Discussion On The ATI Radeon 5*** Series Before They Have Been Released Thread

WJA96 · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:11

AWBbox said:
Do you think that if I bought a 5870X2 I would feel the same in 3 years time from now?

No, the 8800GTX was a phenomenal card. Even when they brought out the GTX260 and GTX280 they weren't massively faster across the board.

A 5870X2 will be a heck of a graphics card though.

I'm hoping to pick up a couple of Zotac (their warranty allows for water cooling) GTX295's cheapish for SLi and that will do me for a bit I think.

kylew · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:12

AWBbox said:
I currently own a watercooled 8800GTX, it's got to be the best card I have ever owned! However the rest of the components in my rig are shot to pieces so I will be re-building in December. Depending on what nvidia do within the next couple of months I will most likely be getting a 5870X2 (along side a decent i7 system).

I think even ATI fanboys would agree that the 8800GTX was a stonking graphics card, and looking back on my purchase I am sure I made the right decision at the time of purchase. Do you think that if I bought a 5870X2 I would feel the same in 3 years time from now?

You'll find that there aren't many ATi fanboys around here.

It's either people who are nVidia fanboys, people with common sense who won't buy nVidia currently due to their overpricing, or people who are anti-nvidia because of their very underhanded ways or people that don't care but buy what's best value.

I'm sure you won't find many people who would disagree that an 8800GTX was a great card to be honest.

Arclite · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:24

8800 gtx is still a fabulous card. I remember buying it 1 week after it was released and paid in excess of £350 and it was all worth it.

I admit i did have the upgrade bug earlier but more i play games the more i feel that i really do not need an upgrade and that is something considering the card is nearly 3 years old.

There is not a single game that i cannot play with everything cranked up. Ofcourse there are excpetions but something like crysis even runs at a playable frame rate when everything is cranked up.

In short the best next-gen gpu i have ever purchased and the new Ati has to be in a similar league in order for me to move on from my old friend, the 8800gtx

.

LoadsaMoney · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:32

Yeah 8800 GTX was a cracking card, was ahead of its time imo, was a huge leap in performance over previous gen, i doubt we'll see a jump like that again for a while now.

AWBbox · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:37

Arf, it's going to be a shame to let it go. Maybe I'll frame it and hang it on my wall

I can't really re-use it in the re-build, what currently available GPU would you guys class as its equal? I'll want to compare what I have now with the 5xxx series when their released.

Perfect_Chaos · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:39

still no leaked benchies doh

kylew · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:41

AWBbox said:
Arf, it's going to be a shame to let it go. Maybe I'll frame it and hang it on my wall

I can't really re-use it in the re-build, what currently available GPU would you guys class as its equal? I'll want to compare what I have now with the 5xxx series when their released.

Well the 4830 is sort of 'equal' except it's faster. So when the benches come out, compare the 4830s and that's roughly the speed boost you'll get.

AMG · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:42

the 8800 changed a lot of things, I believe it was the first card with cuba and all that?

AWBbox · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:44

kylew said:
Well the 4830 is sort of 'equal' except it's faster. So when the benches come out, compare the 4830s and that's roughly the speed boost you'll get.

Thanks! I await the opportunity with great anticipation

Perfect_Chaos · 6 Sep 2009 at 16:54

What would 2 8800 GTs be comparable to? 4870?

Raikiri · 6 Sep 2009 at 17:03

4890 I would say, but then you've got the problems with SLi (heat, power etc.).

Edit: Taken from another forum (not sure if I can mention them, so I won't)

Buckster · 6 Sep 2009 at 17:06

I have to say I was a 8800GTX owner for quite a while and enjoyed my upgrade to a 4890 - LOVELY and overclockable

Final8y · 6 Sep 2009 at 18:06

Messed up badly.

Final8y · 6 Sep 2009 at 18:09

Raikiri said:
4890 I would say, but then you've got the problems with SLi (heat, power etc.).

Edit: Taken from another forum (not sure if I can mention them, so I won't)

That graph is complete baloney, 125% scaling..right.
Only specific on the edge Vram limitations can do that where one card is choked when waiting for the buffer to fill, but with 2 cards the buffer in AFR mode has time to refresh on the alternate card just before its needed so there is no hold up in rendering..

SfnX · 7 Sep 2009 at 08:43

we'll see if theyve rushed it with the upcoming benchmarks, then we shall see!
dun dun duuuun.

Aono · 7 Sep 2009 at 08:54

I still have a 8800GTS 320mb and I can play every game I own on highest settings apart from Far Cry 2 and ofcourse Crysis. Still very playable on lower settings though.

Even newer games like Batman still don't make it sweat to much.

SfnX · 7 Sep 2009 at 09:47

Aono said:
I still have a 8800GTS 320mb and I can play every game I own on highest settings apart from Far Cry 2 and ofcourse Crysis. Still very playable on lower settings though.

Even newer games like Batman still don't make it sweat to much.

some people rly hate the 320mb versions but i rly liked them, decent price 2

thebrownbottle · 7 Sep 2009 at 10:14

8800GTX OC2

I've a BFG 8800GTX OC2 at the moment which plays most things at 1920x1200, so I'm looking at these new cards for something of a step up in performance for the next generation of games. Benchmarks will be very interesting!

Alexrose1uk · 7 Sep 2009 at 11:28

SfnX said:
some people rly hate the 320mb versions but i rly liked them, decent price 2

Probably because they bogged down so much on larger screens, which a lot of enthusiasts have. The lower texture memory crippled them in comparison to higher mem cards much quicker with new games, so unless you bought early/cheap it was a bit of a false economy unless you used lower res where the core wasnt held back so much. I seem to remember the previous gen 512 X1900XT being faster at high res in some cases than the 320mb 8800 because of this, even though on average the 640mb 8800 was about 50% faster, it really crippled it.

Wakinglimb · 7 Sep 2009 at 11:34

twoblacklines said:
My student loan arrives on the 23rd of september, £896 and I dont need any of it, its all expendable lol!

Kinda wish I had bought an x48 mboard now dont I ?

By the time you pay it back it will have cost you double that!

Sorry, had to say it. Spent 6 years paying off student debt - it's not that much fun! Enjoy your 5870 though

Any benchmarks yet?