The 5870 is not a big upgrade from a GTX460. I never really noticed a difference between the two at 1920x1200, but at higher resolutions it might be more obvious. For a 27 incher I would wait for the 6900 series or buy a GTX 480/580 when prices drop a bit. Alternatively, you can SLI the 460 (motherboard & PSU permitting).
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*****UK's Best Price & Staggering DEAL - ATI HD 5870 £179.99 Delivered!*****
- Thread starter Gibbo
- Start date
Soldato
I can't SLI as I am on a p35 board. I can upgrade relatively cheaply (probs £40 max!) and as I said will be gaming on 2560x1440 
Its a done deal as long as it fits!
Its a done deal as long as it fits! 
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 33,188
Its worth pointing out that, guys who want to SELL YOU THINGS, have a habbit of saying things along the lines of "I really shouldn't, its really killing us, and we'll make a HUUUUGE loss, but I'll give these to you at £150".
That doesn't actually mean it does, likewise, Nvidia/AMD pass rebates through the channel to clear stock, this is standard procedure and has been done for as long as gpu's have been about, VTX aren't losing money, just making less than they hoped and potentially set targets for.
The fact is 5850 vs 5870, production costs, pcb/memory/power, are within $4-5 of each other, when AMD pass a rebate through the channel to clear stock theres not a chance in hell they are making a loss. AMD/Nvidia write off profits in these situations and even take a loss, partners rarely if ever do(more so lately with Nvidia as they've had no room for manouvre).
If a 5850 isn't making a loss, a 5870 selling for more sure as heck isn't. For how much room AMD/Nvidia have to work with, a 5870 is a 336mm2 size core, a 470gtx is a 529mm2 size core, with massively worse yields on top meaning its going to be looking at minimum twice the cost per core. Theres healthy profit at £200 for a 5850, then theres healthy profit at the same price for a 5870, everything else is marketing guff.
Thats rubbish!
I have 6950 and 6970 stock shipping and I've paid for it.
I can tell you now the pricing will be:-
6950 @ £270 - £300 Inc. VAT
6970 @ £360 - £400 inc. VAT
I have lots en-route.
Now the 5870's are sub £200, thats £100 cheaper than a 6950 and same price as a 6870.
People will and are buying 5870's now they are sub £200 because at sub £200 there is no faster card.
5870 won't be going £150 or lower, what would be the point, as then 6850/6870 would not sell.
Plus if you think 69xx cards are gonna be £200 then think again and look at my pricing above, again use common sense, why would 6950 be same price as a 6870?
6950 competes with GTX 570/480 and is priced similar.
6970 competes with GTX 580 and is priced similar.
Considering you know the price you paid it seems a tad odd that , on identical reference cards with marginal differences at first, same pcb/heatsink/everything but sticker that you wouldn't know the RRP and what price you could sell at, so giving a range says to me "we haven't decided what we can get away with yet", that doesn't reflect the RRP or AMD's pricing wishes.
£250/350 are probably the aimed price points, what we really see in the UK where we get gouged worse than anyone, who knows, probably higher.
I'd also suggest AMD would be REALLY unhappy you were disclosing prices on a public forum.
As for if the 5870 would go for less than £150, of course it can, all 5870's sold for £150 is better than a few thousand on shelves forever with no one wanting them at all. What about 470gtx's at £165 to clear stocks, cheaper than several 460gtx models, short term pricing doesn't matter in the slightest, when the cards are gone it won't have a particularly long term effect on 6870 sales/pricing, they'll just sell a few less 68xx's now and a few more when the 58xx's are out of stock everywhere.
Same way 460gtx sales and 580gtx sales are being hurt by 470/480gtx pricing, its short term, Nvidia don't care, neither does anyone else except the guys who get a very good deal with EOL pricing.
Associate
Drunkenmaster pretty much summarised my concerns, only he did it with bigger words, and therefore is more convincing to the internet.
I suppose it all comes down to the fact that businesses are about profit. If selling he 5870 for around £150 was bad for business, they'd never blinking do it.
If January comes and I'm paying more for less than I would now, I'll eat my words.
I suppose it all comes down to the fact that businesses are about profit. If selling he 5870 for around £150 was bad for business, they'd never blinking do it.
If January comes and I'm paying more for less than I would now, I'll eat my words.
