need help choosing between the 6870's and the GTX 470's

Rroff · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:55

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-106-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1830 that will run the 5870 very close, possibly even match or beat it in some stuff for a bit less money.

Either get one of those or the 6950 IMO, the offer price on the 470 will be over before you make your mind up.

easyrider · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:56

should have got a 6950 for £199

kylew · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:57

easyrider said:
6850s should be 100?

Pants post

I didn't say that. :confused:

It doesn't change that the 6 series are pretty much a massive let down in performance terms, they're barely ahead of the 5 series a year and a half later. Yeah, so crossfire is better, but single car performance isn't very good. Additionally, what's so "pants" about 6870s being £20 below their current RRP? It's not a massive drop is it? £200 was never their real price.

beasty6 · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:58

hmmm the gtx 460's do still catch my eye now amd again,

arnt they really good in SLI ???
(i have a SLI/crossfirex mobo)

beasty

setter · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:58

Not sure about the 5870, but i had the opportunity to see a gigabyte 470 soc in use the other day, much cooler and quieter running card than the reference gigabyte 470's i have myself, it comes with a decent factory overclock, but due to the better cooler fitted to it youll have a lot more headroom when it comes to overclocking above the factory settings.

mattx2 · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:59

beasty6 said:
im really confused now, gigabyte gtx 470 SOC or xfx 5870 ????

which are the ups and downs for both cards ???

beasty

Have a look at this

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/162?vs=160

The summary is the 5870 wins in most games and is very close in the rest and does this using less power and runs cooler and quieter. It can also be used for eyefinity (game with 3 screens)

The 470 runs hotter and draws more power but has cuda (useful if you use any cuda optimised apps) and physix (not really worth it imo)

arc@css · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:01

beasty6 said:
hmmm the gtx 460's do still catch my eye now amd again,

arnt they really good in SLI ???
(i have a SLI/crossfirex mobo)

beasty

Two 460's in sli equate to a 480 in performance. Iirc in quite a few games they will have slightly higher maximum frame rates.

easyrider · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:02

kylew said:
I didn't say that. It doesn't change that the 6 series are pretty much a massive let down in performance terms, they're barely ahead of the 5 series a year and a half later. Yeah, so crossfire is better, but single car performance isn't very good. Additionally, what's so "pants" about 6870s being £20 below their current RRP? It's not a massive drop is it? £200 was never their real price.

No it was a rhetorical question.

If you think 6870's should be sub 150 then how much should 6850's be?

Rroff · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:03

You can't use reference 470 results to compare the SoC (a good bit faster than a stock 470) against the 5870 - those results would be closer to the upper end factory OC'd 460s and stock 470s.

mattx2 · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:05

beasty6 said:
hmmm the gtx 460's do still catch my eye now amd again,

arnt they really good in SLI ???
(i have a SLI/crossfirex mobo)

beasty

If your thinking of 2 x 460's go for these instead if I had a crossfire mobo I'd put my order in now

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-103-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

RavenXXX2 · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:05

mattx2 said:
Have a look at this

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/162?vs=160

The summary is the 5870 wins in most games and is very close in the rest and does this using less power and runs cooler and quieter. It can also be used for eyefinity (game with 3 screens)

The 470 runs hotter and draws more power but has cuda (useful if you use any cuda optimised apps) and physix (not really worth it imo)

Yeah the gigabyte is not a reference 470 if you had not already noticed, it comes clocked at 700 core and at this speed it will be faster than the 5870, it runs fairly cool thanks to the super quiet custom cooler.

beasty6 · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:06

lol now im really really confused

some saying get the 470 some saying 460 some sayin 5xxx some saying 6xxx lol

i really dont know what to do, all i want to know is what is the best card for my needs/games

beasty

coupe69 · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:06

kylew said:
Oh come on, don't play dumb. You called him an AMD fanboy for saying PhysX is crap, how can you not understand that? I don't really understand the relation between PhysX being crap and liking AMD too much. What you quoted didn't even remotely say any card is okay except for nVidia ones, so why you had to mention that I don't know.

You're obviously deluded, go back and read my post properly and then explain to me where I even mentioned PhysX.
My recommendation was purely based on the games the op was intending to play, PhysX to be honest with you didn't even cross my mind.

Only the other day I championed an ATi 5850 in this post here, what exactly is your problem? Troll much?

mattx2 · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:10

Rroff said:
You can't use reference 470 results to compare the SoC (a good bit faster than a stock 470) against the 5870 - those results would be closer to the upper end factory OC'd 460s and stock 470s.

ok look at the benchmarks here the 5870 still beats it in most benchmarks and the 5870 can also be overclocked

http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-470-soc-review/1

kylew · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:11

coupe69 said:
You're obviously deluded, go back and read my post properly and then explain to me where I even mentioned PhysX.
My recommendation was purely based on the games the op was intending to play, PhysX to be honest with you didn't even cross my mind.

Only the other day I championed an ATi 5850 in this post here, what exactly is your problem? Troll much?

I didn't say you mentioned PhysX. :rolleyes:

you called him a fanboy for what he'd said in the quote, which was about PhysX. If PhysX didn't cross your mind, why did you call them a fanboy for saying PhysX was crap? :confused:

If he hasn't had said PhysX was crap, you probably wouldn't have quoted him calling him a fanboy, how does this not make sense to you? :confused:

mattx2 · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:13

beasty6 said:
lol now im really really confused

some saying get the 470 some saying 460 some sayin 5xxx some saying 6xxx lol

i really dont know what to do, all i want to know is what is the best card for my needs/games

beasty

are you interested in running more than 2 monitors either now or in the future ?

would you be interest in overclocking the card ?

if the answer to both of the above is no I'd go for the 470

RavenXXX2 · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:14

beasty6 said:
lol now im really really confused

some saying get the 470 some saying 460 some sayin 5xxx some saying 6xxx lol

i really dont know what to do, all i want to know is what is the best card for my needs/games

beasty

That will be the 470, GTA4, crysis warhead, mafia 2, COD games including OPS which runs like a dream now after the recent patch, hawx 2, WOW, all run best/faster on Nvidia hardware. You get the bonus of using physx in games like mafia 2 and metro 2033.

kylew · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:14

easyrider said:
No it was a rhetorical question.

If you think 6870s should be sub 150 then how much should 6850s be?

6850 prices aren't that bad as they are, £125 is probably a bit better though, sub £150 can mean £149.99. If a 6950 doesn't justify its price at £200, a 6870 at £170 doesn't either.

AgedIdiot · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:14

Have owned both the 5870 (xfx funnily enough) and a 470.

At stock I considered the 5870 quicker than the 470. (as evidenced by the anandtech comparitor) It was also much quieter.

BUT having clocked the 470 to 700 - it is a bit faster than the stock 5870 and having fitted an aftermarket cooler is quieter than the 5870 AND the SOC card already has a better cooler than the standard card and runs at 700 so 'out of the box' it should be quicker than the 5870.

Overall - the cards are very close performance wise. Bang for buck got to be the 5870 tho.

Getting old - just toooooo slow

beasty6 · 21 Dec 2010 at 23:16

im not looking to run 2 monitors and yes i will overclock, i have the HAF X and it has the nvidia gpu air duct which will reduce heat(noise is not a problem due to playin games with high sound)

also not looking to upgrade the gpu for 2 years

beasty