HD5670 - Which one is best suited for me?

[Meight]

Hi!
Specs are:
OS: Vista
CPU: Pentium E5300 @ 2.60GHz
RAM: 6GB DDR2
MoBo: PEGATRON CORPORATION Benicia (CPU 1) (I dont actually know if it takes PCI 2.0 or 2.1, can check though. I have seen a video on installing a Graphics Card and I do have the PCI Slot, Small PCI express 1 laner, and Long PCI 16 lane, just don't know whether its 2.0 or 2.1 )
Display: 19" Monitor, 1440x900 Native Res.
PSU: 330W

I've got about 5-6 different 5670s to choose from, and what they differ in is the last subject I have to tackle: VRAM and G/DDR. Here are the choices:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102930
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125360
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102871
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150535
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

I'm just stuck on which to get! 512, 1GB, 128-bit, DDR3, DDR5, GDDR, etc. - all confusing me right now. Main purpose for getting a 5670 is for gaming, so whichever one would show the best display, be fastest, etc. for my specs would probably be the one I'd go for. I know there was a thread similar to this about a week ago, but if it isn't minded, I'd like to know which one would be best for my specs. Thank you so very much in advance for any help.

 

[oajlu]

IMO, XFX 5670 1GB DDR5 seems like the the fastest one and it also offers a free dirt 3. However its heatsink looks so small to me, I wonder how efficient it is.

I have 6670 in my pc, and it works perfectly on most games at 1600x1050 resolution in high setting, but I only play "RTS" games on pc. 6670 is only a little faster than 5670, so I think all those cards you listed can handle games well at 1440x900 resolution.

As long as your Motherboard has PCI-E 2.0 slot, you should be fine to use 2.1 support card on it. My botherboard only has 2.0 PCI-E, and it works fine with 6670 which is a PCI-E 2.1 support card.

 

[Meight]

Yeah, a Free Dirt 3 sounds great! But I read somewhere else that XFX ran out of them , don't know if 100% true or not but I'm mostly looking for the lowest price. Dirt 3 doesnt all catch my eye, though at free, it's cool, but if they really did all run out then blah.

Thank you for your reply. I just wanted to know which memory version to get, either DDR5 or DDR3, but I read DDR5 is the way to go as it's much faster than DDR3. And reading around this site, folks have recommended DDR5 over DDR3 a couple times, so I guess nothing different here right? Haha. Also learned that 512MB vs 1GB hardly makes a difference, so that's good.

 

[jaguarskx]

I'm not going to blind click links to find out what cards they lead to.

I'll just tell you to buy the least expensive one since they are all more or less the same. Just make sure you buy the DDR5 RAM. Additionally, there is not much performance difference between having 512MB and 1GB of RAM. At best you might see a difference of 2 frames per second at 1920x1080 and above resolutions; depending on the game. Therefore, if the 512MB version is cheaper, then go for that.

 

[Meight]

Hey Jaguar, thanks for your reply mate. I've actually done a bit of searching around here and found some of your posts in results and they were really helpful.

I definitely know now to get DDR5 over DDR3. Had to do a bit of reading to know the differences.
I've now narrowed it down pretty much to: the Sapphire 512MB w/ DDR5.
There are two that are the same price after shipping AND EXTREMELY similar (these two incase you were wondering, only two now not 6 =P
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102871
)
and the difference I see is that one is " Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity" while the other isn't. I don't have another GPU so I can't crossfire at the moment, and don't need Eyefinity as I'm only going to use 1 monitor.
While I'm at it, what is 128-bit mean in graphics cards? Its a memory bus right? Would 256bit be more for better systems/rigs and not mine?

 

[jaguarskx]

The both support software Crossfire as listed in their specs.

The primary difference is that the SAPPHIRE 100287L Radeon HD 5670 supports EyeFinity because it has a DisplayPort. That means you can hook up three monitors to this card. It will be too weak though to actually to play a game across all three monitors though. It is not powerful enough for that and you would also need 2GB of video RAM as well.

both HD 5670 works out to the same price so I would just go with the SAPPHIRE 100287L, unless you need to use a VGA port. If so then go with the other HD 5670.

 

[Meight]

Okay, thanks. Currently hooked up via VGA, but I've got a DVI cable waiting to be used. Might as well get the one with the DisplayPort. Thanks for your help!

 

[Meight]

Best answer selected by Meight.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey