• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

GTX 480/ HD 5870

All you've done is highlight how flawed "fastest GPU" actually is.

So, why do all the reviews show a 5870 and GTX480 matching eachother very well at stock? Just because there are some games where the 480 still does better, doesn't mean anything. According to that logic, the 5870 is better than the 5970, because there'll be a few games, where crossfire doesn't work, which would give the 5870 an advantage.

.

Like below crysis bench. Be happy with either card you own, they are both more than capable to run most games at a respectable FPS.

As said an overclocked 5850 is the probably the best card to own at this moment in time.


 
I thought it's pretty much common knowledge that 5870 frame rate take deep dive (well, deeper than GTX480 at least) when with 4xAA or more applied.
For example, I've seen Battlefield Bad Company 2 dx11 results...although at 1920x1200, 0xAA, 16xAF, both cards deliver similar frame rate with 5870 at min 52fps, average 74fps and GTX480 at min 56fps, average 75fps...when 4xAA is applied, 5870's frame rate drops by min 20fps, average 16fps whereas GTX480's frame rate only drops by min 12fps, average 9fps, with 5870 at min 32fps, average 58fps and GTX480 at min 44fps, average 66fps
Wow okay, you keep quoting those same stats again and again as if they're Gospel. I've seen other BC2 benches which show 5870 smashing GTX 480 (Anandtech), and yet more BC2 benches which show them as being about even.

One can assume that benching different parts of the game will yield different results.

Anyway, look at the Crysis 8xAA bench posted in this very thread; 5870 wins. Another GTX 480 review testing Crysis with 4xAA; 5870 wins. Your theory that 5 series somehow sucks at AA is hereby debunked.
 
Last edited:
Come on! Not this again.

I could start selling my own brand HD5870s, where I flash 5870 bioses to 1000/1300 clocks with appropriate voltages.

That would be the fastest single GPU card, no?

No.

Guru3D hit 857 Core on their GTX 480 with just a mild voltage bump, stock air cooling; 1000 core on a 5870 is not a proportionate match for that kind of clock and would most probably lose to it overall in games.

Anecdotally, I've seen forum posts claiming stable 480 overclocks of over 890 on the core. Unsubstantiated for now, perhaps but the numbers are out there.

I said 480 would clock to the region of 900 core with added volts and water which prompted you, kylew, to go off on me with all sorts of crap about it "overheating under LN2" and "an overclocked 5850 will beat it".

You, my good sir, were massively and ridiculously wrong.
 
No.

Guru3D hit 857 Core on their GTX 480 with just a mild voltage bump, stock air cooling; 1000 core on a 5870 is not a proportionate match for that kind of clock and would most probably lose to it overall in games.

Anecdotally, I've seen forum posts claiming stable 480 overclocks of over 890 on the core. Unsubstantiated for now, perhaps but the numbers are out there.

I said 480 would clock to the region of 900 core with added volts and water which prompted you, kylew, to go off on me with all sorts of crap about it "overheating under LN2" and "an overclocked 5850 will beat it".

You, my good sir, were massively and ridiculously wrong.

I wasn't wrong in the context of what I was talking about.

Initial reviews shown them not to clock very well at all, and yes one did overheat on LN2, I wasn't talking crap about anything, but looking at and commenting on what I had to "work with", your point about that again is what exactly? Release cards are better, which shows me I was wrong about cards that weren't release?

If the release ones clock really well, then great, I don't actually want them to be lemons...

I want some price drops here.
 
For 480 overclocking, I think it's fairly accepted the majority top out at 800 core as seen below with extra volts, and in the majority of online reviews.

Of course it's all very well overclocking the 480, but remember temps will be dangerously high unless you set the fan speed to ear busting levels, the same can not be said of the 5870 that is cool running and silent even when clocked to the max.

480 under water will be a different prospect when it comes to clocking.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=16377415&postcount=255
 
Last edited:
The 480 is no doubt better at certain things such as tessellation and has the added features such as physx, 3d support and CUDA but If I were to spend the cash I would go the 5970 since it is faster at the same price point.
 
The 480 is no doubt better at certain things such as tessellation and has the added features such as physx, 3d support and CUDA but If I were to spend the cash I would go the 5970 since it is faster at the same price point.

To be completely and utterly fair though, PhysX simply isn't a feature, it's a gimmick they put on their feature list so that people like you say things like you've said.

The same is similar for 3D support as well, it's a feature, but you're not told that it halves your performance always. You also need an expensive 120Hz monitor, and the glasses aren't cheap either, it's also a gimmick in a sense to the majority of people.

CUDA's all well and good, but again, it's kinda a gimmick (not that's it's not good or useful, but most people playing games aren't interested in features not relevant *okay, Just Cause 2, but that's one out of thousands of games*).

Add all that to the cost of them in the first place and there lies the bulk on the problem. You're looking at £800+ for a GTX480, 120Hz monitor and the 3D Glasses.

I'm not slating 3D, I love it, but I feel it's too expensive and has that one big performance issue.

CUDA too, can be very useful, I'd love to be able to take advantage of its GPU rendering usages, but I know full well that while they're running on a proprietary standard, they won't be good and widely used as they could be if they were brand agnostic.
 
CUDA too, can be very useful, I'd love to be able to take advantage of its GPU rendering usages, but I know full well that while they're running on a proprietary standard, they won't be good and widely used as they could be if they were brand agnostic.

OpenCL and DirectCompute are also available and are supported by the Radeon 5000 series. There goes another USP for Nvidia.
 
OpenCL and DirectCompute are also available and are supported by the Radeon 5000 series. There goes another USP for Nvidia.

Indeed, it's supposed to be supported by the 4 series too, though the reason I didn't mention it is because there's nothing really that actually makes valid uses of it at the moment.
 
Come on! Not this again.

I could start selling my own brand HD5870s, where I flash 5870 bioses to 1000/1300 clocks with appropriate voltages.

That would be the fastest single GPU card, no?

but then you could clock the 480. You can't compare clocked -v- stock???

Clock speeds don't mean anything as the two cards use dissimilar architecture. They are only comparable by the benchmarks they produce and not by their specification on paper. I don't think there's really any arguing that the 480 is the faster single GPU but the 5870's strength is in it's price over performance which outstrips it's competition by a long way..
 
Its because its all comes down to personal choice.

+1 :D

For example, my alienware case is not the coolest inside and would probably have an increased ambient case temp with a GTX480 inside. My 5870 does increase my ambient temps during gaming but I am just comfortable with that slight increase. We know the GTX480 runs at higher temperatures than the 5870 and is likely to increase my i7 920 CO @4GHz to higher ambient temps than I am comfortable with(+45c idle). I am not gonna spend £400+ to find out if this is true but go by the many reviews i have read or spend further money of mine buying a new case.

My personal choice

:)
 
Last edited:
ATi drivers are crippled if you want to use them for anything but Direct Compute or Games. Try using an Ati card with Applications such as 3D Studio Max, Maya, XSI, Z-Brush and you'll start to see why people buy Nvidia cards over Ati.
 
ATi drivers are crippled if you want to use them for anything but Direct Compute or Games. Try using an Ati card with Applications such as 3D Studio Max, Maya, XSI, Z-Brush and you'll start to see why people buy Nvidia cards over Ati.

:rolleyes:

Why SOME people buy Nvidia cards over ATI.
 
You would be surprised at the number of gamers who have to use their PCs for work as well. In that case, Ati gamer cards are great for games, but pretty much games only. You would have to buy a FireGL otherwise which are very expensive and not as good at games.

I've worked at a number of studios who use Nvidia gaming cards in their productions. It saves money from having to buy a Quatro or FireGL, and you can play games on your lunch breaks.
 
You would be surprised at the number of gamers who have to use their PCs for work as well.

I've worked at a number of studios who use Nvidia gaming cards in their productions.

I'm in the wrong job!

My works machine is a single core athlon, 512MB Ram and onboard graphics :mad:
 
I'm not trolling or interested in a flame war but I wouldn't spend over £200 on a card if that is all they can do. Wasn't impressed by the YouTube footage at all.

Both looked identical and for now I'll stick to my 20" Dell and 8800gts, there's too much over-inflated hype around these products.

Indeed, there is too much hype surrounding the new generation of cards at the moment.

I was tempted to buy AMD's 5850, but came to my senses as there is no way i'm going to spend £200+ for what is an overpriced GPU, plus i wasn't really impressed by the benchmarks of the card at 1920x1200, and that was mostly for DX10 games, nevermind DX11 titles, which will more than likely cripple such a card at 1920x1200.

If i'm going to blow £200+ on a card then it better be something special, i'll gladly wait until the second generation of DX11 GPU's come out.

Hopefully then we'll see cards actually worth their RRP, not to mention a superior performance than their first gen counter-part.
 
Back
Top Bottom