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New graphics card wanted! 2 choices!!

Biz.Kid09

Biz.Kid09

Biz.Kid09

Soldato
Joined
14 Oct 2009
Posts
9,665
Location
UK
Hi guys,
Currently got a 8800gts 320mb that is showing its age and with me now wanting to pretty much move to PC gaming i want/need a new graphics card.

I have been offered by a few friends 2 different choices.

XFX 1gb 5870
or
Asus 1gb 6870

Now i have checked them out on Anandtech and it seems the 4870 comes out on top? Apart from in a few games at ultra resolution where the 6870 wins.

Now i have been offered them at good prices eg £80 for 5870 and £110 for 6870.

Which would you choose? and why :)
BTW i have a Thermaltake TR2 550w power supply. Does this need upgrading?

Thanks guys
 
I wont be going crossfire as i just dont need it.

Still go 6870 or go 5870 now? I have managed to pull the 6870 down to 90 and beer so not much difference in it now!
 
Biz.Kid09 said:
I wont be going crossfire as i just dont need it.

Still go 6870 or go 5870 now? I have managed to pull the 6870 down to 90 and beer so not much difference in it now!
Click to expand...

If you can get the 6870 for £90 do it.

Its a good card and at £90 its a no brainer.

6870 vs 5870 benchmarks here

You can see the 5870 is better thanthe 6870 in the most games, but at £90 its a snip, so its not a big issue, and it gives you the chance to xfire two 6870 which scale better than the 5000 series.
 
opethdisciple said:
If you can get the 6870 for £90 do it.

Its a good card and at £90 its a no brainer.

6870 vs 5870 benchmarks here

You can see the 5870 is better thanthe 6870 in the most games, but at £90 its a snip, so its not a big issue.
Click to expand...

Why the 6870 though if the 5870 betters it in nearly every game and res?

Also guys, if i was too buy it. Will i need to do a full reinstall of Windows? or can i just simply plug it in and then uninstall Nvidia drivers and install ATI?
 
the 5870 vs the 6870 is not a very clear fight.

Basically in terms of raw power, the 5870 wins.

But the 6870 is based off of AMD's new 6000 sereis architectures, which handles DX11 and tesselation better than the 5000 series.

Also xfire is far improved with the 6000 series over the 5000 series.

If you want the best of the two and dont mind spending £150 get the 5870.

If like you said above you can get a 6870 for £90 then ask you self do you want to save the £60 or not?

However have you considered a Nvidia GTX 560?

I personally like the look of it its around £150 and its similar depending on the game to a 5870.

5870 vs 560 here
 
Predicament said:
£90 is a superb price for a 6870!

ATI's 6870 is on par with the GTX 470 which runs at about £150-£185
Click to expand...
Thanks mate. +1 for 6870
opethdisciple said:
the 5870 vs the 6870 is not a very clear fight.

Basically in terms of raw power, the 5870 wins.

But the 6870 is based off of AMD's new 6000 sereis architectures, which handles DX11 and tesselation better than the 5000 series.

Also xfire is far improved with the 6000 series over the 5000 series.

If you want the best of the two and dont mind spending £150 get the 5870.

If like you said above you can get a 6870 for £90 then ask you self do you want to save the £60 or not?

However have you considered a Nvidia GTX 560?

I personally like the look of it its around £150 and its similar depending on the game to a 5870.

5870 vs 560 here
Click to expand...
The 5870 is 80 and the 6870 is 90.

I would never spend over 100 on a graphics card!

So 6870 seems the best to go for then. Looking at it some more it uses less power/less heat so that is good also.
 
Is it the old XFX reference model or the new central fan revision? If you can get the reference 5870 I say go for it, if it is the newer XFX one I would get the 6870 as the newer XFX 5870s seem to have reliability probelms and do not overclock well.
 
Exsurgo said:
Is it the old XFX reference model or the new central fan revision? If you can get the reference 5870 I say go for it, if it is the newer XFX one I would get the 6870 as the newer XFX 5870s seem to have reliability probelms and do not overclock well.
Click to expand...
Its an XFX one.
opethdisciple said:
5870 then!

