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Help choose: gtx 470 or 5870? Which for me.

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Okay, so I'm building my first PC and and am trying to figure out which video card to go with. I am stuck between a gtx 470 that I will eventually sli or a 5870 that will eventually go in crossfire. Right now I have one monitor, but am planning to add another eventually as well.

The rig as planned is as follows.

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case 
CPU: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950 
Fan: Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
Motherboard: EVGA X58 FTW3 132-GT-E768-KR LGA 1366 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard 
Memory: 6 gigs of ram (maybe 4 gigs still deciding)
Video Card:
Power Supply: COOLER MASTER Silent Pro RSA00-AMBAJ3-US 1000W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active ... 
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Optical Drive: ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

This totals out at roughly $1100, which leaves me $400 for video card, plenty for either version. So any advice will be great.

More about : choose gtx 470 5870

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Graphics card Authority

the 5870 is a bit faster and a bit more expensive. But it's cooler, more silent and has a lower power consumption so I'd say go for it.

Or go for two GTX460 in SLI.

You don't need 1000W and Cooler Master are not so great. A 750W Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, XFX will do even for two 5870 CF.

The CPU is quite overkill for gaming, you can get a cheaper one. The same for the mobo.


Not to get to off topic, but what PSU would you recommend? Also, I've heard that SLI is better than crossfire, is that true or am I misunderstanding something? (I read the FAQ so I understand a little bit)
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Graphics card Authority

SLI. But a single powerful card "scales" better than two less powerful cards working together. And IMO by the time a single powerful card will need XF or SLI to run the games it will be already obsolete so you'll have to buy another one. Think like having a GTX 275 right now, no use in buying another DX10 card, better sell it and buy something new.
Graphics card Master

mosox said:
SLI. But a single powerful card "scales" better than two less powerful cards working together. And IMO by the time a single powerful card will need XF or SLI to run the games it will be already obsolete so you'll have to buy another one. Think like having a GTX 275 right now, no use in buying another DX10 card, better sell it and buy something new.

Which is why two 8800GT's worked out faster and cheaper than a single GTX280 and two GTX460's are faster and cheaper than a single GTX480 I suppose?
Graphics card Authority

Doing SLI/CF right away with weaker cards is something else (I recommended a HD 5870 or two 460) but I still would go single card and make an economy (on the mobo/PSU too).

Which one is better doesn't matter that much, both will be obsolete around the same time give or take a few months maybe. Just like having to choose between two GTS 250 as opposed to a GTX 275 some time ago. Who cares anymore which is better? They're obsolete. And the guy with the 275 didn't lose anything, on the contrary he got away cheaper.
Graphics card Master

mosox said:
Doing SLI/CF right away with weaker cards is something else (I recommended a HD 5870 or two 460) but I still would go single card and make an economy (on the mobo/PSU too).

Which one is better doesn't matter that much, both will be obsolete around the same time give or take a few months maybe. Just like having to choose between two GTS 250 as opposed to a GTX 275 some time ago. Who cares anymore which is better? They're obsolete. And the guy with the 275 didn't lose anything, on the contrary he got away cheaper.

And my two 8800GT's which when I bought them both at the same time cost less than a single GTX280 are still viable and as such sink your theory as far as I'm concerned.
Graphics card Authority

Yep but two 460 are more expensive than a 5870 now.

I bought my share of too powerful too expensive video cards only to find out that they're still good but already obsolete and I want the new technology, less power consumption, the new DX, less heat, etc.

HD 3870 when the 4 series was around the corner, a 3850 would have been good enough. For the Nvidia 2 series a GTX 260/GTX 260OC would have been perfect. Just good enough to keep me till the ATI 5 series but no, I wanted the "better"video card. So, sell the "still good" 275 on a big loss to get the new stuff.

No more of that for me. Just what I need right now, nothing more. A HD 5850 (I have the Toxic hooked to the TV and a 5750 in this PC I'm writing on) or a GTX 260 - no SLI no Crossfire no nothing - the ATI 6 series is only weeks away.

So IMO by the time a 5870 or even a 460/5850 will be unable to run the games even the 5970/480 will be obsolete. ATI 7 series, Nvidia 5 series, DX12, pixel shader 6.0, PCIe 3.0, GPGPU and whatnot. The things are changing way too fast in this business.
Graphics card Master

Get the GTX 470. Cheaper, SLI scales better and if you are going to OC then the difference between the performance of the cards is negligible.
2 GTX 460s from the start may be the best way to go however. They are on par with an HD5970.

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Graphics card Master

Just be aware of the draw backs of having SLI/CF. It's often overlooked.
Not all games scale well with SLI/CF (most do).
Some games do not even use SLI/CF (most do).
SLI/CF setups do run hotter and noisier, which can be anoying.
A fair amount of games have minor glitches while in SLI/CF mode that aren't present with a single card.
I'm not sure with SLI, but CF does not work in windowed mode, which I find is a pain when playing games like WoW.
SLI/CF motherboards are more expensive.

Now I'm not saying SLI'ed 460's aren't good, but just be aware that it is not simply a matter of benchmark performance. There are other factors involved.
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