Rig idea

[echo2]

well i want to build a rig but how many cards should i put on 1 motherboard??
I was thinking about 5 [4 pcie x1 1pcie x16]

[1715133679]

1715133679

[1715133679]

1715133679

[mike678]

I'm confused why do people like the 5770 over the 6770 can any one clarify this for me? A quick look on newegg shows it is much cheaper and it produces less wattage and has the same amount of stream processors?

[Jack of Diamonds]

I'm confused why do people like the 5770 over the 6770 can any one clarify this for me? A quick look on newegg shows it is much cheaper and it produces less wattage and has the same amount of stream processors?

5770 is faster than a 6770 despite the naming. The old 5xxx series architecture is more efficient for GPGPU tasks.
A 5770 oc'ed will usually do 10-20mhash more at the same frequency compared to a 6770

Besides, 5770's these days run for about $79 to $99 not $130, which makes it a bargain if you can find one, easily one of the best $/mhash ratio
(at best, $70-80 dollars for 200mhash at 960mhz)

Newegg displays absurd prices for products often out of stock or not produced anymore

Anyways, out of those options you listed, the 6770's are most cost-efficient

[Sannyasi]

if you look around you can find 5870's for a around 200, maybe a bit over- 5870 will likely hold it's value longer too.

[mike678]

I'm confused why do people like the 5770 over the 6770 can any one clarify this for me? A quick look on newegg shows it is much cheaper and it produces less wattage and has the same amount of stream processors?

5770 is faster than a 6770 despite the naming. The old 5xxx series architecture is more efficient for GPGPU tasks.
A 5770 oc'ed will usually do 10-20mhash more at the same frequency compared to a 6770

Besides, 5770's these days run for about $79 to $99 not $130, which makes it a bargain if you can find one, easily one of the best $/mhash ratio
(at best, $70-80 dollars for 200mhash at 960mhz)

Newegg displays absurd prices for products often out of stock or not produced anymore

Anyways, out of those options you listed, the 6770's are most cost-efficient

ah alright is there any site that doesn't mark up like crazy or do I have to search for good deals that just randomly pop up?

[deslok]

I'm confused why do people like the 5770 over the 6770 can any one clarify this for me? A quick look on newegg shows it is much cheaper and it produces less wattage and has the same amount of stream processors?

5770 is faster than a 6770 despite the naming. The old 5xxx series architecture is more efficient for GPGPU tasks.
A 5770 oc'ed will usually do 10-20mhash more at the same frequency compared to a 6770

Besides, 5770's these days run for about $79 to $99 not $130, which makes it a bargain if you can find one, easily one of the best $/mhash ratio
(at best, $70-80 dollars for 200mhash at 960mhz)

Newegg displays absurd prices for products often out of stock or not produced anymore

Anyways, out of those options you listed, the 6770's are most cost-efficient

The only difference between a 6770 and 5770 is the bios
 http://www.anandtech.com/show/4296/amds-radeon-hd-6770-radeon-hd-6750-the-retail-radeon-5700-rebadge

[dISh]

i like em 5850's even more

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=29860.0

[Jack of Diamonds]

The only difference between a 6770 and 5770 is the bios
 http://www.anandtech.com/show/4296/amds-radeon-hd-6770-radeon-hd-6750-the-retail-radeon-5700-rebadge

Damn, can't argue with AMD there.
Ok, they added some blu-ray playback features but in essence it's a Juniper (57xx) chip and not an actual 6xxx series GPU.

So in theory a 5770 should be 100% equal to 6770

Unlike the 6850 & above which are really based on the VLIW4 stream architecture. Seems like everything below are mostly just OEM rebadges from the lower 5xxx series to appear 'newer'.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

The higher mhash on the 5770 is only due to a massive overclock it seems.

[mike678]

Has any one really tried to push a 6770 as far as it possibly could go? Would the bios on the 6770 possibly make it faster? According to the hardware wiki theres no recorded voltage change.

[Jack of Diamonds]

Has any one really tried to push a 6770 as far as it possibly could go? Would the bios on the 6770 possibly make it faster? According to the hardware wiki theres no recorded voltage change.

It should OC exactly to the same point as a 5770 seeing as it's literally the same GPU.
(Putting aside individual differences between each chip which means not all chips will achieve the same overclock)

[echo2]

i would get the 5850 but all sold out at $161 only could find around $200

[deslok]

Different bios revisions have been known to change how certain motherboards overclock but since the top ends for both the 6770 and 5770 are shown on the hardware comparison to be very close(it looks like a slighly crazier overclocker had a go at the top 5770 though) it's going to come down to the cooler design of the individual card to have any major change.

[n4l3hp]

Only the 6750 and 6770 are rebadge. The 6790 is based on the Barts design (6850,6870) but with less SP and 256bit memory. The 6670 and lower cards of the 6000 family have 80 SPs more than their counterparts in the 5000 family.

[KKAtan]

Unlike the 6850 & above which are really based on the VLIW4 stream architecture.

No, this is a very widespread misunderstanding. Barts is VLIW5.

The first generation VLIW4 models are:
Antilles (6990)
Cayman (6970 and 6970)
And only them.

The final generation VLIW5 models are:
Barts (6870 , 6850 and 6790)
Turks (6670  and 6570)
Caicos (6450)
(and Llano)
You can recognize them by their UVD 3.0, and improved crossfire performance. All of the final VLIW5 generation can be recognized this way.

The VLIW5 generation prior to the final was:
Hemlock
Cypress
Juniper (5770 , 5750 , 6770  and 6750)
Redwood
Cedar
These are recognizable by their UVD 2.2.

I know this is all very confusing. But that's how it is. At least there will be no more VLIW5 from now on, all future GPUs will be VLIW4 and "Graphics Core Next".