ATI/Nvidia upgrade options

[calranthe]

Hi all,
Building my new games pc in march
My current is thus
Q6600 (OC'd 3.8ghz liquid cooled)
4gb ddr2 800
DFI X38 TR mb
Nvidia GTX 260
CL X-fi pci express
1tb Samsung f1 sata
Vista home premium 64

The above is going to my wife and i'm building a new one for myself
Intel I5 750 (due to its amazing overclock potential)
Corsair DDR3 8gb
Samsung 1.5 tb drive
CL Titanium sound card
Gigabyte p55 motherboard
Windows 7 home premium 64
Benq 24" LED monitor
Now in the past I had nightmares with ATI cards not there speed but stability after the 3870x2 problems I went over to the Nvidia 260 and its delt with everything I've thrown at it.

My card choices as I see it are
A)wait for Nvidia to release the new card
B)go with a nvidia 275 or 285 not ideal even though happy because no Dx11 etc
C)go for an ATI 5870 have seen people having issues with it and I actually enjoy the additions of phys X

So advice needed please.

 

[jyjjy]

I guess wait for a Fermi card if you have a strong aversion to ATI. But don't be too surprised if you end up both waiting longer than you think and paying more than you expect.
Personally I would just get an HD5850, bump up the voltage and OC the hell out of it.

 

[calranthe]

Do you think the Fermi could be a long while ?

Ideally i'd like to hear some discussion/opnions for and against ATI/Nvidia

Do I really loose out if I loose phys X is there anyway to pair up a nvidia for use as phys x and an ATI as the primary graphics.

Or does ATI have anything equivalent.

 

[andy5174]

Go with the HD5850 if Fermi/HD5830 is not released in another month or Fermi/HD5830 is a disappointment.

This is what I am going to do.

 

[Rustyy117]

very few games use a decent amount of physX, I can think of 2, mirror's edge and batman AA.

It would be (for lack of a better word) stupid for you to buy a GTX285 when you could buy a HD5850 for less, The 5850 performs better, uses less power, outputs less heat, is DX11 compatible, 40NM, eyefinity ........ VS nVidia's physX

 

[jibbermitch]

Yes, you can run an ATI as your main card and an Nvidia card for physX with a hack. Don't think ATI currently have an equilavent of physX in the market at the moment.
There are pro's and cons for both manufactures and both are equally good and not so good in various areas. If this is for gaming, your best bet is to look at some benchmarks for the games you play and see which gives you what you are looking for at the price point you wish to buy at.

 

[andy5174]

Yes, you can run an ATI as your main card and an Nvidia card for physX with a hack. Don't think ATI currently have an equilavent of physX in the market at the moment.
There are pro's and cons for both manufactures and both are equally good and not so good in various areas. If this is for gaming, your best bet is to look at some benchmarks for the games you play and see which gives you what you are looking for at the price point you wish to buy at.

Strongly agree!

 

[magneezo]

I've been enjoying the GTS 250 alot.
Here's a video I made of Niko slowing down traffic and running into things
I've read Phys-x doesn't work in GTA4 but check out the close up of the car after it gets whacked by an exploding burger cart
[flash=560,340]http://www.youtube.com/v/RAEOHv9jVJQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/flash]

 

[Rustyy117]

placebo effect

 

[Mousemonkey]

I don't think GTA4 is a PhysX supported title.

 

[calranthe]

Interesting info, I play games lots of games from L4d1/2 fallout 3, startrek online, Mass effect 2, bioshock 2 and stalker call of prypriat lol.

I am retired and both me and wife are avid gamers so i'd say we spend 12-18 hours average a day on the pc's.

What I need is a card that won't die can handle every game out there and what will come atleast the rest of this year and into the next.

Budget is around £350 max

 

[Rustyy117]

calranthe you needed to start your own thread.

My advice to you would be to wait a few months for nVdia to release their new cards. If you simply can not wait then a HD5870 from ATi will serve you well.

 

[calranthe]

This is my thread

 

[jyjjy]

Call of Pripyat is DX11 so if you want to play it at it's best grab an HD5000 card.
You can always wait for something better but if there is a good card at a good price available now then why bother?
As for physx it has been around for years and there are approximately 2-3 titles where it makes a worthwhile difference. If Nvidia had made it an open standard perhaps it would be more highly adopted but most developers ignore it as a good chunk of the market simply can't use it.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Don't worry about PhysX, regardless of what graphics card you chose for graphics it would be a good idea to get a cheap GTS240-250 as a dedicated graphics card for PhysX if you would like to play PhysX titles, since even a GTX280 will be slowed down by enabling PhysX features without a stand-alone card.

Look at the games/test at the resolutions you play at and then buy the best graphics card for those games, then get the separate card for physX if a title is so good it warrant it in your opinion.

 

[calranthe]

Okay so lets forget phys X.
My GTX 260 handles everything fine today but current monitor is 1680*1050 and my new one will be 1920*1200 or something close to that.

So lets say in march the fermi still isn't out and if it does come out there will be all the normal issues of a day 1 card.

So my only real option is a 5850 or 5870 I would dearly love to hear from people who at this moment have these cards and how well they work not just speed but stability of your computer system and noise.

See this will be going into a liquid cooled setup which is absolutely quiet at idle (graphics card isn't watercooled but the GTX i've got you don't even hear it at idle and even playing mass effect 2 or star trek online its barely audible.

Now I don't mind if the ATI is a noisey card i'll just buy the waterblock version or fit one myself, is there a make that use ati that is especially quiet and put on really good fans etc.

I just need to know
(my liquid cooling setup I originally designed to have a secondary loop for a graphics card but when I set everything up things were so quiet I didn't see the point)