5870 1000 core v GTX 480 850 core

RavenXXX2 · 2 Aug 2010 at 16:38

So here it is, my take on the 5870 v 480 debate, having owned a 5870 and clocked at 1000 core I can safely say a 480 at 850 core easily outperforms the clocked radeon. Games like crysis show a 20 FPS increase with the 480 and overall games feel a lot smoother and IQ is slightly better on the 480, images are clearer and better defined especially when AA is applied.

I was kind of worried going from the 5870 to a 480 but I should'nt have been, once clocked the 480 is a true power house, temps are not a concern either, with a 850 core with no extra volts I hit a max of 77c looping the heaven bench, this with a fan profile that tops out at 70% so when gaming 90c + temps will never happen.

Overall I am very pleased with my 480 purchase and anyone with the cash looking for the ultimate single GPU performance and are willing to overclock you can't go wrong with a 480. I will say that if you keep cards at stock speeds then go 5870. The 480's scaling when overclocked obliterates the 5870's overclocked scaling.

Bench marks below all benched @ 1680x1050

5870 1000 core

jungle

desert

tower

4xAA

Stone Giant

Vantage GPU score 22802
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=13448228

GTX 480 850 core

4xAA

Tower

Desert

Jungle

Vantage, clocked up to 870 core @ 1.1v

GPU score 22802

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=2383261

Crysis comparison top screen no AA bottom screen 8xAA all very high settings @ 1680x1050

Stone Giant

coupe69 · 2 Aug 2010 at 17:11

Nice results, what made you change? Surely your oc'd 5870 must have demolished pretty much any game @ 1680x1050?

Nerusy · 2 Aug 2010 at 17:13

Have you run OCCT error checker on that 850 overclock?

ilovebbs · 2 Aug 2010 at 17:19

That 480 looks tasty in your case!

Can't wait to get mine soon! (EVGA)

GJ02 · 2 Aug 2010 at 17:26

lol raven, what an about turn
i remember on release date you were giving it loads

bobert50 · 2 Aug 2010 at 17:37

GJ02 said:
lol raven, what an about turn
i remember on release date you were giving it loads

I was thinking this!

Having said that, i'd of headed in this direction too if i wasn't such a noise nazi and too much of a noob to consider water cooling.

lay-z-boy · 2 Aug 2010 at 17:47

RavenXXX2 said:
I will say that if you keep cards at stock speeds then go 5870. The 480's scaling when overclocked obliterates the 5870's overclocked scaling.

Wait, what?

We all know the gtx 480 is faster than the 5870. It should be, it came out 6 months later and is more expensive.

But how did you come to the conclusion about overclocking vs stock bit? Are you saying don't go for a gtx 480 if you don't oc and go for a 5870 if you don't oc? :confused:

Rather odd considering how easy it is to oc on both and again, the price difference.

and overall games feel a lot smoother and IQ is slightly better on the 480, images are clearer and better defined especially when AA is applied.

Are you sure that's not placebo?

At 1680x1050 nether card should feel laggy or low on fps.

Genuine questions, I have no intention of an argument or ati vs nv battle.

bobert50 · 2 Aug 2010 at 17:54

A fiver on raven's account being hacked

I thought you'd gone for a 5970?

RavenXXX2 · 2 Aug 2010 at 18:08

coupe69 said:
Nice results, what made you change? Surely your oc'd 5870 must have demolished pretty much any game @ 1680x1050?

Try playing metro 2033 all on max, crysis still owns GPU's at my rez, even GTA 4 and just cause 2 when max easily tax my rez so resolution is not an issue, and as for why I changed, I simply got bored with ATI and over the past few months I have grown to like the 480 and decided to get one and overclock it as far as I could.

Nerusy said:
Have you run OCCT error checker on that 850 overclock?

Games is what I use to test my overclocks.

lay-z-boy said:
Wait, what

We all know the gtx 480 is faster than the 5870. It should be, it came out 6 months later and is more expensive.

