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Comment Thread for GTX 480 and GTX 470 Reviews

MrDiaz

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I think these cards will be far more impressive down the line. However ATI did an incredible job of keeping their cards competitive for this release.

Yup. However, you also have to take into account that Southern Islands are planned for the fall this year? I can't find the link I found some information for this but from what I remember... tessellation will be improved 2-4 times on the new cards
 

_dangtx_

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GTX 480 thermal versus 5870 thermal.

XtremeSystems Forums - View Single Post - GTX 480 and GTX 470 Reviews


GTX 480 Load

480load.jpg



HD5870 Load

5870load.jpg

very interesting piccie.

id like to see an actual video, or several frames as the load increases, from several angles.
i tought id see the core area look darker, but it looks like its got a peltora of hot spots :)


edit look at the 'heat radiation' around the card..someone asked about motherboard life with it in it.
very interesting.
 

CREllis

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Yup. However, you also have to take into account that Southern Islands are planned for the fall this year? I can't find the link I found some information for this but from what I remember... tessellation will be improved 2-4 times on the new cards

Actually the problems at TSMC has seemed to effect those plans. These cards will probably have to duke it out at least until 2011.

AMD Plans Southern Islands GPU Family - Hybrid of Northern Islands and Evergreen - Softpedia

[EDIT]:OOPS! That was about Northern Island :doh: Southern Island can still make it this year.
ATI Reportedly Preps ?Southern Islands? Family of Graphics Chips - X-bit labs
 

sertz

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To be honest, if you look around on the web the reviews are all over the place in terms of performance numbers. Some sites peg the GTX 480 around equal to the 5870 to others saying its a knockout win for nVIDIA. Other than that though, depending on the site you go to, it can be commonly accepted that the GTX 480 is generally around 5%-12% faster than the stock Radeon 5870.

This is where I have some issues...

nVIDIA has been my graphics card of choice for a long time. Right from the GeForce 3 Ti days (remember?) I've used their cards. Mainly because they were true innovators in technology and usually the tech put on their cards were relevant to that generation of games. Yes, there were hiccups (GeForce FX series) But for the most part it was all good. It was a good day when I first saw the performance numbers for the 8800GTX. Nothing was close, and that card lasted me almost 3 years. THAT'S what I call a safe investment.

Fast-forward to now. ATI was the only one on the DX11 market for 6 full months (a little longer if you count how long it will be before you can get your hands on a GTX 480), and with a very enticing line-up to boot. I held off, waiting for Fermi to arrive but I ended up succumbing to the Radeon influence after 4 months of waiting. Now that I've seen the official benchmark numbers for Fermi however... I'm glad I was impatient.

While the performance is a little faster than the 5870, the features (aside from PhysX) remain the same. And PhysX just isn't widespread enough yet to make it a compelling reason to buy a graphics card with a sizeable price premium on top of the 5870. The GTX 480's tesselation performance is excellent as shown by Unigine Heaven, but again, that feature isn't penetrating the market nearly enough yet for it to be a good reason to buy the card.

The 5870 on the other hand, gives me excellent performance now, with solid drivers, a relatively cool-running chip, and a very low power consumption comparatively with the GTX 480. It fully supports all the DX11 features that will be important in the next few years, and even overclocks like a dream. I've had a very positive experience with my 5870, and from all the reviews I've read, I just can't justify upgrading from a 5870 to the GTX 480. Perhaps down the road if tesselation is extensively used and provides a noticeably improved experience over the 5870, I'll re-consider my stance. But even then, it may make more sense to just pick up a second 5870 and go Crossfire.

All in all, I think Fermi is an amazing card, that should have been launched months ago. I'll stick with my 5870.
 

Delavan

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The 5870 on the other hand, gives me excellent performance now, with solid drivers, a relatively cool-running chip, and a very low power consumption comparatively with the GTX 480. It fully supports all the DX11 features that will be important in the next few years, and even overclocks like a dream. I've had a very positive experience with my 5870, and from all the reviews I've read, I just can't justify upgrading from a 5870 to the GTX 480. Perhaps down the road if tesselation is extensively used and provides a noticeably improved experience over the 5870, I'll re-consider my stance. But even then, it may make more sense to just pick up a second 5870 and go Crossfire.

All in all, I think Fermi is an amazing card, that should have been launched months ago. I'll stick with my 5870.
Well, I was a strong Geforce believer. I had high expectations. I even had a eVGA GTX470 pre-order in yesterday. NCIX got a few XFX HD5870 in stock (jeez they sold quick!!!). I called them up, canceled my GTX470 pre-order and ordered the hd5870. The card is on it's way!

Ok, I jumped ship, but still have a lifetime warranty. I was shooting for the GTX470. Although 470 gets close of equal to 5870 sometimes, it's more of a contender for the 5850. With 5870 I get close to GTX480.

The HD5870 still hold it's own against the GTX480. I'll try to OC the XFX to gain that 10%, to get tie with the gTX480. That at around $100 less (also maybe electricity savings lol). Also, I had plans for extra expenses to cool-off a GTX (extra fans...some will go waterblock), now, by choosing HD5870, no more extra $$$ put in cooling.

So for $425 PMed I get a lifetime warrantied HD5870 that is closer to a GTX480 than a GTX470...with a mild OC, the gap will be closed...
Hopefully Team RED doesn't dissapoint...(LOL I still took EXPRESS RMA 30 days...just in case...LOL can't be too cautious).
 
Last edited:

_dangtx_

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plug in a killawatt before and after oc and let us know what the oc is doing to power consumption :)
 

Levesque

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plug in a killawatt before and after oc and let us know what the oc is doing to power consumption :)

Tri-Crossfire 5970 + 5870, 3 cores OCed to 925/1300, I measured 350-375 watts idle directly from the wall socket, and I measured 850-875 watts total for my system when running Furmark in Extreme Burning Mode. :)
 

sertz

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Well, I was a strong Geforce believer. I had high expectations. I even had a eVGA GTX470 pre-order in yesterday. NCIX got a few XFX HD5870 in stock (jeez they sold quick!!!). I called them up, canceled my GTX470 pre-order and ordered the hd5870. The card is on it's way!

Ok, I jumped ship, but still have a lifetime warranty. I was shooting for the GTX470. Although 470 gets close of equal to 5870 sometimes, it's more of a contender for the 5850. With 5870 I get close to GTX480.

The HD5870 still hold it's own against the GTX480. I'll try to OC the XFX to gain that 10%, to get tie with the gTX480. That at around $100 less (also maybe electricity savings lol). Also, I had plans for extra expenses to cool-off a GTX (extra fans...some will go waterblock), now, by choosing HD5870, no more extra $$$ put in cooling.

So for $425 PMed I get a lifetime warrantied HD5870 that is closer to a GTX480 than a GTX470...with a mild OC, the gap will be closed...
Hopefully Team RED doesn't dissapoint...(LOL I still took EXPRESS RMA 30 days...just in case...LOL can't be too cautious).


Yeah you shouldn't have a problem hitting 900-935MHz core and 1250-1280MHz memory depending on your card :ph34r:. I have my card adjusted to those speeds in catalyst overdrive, and its rock solid stable furmark and all. Assuming you have good airflow in your case you'll be all good.
 

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