• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

How does the GTX 580 compare to the GTX 480

Wilks said:
Lol thanks for looking Nexus :)
Click to expand...

No problem :)

Right had a quick look again.

If it where me I would get something like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-252-OK&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat=1712

And if you must really have the 1366 setup with i7, probably something as you suggested like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-034-OP&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat=1712

And if I where you and got a slightly cheaper rig, I would seriously get a nice IPS monitor to truly show off the amazing games in amazing colour ;), it is regarded as being superior to TN panels :p

Like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-046-DE

Some videos showing the difference (2 playing the COD game :p ;)):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mvv5Z7IMbg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Y1MvI9tog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG7XNwbUYEM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3fgwawRBnk

I think you might get the picture after watching those maybe :p
 
Last edited:
Am I right in thinking that the cards stack up as such:

TOP END
AMD 5970 / NVIDIA GTX 580

HIGH END
AMD 5870 / NVIDIA GTX 480

UPPER-MID
AMD 6870 / NVIDIA GTX 470

And (correct me if I'm wrong), the AMD cards generally run quieter and cooler and draw less power? The 480 is a few % faster than the 5870, but bang for buck, the 5870 is a better card?

At what point would moving down in the order of these cards have a drastic effect on my gaming frame rates and future-proofing?

I'm struggling with what to do here big-time! :)
 
At the minute IMO the 480 is better bang for buck than the 5870 but the power draw is considerable (that being said I've just bought a 480 ^^)

The real world difference betweent he 480 and 580 doesn't seem to be as large as the synthetic differences.
If it's call of duty as your main game then all of the cards will punch a hole in it and its sequels for some time to come (2 years+ on the 6870/470 and 3 years+ on anything above that)

The 580 is out of stock so you might have to wait on it for a bit but honestly you'll not go wrong with any of these cards.

I'd say your choice should be between the 470/6870 for value and the 580 for horsepower with the 480 a compromise of both.
 
reiyushin said:
At the minute IMO the 480 is better bang for buck than the 5870 but the power draw is considerable (that being said I've just bought a 480 ^^)

The real world difference betweent he 480 and 580 doesn't seem to be as large as the synthetic differences.
If it's call of duty as your main game then all of the cards will punch a hole in it and its sequels for some time to come (2 years+ on the 6870/470 and 3 years+ on anything above that)

The 580 is out of stock so you might have to wait on it for a bit but honestly you'll not go wrong with any of these cards.

I'd say your choice should be between the 470/6870 for value and the 580 for horsepower with the 480 a compromise of both.
Click to expand...

In CPU limited games, yes there isnt that much of difference. In heavy load GPU games the 480 gets squashed.

RavenXXX2 said:
OK got some 1080p results done, added Dirt 2 and crysis results.
480@850 core/2000 mem

Click to expand...
justcause29001175.jpg


Here we go 580GTX at 900/1175 tears chunks out of the overclocked 480gtx 850/1000

30% anyone?
 
Cheers mate.

I've just read an article in a magazine that states the 5870 is better than the 480 as the speeds are comparable (in real gaming terms the 480 'won' 6 out of 10 games over the 5870). However, the heat, noise, and price made the 5870 a better option.

It struggled to split the 570 and 6870. However they went with the 6870 as it draws less power and runs cooler and quieter - however the speeds were comparable.

I'm utterly torn here as I find it hard to downgrade anything (particularly with computers), but could do with saving the cash :)
 
Just looking here Dreadnought vs Viper. Stick in a 40GB SSD, Windows Home Premium in both, and a 6870 in the Viper. The difference is £180 and the Dreadnought contains the 480.

Obviously the 480 system offers the better performance, but is it the better value? The only difference other than the GPU is that the Dreadnought has a slightly more powerfull power unit.
 
Wilks said:
Just looking here Dreadnought vs Viper. Stick in a 40GB SSD, Windows Home Premium in both, and a 6870 in the Viper. The difference is £180 and the Dreadnought contains the 480.

Obviously the 480 system offers the better performance, but is it the better value? The only difference other than the GPU is that the Dreadnought has a slightly more powerfull power unit.
Click to expand...

Further to that - what sort of FPS differential would exist between the systems (at a rough guess).
 
Wilks said:
Am I right in thinking that the cards stack up as such:

TOP END
AMD 5970 / NVIDIA GTX 580

HIGH END
AMD 5870 / NVIDIA GTX 480

UPPER-MID
AMD 6870 / NVIDIA GTX 470

And (correct me if I'm wrong), the AMD cards generally run quieter and cooler and draw less power? The 480 is a few % faster than the 5870, but bang for buck, the 5870 is a better card?

At what point would moving down in the order of these cards have a drastic effect on my gaming frame rates and future-proofing?

I'm struggling with what to do here big-time! :)
Click to expand...

Yup pretty much what you have stated there :)

Personally for me, I would not touch the 470 or 480 due to the noise, power and heat and would rather have any of the ATI cards over them.

If you where considering nvidias cards, the ones, which I would look at, would be the 460 and the 580.

