5870 or GTX 480?

[rpaulg87]

Just figured I'd ask this and get everyone's opinion before my "return" period is up.

Currently I am running a Sapphire Vapor-X 5870 2GB, which costed me 509$ @ Newegg.com

For that price, I knew that I could get a GTX 480, but was worried about the heat and fan noise (fan noise can REALLY get to me)

Did I make the right decision, or is the 480's fan noise fine to deal with, and the extra performance worth it? Same price...so please speak your peace.

 

[shadow187]

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire__hd5870_toxic_2gb/6.htm

The Sapphire 5870 competes with the GTX480 decently, especially if you get it to 980/1290 core/mem.

The Vapor-X cooling solution is a proven technology that Sapphire has used as a point of difference for their Vapor-X and factory overclocked models. This cooling solution works. When leaving the fan speed on auto with the card at stock settings, the fan profile kept the card at a cool 69° C under load with the fan speed at only 47%. When you push the fan speed slider up to 100% while overclocking, you get a 16° drop from the stock 69° C down to 53° C. The only problem with the 100% fan speed setting is that the fan does get a bit loud at this level. Around the 75% range you get a great mix of cooling and low noise.

with the 480 you would definitely hear some noise, but you wouldn't get too much of a performance increase at all.

 

[rpaulg87]

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire__hd5870_toxic_2gb/6.htm

The Sapphire 5870 competes with the GTX480 decently, especially if you get it to 980/1290 core/mem.

The Vapor-X cooling solution is a proven technology that Sapphire has used as a point of difference for their Vapor-X and factory overclocked models. This cooling solution works. When leaving the fan speed on auto with the card at stock settings, the fan profile kept the card at a cool 69° C under load with the fan speed at only 47%. When you push the fan speed slider up to 100% while overclocking, you get a 16° drop from the stock 69° C down to 53° C. The only problem with the 100% fan speed setting is that the fan does get a bit loud at this level. Around the 75% range you get a great mix of cooling and low noise.

with the 480 you would definitely hear some noise, but you wouldn't get too much of a performance increase at all.

Hm..the benchmarks I was looking at seemed that generally the 480 had 15-30fps more than the 5870 on AVP, Far Cry, L4D, BC2, etc, that's why I'm just making sure that I'm getting the best bang for my buck, so good to know, I thought the 480 was around 20% better..

 

[rpaulg87]

Just figured I'd ask this and get everyone's opinion before my "return" period is up.

Currently I am running a Sapphire Vapor-X 5870 2GB, which costed me 509$ @ Newegg.com

For that price, I knew that I could get a GTX 480, but was worried about the heat and fan noise (fan noise can REALLY get to me)

Did I make the right decision, or is the 480's fan noise fine to deal with, and the extra performance worth it? Same price...so please speak your peace.

 

[rpaulg87]

Can a admin delete this? I'd rather this be in the main graphics card section so I get Nvidia\ATI fans both speaking

 

[juicycrapachino]

Hope this helps:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-geforce-ati-radeon,9819.html

 

[Lmeow]

Apparently the fan noise of GTX 480 is quite annoying, like a whirring sound. This is probably only at higher temperatures, to keep the GPU cool. The GTX 480 is on average 20% faster, I'd pay for the quietness/Vapor-X cooler.

 

[juicycrapachino]

Actually, the GTX 480 draws more power and gets way hotter than the 5870 but taking into consideration of overclocking the 480 gets twice the performance of a 5870. But this is a 5870 that is not overclocked and can easily be clocked higher and probably outperform the 480. Although with 2GB of DDR5 I think the 5870 was the way to go here... the small amount of performance isn't worth going through the trouble for, they both are compaired close together. Hope that helps!

 

[shadow187]

You can see it either way, don't worry rpaul.

The time when you get more frames from the 480 vs 5870 in this situation is when you're already at 80FPS or above, in which framecount is unnecessary. At 1920x1080 resolutions and above with more demanding games, the sapphire will tie, be very close, or win. Did you click on the link I provided?

Like I said, if you can OC the Toxic, you'll get performance just about a GTX480, whilst remaining cooler and quieter. A GTX480 will run louder than the Toxic by far, and only offer a minimal increase.

*To anyone
I stress noise because OP had a specific mention of it. Don't bash me for bashing it.

 

[jerreece]

*To anyone
I stress noise because OP had a specific mention of it. Don't bash me for bashing it.

Thankfully I read the OP's post, so I won't be bashing anyone.

The GTX 480 from all the benchmarks I've seen is generally faster than the ATi 5870. Let's also keep in mind, the GTX 480 is operating with 1st generation drivers. So I'd imagine there's some room to grow as they mature. The noise and heat issue however, is going to be there until aftermarket coolers start appearing on the GTX 480.

