Tough Decision (GTX 480 vs HD 5870)

I've been reading a lot about these cards but now that Nvidia finally released their GPUs which will be probably available by next week I'm starting to doubt myself, which way should I go?

From what I've read I concluded the following:

GTX 480:

• Fastest single core GPU so far.
• Supports PhysX & CUDA technologies.
• Pricey, hot, noisy & power sucker.
• Focuses on tessellation which is the main feature of DX11.

HD 5870:

• Offers better performance/price ratio.
• less heat & power draw.
• Slower than GTX 480(beta drivers) by 10~20% in most cases.

That's the main pros and cons I found between the two, maybe I overlooked some features if so please remind me..

So, the question is: which way should I go?

The GTX480 also has:

3D vision,

3 monitor gaming (although you need SLI for this feature).

GTX4x0's have amazing SLI scaling, its pretty amazing really.

CUDA (amazing folding@home results) also it can greatly speed up some programs like Photoshop.

Just to add, ATI has that eyefinity thing, but I doubt many people will use it, or have 6 monitors.

Just to add, ATI has that eyefinity thing, but I doubt many people will use it, or have 6 monitors.

Amith12

just to toss a little wisdom your way.. the only "single card" with 6 display ports is the eyefinity 6 5870, followed by the eyefinity 5 5770 from powercolor. the rest support 3 screens tops by themselves.

5870, there's no point spending more as little can make use of the extra power of the 480, though if you've got money to burn go ahead with the 480.markop2003

[QUOTE="markop2003"]5870, there's no point spending more as little can make use of the extra power of the 480, though if you've got money to burn go ahead with the 480.04dcarraher

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"][QUOTE="markop2003"]5870, there's no point spending more as little can make use of the extra power of the 480, though if you've got money to burn go ahead with the 480.markop2003

This may be useful CF 5850 vs 480, £450 for either solution. Give that a thorough read, not just the charts.

I think alot of people who plan on buying the GTX 480 have no real concept of how bad it is to have a card running that hot inside your case. I have a case with good airflow, and I still wouldn't put one of those ovens in there. The 5870 is about my limit for that, in combination with on overclocked quad-core. Unless you have some SERIOUS cooling your ambient temps inside the case are going to be significantly higher with a GTX 480. I believe the annual power savings of the 5870 averages out to between 40 and 60 dollars a year less due to lower power draw as well. Multiply that times 2 years of use, and add in the price differential between the cards. You're looking at an actual cost difference of $130-$200 to own the card, and that's assuming the GTX280 doesn't take out your PSU or other components in your system from heat. Or burn itself up.

[QUOTE="markop2003"][QUOTE="04dcarraher"] That is shortsighted, You buy a direct x 11 card for dx 11 , not just dx 9 or 10. comparing performance on those basis isnt the right way to look at buying a card for future use.Daytona_178

By then theses cards will be moot.

Well, if you're looking at a card for pure gaming purposes, then I'd say go ATI all the way. Either the 5870, or for the same prices as the GTX 480 a couple of 5850s in CFx configuration would kill anything in the price range.

I say go with the Radeon cards because they have more mature drivers at this point, and the temps of those Fermi cards are ridiculous.

But hey, ultimately it's up to you, and this is just what I recommend if you plan on getting a new card soon. If you're willing to wait for GF100 revisions made to solve all of the issues with Fermi then the outlook could change by then.

If you have the money to burn and the proper cooling I'd say go ahead and get the 480. Personally, considering the price to performance ratios, the 5870 wins hands down for me. For the small bump in frames the 480 really isn't worth the extra money.

And don't even get me started on the whole, but the Nvidia cards are better at tessalation argument. With tessalation enabled they perform pretty poorly (better then ATI, but sucking slightly less isn't something to brag about). If you really are concerned with a card that will smoothly run all DX11 features you're better off waiting until the revised cards are released in a year or so.

i would go for the 5870 better price better on power and less heat the gtx 480 has got better performance and is impressive but i wouldnt go near 1 coz of heat n the power i wonder how long they last

5870. Cheaper, cooler, can equal (or beat) a 480 when OC'd and 10.3 drivers have huge performance increases.

after a few driver updates, the nvidia solution will be faster.. but i still dont think it warrants me to upgrade just yet... ill wait on the revision/refresh cards from both ATI and Nvidia.

the power consumption, and heat is what is mainly killing the gtx4 series, if they fix these problems with revisions, then they would be formidable.

The temps on the 480 really have me worried as well as the noise power draw. Heat is the biggest enemy in your case and can kill components outright or over time. I like the performance of the 480 but not the price or the heat it's almost as hot as 2x 5970 and uses almost the same power thats nuts!!

I am gonna stick with my 5780 and wait for the next gen of cards I got a buyback program and will not waste it on the gtx 480.

after a few driver updates, the nvidia solution will be faster.. but i still dont think it warrants me to upgrade just yet... ill wait on the revision/refresh cards from both ATI and Nvidia.

the power consumption, and heat is what is mainly killing the gtx4 series, if they fix these problems with revisions, then they would be formidable.

Lach0121

Go with Nvidia it's the way it's meant to be played. :D

Go with Nvidia it's the way it's meant to be played. :D

SickStench

Dont count out the GTX 470 ethier, being faster then the 5870 when it comes to dx 11& tesselation. And in dx 9/10 games the GTX 470 when OC'ed came be as fast as the 5870 in some cases depending on the game.04dcarraher

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"]Dont count out the GTX 470 ethier, being faster then the 5870 when it comes to dx 11& tesselation. And in dx 9/10 games the GTX 470 when OC'ed came be as fast as the 5870 in some cases depending on the game.damstr

The new 10.3b drivers have really helped the diffrence between the 480 and 5870 very small and the 5870 even wins on some games.

5870 no doubt about it.

5870. Nvidia really dropped the ball this time around. They are quite capable of making better products, than what they currently offer with the 480 and 470. Not sure if they ran out of time, or just said to hell with it these cards are "good enough" to release. By the time we have true dx11 games, both companies will have or will be close to having their next series out. So to me, the whole dx11 argument is moot.millerlight89

Ms eally dropped the ball they need to make dx 11 downloadable and 5870 works great on dx10

gtx 4xx seria cards gives u more than ati, ati gives u only 1 feature eyefinity and that is a joke, since not all have the cash to buy more than 1 monitor NLahren

So just cause not everybody has 2 monitors then it's a joke lol great logic

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]5870. Nvidia really dropped the ball this time around. They are quite capable of making better products, than what they currently offer with the 480 and 470. Not sure if they ran out of time, or just said to hell with it these cards are "good enough" to release. By the time we have true dx11 games, both companies will have or will be close to having their next series out. So to me, the whole dx11 argument is moot.SLI_Gamer

[QUOTE="millerlight89"]5870. Nvidia really dropped the ball this time around. They are quite capable of making better products, than what they currently offer with the 480 and 470. Not sure if they ran out of time, or just said to hell with it these cards are "good enough" to release. By the time we have true dx11 games, both companies will have or will be close to having their next series out. So to me, the whole dx11 argument is moot.SLI_Gamer

You must not have read his post very carefully. Just because there isn't much use for DX11 yet doesn't mean you automatically don't buy a DX11 card. It just means that the DX11 performance of said card isn't that important yet. The DX9/10 performance is very important.. and the 5870 more than delivers there, while being less expensive, putting out alot less heat, and sucking alot less power. You go for the overall better product instead, which most people and reviews seem to agree is the 5870.

[QUOTE="SLI_Gamer"][QUOTE="millerlight89"]5870. Nvidia really dropped the ball this time around. They are quite capable of making better products, than what they currently offer with the 480 and 470. Not sure if they ran out of time, or just said to hell with it these cards are "good enough" to release. By the time we have true dx11 games, both companies will have or will be close to having their next series out. So to me, the whole dx11 argument is moot.hartsickdiscipl

You must not have read his post very carefully. Just because there isn't much use for DX11 yet doesn't mean you automatically don't buy a DX11 card. It just means that the DX11 performance of said card isn't that important yet. The DX9/10 performance is very important.. and the 5870 more than delivers there, while being less expensive, putting out alot less heat, and sucking alot less power. You go for the overall better product instead, which most people and reviews seem to agree is the 5870.

Such an easy question to answer.

If you want price/performance, get a 5870

If money is no obstacle, and you want the fastest there is, get a 5970.

Don't stick one of these crippled, power sucking ovens in your computer.

If you want the hottest smoking card out there, that screams performance, get the Gtx 480 and cuda/physx!!

Otherwise get a 5870 like a regular human-being.

Don't buy any of them. If you must get a card get a 5770 or a 5850. If you have a 8800GT or higher wait for better DX11 cards. DX11 is not even important yet. You are wasting you money on "beta" dx11 cards. Wait for them to prefect it.SinfulPotato

I think if you saw Bad Company 2 and Crysis running maxed out with AA at 1080p on my computer, you might change your tune. ;)

[QUOTE="SLI_Gamer"][QUOTE="millerlight89"]5870. Nvidia really dropped the ball this time around. They are quite capable of making better products, than what they currently offer with the 480 and 470. Not sure if they ran out of time, or just said to hell with it these cards are "good enough" to release. By the time we have true dx11 games, both companies will have or will be close to having their next series out. So to me, the whole dx11 argument is moot.hartsickdiscipl

You must not have read his post very carefully. Just because there isn't much use for DX11 yet doesn't mean you automatically don't buy a DX11 card. It just means that the DX11 performance of said card isn't that important yet. The DX9/10 performance is very important.. and the 5870 more than delivers there, while being less expensive, putting out alot less heat, and sucking alot less power. You go for the overall better product instead, which most people and reviews seem to agree is the 5870.

i dont know what he owned before but instead of DX11 cards you could just keep the 4000s and 200s if DX11 isnt that important now.

[QUOTE="SinfulPotato"]Don't buy any of them. If you must get a card get a 5770 or a 5850. If you have a 8800GT or higher wait for better DX11 cards. DX11 is not even important yet. You are wasting you money on "beta" dx11 cards. Wait for them to prefect it.hartsickdiscipl

I think if you saw Bad Company 2 and Crysis running maxed out with AA at 1080p on my computer, you might change your tune. ;)

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

[QUOTE="SinfulPotato"]Don't buy any of them. If you must get a card get a 5770 or a 5850. If you have a 8800GT or higher wait for better DX11 cards. DX11 is not even important yet. You are wasting you money on "beta" dx11 cards. Wait for them to prefect it.SinfulPotato

I think if you saw Bad Company 2 and Crysis running maxed out with AA at 1080p on my computer, you might change your tune. ;)