Just read your original post.

I originally thought you where offered the 6870 for £90 and where thinking of buying a 5870 of Overclockers for £150.
Click to expand...
hmmm....surely newer tech is worth the extra £10? + wont a 6870 be better considering i have a small psu or is a 5870 also gonna be fine?
 
Either would be good.

Like I said the 6870 vs the 5870 is not clear.

The 5870 has more raw performance, but doesnt do so well in Dx11 titles which include tesselation (of which there isnt many games that do) Saying that, I havent seen my 5870 struggle too much with tesselation. I maxed out AVP and that had tesselation on.

You can see the benchmarks here your self.

Power consumption is more or less identical between the cards.

What psu do you have?

Maybe just go for the 6870, becuase, it is newer and will get more love from driver updates which the 5870 being an older card will not.

Also the 6870 will perform better in multi card, if you ever wanted to go xfire.
 
Last edited:
Close call this. I'd be leaning towards the 6870 personally and considering they scale very well in crossfire you could always add a second card later.
 
opethdisciple said:
Either would be good.

Like I said the 6870 vs the 5870 is not clear.

The 5870 has more raw performance, but doesnt do so well in Dx11 titles which include tesselation (of which there isnt many games that do) Saying that, I havent seen my 5870 struggle too much with tesselation. I maxed out AVP and that had tesselation on.

You can see the benchmarks here your self.

Power consumption is more or less identical between the cards.

What psu do you have?

Maybe just go for the 6870, becuase, it is newer and will get more love from driver updates which the 5870 being an older card will not.

Also the 6870 will perform better in multi card, if you ever wanted to go xfire.
Click to expand...
I have Thermaltake TR2 550w.

I think i will go 6870 then because ATI will support it more and Xfire is possible for Bulldozer :)
shadow_boxer said:
Close call this. I'd be leaning towards the 6870 personally and considering they scale very well in crossfire you could always add a second card later.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate.

I will go for the 6870.
He has had the card from new but never registered. If i register when i get it do i get 2 year warranty? or is it 2 years from when he bought it?

Thanks
 
I really don't understand how you people can recommend the 6870 over a cheaper 5870
looking at the benchmarks suggested from anandtech cut down to just the actual game benchmarks the 5870 wins in 31 out of 33 cases and in 20 of those wins the 5870 is 10% faster or more.
the guy is coming from a nvidia 8800gts 320, best bang for buck is the 5870, hes says hes not interested in crossfire so any better scaling on the 6870's is irrelevant, its all down to which card is better for gaming and that card is clearly the 5870.
 
bru said:
I really don't understand how you people can recommend the 6870 over a cheaper 5870
looking at the benchmarks suggested from anandtech cut down to just the actual game benchmarks the 5870 wins in 31 out of 33 cases and in 20 of those wins the 5870 is 10% faster or more.
the guy is coming from a nvidia 8800gts 320, best bang for buck is the 5870, hes says hes not interested in crossfire so any better scaling on the 6870's is irrelevant, its all down to which card is better for gaming and that card is clearly the 5870.
Click to expand...

Completely agree with this ^^^

5870 every day of the week.......
 
Problem is it is an XFX non-reference 5870 that do not generally Overclock well, seem to be louder and have higher failure rates than other 5series cards. Normally I would suggest a 5870 but in this case I think getting the cooler quieter 6870 and clocking it a bit to 1000 core or so would be the way to go.

(XFX 5870 central fan model is volt locked I think)

XFX warranty support is bad aswell, worst than Asus and that is not saying a lot.
 
Exsurgo said:
XFX warranty support is bad aswell, worst than Asus and that is not saying a lot.
Click to expand...

True, going what I've recently and consistently heard. Not that much in the benchies really, so on reflection maybe it is closer than I first considered. Not so sure what I'd do now, lol. :)
 
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