As for the ATI 5870, it's definitely no slouch. Performance wise it's a great card. The Sapphire Vapor-X card you purchased has not only a better cooler on it, but is a 2GB card (where as 1GB is normal). So you spent more on it. Me, I'm cheap so I'd have bought this:

Gigabyte ATI 5870 1GB @ $399
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125316&cm_re=ati_5870-_-14-125-316-_-Product

At high resolutions (if you're higher than 1920x1080) is where the performance differences can often diminish from what I've seen.

Personally though, if I was spending $509 I'd go for the gusto and get the absolute fastest. The GTX 480 would have been my pick personally at that price point. But that point can certainly be contested as you start figuring OC'ing on the 5870, and the 2GB memory advantage. *Shrugs* Still, I'm not one to rely on "it's as fast if you OC it". I don't like OC'ing video cards as I've never had very good luck getting cards that OC well.

 

[rpaulg87]

Thankfully I read the OP's post, so I won't be bashing anyone.

The GTX 480 from all the benchmarks I've seen is generally faster than the ATi 5870. Let's also keep in mind, the GTX 480 is operating with 1st generation drivers. So I'd imagine there's some room to grow as they mature. The noise and heat issue however, is going to be there until aftermarket coolers start appearing on the GTX 480.

As for the ATI 5870, it's definitely no slouch. Performance wise it's a great card. The Sapphire Vapor-X card you purchased has not only a better cooler on it, but is a 2GB card (where as 1GB is normal). So you spent more on it. Me, I'm cheap so I'd have bought this:

Gigabyte ATI 5870 1GB @ $399
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125316&cm_re=ati_5870-_-14-125-316-_-Product

At high resolutions (if you're higher than 1920x1080) is where the performance differences can often diminish from what I've seen.

Personally though, if I was spending $509 I'd go for the gusto and get the absolute fastest. The GTX 480 would have been my pick personally at that price point. But that point can certainly be contested as you start figuring OC'ing on the 5870, and the 2GB memory advantage. *Shrugs* Still, I'm not one to rely on "it's as fast if you OC it". I don't like OC'ing video cards as I've never had very good luck getting cards that OC well.

Ironically that was the first 5870 that I had, and it crashed on me in every game. Now I have the Sapphire one, and voila...it's starting to grey line crash too....I think I may be done with ATI, getitng tired of swapping out 400-500$ friggin' video cards.

 

[Lmeow]

Actually, the GTX 480 draws more power and gets way hotter than the 5870 but taking into consideration of overclocking the 480 gets twice the performance of a 5870. But this is a 5870 that is not overclocked and can easily be clocked higher and probably outperform the 480. Although with 2GB of DDR5 I think the 5870 was the way to go here... the small amount of performance isn't worth going through the trouble for, they both are compaired close together. Hope that helps!

I very much doubt that the GTX 480 is twice as fast as the HD 5870. The HD 5970, pretty much two HD 5870s at HD 5850 speeds beats the GTX 480 more often than not.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This next topics has been merged by Mousemonkey
■ So, 5870 or GTX 480?

 

[Petey1013]

Id grab the 480 if I were you. The noise is not bad at all. I know a lot of the 480 guys just make simple custom fan profiles to keep the fan up a bit earlier to cool off the card. I've never ocne heard my 470, and thats after hours of lots of gaming.

 

[notty22]

I don't believe in people test driving expensive electronics , its costs us all in the end.
You picked the card you have for a reason ?

 

[rpaulg87]

I don't believe in people test driving expensive electronics , its costs us all in the end.
You picked the card you have for a reason ?

I picked it because I'm a fan of ATI and loved the 4870. However, when you get two cards that crash like crazy, you start to think about the competition and maybe buying their product instead. When your given a product that has to have massive "consumer testing" to find out crap like this, you'll bound to have "people test driving expensive electronics"

 

[foxmulder13]

You made the correct and best choice in getting the 5870 ! the 480 gives only slightly better #s and with heat and power it uses ...480 gonna fail quikly! Vapor X is sweet !

 

[jon209]

Since I actually owned the Sapphire HD 5870 (vapor-x 1gb) and now have the EVGA GTX 480 I can chime in on a couple things. I had store credit at a local electronics store so I jumped at the opportunity to grab a 480.

1) The fan noise with the GTX 480 is not as bad as people make it out to be. When idle, it is EXACTLY the same as my 5870 was; I can hear my coolermaster V8 over the GPU fan. When gaming, yes the GTX 480 fan is audible but it is far from disturbing. If you put the fan at 85% or higher it gets noisier than the 5870 did, but it doesn't bother me. There is no odd whirring sound, at least with my card.

2) Heat. Again not an issue for me. My case has a large side intake fan right next to the GPU. Also depending on the brand of GTX 480 you go with, you can manually control the fan to operate at a higher speed. And my GTX 480 has a lifetime warranty, so if it dies not an issue it will be replaced, be smart about which manufacturer you buy from.

3) Energy consumption. Honestly those who are worried about saving some change on the monthly energy bill, buying a high-end graphics card should not be among your priorities, but to each his own.

