Only just received my card, thinking of changing it :S

[Nocky24]

I'm now in a bit of dilemma now (RavenXXX2 I'd like your opinion ). I've got an Asus 5870 (£300) waiting in a box when I go back how tonight. I'm wondering whether its best to send it back under DSR and go for a Gainward 480 instead seeing as nvidias drivers seemed to have improved a lot. The only concern is if amd release a good set of drivers next month (we can dream can't we) then I'd probably prefer the 5870.

Any ideas people??

 

[stulid]

send it back and get the 480, much better minimum frame rates.

and I don't think amd can squeeze anymore speed out of the 5870, its had all the driver improvements its likely to get.

 

[Mr Paul]

Depends how much more you have to spend for the 480? If it £82 more expensive, your not going to get £82 more of performance.

Both are excellent cards and both will tear up pretty much any game there is.

Driver wise, all I can comment on is ATI, as last nVidia card was a 6800 GT. But I have had NO problems whatsoever with my Asus 5870 and drivers, every driver release (and I've installed every one including the hotfixes) and I've not had one problem ever. Everything just works.

But upto you fella.

 

[RavenXXX2]

£300 is a lot of money to spend on a GFX card and IMO the 5870 being nearly a year old is not worth that cost now, don't get me wrong it's a cracking card and does run cooler than a 480 but in this price category you want tiptop performance and as great as the 5870 is it can't touch the 480 in ultimate performance, minimum framerates are important and the 480 blows the 5870 away in that area, once overclocked the 480 is a true beast than not even a 1000 core 5870 can get near. You can pick a POV 480 up for £350 so £50 more than your 5870 and IMO the 480 is worth that £50 difference.

Regarding drivers, ATI drivers for single GPU's are up there way Nvidia, but I prefer Nvidia's control panel over the CCC.

Don't forget you're not just getting extra performance with a 480 but all so 500mb more Vram that could come in handy in future titles.

 

[Overslop]

5850 is worth consideration but the 5870 is a silly choice at current prices. I have mucked about with loads of current gen cards but finally settled on a GTX 480...well 2 of them!

 

[Nocky24]

Oh dear, I sense an epic fail on my part

 

[Mr Krugga]

I would send the card back, would you consider and SLI setup though? GeForce 460s 1GB would cost you around the same as a single GeForce 480 and there are less issues if you do not decide to watercool, etc.

 

[James J]

Personally I'd send the card back and wait for the 6000 series benchmarks to appear and possibly pick one of those up instead.

 

[psychas]

if u dont mind noise when 480 on full load go for or wait for 6*** series as said above

 

[Phoenixdancer]

i would wait for the next refresh of cards from ATI, only couple months now

 

[Overslop]

I would send the card back, would you consider and SLI setup though? GeForce 460s 1GB would cost you around the same as a single GeForce 480 and there are less issues if you do not decide to watercool, etc.

No need to watercool (though obviously it's always ideal), you can get a custom air cooler called a Gelid Solutions Icy Cooler. Drops temps and noise dramatically, way below ATi stock cooler levels in both departments in fact.