5850 or gtx 470?

[pandu1986]

Hi guys,

I am making a new computer and I am not sure which video card to go with, either the radeon 5850 or the gtx 470.

I have been reading about each of them and it seems that the radeon has better performance/temps/power/price but what do you guys think of the gtx 470? Does it have more future potential then the 5850, with new driver updates and all that, or will performance stay around the same where its equal to the 5850 or has about 5~10% increase in games?

Basically what do you think I should get between these two cards and why, because I am really on the fence about this and need to pick one or the other and not have buyers remorse about it later.

Thanks for the help and looking forward to hearing from you guys soon!

p.s. The prices i am seeing are basically like 320 ish for the ati radeon 5850, and about like 349 for the gtx 470 (though both are sold out right now at the microcenter that I am looking at)

 

[rolli59]

The HD5850 wins on power consumption but the GTX470 is more powerful but needs a lot of power. Because of that I would go for the HD5850 although it has less power but makes up for it with great overclock ability.

 

[pandu1986]

Could I possibly overclock the 5850 to catch up with the gtx 470? Or even the 5870? (though i dont think it could catch up to the 5870) on just air, no water cooling or no ridiculous amounts of over volting either.

 

[wa1]

I would say HD 5850, this card is just lose on performance but wins on power consumption, less heat and noise...

 

[pandu1986]

The thing is like yeah the 5850 is a better buy value wise, but will I regret it in the long run? Basically will the gtx 470 become better and better as new drivers come out for it? Will tessellations become a major factor in games in the future? ( future = ~2-3 years)

I ask this because after reading the reviews here and at many other sites, the 5850s take more of a performance hit when dx11 and tessellations are on then the gtx 470s.

Like I said, I really dont know which one I should get, I can see the plus for both of them, just wondering if like the 20 extra dollars is worth it or not. If you were in my shoes what would you do and why basically, is the question here.

 

[rolli59]

In 2-3 years down the road we will have gone through at least 1 or 2 generations of GPU's and upgrade time has been round again. I don't think that you would regret getting the HD5850 it is a great card.

 

[AMW1011]

Alright both the GTX 470 and the 5850 overclock very well, so that is a moot point. The GTX 470 is only about 10% faster than the 5850 in general, but it will increase that gap a little with more mature drivers and it spanks even the 5870 wit heavy to moderate tessellation, so it will do DX11 better.

It runs hotter and require more power though, but these are fairly minor concerns as it still doesn't require THAT much power and the heat can be tamed by increasing the fan speed which is oddly low. It will be pretty noisy, but unlike the GTX 480, it is nothing out of the ordinary for a high end card.

All this you get for $50 more. You choose, it really is a matter of what suits you the best.

My suggestion? If you plan to keep this card or SLI it later and keep them for more than 2 years then the GTX 470 is the clear choice, assuming you have a decent power supply. If you plan on upgrading within 2 years then it really depends on how much $50 means to you.

Oh and do mind that there is some odd GTX 4xx series hate on these forums.

 

[soundefx]

To me, it depends on your MB, PSU and wallet.

If you have a SLI MB, get the 470. But if you have a weak PSU, then you might have to upgrade it and the card, which adds to the price total.

If you have a crossfire MB, get the 5850. You can crossfire later on, and if your PSU isn't that strong, it mostly will still be able to run it.

All in all, I don't think that you will be disappointed with any of those cards.

 

[EXT64]

The 470 is a good gaming card. I wouldn't buy it as I have had more than my share of super hot running cards. My problem is that I like to re-purpose cards for other uses in the future. With the 470's high power consumption it would be a pain to use later. That said, for just $10-20 more the 470 is not a bad buy at all.

 

[demonnn]

haha , I asked the same question a few days ago. I went with 5850.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Oh and do mind that there is some odd GTX 4xx series hate on these forums.

What!, no never, not on this forum. [:mousemonkey]

 

[EXT64]

Yep, so much for the hope that when real hard facts came out things would simmer down (note that I said hope, not what I expected to happen).

 

[Mousemonkey]

Yep, so much for the hope that when real hard facts came out things would simmer down (note that I said hope, not what I expected to happen).

Your optimism is inspiring mate, misplaced perhaps but inspiring nonetheless. :lol: