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Which gpu?

Jonnodude

Jonnodude

Jonnodude

Associate
Joined
15 Jul 2010
Posts
139
Hey there, I am about to get the viper system fully decked out but I'm not sure which gpu to get.

It's a choice between the ATI 5870 or the nVIdia GTX 480.

The nVIdia is more expensive and has more video memory but I've read that the ATI has better overall performance.

On the other hand I read that the ATI cards especially the 5870 can experience random grey screen crashes, or at least was back in march.

Can some people reply here and let me know which they think is better and any good or bad experiences you have had with either card?

Also does anyone know if ATI 5 series cards still experience grey screen or any other issues?

Your help is greatly appreciated! :-)
 
I would say the ATI card, as you said it costs less, and both cards are roughly the same give or take a few points here or there.
However, the nVidia card would offer Physx.
Nathan
 
The grey scale/lines issue was fixed a while ago via a BIOS update, as for performance the GTX480 is about 8%-10% overall then a HD5870 which given the extra cost makes it poor value for money. As for drivers ATI have had problems but 90% of the time it's to do with Crossfire setups, also scaling in Crossfire on ATi's high end cards isn't as good as Nvidia's but since your gonig that route you don't need to worry about it.
 
Heh thanks peeps

Think I will go with ATI if that issue is fixed now :-D
Will be cheaper if I want to upgrade to crossfire

Though looking at recent reviews the ATI 5970 does better than both, I wonder if I could get a viper with one of those, or even spend more obscene amount of cash and see if OC would do 2 of those in xfire :-p

Anyone know if you can customise with OC like that?
 
Jonnodude said:
Heh thanks peeps

Think I will go with ATI if that issue is fixed now :-D
Will be cheaper if I want to upgrade to crossfire

Though looking at recent reviews the ATI 5970 does better than both, I wonder if I could get a viper with one of those, or even spend more obscene amount of cash and see if OC would do 2 of those in xfire :-p

Anyone know if you can customise with OC like that?
Click to expand...

OC will do custom builds if you contact them. Especially if its a high end one.

Crossfire 5970's is massive overkill for games, and many games dont scale well with 4 GPU's. However, if you have the money to spend, it would arguably be future proof for a while. Some games even get WORSE performance with crossfire 5970's.
 
Tri fire seems to to be the optimal configuration (from listening to people on the forum), as opposed to Quad fire.

you could always just get your 5870 and if you find it's not enough drop a 5970 in later (or the other way around :) )
 
Sorry to double post but I've also read that the 5970 is a large card and ad it's the most powerful gpu out at the moment I'm v tempted to call in and get one of these babys!

But yeah they are rather large in size, does anyone know if they will fit the viper case? :-o
 
not sure as to if it'll fit or not mate but as previously mentioned, i think you're best bet is to call OcUK and have a chat with them. they are very helpful folks, especially when you're spending a fair penny with them :p
 
Yeah I will do, I was just wondering if people had the same experience before :-)

But I'll update this post for the record when I get it to let peeps know xx
 
Had sapphire 5870 non reference (stock clock was the wall), no issues a part from it being the worst oc card out there.

5870 is better value for money, just be sure to buy the one with voltage control if you'd want to overclock later. MSI / asus has voltage control support and in my opinion ASUS better just because I heard MSI cards are badly built and overclock badly too oddly enough.
 
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