GTX 570 SC or Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition

[Hellstalker]

I need help deciding, Im about to buy a new i5 2500k rig and I cant seem to make up my mind. Ive always been an Nvidia guy and the 2 or 3 times Ive gone with Ati it proved to be a mess so Im skeptical on anything Radeon

The problem is that Ive been reading reviews and comparisons between the GTX 570 and the 7870 and the difference are negligible in real world numbers (2-5% in some cases, 24% transcoding video witch I dont do) http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/AMD-Radeon-HD-7870-GHz-Edition-Video-Card-Review/1501/8.

GTX-570 SC Pros:
- $ 40 cheaper
- PhysX
- Great previous experience
GTX-570 SC Cons:
- Only 1.280 MB RAM
- Slower than ATI card
- Only PCIE 2.0

HD 7870 Ghz Pros:
- 2 Gb RAM
- MUCH higher core and memory clock
- Future proof (PCIE 3.0 support)

HD 7870 Ghz Cons:
- Awful previous experience with ATI
- $ 40 more expensive

Im not planing on doing Crossfire nor SLI, I just need sheer power. All advice is welcome

 

[omega21xx]

I need help deciding, Im about to buy a new i5 2500k rig and I cant seem to make up my mind. Ive always been an Nvidia guy and the 2 or 3 times Ive gone with Ati it proved to be a mess so Im skeptical on anything Radeon

The problem is that Ive been reading reviews and comparisons between the GTX 570 and the 7870 and the difference are negligible in real world numbers (2-5% in some cases, 24% transcoding video witch I dont do) http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/AMD-Radeon-HD-7870-GHz-Edition-Video-Card-Review/1501/8.

GTX-570 SC Pros:
- $ 40 cheaper
- PhysX
- Great previous experience
GTX-570 SC Cons:
- Only 1.280 MB RAM
- Slower than ATI card
- Only PCIE 2.0

HD 7870 Ghz Pros:
- 2 Gb RAM
- MUCH higher core and memory clock
- Future proof (PCIE 3.0 support)

HD 7870 Ghz Cons:
- Awful previous experience with ATI
- $ 40 more expensive

Im not planing on doing Crossfire nor SLI, I just need sheer power. All advice is welcome

Unless physx is important to you I'd get the 7870 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=518
power consumption between the two is huge, depending on where you live you could easily make up the 40 dollars in power savings over a few months to a year. Compute performance is pretty amazing too so if you use bitcoin mining or something you'll benefit greatly. Once AMD throws more support in drivers for video encoding and other compute tasks it should be pretty amazing.

Also regarding your prior experiences, if they were a few years ago or more then you probably have nothing to worry about as they have improved greatly in all respects aside from CF drivers (you aren't interested in CF/SLI so it shouldn't matter much )

 

[Hellstalker]

The card will be for a gaming rig exclusively , so my concerns are directed to gaming performance.
On the PshysX side, Ive always had it since Nvidia decided to include it in their GPUs and I wouldn't now how that will affect my gaming experience or what it I should expect from its absence.
Power isnt much of an issue since its really cheap around here, what really makes me nervous is driver stability and performance on an Intel platform (curiously Ati never played well with Intel even when Ati was Ati and not AMD ) but hey, Im still giving ATI a thought

 

[omega21xx]

The card will be for a gaming rig exclusively , so my concerns are directed to gaming performance.
On the PshysX side, Ive always had it since Nvidia decided to include it in their GPUs and I wouldn't now how that will affect my gaming experience or what it I should expect from its absence.
Power isnt much of an issue since its really cheap around here, what really makes me nervous is driver stability and performance on an Intel platform (curiously Ati never played well with Intel even when Ati was Ati and not AMD ) but hey, Im still giving ATI a thought

The driver issues are long gone aside from cf updates not being timely. As for physx. You should look at some side by side videos of games with and without. You honestly aren't missing much. Especially since what is usually added in physx could have been done via CPU instead... But hey, game developers decision.

 

[esrever]

if you aren't looking to OC then the 570 is good but the 7870 can be OC'ed extremely well. You can almost hit performance of the 7970 if you are lucky with it.

 

[graemevermeulen]

I need help deciding, Im about to buy a new i5 2500k rig and I cant seem to make up my mind. Ive always been an Nvidia guy and the 2 or 3 times Ive gone with Ati it proved to be a mess so Im skeptical on anything Radeon

The problem is that Ive been reading reviews and comparisons between the GTX 570 and the 7870 and the difference are negligible in real world numbers (2-5% in some cases, 24% transcoding video witch I dont do) http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/AMD-Radeon-HD-7870-GHz-Edition-Video-Card-Review/1501/8.

GTX-570 SC Pros:
- $ 40 cheaper
- PhysX
- Great previous experience
GTX-570 SC Cons:
- Only 1.280 MB RAM
- Slower than ATI card
- Only PCIE 2.0

HD 7870 Ghz Pros:
- 2 Gb RAM
- MUCH higher core and memory clock
- Future proof (PCIE 3.0 support)

HD 7870 Ghz Cons:
- Awful previous experience with ATI
- $ 40 more expensive

Im not planing on doing Crossfire nor SLI, I just need sheer power. All advice is welcome

If you want sheer power go for the 7870.

I've also had bad experience with ATI/AMD before, but I would buy one of their cards again in future (not their CPUs though).

 

[Hellstalker]

Is there an specific brand of ATI cards I should consider over the rest? I know the basic design is the same for all but there is always someone doing something better than the rest, in the Nvidia case I know for a fact EVGA makes the best cards but when it comes to ATI Im lost.

 

[omega21xx]

Is there an specific brand of ATI cards I should consider over the rest? I know the basic design is the same for all but there is always someone doing something better than the rest, in the Nvidia case I know for a fact EVGA makes the best cards but when it comes to ATI Im lost.

Saphire, xfx, his, and asus tend to be what most people suggest, however I've never had issues with visiontek or powercolor.
Many people like xfx for their warranty
Sapphire for their build quality and price
His for their cooling
And asus for their performance and build quality.

 

[Laxblade]

Hey Ive had some awful times with my (HD4870 driver wise) on an Intel board; but that was over 3 years ago, things have moved on AMD have moved on, especially for this 7 series launch, to try and steal the market, so try the HD7870 you will be very happy you made that choice, (BRUT POWER and much better tessellation) or if you must have PhysX you can BUY a Physics card, for around £50 GBP and will work with most games, needing Physics, but check the games, plus the make and model of Physics card supported before buying..

otherwise, if you still have cold feet save money and go for some more brut raw power with the new ltd ed. off GTX560TI 448 Cores 1.28GB its practically a "GTX 570 on a small diet" but in benchmarks, achieves similar frame-rates in games and uses less power (slightly).

Honestly your safe either way, but if you have a PCI-E 3.0 board then best to use full potential and purchase the
HD7870 v.PCI-E 3.0

take care,
Dave...

 

[Hellstalker]

Thanks Dave, I havent placed the order yet but Im getting more and more inclined to buying the HD7870

 

[zivhadad1]

hi!
i prefer the hd 7870 Ghz edition that i had before i upgrade to 2 CrossfireX hd 7970 Ghz edition, the 7870 cost to me as a regulare castumer, 1400 NIS (378 US Dollars)
and a gtx 570 SOC would have cost me 1800 NIS (486 US Dollars), maybe because of the dollar but, i can approve the hd 7870 is better, my friend and i play BF3 on ultra, he has gtx 570 SOC edition and i played with the 7870 to compare.... (played 1 vs 1 for 2 hours), GTX 570: avg: 38.3 max: 67.4 min: 30.9 HD 7870: avg: 64.7 max: 82.6 min 58.3... the truth is here!

 

[zivhadad1]

If you want sheer power go for the 7870.

I've also had bad experience with ATI/AMD before, but I would buy one of their cards again in future (not their CPUs though).

Agree 100% ATI/AMD dont know to produce CPUs but their knew series of GPUs are great!