How long will the 5870 be good for?

[soknar]

I plan on using 2 in the future. Also, do i need an 850w psu or is 650 good enough?

 

[Maziar]

2 HD 5870s would perform better than a HD 5970 which is currently the fastest card,even 1 HD 5870 performs very well at resolutions like 1920x1200.
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5870/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5870-system-requirements.aspx
"500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)"
So a 650 can 2 HD 5870s

 

[soknar]

Well I was told that I had a mid-sized case that was a bit larger than others. I'm a bit iffy on spending money on an ATI 5770 because it seems to be limited and would require another card in the future. However, I want to max out the settings for WoW on 1920x1080. I've also read that the ati 5870 has numerous problems from customers on newegg. It's so confusing...

 

[soknar]

I'm scared of buying an XFX product after reading reviews on it.

 

[Maziar]

A HD 5770 can handle WoW @ max on 1920x1080 without any problems

 

[soknar]

It seems that Sapphire makes the more reliable ATI 5870, but is it overkill to buy one if I do want to play first person shooters on it? I love games like CoD, Rainbow 6, Left 4 Dead, etc...

 

[maximiza]

6 months in my opinion, I got an XFX and it runs fine so far. Less heat then 7800GTX sli

 

[soknar]

CPU: 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8300
Memory: 6GB DDR3 1066MHz
HDD: 750GB, 7,200 rpm
OS: Win Vista 64-bit

This is what my desktop currently has. Is it good enough to handle a single 5870 or even 2 of them?

 

[Maziar]

What's your PSU ?
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5870/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5870-system-requirements.aspx
"500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)"

 

[soknar]

Well it's definitely below 500w, but I was planning on buying a PSU with a new graphic card.

 

[soknar]

What's your PSU ?
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5870/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5870-system-requirements.aspx
"500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)"

Can it just be a 650W PSU if you did want to crossfire the 5870?

 

[hallowed_dragon]

Can it just be a 650W PSU if you did want to crossfire the 5870?

That would be stretching it. Be on the safe side and go with at least 700W.

 

[soknar]

That would be stretching it. Be on the safe side and go with at least 700W.

what is AA? World of Warcraft seems to use 8x AA. It's pushing me towards getting the 5870 over the 5770. I hear that the 5770 has bandwith issues, but i'm not sure if it's related to anti-aliasing anyways. Could you explain to me what it is and how taxing it would be on the 5770? I read a review that a guy could play WoW on 2560x1600 with 8xAA at 52 fps.

I'll get the 700W then.

 

[hallowed_dragon]

what is AA? World of Warcraft seems to use 8x AA. It's pushing me towards getting the 5870 over the 5770. I hear that the 5770 has bandwith issues, but i'm not sure if it's related to anti-aliasing anyways. Could you explain to me what it is and how taxing it would be on the 5770? I read a review that a guy could play WoW on 2560x1600 with 8xAA at 52 fps.

I'll get the 700W then.

If you plan to play WOW mostly then the 5870 is a massive overkill. Get the 5850 (like me- I am a WOW player also and will buy it and a 26" monitor) and a good 500+ W PSU and be done with it. Keep the rest of the money and get your girlfriend/boyfriend something nice for Valentines.

PS. AA is a method of smoothing the edges in images. More AA, more smooth the image is. The 5850 will handle AA beautifully in WOW and other games (except Crysis of course)

 

[soknar]

If you plan to play WOW mostly then the 5870 is a massive overkill. Get the 5850 (like me- I am a WOW player also and will buy it and a 26" monitor) and a good 500+ W PSU and be done with it. Keep the rest of the money and get your girlfriend/boyfriend something nice for Valentines.

PS. AA is a method of smoothing the edges in images. More AA, more smooth the image is. The 5850 will handle AA beautifully in WOW and other games (except Crysis of course)

lol... Yeah. It's driving me crazy, but I only planned on getting just a single card. I actually bought and cancelled the order for a 5770 because it seems to have issues with other games. Also, the 5850 seems to outperform anything close to the performance of a 5770 by a good bit.

 

[hallowed_dragon]

lol... Yeah. It's driving me crazy, but I only planned on getting just a single card. I actually bought and cancelled the order for a 5770 because it seems to have issues with other games. Also, the 5850 seems to outperform anything close to the performance of a 5770 by a good bit.

Yap. The 5850 is a good card which will give you good performance for some time. I say go for it, and in 1 year if you want more go for what is best at that moment. Don't ever plan to keep a GPU for more than 2 years, because you will get disappointed fast of its performance, no matter which GPU it is.

 

[soknar]

Oh I also like playing on max resolution, which is 1920x1080 for my 24 inch monitor.

 

[soknar]

Yap. The 5850 is a good card which will give you good performance for some time. I say go for it, and in 1 year if you want more go for what is best at that moment. Don't ever plan to keep a GPU for more than 2 years, because you will get disappointed fast of its performance, no matter which GPU it is.

What if I'm sticking just to WoW or similar MMOs that don't require graphics to be like Crysis? Wouldn't these cards be good for as long as these games are around?

 

[hallowed_dragon]

What if I'm sticking just to WoW or similar MMOs that don't require graphics to be like Crysis? Wouldn't these cards be good for as long as these games are around?

If you will stick to those type of games the 5850 will last you more.

 

[soknar]

If you will stick to those type of games the 5850 will last you more.

i'm anxious for starcraft 2 and diablo 3. Do you think that the 5850 can handle starcraft 2 at higher settings?

 

[hallowed_dragon]

i'm anxious for starcraft 2 and diablo 3. Do you think that the 5850 can handle starcraft 2 at higher settings?

Blizzard is known for its not so graphic intensive games. They make games so that ALL could play them almost regardless of systems. I don't think Starcraft2 or Diablo3 will be any different. The 5850 will handle them perfectly.