Personally for me I don't buy the best there is (generally the second best or what ever suits me best and the best performance/price), once it starts to struggle with games daily, not just one or 2 then that's when I would upgrade, so IMO all those cards that you have mentioned there should last for about another 2 years and the 580, 480, 5970 about 3 years and a bit more, considering all the PC games now a days are poor crap ports. But generally most people on this forum upgrade there GPU (even if it is top end) for every new release :p, even if they can still play games at max settings above 50FPS :p

Wilks said:
Just looking here Dreadnought vs Viper. Stick in a 40GB SSD, Windows Home Premium in both, and a 6870 in the Viper. The difference is £180 and the Dreadnought contains the 480.

Obviously the 480 system offers the better performance, but is it the better value? The only difference other than the GPU is that the Dreadnought has a slightly more powerfull power unit.
Click to expand...

In all honesty if I where you, I would save the money by getting an i5 and 4GB dual channel (1156) setup instead of the i7 and 6GB triple channel memory 1366 setup and put that towards a better monitor, or just save it and put it towards something else. As you really will not see any improvement for gaming between the i5 and i7 and the RAM type etc. Plus also intel are bringing new chipsets out again soon next year so even the top end 1366 chipset will be outdated and no matter what rig you get it will last you for a good 3 years and by then, there will probably be something much better out in terms of RAM or CPUs.

You would notice much better performance in games by saving the money by getting the i5 and 4 GB and putting it towards the top end card, whether that be the 580, 5970 or if you get a cheapish mid-high end card like the 6870 and sell and then buy the 6970 as in real world performance for gaming there is virtually no difference at all between dual and triple channel, 4GB and 6GB, i7 and i5 CPU, you would notice a much bigger improvement by getting a better GPU as obviously that is more what games use really.

Wilks said:
Further to that - what sort of FPS differential would exist between the systems (at a rough guess).
Click to expand...

In all honesty there isn't really any difference at all between those 2 excluding the GPUs as they are actually pretty much the same hardware, just slightly different motherboards and PSU etc.

I haven't looked at any 6870 expert reviews in detail, but apparently it is suppose to be nearly as quick as the 5870, so I would say that it should be able to handle all games at max settings till you decide on what you are going to do when ATI release there new cards.

BTW, just to give you an idea, my setup is:

i5 750
4GB G.skill RAM
HIS 4850 512MB Turbo iceQ4
1280x1024

All at stock clocks.

Now my setup blasts through all games on max settings (although for some I need to keep the AA and AAA down to around 4x and 8x) and the only game that I struggled playing on max settings was metro 2033 when it first came out, however I heard that it was updated to improve the performance etc. so it would probably run a lot better now than what it did when it was first released on max settings.

Also all of the COD games, including black ops, I can play on max settings including the max AA and AAA, granted though that I am on a quite a low resolution, but my card is 2 years old now and still going strong :D

I am looking to upgrade my monitor to the dell 23" IPS hopefully very soon and will wait till ATI release there new cards, in order for the prices to decrease for the 580 (hopefully the 570 will be out as well) and will be looking at either the 6950 or the 570. I play a fair few games, but not as often anymore, main ones being FPS, third person action type etc.

Also generally I wouldn't worry to much about the FPS in games in the sense that no matter what system you get from what has been suggested so far in this thread will be able to run games over 45FPS and personally for me I think it is pointless IMO people saying a card is crap just because it can't run over 70FPS as the chances of you actually noticing the difference is very slim as I certainly don't notice any difference at all when playing games on my setup and when on my friends rig, which consists of:

i7 920
6GB RAM
295 2GB
1680x1050

And neither does he when playing games on my rig compared to his, if you ask me I think he is kind of ****ed off that he spend all that money on his rig (his one cost like £1700-1900, although he also got a 1TB hard drive, case, motherboard and PSU as well) when compared to my rig :p, which cost a lot less.

The only time you would notice any stuttering or anything would be if your FPS dropped from 50+ to like 25-.
 
Last edited:
Thanks again Nexus - muchappreciated. The 6870 is looking more and more tempting......just a case of tearing myself away from the temptation of the 580.....
 
Last edited:
No problem :)

Yeah, I am really liking the 6870 a lot as well, once I get the monitor sorted and out of the way and some money (as well waiting for the ATI 69xx series to be released) I will then look at the GPUs in more detail to see what suits my needs etc.

Personally IMO, I think HIS are one of the best brands for ATI cards, my 4850 512MB turbo iceQ4 runs very quite and very cool and has lasted 2 years without any problems at all, very pleased with it. So if you are considering the 6870, have a look at this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-021-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

Also really do like the 580 as well, but as stated before personally for me I just could not spend that money on it due to the reasons stated before.

Although you would get a better experience in games and much more FPS by saving that money if you where to get the 1156, 4GB, i5 setup instead and putting it towards the top end GPU i.e. 580. I am not too sure what brand is best for nvidia cards, so someone else familiar with them will have to give you some information about them, although from what I can gather in the past week, people seem to go for EVGA, zotac and MSI iirc.

The GPU choice is very much down to what you want at the end of the day in terms of, if you want to get a slightly cheaper one i.e. 6870 for now and wait for the 6970 and then sell your 6870 and put what you get back towards the 580 or 6970 (I think there will be a price war between them 2).

Have you given any more thought about the systems and and IPS monitor possibly :p?

EDIT:

However you never know, you may love the 6870 and not want to get anything else :p

It should run pretty much all the games on max settings, especially the COD series without any problems smoothly. You would struggle with the likes of metro 2033 and crysis etc. in the sense that you might have to turn the AA and AAA down a bit to get a smooth frame rate.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom