What GPU for 1920x1080?

[josshhh]

Looking for a good GPU for my next build but what GPU ?
i can overclock the gpu if need be and in the budget range of anything up to £150 (consider'd if its abit over)
Hope to play all the latest games and play FPS's with decant frame rates

Any help would be nice thanks
Regards
Josh

 

[17seconds]

You're sitting right about in the sweet spot for a nice custom design, highly overclockable GTX 460, like the Gigabyte Superoverclock (SOC) or MSI Hawk Talon Attack. Perfect for that resolution.

 

[josshhh]

http://www.ballicom.co.uk/video-cards/gigabyte-gv-n460so1gi--graphics-adapter--gf-gtx-460--1-gb.p589627.html

Is that the one ?

 

[jyjjy]

HD6870 for £129
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244474
It's the best you are likely to do for under £150.

 

[josshhh]

HD6870 for £129
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244474
It's the best you are likely to do for under £150.

When you say it like that do you mean that its not going to be very good ?

 

[jyjjy]

No, it should do quite well for 1080p.

 

[17seconds]

http://www.ballicom.co.uk/video-cards/gigabyte-gv-n460so1gi--graphics-adapter--gf-gtx-460--1-gb.p589627.html

Is that the one ?

Oh yeah, that's the one. According to Guru3d, that card was the fastest and also the quietest GTX 460 they tested out of 18 models. It comes with all custom components and a highly effective cooler perfect for overclocking. Don't short change yourself with a ho hum vanilla 6870 with a blower-type fan, when you can get a real nice custom GTX 460 which will be much quieter, overclock much better, come with better drivers, and offer PhysX capabilities to boot.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-460-soc-review/

 

[jyjjy]

You like Nvidia, that's fine but don't act like your opinion is fact. That ho hum card is still faster on average than the GTX 460 even with a steep factory OC like the card you are recommending. That it is at reference means that it should actually OC significantly better than a GTX 460 that is already at 815mhz; the exact opposite of what you are saying. It's notably cheaper as well and AMD cards have their own advantages like MLAA and Eyefinity if you are going to bring up PhysX.

 

[josshhh]

plus ive heard that ATI and AMD go well together as i am using AMD Phenom (955)

is that true or just bullblop ?

 

[jyjjy]

Nah, that doesn't really matter unless your motherboard is crossfire capable and not SLI(quite possible.) In that case stick with ATI/AMD cards if you want the option of adding a second card as an upgrade path in the future.

 

[josshhh]

i am using a mobo with Crossfire abilty for future proof-ness
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-164-MS

 

[jyjjy]

Your board is actually pretty unique with the "Fuzion technology." Technically it should be able to handle any combo of video cards for extra performance though how well it really works I don't know to be honest as I haven't looked into it.

 

[17seconds]

The 6870's are known for having minimal headroom for overclocking, and there's no denying that card will be significantly noisier than the Windforce cooler on the Gigabyte SOC.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/
http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-460-soc-review/

Noise
6870: 41 Db
SOC: 37 Db

Temp
6870: 68c
SOC: 65c

Overclocking
6870: 954/900mhz = +6% (+6% over reference)
SOC: 949/815mhz = +16% (+41% over reference)

Quote:
"As you can see the increased clock did not offer that much extra performance, we see this quite a bit with high-end ATI products."

 

[jyjjy]

The 950mhz OC from that article on the GTX 460 is extremely high. You would have to get quite lucky to match it. The OC on the HD6870 on the other hand was done before they could even bump up the voltage on those cards.
From what I've see in general 900mhz is a reasonable expectation for overclocking a GTX 460 and the HD6870 usually can get over 1ghz.
As for the performance increase here are some numbers for a factory OCed HD6870 at 975mhz;
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6870_PCS_Plus_Plus/23.html
They got extremely good performance scaling from the OC.

 

[17seconds]

The 950mhz OC from that article on the GTX 460 is extremely high. You would have to get quite lucky to match it. The OC on the HD6870 on the other hand was done before they could even bump up the voltage on those cards.
From what I've see in general 900mhz is a reasonable expectation for overclocking a GTX 460 and the HD6870 usually can get over 1ghz.
As for the performance increase here are some numbers for a factory OCed HD6870 at 975mhz;
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6870_PCS_Plus_Plus/23.html
They got extremely good performance scaling from the OC.

I guess the same would be said for that reference XFX card you suggested vs. the custom model shown in the review you are quoting. There is no doubt a Gigabyte SOC with a completely customized PCB, additional power phases, and a custom cooler will be able to overclock much higher than a reference model 460.

What I'm wondering is your take on the image quality hack that artificially pumped up the 6870's benchmark numbers at the expense of image quality. According to Guru3d, Toms Hardware, and others, these hacks accounted for about a 10% increase in the 6870's benchmark performance. Surely that would be enough to account for any performance difference you are perceiving, wouldn't it?
http://www.guru3d.com/article/exploring-ati-image-quality-optimizations/
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-570-gf110-performance,2806-5.html

Not to mention that it really depends on the game being played (chart showing performance vs. reference GTX 460 at 675 mhz. The SOC clocks in at a standard 815 mhz). Subtract 8-10% from those 6870 numbers (image quality hack), and add 10% to the GTX 460 numbers (SOC factory overclock) and I think I'll rest my case:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/radeon-hd6870-hd6850_19.html#sect1

Thank you jyjjy for allowing me this debate. With respect, MattO.

 

[jyjjy]

I guess the same would be said for that reference XFX card you suggested vs. the custom model shown in the review you are quoting. There is no doubt a Gigabyte SOC with a completely customized PCB, additional power phases, and a custom cooler will be able to overclock much higher than a reference model 460.

The numbers I quoted for the HD6870 were for the reference model. They do often get over 1ghz. As for the GTX 460 the best overclocking card is the Hawk supposedly. If I remember despite the advertisements it usually maxed out around 920-930mhz with all the voltages maxed at which point it used an absurd amount of power.
I'll quote the article you linked on what I think about the "hack"

We have a hard time spotting differences as much as you do, and while making the screenshots we increased gamma settings to 50% and applied a resolution of 2560x1600 to try it look more visible.
Do you spot the difference ? Probably not, that is the rule we life by here at Guru3D, if you can not see it without blowing up the image or altering gamma settings and what not, it's not a cheat. And sure, we know .. this game title is not a perfect example, it however is a good real world example.

I'd call it smart to be honest if it's something that can barely be spotted in very high resolution stills with the gamma turned up and but can give a 10% performance increase.
Overall I'd say a nice aftermarket GTX 460 is a good card and if it was the same price as the HD6870 I could see an argument but in US dollars it is $45 more(on the link in this thread at least, I haven't looked to spot it cheaper.)

 

[josshhh]

What about Crossfire or SLI on some lower cards ?

Im looking atm at the 6870 hawk from MSI but its samish price for a crossfire rig with 2 x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-025-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

OR

2 x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-185-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515

 

[jyjjy]

Two HD5670s aren't nearly as good as an HD6870. Two HD5770s are a bit better but they are £51 more expensive which is nowhere near comparable to the performance advantage even ignoring that dual card setups can cause issues and won't always work with every game. It's always best to start with the best single card you can afford IMO and leave crossfire/sli as an upgrade path for the future if you decide you need it.

 

[josshhh]

Hmm ive been looking i could bump it up to a 6950 for the same price as a 6870.. is that better? ive seen on the reviews somone with nearly same setup as me and same screen res hitting 60-120fps on bfbc2