• 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.

Suitable Graphics Card

Nameless_87

Nameless_87

Nameless_87

Associate
Joined
8 Oct 2009
Posts
865
Ok, here is my dilemma...

I built my new pc exceot the gfx cause everything is out of stock. The specs of my pc can be seen in my sig.

What is the best gfx to get for my needs (moderate gaming - mw2; L4D2; gta4, programming, photoshopping, web design, everyday use, etc).

I will be running at 1920x1200 res and would like the games at max settings

I was thinking of getting a sapphire 5870 but then the 5970 came out...

So which is best for my needs? A 5870 and crossfire later or a single 5970?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
It's a tough call, obviously the 5970 will be a better more safer bet in terms of cooling/price etc, but having two 5870's in crossfire will give a better performance overall due to the higher core clock speeds and such.

I see it says 5870 in your sig, so I guess you've made your choice =P

Enjoy the new gpu mate, should be great.
 
Ritsugamesh said:
It's a tough call, obviously the 5970 will be a better more safer bet in terms of cooling/price etc, but having two 5870's in crossfire will give a better performance overall due to the higher core clock speeds and such.

I see it says 5870 in your sig, so I guess you've made your choice =P

Enjoy the new gpu mate, should be great.
Click to expand...

Haven't made a choice yet... it says 5870 since I was gonna go for it from the beginning when the 5970 were not born yet :p

I got everything built with a loaned gfx from a friend...

I only need a great gfx to complete my build :D

Was also considering to go for the 5870 since I won't overclock for now so with the 5970 the cpu will be a bottleneck?

Also 5870 is a bit cheaper lol

@Admiral - Not at max settings and 8xAA... Don't really wish to go lower than 5870 cause I won't buy upgrade for quite some years (except another gfx in xfire)

Also, Nvidia offer Physx and CUDA... the only thing I dislike is no dx11 support... what about fermi? anyone has an estimate of the price on launch and when is the launch?

Any more suggestions? :)
 
Last edited:
Unfortunately a single 5770 probably won't handle that resolution that well, especially not on maximum settings including AA and such.

Also considering that other non gaming functions are a factor, having a card with a lot of raw processing power well help, along with the i7 cpu stated in the sig.

2 5770's in crossfire is however a very affordable and worthwhile solution, performance weighing in around a single 5850.

EDIT: Just saw your post, would definitely opt for the 5870 if overclocking isn't your goal.
 
Ah I didn't, as for PhysX, I personally really don't care about physx. It's a nice little feature but really not enough in my opinion to shift gpu's.

Supposedly gpgpu technology is on the way anyway, which will render physx useless if it does actually become common place among graphics card. This gpgpu technology will also render CUDA pretty much redundant too. [This is based on my personal knowledge, I am not an nvidia card owner so any other thoughts on these functions would be appreciated.]

Fermi cards are rumored at Q1 2010, prices unconfirmed currently.
 
Nameless_87 said:
@Admiral - Not at max settings and 8xAA... Don't really wish to go lower than 5870 cause I won't buy upgrade for quite some years (except another gfx in xfire)

Any more suggestions? :)
Click to expand...

not being funny, I'm still running a 8800GTX at 1920 with pretty much all games on high so this will be fine. In my opinion games aren't exactly stretching two year old cards at the moment let alone todays current breed. Until the launch of next generation consoles I can't see developers investing heavily in to the PC market and I can't see things changing for a while yet.. It's a bit lile buying a porche with a brick under the accelerator, you're gaining nothing. The fact that I'm still using my 8800gtx only goes to proove this.
 
thanks to all...

decided to go for the 5870...

got another question:

will a corsair hx 850 w be enough for a pair of 5870s in xfire? (i may overclock the cpu as well)
 
Yeah should handle it fine, most people seem to say 750w should be ok for two 5870's in xfire and 850 will be even better.

I believe Corsair make good psu's so you will be fine =)
 
go for the 5970 then when you overclock later you can sorta "unleash the beast within" :p

but really a 5870 is great, it will handle most stuff with some spare @ 1920x1200

corsair 850 is a great psu and will handle 2 of them with ease

last 3 psu's i had in my main rig have been corsair, 620w 650w and now 750w, tempting to go modular again with the 850 but i dont really need to :p
 
Thanks guys...

the reason for going with a 5870 is because 5970 would be overkill for a 1920x1200 res

so not worth the money... and well crossfire 5870 gives better results than a single 5970 :p

I hate non modular psus btw.. too much confusion :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom