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GTX 470 or HD 5850/5870

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Just over a month ago I stupidly applied the wrong overclock to my current GTX 275 and now get graphic anomalies in some games when temps reach over 67 degrees. I have set-up a more aggressive fan profile in Rivatuner to keep temps down. This is an issue in both Vista and XP with different drivers so I am fairly certain I have cooked the card. I bought the card from the high street and have lost my receipt and even though its only 7 months old I will not be able to replace it.

As this is not a planned upgrade my choices have been made difficult because in the past I have usually spent £200 to £220 for a new card that gave 40 to 50% performance increase over my then current card (this is at 1680 x 1050). If I buy now I'm only going to get a 20% performance increase for £220 (HD 5850) and 40% for £320 (HD 5870) - GTX 470 will be somewhere in between.

Currently I have preference towards nVidia drivers as they have been more stable for me and there are more games where you can force AA to work than with Ati drivers. That said I am still disappointed with the new Fermi cards as they do not appear to be very good value for money. The GTX 470 competes with the 5870 yet is slower. I am not sure how a overclocked 470 will cope with my very hot study in the peak of summer.

I not even sure if the 470 will fit into a Antec 300 and I know the HD 5870 only just fits.

My choices are £220 for a HD 5850 or £320 for a HD 5870 or GTX 470. I am not sure which way to go on this one.
 
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ATI drivers have been great with my 5870. I would go down the 5850 root and overclock it past 5870 speeds because it would be daft not to.
 
Would also say go for a 5850, but make sure you get one with voltage control. It would then easily overclock to match if not beat stock 5870/470 performance saving you some cash along the way.

If you use msi afterburner it restricts the amount of voltage you can apply to the card so in theory you shouldn't be able to repeat what happened with your gtx 275.
 
My choices are £220 for a HD 5850 or £320 for a HD 5870 or GTX 470. I am not sure which way to go on this one.

GTX's 470's can be had at ****** making it a lot more a lot more of a attractive proposition! But a overclocked 5850 sounds like like your best bet!

The mentioning of competitors and their pricing is against the rules of the forums. Please make sure you read the No promotion of OcUK's competitors section of the FAQ. Thank you.
 
GTX's 470's can be had at ****** making it a lot more a lot more of a attractive proposition! But a overclocked 5850 sounds like like your best bet!

The mentioning of competitors and their pricing is against the rules of the forums. Please make sure you read the No promotion of OcUK's competitors section of the FAQ. Thank you.

If the OP is happy to stay with Nvidia then the above price for a 470 is a good deal. If you're willing to overclock a 470 with extra volts you can attain 480 speeds, although this is not guaranteed.
 
If the OP is happy to stay with Nvidia then the above price for a 470 is a good deal. If you're willing to overclock a 470 with extra volts you can attain 480 speeds, although this is not guaranteed.

You can match GTX480 clockspeeds but not GTX480 performance, in the Guru3d review the a GTX470 clocked at 774MHz Core could not match a stock GTX480.
 
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The ****** 470 looks like a good deal - I just need to find one. Does anyone know if they are any longer than a 5870 which is the limit of what will fit my case. I know I am going to miss nHancer if I switch back to Ati. I am one of the few people that play Vanguard and if I were to switch to Ati I would loose AA. So the general conclusion is that £320 is too much to spend on a card relative to the performance gain.

Are there likely to be any price drops within the next month as my card is still running as long as I keep the temps down.

The mentioning of competitors and their pricing is against the rules of the forums. Please make sure you read the No promotion of OcUK's competitors section of the FAQ. Thank you.
 
I can't find any of those "cheap" 470's. Which model and make of 5850 do you recommend for a nice healthy air cooled overclock. Some mentioned CF where possible in regards to a 5850 - does that mean custom fan?
 
Is that not the case with every card or do 5850's overclock significantly higher than most?

I don't have a 5850 so just going on what others have said.

Many people have successfully overclocked to >1ghz and considering stock is 725mhz that a great overclock.Most cards can't do that and still be stable.
 
Please make sure you all familiarise yourself with the rules of the forums. The mentioning of competitors and their pricing is against them.

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Thank you. :)
 
I can't find any of those "cheap" 470's. Which model and make of 5850 do you recommend for a nice healthy air cooled overclock. Some mentioned CF where possible in regards to a 5850 - does that mean custom fan?

cf relates to crossfire, dual cards. As for brands, Asus directCu seems the one to go for right now.
 
I not even sure if the 470 will fit into a Antec 300 and I know the HD 5870 only just fits.

My choices are £220 for a HD 5850 or £320 for a HD 5870 or GTX 470. I am not sure which way to go on this one.

The 470 is 9.5 inches long, so it'll fit your case as it's shorter than the 5870, which only just fits in your case (as you pointed out above).

Just stick with Nvidia as you get a great performance from current gen titles, the 470 is also backed up by some great performance increases over the 5850.

Plus 470's performance in DX11 games in particular is impressive and if those results are in any way representative of what to expect in the future, then this card may lead a very long life indeed.
 
The 470 is 9.5 inches long, so it'll fit your case as it's shorter than the 5870, which only just fits in your case (as you pointed out above).

Just stick with Nvidia as you get a great performance from current gen titles, the 470 is also backed up by some great performance increases over the 5850.

Plus 470's performance in DX11 games in particular is impressive and if those results are in any way representative of what to expect in the future, then this card may lead a very long life indeed.
Thanks

Currently I am a using a 1680 x 1050 screen and will upgrade sometime soon to a 24" I hear that the nVidia's do well at higher resolutions with AA and AF. If the 470 was cheaper I would order one now, but the same price as a 5870 is difficult to justify.
 
I don't have a 5850 so just going on what others have said.

Many people have successfully overclocked to >1ghz and considering stock is 725mhz that a great overclock.Most cards can't do that and still be stable.

but not everybody. We appear to be in a second wave of 5*** series cards that are not based on the reference design and do not clock as well as the first batch.

I personally own a powercolor PCS+ 5850 (purchased 2 weeks ago) which is a great card for the price (came with MW2) but it doesn't get past 850/1180 oc'd, but I'm happy with it as i bought a 5 series for eye infinity, if i had bought it for the clock speed i would have been disappointed.

so go with the 5850... as long as you wont be disappointed if it doesn't hit the speeds people have said.
 
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