HD 6870 & HD 6850 vs. GTX 460 1GB: An Overclocking Study

[AgedIdiot]

Got to observe that there is only one winner here - it's the 470 .

Just look at those high numbers in Temperatures and Power consumption - Nothing else gets close ( wo- just realised a much more important fact - Santas hats are back)

If you do get a 470 got to agree that unless you are hard of hearing or wearing headphones all the time your, in any way, gaming/stressing the card you will need a Zalman/Gelid cooler - which will add at least £30 to the price BUT gives an extra 2hrs of fun fitting and endless hours of NOT worrying about either temps or noise.

 

[RavenXXX2]

Gaming with a 480 here, very quiet indeed even with an 820Mhz OC on, stress testing apps make the cards go noisy, under normal gaming they are perfectly fine 470 included.

 

[Ezyryder]

Yea I think I found the card you are refering to...but with random brand of that etailer's choice, and only 1 year warranty, that automatically make the card value at at least £15 less...

Asus GTX470 with 3 years warranty can be had for £185...

It is Powercolor branded, and its 2 year warranty. Their website is incorrect.

And you can find Gigabyte branded models for £180. Still cheaper and with 3-year UK RMA based warranty.

 

[OLDPHART]

BW, why no set of results with OC'd 470 and 5870??

wolvers69 > my 470 was no noisier than my 5870, all l did was make a fan profile up in Afterburner, fan set at 50% temp never went over 80'c. As my case has very good air flow a FT01, top 180mm fan blows directly onto the top of the 470 and the front 180mm blows air onto the rear of the 470 and underneath...

 

[easyrider]

BW, why no set of results with OC'd 470 and 5870??

.

Because the review its taken from doesn't include a 470 plus the 470 is EOL so who cares

 

[555BUK]

470 obviousely offers the best performance but it may not be "The Best".

The 470 requires a bigger power supply and produces a lot more heat than the 460/6800 cards. If you do not own aa adequate PSU or if your case cooling is limited the 470 could very well be the worst buy. If you own a decent PSU, have decent cooling, and don't mind the extra running costs it is a very good buy.

*For sheer performance get the 470 (so long as your existing components can handle it)
*For efficiency get the 6800.
*For overclocking headroom and/or NVidia preference get the 460.

edit: When the GTX 465 (560) arrives with higher default clock and memory speeds plus the fully operational 384 shader cores it will beat the 6800 series without overclocking. Although released earlier, the GF104 design does equal and potentially betters ATI's direct competition.

 

[Marine-RX179]

It is Powercolor branded, and its 2 year warranty. Their website is incorrect.

The only "Powercolour" bit I found was the image they use for the item, which we all know image are usually just for "illustration purpose only" and it is the item descriptions that actually represent the actual item. They clearly listing their own company name as the "brand" for that £169.99 card.

As for the Gigabyte 6870 at £180, I haven't manage to find it in stock that is from a big etailer with good reputation...

Either way, it's pointless to argue which is cheaper since they are pretty much the same price. To get 6870 or GTX470, it's simply a case of personal preference whether someone would prefer a lower power consumption card, or a higher power consumption card that hotter but is better on overclocking. If someone don't have a good enough PSU for a GTX470, then they should just go for a 6870...it is that simple.

 

[OLDPHART]

l notice they didn,t show result's of a Oc'd 5870 either thats knocking on the heels of the 6870 and beats it in some case's, would have been nice to see the OC,d results for the 5870 to compare!!!!!

 

[Stanners]

Because the review its taken from doesn't include a 470 plus the 470 is EOL so who cares

As is the 5870

 

[rounddodger]

Yeah. Although even at stock they are quite a bit noisier.

It's not louder than my GTX280 and runs cooler. Mine runs 800/1600 all day long at 60% fan.

What's the issue?

 

[Marine-RX179]

It's not louder than my GTX280 and runs cooler. Mine runs 800/1600 all day long at 60% fan.

What's the issue?

The issue is there are many parrots around that keep repeating the same old same old over and over, and refusing to take in anything new from what the people that ACTUALLY own the GTX470 have to say.

Yes the GTX470 certainly ain't quiet, but they are no louder than previous generation cards.

 

[iB CoMpL3XiTy]

Noise levels are so subjective that I don't think you could base a cards noise level on people's opinion on whether its quiet or loud.

I used too my PC being what I'd consider quiet, my case fans run at 800RPM and the loudest thing in my PC is my harddrive. When my HD5850 had its orginal cooler on and at 40% Fan speed I would consider that loud, but my friends thought it was quiet/ressonable.

I think Noise level charts from reviews are better than peoples opinions because with review charts you can compare various cards noise levels to eachother, So you can easily find out which card is the quietest or loudest.

