GPU prices vs. performance

kowloon

So my trusty old card fried itself yesterday, it's time to upgrade, this time I'm going to buy a new machine from scratch, but I'm baffled by the new cards. I put to you this rather interprative question:

Of the cards currently on the market, which solution is best when price is considered? I would never pay double to squeeze out that extra few % on grounds that there's always better uses for the extra cash and the bleeding edge goes out of date almost as quickly as the next card down.

So what do we like? 2 5770s in crossfire, a 5970, a GTX 295?
I'm taking for granted that the 5970 is overpriced for what it is.

Coolmaster

Well I just got a new pc from overclockers.co.uk ! They've got really good deals with graphic cards. They have got everything on the site for computers . I got a ATI 5870,AMD tri Core overclocked to 3.3ghz,4 GB of Ram at 1600Mhz,Then running Xp.Motherbored is very good too ! They send all the boxes with the building of the pc. Very good site I'd recommend :cool:

kowloon

I've spent some time on their site alright, I have most of my components chosen, but GPU selection is a minefield.
So far on the ATI front I'm balancing off either a 5870 or two 5770s, but I just don't know enough to choose.
I gather the current nvidia cards aren't really up to scratch.

Coolmaster

That true alright..Nivida aren't really doing as well latley. ATI on the other hand have improved vastly ! I was always a Nivida person but between the GTX 295 and ATI 5870 I went straight with the ATI. As its newer Tech and supports direct X 11. Its much more quiter than the GTX 295 and doesn't use up much from the power supply. You can check it on this website comparing http://www.gpureview.com/ . Well if I may ask do you game a lot?

kowloon

Coolmaster wrote: »

Well if I may ask do you game a lot?

Not as much as I'd like as my old machine was getting a bit long in the tooth. Fallout 3 was about as far advanced as I could go, I had to shelve Arma II for lack of performance. I also love my flight sims.

leninbenjamin

Coolmaster wrote: »

Well I just got a new pc from overclockers.co.uk ! They've got really good deals with graphic cards. They have got everything on the site for computers . I got a ATI 5870,AMD tri Core overclocked to 3.3ghz,4 GB of Ram at 1600Mhz,Then running Xp.Motherbored is very good too ! They send all the boxes with the building of the pc. Very good site I'd recommend :cool:

Why buy a DirectX 11 card and run windows XP? You've just paid about a €50-100 premium for tech you're not going to use.

kowloon

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Why buy a DirectX 11 card and run windows XP? You've just paid about a €50-100 premium for tech you're not going to use.

I'll be making the switch to Win 7, although I'd like to have a separate boot for XP, preferably on another drive. Will a DX11 card run okay with XP for my older stuff?

UnionOfV

Personally I just got a 5770 because it was within my price range (ATI = better value and the 5xxx series scale beautifully in crossfire!). I'd say if you want high end but don't want to waste money 2 5870's would be best. Between 2 5770's and one 5870 I'd always go for the 5870, because you'll save some money in the future by simply adding another card.

Coolmaster

I didn't buy the card just for the fact of Direct X 11.I find Win Xp is much better than any of the other O.S. Thats my personal opinion. People may differ in that Xp is the best. I find Xp runs best with games and is simple to use :cool:

marco_polo

If you have the cash then one 5870 would be preferable to 2 X 5770s as generally Crossfire does not deliver X2 the performance and in some (in fairness probably not very well designed) games not much of a boost at all

EDIT: Plus if you want to upgrade later all you have to do is pop in another 5870 instead of having to ditch 2 X 5770s first

EDIT2: (On a side note I must say I have just looked at a few numbers for 5770 X 2 and they are quite impressive when a game is XFire optimised, things are certainly improving greatly, kudos to the ATI driver writing team )

kowloon

If I was to pop another card in later, does it have to be the exact same model and spec, or just another 5870 for instance?

marco_polo

No need for the card to be from the same manufacturer. Just the same type.

OSiriS

Every month, Tomshardware publish what they believe to be the best cards you can get for various price points, and also a Hierarchy chart that is great to get a rough idea how powerful your indended purchase is in the grand scheme of things. You can find they current list here:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-graphics-card,review-31783-8.html

CS Hasuki

I would go for a HD5850. Very overclockable. HD5870 is overpriced and the 5850 can more or less match it.
Two for when crysis 2 is out , or 3
Single card options ALWAYS better than XFIRE/SLI. Scaling is heavily dependent on the game itself.

For example, 2xgts250s in sli VS GTX285. The 250s will have a better max fps, but the 285 should be more steady(better lower fps)

Effluo

OSiriS wrote: »

Every month, Tomshardware publish what they believe to be the best cards you can get for various price points, and also a Hierarchy chart that is great to get a rough idea how powerful your indended purchase is in the grand scheme of things. You can find they current list here:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-graphics-card,review-31783-8.html

Point of note.

tomshardware have generally very little to offer.

Op i'd really be interested to hear what your rig is!

Also I wouldn't go with overclockers cause they charge the irish vat rate at checkout. Also like everyone else they have not so good customer service for some.

IMO now is not the best time to go shopping. If you get a 5770 you're basically getting a 4870 which is more energy efficient for not great price.
Although it's not gonna change until Nvidia get their cards out, So I suppose you don't have a choice

Give us your current specs.

kowloon

My current spec is a desk to put the machine on when I get it .
I don't have to pay VAT (business purchase) and I'm in the UK at the moment so I'll probably buy it here. I wanted to figure out the GPUs first as they've changed considerably since I last bought a pc.

Effluo

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-010-C3&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

This is a good price on a very good card, If you want to play arma II this would come in handy. The price difference between the 5850 + the 5870 makes the 5870 not worth it.

The only real debate is on the whole dx11 fun :pac:

In the few examples there's been it's been very heavy on the 58xx series, although i's still go for the 5850 and with a motherboard which could support a second 5850 which might be nice in a year or two's time:cool:

That would be my choice

PogMoThoin

kowloon wrote: »

Not as much as I'd like as my old machine was getting a bit long in the tooth. Fallout 3 was about as far advanced as I could go, I had to shelve Arma II for lack of performance. I also love my flight sims.

Arma II is completely cpu and hd bound, You may still not be able to play it at high detail, depending on the rest of Your setup. It really benefits from a quadcore and an ssd. What are the rest of Your specs

kowloon

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Arma II is completely cpu and hd bound, You may still not be able to play it at high detail, depending on the rest of Your setup. It really benefits from a quadcore and an ssd. What are the rest of Your specs

No specs set in stone as I'll be getting a new machine. I'm reluctant to pay for an ssd yet; have a raptor from my last machine which will be going into the new one. Pretty sure I'll be getting an i7 as I can get one on the cheap.

Rezident

5870 if you can afford it. 5850 is obviously better value for money though.