MSI Radeon 6870 VS MSI GTX 560

[Iropan]

Been racking my brain over this for days, i finally got it narrowed down to these 2.

It seems both are very close in performance and cooling, but my question is, the 6870 has no PhysX or CUDA support, doesn't that make the GTX 560 better??

 

[jsrudd]

Are you going to use PhysX or CUDA? If you are then get the Nvidia, if you're not then it doesn't matter. If you don't know if you're going to use PhysX or CUDA then it doesn't matter.

 

[Iropan]

Well it's mostly for gaming, so i figure PhysX is important for that, right?

 

[4745454b]

If you play any of the games that support it then yes. Otherwise no. If you don't play any PhysX games, then just buy the cheaper of the two.

 

[jessterman21]

If you play any of the games that support it then yes. Otherwise no. If you don't play any PhysX games, then just buy the cheaper of the two.

+1

Also, the 560 has a bit more overclocking headroom if you plan on that.

 

[Iropan]

I really do wonder if Phys-X is really worth it. I've heard some people call it a "gimmick". Is Phys-X support really worth considering? How much of an impact can it have on the visuals of a game?

 

[4745454b]

Again, how many of the PhysX enabled games do you play? Not all games support PhysX. Worse, of the ones that do, not all enable it to be ran on the GPU. Finally, even worse, of the games that do enable PhysX to be ran on the GPU, not all make good use of PhysX. There is only a small handfull of games that make good use of PhysX, Batman:AA probably the most famous.

Crysis, BF, CoD, MW, Valve games such as HL and L4D2, etc all don't use PhysX.

 

[17seconds]

The two cards are pretty much even performance-wise, depending on the game. Since the 560 has Physx and the 6870 doesn't, it just makes sense to get the 560 as an added bonus... just in case. The other is that the 560 can overclock like crazy, while the 6870 has very little headroom. When both are overclocked to the max the 560 will win every time.

Some more information about PhysX in Batman: Arkham City down near the middle of this page:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/12/05/batman_arkham_city_gameplay_performance_iq_review/7
"PhysX, on the other hand, makes a big difference in Batman: Arkham City. Its implementation in the open city is limited, but in the Museum, Police Department, Steel Mill, and other mission areas, it's all over the place. Objects on the floor move when they are disturbed. The smelter in the steel mill is belching sparks like there's no tomorrow. Money on the floor of Strange's vault flips and flows around Catwoman's frantic fighting and whipping. Ice crystal shards fly everywhere during combat with Mr. Freeze and when using his ice grenades. It is fair and accurate to say that PhysX has a great deal more to offer in Arkham City than DirectX 11."

 

[4745454b]

The batman games have really shown what PhysX can do. But if you're like me and don't play them, PhysX becomes "meh".

Taking OCing into account I'd get the GTX560. But if you don't OC or don't care about PhysX, I stand by my get the cheaper comment.

 

[Iropan]

I'm also not in awe in Phys-X, but more than the games that presently use it, i'm thinking of the ones that will come, cause it does seem to have potential.

It's a tough call, but i think i'm leaning a wee-bit more towards 560, but it's so close, i'll probably let price settle it

 

[4745454b]

The issue there is that its had "potential" for years now. There are still only around 20 games that can use it. Nvidia has restricted it to their cards only and game devs don't really want to exclude the rest of the market. There is potential there, but as long as Nvidia stays heavy handed, you won't see it take over.

 

[Perfectcell]

If u r playing in resolutions of 1680 x 1050 or lesser than that ... go for 560 ...

If u plan to upgrade to a bigger monitor or hve one , then go for 6870 or something like 6950 (if possible) ... so that u can crossfire it later , since ATI cards work well with higher resolutions generally ..

And in bottomline , Nvidia needs more power , and has thermal problems , meant heats more than ATI ... so cant exactly predict the problems related to heat and power. ...

So , if u dont mind losing few fps in some games ... Definitely go for 6870 ...

 

[Iropan]

Funny twist, i found a GTX 560 Ti on sale, so i pulled the trigger on that one

Thx a lot for your help to everyone who replied !