graphic card - should i switch?

[Dwiss]

This is a bit technical probably but i am at loss to make a proper decision.

 

Right now i am running my PC with a Radeon HD 6670 with 1gb vram. I am basically happy with the look and performance of my Skyrim but during a minor cleaning of my stuff i came across my HD 5570 with 2gb vram. Now i am uncertain if it would be smarter to use that one instead of the 6670 due to the higher amount of vram.

 

I should add that i am not using ENBs - only texture packs and lightning mods. Would the HD 5570 be the better choice maybe? I only have 1 PCIE slot - so using both is not an option

Edited November 8, 2013 by Dwiss

[HeyYou]

I think the 6670 is going to be the higher performance card. Use some utility to monitor vram usage. See if you are maxing it out.

[Arion]

Well I would say that if you aren't using any major texture packs you are probably better off with the 6670 even though it has only 1gig of vram... Couple of reasons.. The other card uses either GDDR3/5 (not sure exact specs for your specific card) as opposed to the 6670 which uses GDDR5 - which is much faster.

 

If you really want to do a complete comparison based on specs here are the manufacturer's spec sheets.

 

HD5570

 

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5570/Pages/hd-5570-overview.aspx#2

 

HD6670

 

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6670/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6670-overview.aspx#2

 

Something I'm curious about is that it states the 5570 is a low profile card.... Unless you have a way to change the bracket you won't be able to fit it in a regular sized system. I dont' know all the specifics of your computer but if it were me I'd stick with the 6670... I'm running a 6770 with 1 gig of ram and from my understanding its equivilant to your card. I dunno if that's true or not but I am happy with mine and it runs Skyrim at Ultra settings.

 

PS.. Just noticed that you said you are running in crossfire with your APU.... In that case I'd stay with what you have since you're basically using system memory (shared memory) so you have more available. Might want to check and see if the 5570 is compatible with running crossfire with that APU ...

Edited November 8, 2013 by Arion

[Dwiss]

Thanks to both of you for the input - helped a lot. I switched from full hd packages to the lite ones a month ago so the load has been reduced compared to my original setup which had many ctds etc.

 

My version of the 5570 would fit into the socket - checked that before asking for advice. But your hint regarding the memory speed was very helpful Arion - i wasnt aware of that. So i am going to stick to the current card until i have another 200euro to spend on a brand new one again

[HeyYou]

And by that time, single cards that are more powerful than what you are currently running will be available for that price. I got my 6850 under 150 US.