The trouble with buyers opinions is they tend (not always) to be biased to the product they brought, so buyers of the GTX470 may say the card is quiet because other people are saying its noisy.

 

[Marine-RX179]

The trouble with buyers opinions is they tend (not always) to be biased to the product they brought, so buyers of the GTX470 may say the card is quiet because other people are saying its noisy.

May be so, but what make more sense...the people that do not own the card claim that it is loud, vs. the people that own the card saying it not as loud as people that don't own the card claim?

Yes there certainly are some bias involve, but it is the same for the side that are bias AGAINST the GTX470 and exegurate the whole noise and heat issue. I don't think anyone with GTX470 claim the card is silent or very cool running, but it certainly not as loud and hot as some people making it out to be or want you to believe.

 

[Final8y]

May be so, but what make more sense...the people that do not own the card claim that it is loud, vs. the people that own the card saying it not as loud as people that don't own the card claim?

Yes there certainly are some bias involve, but it is the same for the side that are bias AGAINST the GTX470 and exegurate the whole noise issue. I don't think anyone GTX470 claim the card is silent, but it certainly not as loud as people making it out to be or want you to believe.

I don't really care one way or the other as everything gets water cooled.
But if something is statistically louder then it is louder no matter if to the individual the louder is still considered quiet.

 

[Mr Krugga]

Noise levels are so subjective that I don't think you could base a cards noise level on people's opinion on whether its quiet or loud.

I used too my PC being what I'd consider quiet, my case fans run at 800RPM and the loudest thing in my PC is my harddrive. When my HD5850 had its orginal cooler on and at 40% Fan speed I would consider that loud, but my friends thought it was quiet/ressonable.

I think Noise level charts from reviews are better than peoples opinions because with review charts you can compare various cards noise levels to eachother, So you can easily find out which card is the quietest or loudest.

The trouble with buyers opinions is they tend (not always) to be biased to the product they brought, so buyers of the GTX470 may say the card is quiet because other people are saying its noisy.

I fully agree with this man. I find my HD5850 quite loud at 37% (reference cooler) and having heard GTX470, I can't imagine how people cope with the noise without going for an aftermarket cooler. This is one of the reasons I wouldn't myself compare GTX470 with HD6870 if I was to make a decision. The total costs would be very much higher on behalf of GTX470 making them incomparable.

That's just my personal opinion though and recommending GTX470 I will only note that the card is louder in comparison to their AMD equivalents (if that bothers a buyer).

ITT: I don't trust Hardware Canucks in the slightest, somehow they always favour Nvidia over AMD and it could be seen on the spreadsheet with different benchmark results from many reviewers that I produced.
They also claim to use the latest drivers whilst doing comparisons and yet their results match those from months ago for older cards.

TL;DR noise is subjective, HC is a joke.

 

[iB CoMpL3XiTy]

May be so, but what make more sense...the people that do not own the card claim that it is loud, vs. the people that own the card saying it not as loud as people that don't own the card claim?

Yes there certainly are some bias involve, but it is the same for the side that are bias AGAINST the GTX470 and exegurate the whole noise and heat issue. I don't think anyone with GTX470 claim the card is silent or very cool running, but it certainly not as loud and hot as some people making it out to be or want you to believe.

I would say that people who haven't looked at reviewers noise level charts and are saying that the GTX470 is really loud could be seen as bashing nVidia, I think if your going to make a statement like 'The GTX470 is incredibly loud' then you have to back it up with facts, not opinions.

I don't buy products solely on peoples opinions so it wouldn't bother me if someone was trying to tell me that the GTX470 is hotter than the sun because i'd just look at some trusted review sites and see for myself.

 

[RavenXXX2]

Yeah 60% on a 470/480 is nowhere near as load as a 5850/5870 stock cooler at the same speed. In fact 60% on a 470/480 is quieter than a 5850/5870 at 35%.

 

[iB CoMpL3XiTy]

Yeah 60% on a 470/480 is nowhere near as load as a 5850/5870 stock cooler at the same speed. In fact 60% on a 470/480 is quieter than a 5850/5870 at 35%.

I don't mean to sound like a d**k but do you have any evidence/links to back that up? Or are you just basing that from personal experience?. Its just you said "In fact" So I assume you have some proof.

I can tell you a HD5850 at 60% Fan speed sounds to me like a vacuum next to my ear lol.

 

[RavenXXX2]

Yeah I've had a 5870, I know what it sounds like with the fan speed turned up.

 

[Greebo]

Yeah 60% on a 470/480 is nowhere near as load as a 5850/5870 stock cooler at the same speed. In fact 60% on a 470/480 is quieter than a 5850/5870 at 35%.

Totally agree. having had both a 5850 and a gtx470, before they were both watercooled, both cards noise were unbearable during gaming IMO and i couldn't have lived with either with stock coolers.