Soldato
- Joined
- 12 Jun 2008
- Posts
- 3,011
if you can drop the price by £20 like that in the blink of an eye theni think these could go considerably lower 
Soldato
The first NVidia or ATI high end card to come in at under £350 as my money but until then i'll struggle playing every game I have maxed out at 1920x1200 on my 5870!!!
The fact is that 5870's were not selling in sufficient numbers at ~£230 to clear stock. Distributers do not want old stock clogging up their warehouses, so they had two options.
i). Drop the price to a point where demand can meet supply / clear stock.
ii). Bin them.
Option i) is generally preferable to option ii), but there are cases where option ii) can be chosen. The benifit of ii) is that it does not reduce demand for newer products or break contractual agreements not to sell below a set price.
It seems in this case that option i) has been chosen. It is possible, maybe probable that VTX, XFX and others are now selling below cost price. If this is so, the decision has been made to recoup as much money as possible in order to prevent further losses. Better to sell at £180 now, than not to sell at all later. How great is demand for 4890's and GTX260's at the moment?
Now that the price has dropped to £180, this is the pricepoint for 5870's. Few people will pay more for "old" products if they are aware it was sold beforehand for less.
i). Drop the price to a point where demand can meet supply / clear stock.
ii). Bin them.
Option i) is generally preferable to option ii), but there are cases where option ii) can be chosen. The benifit of ii) is that it does not reduce demand for newer products or break contractual agreements not to sell below a set price.
It seems in this case that option i) has been chosen. It is possible, maybe probable that VTX, XFX and others are now selling below cost price. If this is so, the decision has been made to recoup as much money as possible in order to prevent further losses. Better to sell at £180 now, than not to sell at all later. How great is demand for 4890's and GTX260's at the moment?
Now that the price has dropped to £180, this is the pricepoint for 5870's. Few people will pay more for "old" products if they are aware it was sold beforehand for less.
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Glad I sold my 5850 for £165 last month now.
Do you realise how much I hate you right now?
Do you realise how much I hate you right now?
Lots?
Is now a good time to say I replaced it with two gtx470's for £310 in total?
Lots?
Is now a good time to say I replaced it with two gtx470's for £310 in total?
It's a good time for you to take your coat and ----> []
Don't let the door hit you on the way out
Soldato
Mine arrived today...awesome Card. Going to 3dmark it at some point.
I've not got lower than 51fps on New Vegas so far, and that's with 4x AA, 15x AF, 1600x900, Ultra High Quality and Vertical Sync
I did have to remove my hard drive cage though, as it's so long. My 80gb hard drive is in storage for now and I'm on my 1tb hard drive only, which I've moved to a floppy drive bay!
I've not got lower than 51fps on New Vegas so far, and that's with 4x AA, 15x AF, 1600x900, Ultra High Quality and Vertical Sync
I did have to remove my hard drive cage though, as it's so long. My 80gb hard drive is in storage for now and I'm on my 1tb hard drive only, which I've moved to a floppy drive bay!
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Associate
Mine arrived today...awesome Card. Going to 3dmark it at some point.
I've not got lower than 51fps on New Vegas so far, and that's with 4x AA, 15x AF, 1600x900, Ultra High Quality and Vertical Sync
I did have to remove my hard drive cage though, as it's so long. My 80gb hard drive is in storage for now and I'm on my 1tb hard drive only, which I've moved to a floppy drive bay!
What case do you use? Just for reference sake ^_^
Soldato
+1
+1
Also, I've currently got one of the old reference design Sapphire cards. Is there any reason why this wouldn't Crossfire with it? Is this cooler better than the stock one? If so would that make this the better card to use as the top card that will get worse airflow?
Would I be better getting 2 of these to crossfire and finding something else to do with my existing 5870? (Can't Tri-fire as motherboard only has 2 PCI-e slots)
I think it's a really mean trick putting these up for a such a low price when I'm trying really hard to hold out for a 6970/6990!!
Soldato
Sorry to ask gibbo, but do you know the 6990 price and dates?
Soldato
It's a Lian Li PC-60 - a very old version - I purchased it from an MM Member years ago with a 450w PSU/Cathode Tube/Fan Controller, quite a bargain at the time.
This one has the two perforated squares on the front, with 2x80mm fans, 1 rear fan and no blowhole on the top.
I'll see if I can find a link to it, heres one I found:
Of course, mine is a lot more beaten up; I even lost the front USB hatch and the USB ports went (and Lian-Li couldn't replace them as they no longer had the parts). But it still works.
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