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GTX 470/480 looks like a fail so some help please?

zoidy

zoidy

zoidy

Associate
Joined
28 Mar 2010
Posts
34
Hi Guys – I’ve been stalking the comments in this and other forums for a couple of days and need some help deciding on a preferable outcome without all the fanboy politics and stigma that seems to go with graphics card upgrades these dayz lol.
I have about £500 saved and I’ve been waiting patiently to upgrade my GeForce 8800GTS into my ASUS Crosshair III Phenom II X4 955 BE, AM3 rig.
I thought I might get a decent Nvidia upgrade when the 400 series cards came out so I could also use the existing 8800GTS for physX but looking at the 470/480 reviews of late I think they are not what I want and for the first time in several years I’m going for ATi – good choice?
I only want to get a decent DX11 card for gaming that maybe lasts a few years (yes believe it or not lads most of us can’t afford to chase the infinite rainbow of best cards that you lot seem to do and chuck em away periodically when the next comes out lol – we can’t afford it! hehe) but I also want to keep up with the current and near future games releases so I have to spend a few hundred.
I’ve decided to go for either a single 5970 or two 5850’s in Xfire as I have an AMD, with a Crossfire capable machine which is set up for ATi perfectly.
Do you think I should go for two cards or the one? Can I still use the old 8800 in the machine also for “something else?” I don’t know and it’s just a question – maybe a noobish one.
Thanks for reading and helping – I look forward to hearing your replies!
Thanks
ZB
 
There's not a lot in it between the 5970 and 2x5870, 5970 should be cheaper, 5870s will be a little faster.

2x5850 is another good option, about as fast as a 5970 and cheaper.

You can use your old 8800 card for physx, it requires a hack to play nice with ATI cards.
 
Thanks for the quick turn around!

So it seems 2X5850 is a good option - thanks
What about this hack? Any pointers for me to obtain this?

Cheers
Z
 
From anadtech review

"What this does call into question though is what’s better to have: a pair of 5800 series cards, or a 5970. If we assume that the 5970 is equal to a 5850CF in performance and in price, then the differences come down to 3 matters: Heat/noise, power, and Crossfire Eyefinity. The 5970 enjoys lower power usage and it doesn’t need a power supply with 4 PCIe plugs, but the cost is that by compacting this into one card it’s hotter and louder than a 5850CF (which really, is true for all dual-GPU cards). The biggest advantage to the 5970 right now is that it’s the only card to support Crossfire Eyefinity, which means it’s the only card to even consider if you are going to use Eyefinity right now. Ultimately if you can run 2 cards and only will be driving a single monitor, go with the 5850CF, otherwise go with the 5970. And if it’s 2010 and you’re reading this article, check and see if AMD has enabled Crossfire Eyefinity for the 5850CF."

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679&p=1
 
JeffyB said:
From anadtech review

"What this does call into question though is what’s better to have: a pair of 5800 series cards, or a 5970. If we assume that the 5970 is equal to a 5850CF in performance and in price, then the differences come down to 3 matters: Heat/noise, power, and Crossfire Eyefinity. The 5970 enjoys lower power usage and it doesn’t need a power supply with 4 PCIe plugs, but the cost is that by compacting this into one card it’s hotter and louder than a 5850CF (which really, is true for all dual-GPU cards). The biggest advantage to the 5970 right now is that it’s the only card to support Crossfire Eyefinity, which means it’s the only card to even consider if you are going to use Eyefinity right now. Ultimately if you can run 2 cards and only will be driving a single monitor, go with the 5850CF, otherwise go with the 5970. And if it’s 2010 and you’re reading this article, check and see if AMD has enabled Crossfire Eyefinity for the 5850CF."

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679&p=1
Click to expand...

I agree
 
zoidy said:
Thanks for the quick turn around!

So it seems 2X5850 is a good option - thanks
What about this hack? Any pointers for me to obtain this?

Cheers
Z
Click to expand...

First you need a decent motherboard with at least 3 pci-e 8x/16x slots to use 2x5850 + an 8800.
 
Last edited:
Yeah - cost plays a part in in.
The 5850 looks the better option -
Forgive my ignorance but "5850cf" - what is CF? is it short for crossfire?
Thanks guys.
 
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Thanks Gents

I've just ordered 2 X 1GB XFX HD 5850, 4500MHz GDDR5, GPU 755MHz, 1440 Cores, cards.

I'm looking forward to telling you its all good - I'm nervous though - been with NV for sometime with no hassle and I'm hoping it all turns out as it should

Live long and prosper!

Z
 
magicroundabout said:
also you may want to do a fresh instal to avoid any Nvidia drivers being left over.

Always best to do this and not to use driver cleaner
Click to expand...

I've got a ATI and a Nvidia card in my PC at the same time, both with running drivers......... Now what do I do?

Shall I call the driver police?

Seriously dude, modern OS's are fairly smart..... Smart enough to figure out not to try to use some insignificant old Nvidia driver files to power an ATI card anyways.
 
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kitch9 said:
I've got a ATI and a Nvidia card in my PC at the same time, both with running drivers......... Now what do I do?

Shall I call the driver police?

Seriously dude, modern OS's are fairly smart..... Smart enough to figure out not to try to use some insignificant old Nvidia driver files to power an ATI card anyways.
Click to expand...

Aint true tbh, quite a few people have had problems installing their new cards coming from nvidia/ati to ati/nvidia, clean installs did the trick.
 
I've got an ATi card doing the rendering and a Nvidia card doing the Physx..... At the click of a mouse I can set the Nvidia card to do the rendering and I can swop between the two 'till I'm blue in the face.

I have updated both cards drivers numerous times with no issues, usually just straight over the top of the existing drivers.

Anybody who needs to re-install an OS just to change a poxy driver is doing it wrong to be frank...
 
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