
Spesh said:
If your card only has 2GB Vram then it will show that the game is maxing out at around 1988Mb. You need 3Gb or more to see the real usage.
Click to expand...

The last updates took a long time for me to download. So sorry about the late reply. It looks like you are right. I played on metro on ultra and it jumped right to 2000mb used. I put it back to my usual settings of high with no AA/AF and I was back to 1300mb used.
 
Been using my 7870 for the last few days now. First of all this card seems to be voltage locked, I cannot do anything with it in afterburner so unfortunately I only have it at 1075 MHz core and 1300 MHz mem, any higher and I get instability. That is good enough for me to run Tomb Raider in Ultra graphics settings at 50-60 fps. If I jump it up to Ultimate setting (the highest) it drops to 40 fps or so. And btw this is with my current Samsung 1080p monitor, which leads me to believe that this card is not going to be sufficient for the Dell Ultrasharp...:(

Now I just have to decide what to do because I still want the Dell, these the choices I am considering, which one do you vote for?

1. Keep my current setup until the Radeon 8000 series is released, then pick up one of those.

2. Buy a second 7870 right now for xfire.

3. Buy a 7970 right now and sell the 7870.

4. "Accidentally" break the 7870 and RMA with Newegg, then buy the 7970. :D
 
You have to go to the settings and search for the voltage unlock option.

I believe AMD has microstutter issues especially with crossfire, so it might not be the best idea.
 
jonnyp11 said:
You have to go to the settings and search for the voltage unlock option.

I believe AMD has microstutter issues especially with crossfire, so it might not be the best idea.
Click to expand...

I did unlock the voltage option in afterburner, it still won't let me up the voltage. :confused:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top