Which card is the better buy?

[Beitzel15]

Going to be building a new rig soon and am in question about what video card I want to go with.

ATI or Nvidia

EVGA GTX 480
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130551

or

Asus 5870

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121382&cm_re=asus_5870-_-14-121-382-_-Product

Thanks

 

[jaguarskx]

The GTX 480 will give you better performance, but it also consumes more power than the HD 5870.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-gf-gtx400_6.html#sect0

 

[jerreece]

Today's age old question. 5870 or GTX 480.

Specifically with the two cards you are comparing, I'd probably pick the GTX 480 simply because it should perform better. Now, if you were comparing a normally priced 1GB ATI 5870 vs the GTX 480, I might suggest the 5870 because it's performance is fairly close, yet quite a bit less money.

 

[redechelon]

Like others are saying... This question can't be answered easily.

In the end, it's all about your preference, you just need to learn which card is right for you.

EDIT: Personally, I would just buy a reference card, not one thats overclocked or has extra memory. You really don't see much of a performance gain with more memory... depends on what resolution youre playing at. And you can OC on your own.

 

[Beitzel15]

Is the GTX going to run hot?

Im a big Nvidia fan, I run a GTX 285 now and love it, but it runs 40's idle and around 65c under load.... and my brother has a gts 250 1gb and his runs a little warm too... But my dad went with a ATi 5770 1gb and it runs a lot cooler than both of our cards....

 

[redechelon]

Yes they are notoriously hot. That doesn't mean they can't handle the heat. If you have good airflow, you'd be fine unless you're really worried about it.

65 load is nice for a video card... even when I had 2 5770's, I would OC them til 80C. GTX 480's are supposed to be "fine" until 105C.

Overclocked a bit, Mine idle at 40 and go up to 83C on load. But that's with the fan running up to 100%. So yes, they're loud too... in my case, just to keep the temps down. That's what headphones are for =]

 

[Beitzel15]

I watched a video comparing the 5870 and 480 and they were very close in FPS's.... they both would gain around 5fps from time to time on the other card but overall, were the same.

If I went with ATI, would not having "physx" cause a difference in games?

The ATI card just looks good to me and Im usually a die hard nvidia guy. It's slightly cheaper and has 2gb memory, 3x the stream proc.

 

[Misko195]

Is the GTX going to run hot?

Im a big Nvidia fan, I run a GTX 285 now and love it, but it runs 40's idle and around 65c under load.... and my brother has a gts 250 1gb and his runs a little warm too... But my dad went with a ATi 5770 1gb and it runs a lot cooler than both of our cards....

You have good temp men, i have 5770 and my temp is:
idle - 31C
load: - 69C

 

[jerreece]

beitzel15,

Unless you absolutely have to have PhysX, I'd disregard it. Only a few games actually support PhysX anyhow. And it's definitely not a make or break kind of deal (in my opinion). PhysX is best used with two or more video cards anyhow.

With new DX11 stuff coming out in new titles, and games now having destroyable surroundings and stuff, PhysX could show more support. But it's still nVidia only. So programmers don't have a super large reason to do it.

With performance showing as being very close, and the ATI 5870 being cheaper, that's how I'd lean in your situation. PhysX has never been a deciding factor for me.

 

[jerreece]

If you have a small case with terrible airflow it's going to run hot. If you have an Antec 900 or 1200 it's going to max out in the low to mid 80C's

I also don't consider 13fps "Close"

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/nvidiageforcegtx480launch_032610115215/22171.png

Don't quote a single image to prove a point.

Obviously the GTX 480 is the better card for performance. And the difference in FPS varies depending on game, settings, and resolution.

But posting a single graph that shows performance in one game, at one setting, at one resolution... is akin to quoting a single sentence from the Bible and saying it proves your point. It's not the right way to do it, nor is it complete or even correct most of the time.

Note that I stated to the OP earlier, that really what should be compared is the 1GB ATI 5870 and the GTX 480. Not the specialized 2GB overpriced ATI 5870 he/she was comparing. So there should be a much broader price difference between the two, which in my mind gives the ATI 5870 more of an edge.

 

[jerreece]

Just to prove my point:

Look the ATI 5870 IS FASTER! OMG

One could even simply argue this graph proves they are basically equal. So you get my drift. Obviously I concede the GTX 480 is the fasest card. But don't just cherry pick one graph that shows the GTX 480 is a ton faster than the ATI 5870 in one particular settings as proof positive it's the best way to go.

And yes, I had to spend a couple minutes to even find this graph to prove my point. But that's what fanbois will do. So that's my whole point.

 

[notty22]

Hot Deals over at Hocp features specials from Tiger Direct +newegg reps regularly.
Right now they are offering that superclocked evga gtx 480 with a 50.00 off coupon.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=6075295&SRCCODE=HARDOCPJS&cm_mmc_o=dRqJ4CjCZ-qKR2VCjC2zfGpjnoCjCHvSDCiSon
EVGA GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) SuperClocked Video Card - 1536MB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, Dual DVI, HDMI, SLI, DirectX 11
$50 Coupon Code WSD2596 + Free Shipping
Coupon expires on 6/10
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1524460

They are both great cards, The 480 would be my choice. I believe in 3d,physX future, expanding.

 

[jerreece]

Hot Deals over at Hocp features specials from Tiger Direct +newegg reps regularly.
Right now they are offering that superclocked evga gtx 480 with a 50.00 off coupon.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=6075295&SRCCODE=HARDOCPJS&cm_mmc_o=dRqJ4CjCZ-qKR2VCjC2zfGpjnoCjCHvSDCiSon
EVGA GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) SuperClocked Video Card - 1536MB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, Dual DVI, HDMI, SLI, DirectX 11
$50 Coupon Code WSD2596 + Free Shipping
Coupon expires on 6/10
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1524460

They are both great cards, The 480 would be my choice. I believe in 3d,physX future, expanding.

That's a good deal. TigerDirect has that card $20 off right now. Then you ad Coupon Code WSD2596 and it takes another $50 off. Total price is $479.99 + Free Shipping. For utlimate performance, this would be the way to go.