Both the HD 5870 and GTX 480 are beasts. I did have the gray screen issue with the first 5870 I bought, second one was fine. Overall I am liking my GTX 480 experience and am happy with my decision. Have fun with whatever you decide rpaulg87.

 

[rpaulg87]

So...is there anyway to unlock my Vapor-X 5870 so I can overclock it past 900mhz?

 

[shadow187]

You could flash the BIOS, but it's a tricky process and a large gamble. Though I suppose that you could bake the card afterwords, saying that it overheated.

 

[alikhanindia]

very simple 5870 is way better than 480
480 cools beyond 90 c and that heat u can feel 1 foot away from your case

 

[rpaulg87]

Ugh, I found a easy way past the CCC 900mhz limit on core, MSI Afterburner then change settings to unoffical oc = 1, HOWEVER. This disables any down throttleing\power saving and makes the card run at 100% constantly... on a good note my card runs fine at 950\1000, but I'm not going to bother with it at that since it'll always eat up so much juice.

 

[AMW1011]

very simple 5870 is way better than 480
480 cools beyond 90 c and that heat u can feel 1 foot away from your case

That is complete B.S.

If you turned the fan to 100% you might feel warm air blowing on you from a foot away, but the GPU won't make any noticeable heat output at those temps, my dual 8800 GTS 512mbs at ~80c and a i5 750 @ 4.0GHz 1.4v don't make a noticeable difference in temperature and I've worked in my computer at the same time. All I feel is the cool air from the fans.

 

[AMW1011]

I'll give the OP facts, and not opinions and bias.

Here is a review of the GTX 470 and 480 with the new drivers:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-gf-gtx400_17.html#sect0

The GTX 480 is 20-30% faster in that review. It also has another ~20% performance lead when heavy tessellation is used in future titles. The GTX 480 overclocks as well if not better than the 5870, with many GTX 480s hitting 900MHz with voltage increase, and gains a lot more per clock. All this for a 25% price increase over the cheapest 5870.

The GTX 480 also consumes about 90w more power, which translates to about an extra $20-$40 a year depending on what you pay per kw/h. IT also runs hot. How hot? Well a bit hotter than a 5870, but not much hotter than an 8 series nVidia or 4 series ATI. The fan will need to be set pretty high to facilitate overclocking, like any card, but the fan isn't as loud as everyone makes it out to be. It slightly louder than the 5870's fan, but is reported by many to be a lower hum making it no worse to the ear, according to some sources.

I suggest that you look up the sound difference on youtube, make sure that the card is in a close case like it would be in a real world setting. Worse comes to worse, you can always buy $20 worth of sound dampening material and pad your case to offset it a bit.

You need to take this information and make your own opinions, don't listen to those above me who just want to post their opinions as facts.

 

[rpaulg87]

I'll give the OP facts, and not opinions and bias.

Here is a review of the GTX 470 and 480 with the new drivers:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-gf-gtx400_17.html#sect0

The GTX 480 is 20-30% faster in that review. It also has another ~20% performance lead when heavy tessellation is used in future titles. The GTX 480 overclocks as well if not better than the 5870, with many GTX 480s hitting 900MHz with voltage increase, and gains a lot more per clock. All this for a 25% price increase over the cheapest 5870.

The GTX 480 also consumes about 90w more power, which translates to about an extra $20-$40 a year depending on what you pay per kw/h. IT also runs hot. How hot? Well a bit hotter than a 5870, but not much hotter than an 8 series nVidia or 4 series ATI. The fan will need to be set pretty high to facilitate overclocking, like any card, but the fan isn't as loud as everyone makes it out to be. It slightly louder than the 5870's fan, but is reported by many to be a lower hum making it no worse to the ear, according to some sources.

I suggest that you look up the sound difference on youtube, make sure that the card is in a close case like it would be in a real world setting. Worse comes to worse, you can always buy $20 worth of sound dampening material and pad your case to offset it a bit.

You need to take this information and make your own opinions, don't listen to those above me who just want to post their opinions as facts.

Realistically...is that true? 20-30%? If so, why in the heck would these 5870's be selling for 500$ and up now and SELLING out if the GTX 480 which is only 500$ offers 20-30% better over-all performance? if that IS true then I'll return my 5870 2gb in a heart-beat, but most of these seem to be done against a 1gb 5870 which @ 1920x1200+ seems to fall behind because of the higher memory bandwidth of the 480, so I figured having an additional 1gb of memory would help curb that achilles heel.

I seem to be locked at a max of 900mhz core...so I can't hit the 950\1000 that puts me right up against the 480....what do you think is a better option?

Also, is the fan as loud as the STOCK reference cooler on the 4870\5870? If so, there's no way I'm getting a 480, that was WAY to loud sounded like a jet when in game -.-. Also that article seems a like...weird they do the benchmarks very strange...not even sure how that's accurate, and they fail numerous times to even say the correct card names..I.E. the GTX 470 is now called the GTX 479 etc, I dunno but spelling on professional reviews like that can bother me lol