480, crossfire 5870 or 5970

[R.C.Anderson]

I'm currently browsing though, making decisions so that I have a rough idea on the parts I want for my build in October (ish, possibly a little later) time, but I'm unsure of which gfx card. Should I get a single 480 (I'm not sure my budget can stretch to SLI 480 unless the price drops to around 5870 territory by then), crossfire 5870, or a 5970.

I considered the crossfire 5870 for a couple of reasons:
1. I run 3 monitors (extended, not eyefinity), so the duel cards will allow my to hook them all up via DVI, rather than having to buy a DP->VGA converter, and having to use VGA for one.
2. 2 cards allways looks better in a build, especially when watercooled (as mine will most probably be)
3. from the benchmarks I have seen, it has a slight performace advantage ver the 5970, although only by a couple of fps.

Other than those points, I have nothing pushing me to any one over the other.

I run 3 monitors, a 26" centre @ 1920*1200, and 2 19" sides @ 1280*1024

 

[95thrifles]

this is being argued to death above, but given your need for multiple monitors the 2 cards would be best bet yes

 

[HW91]

dual 470's fits your bill

better performance than the 5870's, cheaper, as you said 2 cards looks better in a build, plus you get the 3 monitor support

 

[R.C.Anderson]

dual 470's fits your bill

better performance than the 5870's, cheaper, as you said 2 cards looks better in a build, plus you get the 3 monitor support

where's the info for that? all the benchmarks I've seen the 5870s beet the 470s?

 

[HW91]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3836/msis-geforce-n470gtx-gtx-470-sli/4

most recent results afaik

 

[antran]

New ati cards is coming out in oct/nov, I would wait to see what ATI has to offer or lower pricing on current cards.

 

[RavenXXX2]

where's the info for that? all the benchmarks I've seen the 5870s beet the 470s?

Look how close 460 SLI is to 5870 crossfire, stands to reason that 470 SLI will be slightly better.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/181?vs=163

 

[Marine-RX179]

where's the info for that? all the benchmarks I've seen the 5870s beet the 470s?

From hardware and overall performance point of view, there's no arguing that the 5870 is a faster than the GTX470...but for actual performance for games, GTX470 perform better than 5870 in game that are Nvidia optimised.

But putting performance aside...one thing for sure is that 5870 is more expensive than GTX470...as average it is £275 vs £225, which is £50 difference. So which is a better card for what they cost? I would think people would always disagree...and there would be no right or wrong answer, but more down to individual to decide which card would match their preference and requirement better. GTX470 is no doubt better value for money than 5870, however if someone like ATI more than Nvidia card, then by all mean get the 5870, as he will be happy and not disapointed either way.

 

[R.C.Anderson]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3836/msis-geforce-n470gtx-gtx-470-sli/4

most recent results afaik

That's actually really interesting, are there new versions of the cards, or are they just the new drivers?

New ati cards is coming out in oct/nov, I would wait to see what ATI has to offer or lower pricing on current cards.

I forgot about that, could well be worth the wait for that then, and hopefully there will be some benchmarks from engineering samples avaliable a little earlier than that so I know if it's worth waiting, but if the jump in performance is anything like the jump from the 4xxx series to the 5xxx series, it will definatly be worth the wait.