But how did you come to the conclusion about overclocking vs stock bit? Are you saying don't go for a gtx 480 if you don't oc and go for a 5870 if you don't oc?

Rather odd considering how easy it is to oc on both and again, the price difference.

Are you sure that's not placebo?

At 1680x1050 nether card should feel laggy or low on fps.

Genuine questions, I have no intention of an argument or ati vs nv battle.

The 480 is smoother in a number of games such as split second, crysis and just cause 2, some game on the 5870 felt like lag even though FPS was fine, regarding 1680x1050, as I have said there are many games that will deliver under 60 FPS on a 480 at that rez so a 5870 will fair even worse.

Regarding the overclock statement, yes at stock the 5870 is fairly close to a stock 480, but performance scaling when overclocking a 5870 is poor, on the other hand a 480 shows massive gains when clocked, at this point its performance is far superior to even a highly clocked 5870. That's why I suggest that it you don't overclock the 5870 would be the better card to own.

rjk · 2 Aug 2010 at 18:15

nice review

the 480s are giving out some cracking results. shame about the noise

bobert50 · 2 Aug 2010 at 18:33

metro seems weird.

When i max everything except use "high" i get 60fps or higher everywhere on 5870 but when i set that one setting to "very high", suddendly 20-30fps?

yet the graphical difference doesn't seem that drastic between the 2 ?

Sean_UK · 2 Aug 2010 at 18:43

Nerusy said:
Have you run OCCT error checker on that 850 overclock?

With 1.100v (High for stock Vid) would imagine the cards OCCT stable.

lay-z-boy · 2 Aug 2010 at 18:44

RavenXXX2 said:
*snip*

I get you, cheers for clearing that up.

Enjoy your new card!

HW91 · 2 Aug 2010 at 18:45

470 @ 820 core for the Unigine, 405 for Just Cause 2, using modified 258.96 quadro drivers

http://img806.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=justcause22010080218253.png

RichardH754 · 2 Aug 2010 at 18:55

I`m tempted to sell a 5870 and get a GTX 480 even more now!

But what about the next gen on both sides, they must be close.

Hmm, I just don`t know

RichardH754 · 2 Aug 2010 at 19:02

Image quality better with 480??

When I switched from GTX 295 to HD5870 the first thing I noticed was how much clearer ATI looked, but how much worse the AA was with ATI!

koooowweeee · 2 Aug 2010 at 19:04

you have spent a lot of time sorting all this out great stuff mate. i can clock my gtx480 to 850 very easy temps get to 90ish @70% going on water soon so will be good hoping for 900core

arc@css · 2 Aug 2010 at 19:34

Nice review.

If my 4870X2 went kaput today then I would very likely get the same card. Will you consider putting yours under water or are you satisfied so far, early days I know, with air cooling?

p0rks0da · 2 Aug 2010 at 19:51

Nice little comparison, it's certainly interesting to see the difference between the two architectures with regard to clock scaling!

I'm still debating whether to go for a GTX460 or something faster, i have a new Corsair PSU on the way and i'm now waiting to see how things look on the Mafia 2 demo. Usually i just buy upper midrange cards (8600GT in sig is a fallback card after i sold 4850), but i'm getting seriously tempted to go for something faster this time. Power is not something i am concerned about, and noise could be fixed with an aftermarket cooler if needed.

No doubt my CPU would be a pretty significant bottleneck in some games for a 480, but i'm moving to Sandy Bridge as soon as those chips launch. I could go single GTX460 now and SLI when i have a new CPU/Mobo, but to be honest i would much prefer a single GPU setup.

Andrew Moore · 2 Aug 2010 at 19:53

I sold a pair of 5970s for a single gtx480 because the minimum frames are higher even though everything else is massively slower... but having the high minimum gives the illusion of a faster system so im happy as I am now £500 odd better off.

Andy