5870 staying power

[lavaheadache]

Wtf guys stay out of my thread with that crap. Why is each and every friggin thing a pissing match?

 

[SlowSpyder]

The 5870 was the best card I've ever owned. I know I'd have to make sacrifices on image quality, but I think I could happily game on it today yet. I know that 1GB that came on most cards would be a problem, though. It is pretty surprising to see that in many current games it pretty close to the GTX480 in performance. I remember it being made a big deal about how the 5870 isn't really a DX11 card and how Fermi is much more forward-looking. But, other than games that use heavy tesselation, the 5870 really does alright for its age. In fact it seems that over time it has pulled away slightly from the GTX470... not what I would have expected.

 

[lehtv]

I prefer to keep my minimum frame rate above 60fps with an average above 90. I've been playing quite a bit of Planetside 2 recently and it will dip into the 30s and 40s due to sheer number of players and I almost can't stand it, but luckily that's a minimum frame rate scenario and nowhere near the averages I get which is closer to 60-70. Yes, its "playable" at those most taxing moments, but its nowhere near as enjoyable when its 80+fps in ares of sparser population/action. Unfortunately its simply something that has to be lived with as turning all the settings down hardly does anything, the game is simply too unoptimized.

Do you play on a 60hz screen or a 120hz screen?

 

[Kippa]

The 5870 was the best card that I had. It lasted quite a long time adding to the overall value of the card.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Oh, I thought you were talking about LCD in terms of motion clarity, which is the only area where your comment could have possibly had some true relevancy to this topic

I really don't like the term "playable", especially how people throw it around as if it's meaningful when its really not. It's like how all the light beer commercials essentially describe the product as "drinkable", or how someone might describe a relatively unattractive person as "doable".

 

[Zanovar]

I prefer to keep my minimum frame rate above 60fps with an average above 90. I've been playing quite a bit of Planetside 2 recently and it will dip into the 30s and 40s due to sheer number of players and I almost can't stand it, but luckily that's a minimum frame rate scenario and nowhere near the averages I get which is closer to 60-70. Yes, its "playable" at those most taxing moments, but its nowhere near as enjoyable when its 80+fps in ares of sparser population/action. Unfortunately its simply something that has to be lived with as turning all the settings down hardly does anything, the game is simply too unoptimized.



Damn, I try to keep up on hardware but I didn't realize there was a relevant technology currently available as a viable alternative to LCD.

Surely you can't be talking of CRT, a dead technology. All my CRTs have degraded into junk and would be too costly to bother with repairing and maintaining, and certainly not worth playing the crapshoot of buying used/refurbed models. That also doesn't address the fact that they're still terrible for any basic text work (ie just about all modern web browsing) and are a huge PITA to deal with due to their sheer size and weight (especially the good ones), something that also is a major detraction as I'm often moving around and want to take my monitors with me, for while my 120Hz monitors might be lowly LCDs, they're far better and faster than the average LCD to where they're actually tolerable.

Sure, the moment there is a viable technology (OLED?) that can save us from LCD and can be had in a 24-30" size for around $1000, I'll be all over it. Maybe you know something I don't? Is there a plasma TV out there with 0 input latency that can do more than 60Hz over HDMI without a hack (or even with one, as long as its confirmed to work...)?

Do you play on a 60hz screen or a 120hz screen?

Im taking a wild guess here but i think a 120hz screen

 

[jacktesterson]

I consider a consistent minimum Fps 30 playable.

 

[blckgrffn]

I really don't like the term "playable", especially how people throw it around as if it's meaningful when its really not. It's like how all the light beer commercials essentially describe the product as "drinkable", or how someone might describe a relatively unattractive person as "doable".

lulz +1

 

[Zanovar]

I consider a consistent minimum Fps 30 playable.

fair enough

 

[Blitzvogel]

Running a 5850 here. Yeah it feels long in the tooth, but for a card I've had for three years, it's certainly worth the $300 I payed for it and for the most part plays FC3 at relatively high/very high settings 1080p, no AA, HDAO nice enough. I could OC it like I do for BF3, and get a good 30% boost (950 MHz), but I prefer to keep things quiet

As much as I want a 7950/7970, it's still not worth the price. My originally intended 3 year lifespan of my current rig has gone out the door, and it looks like it's going to be another year at least.

 

[badb0y]

The longevity of the AMD 5000 series is pretty crazy but I blame the consoles for this since no game really pushes the boundary like Crysis did back in 2007.

 

[Obsoleet]

I bought my 5870 (in my main rig I'm typing on now), on launch day. I've used it happily ever since. Don't need anything faster for the 19200x1200 gaming I do.. I crank up the FSAA and so forth on the games I play.. all lighter weight than something like Crysis (don't like Crysis at all). League of Legends, Killing Floor are my mains.

Its done the job and continues to for me. I called it when the 5870 was released, seeing how significant it was.. but as you can imagine, received fanboy accusations for trumpeting such an amazing card.

If AMD releases another 9800Pro / 5870 triumph.. I'll let you know and the NV guys will downplay it guaranteed. 3 years later, they'll admit it.

First card to topple the Voodoo1 as my favorite/best card of all time, which was an amazing one for me being my first 3D video card. Having HDMI audio on the 5870 (first came out on the 4870 and I'd been eying a move over to the Radeons ever since that peaked my interest..), was a killer feature for me and still is to this day.
Beast!

 

[biostud]

CPU and GPU performance increase has been slowing down, compared to earlier.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Do you play on a 60hz screen or a 120hz screen?

120Hz

the last time I played on 60Hz was July in Torronto for NASL when I had no other choice

 

[Maximilian]

Im still on a 5850 on my main rig, its overclocked to 850mhz so gets close to a stock 5870 speed. I want to upgrade but theres no point, nothing really pushes it that much, yeah BF3 on ultra maybe but i can live with high settings and without shadows/all that extra crap.

Unless coh2 or planetary annihilation push this card i can see myself sticking with it another generation.

 

[jacktesterson]

Makes sense.

A 5870 is in same ball park as 7850 stock

 

[lehtv]

It's not quite as fast as 7850 stock, more like in between 6870 and 6950/7850, and closer to 6870.

 

[james1701]

It was just a pain about the AF bug though. Still a good card.

 

[Blitzvogel]

First card to topple the Voodoo1 as my favorite/best card of all time, which was an amazing one for me being my first 3D video card. Having HDMI audio on the 5870 (first came out on the 4870 and I'd been eying a move over to the Radeons ever since that peaked my interest..), was a killer feature for me and still is to this day.
Beast!

HDMI was one of the main features that caught my eye with the 4670 I had as an interim card before getting my 5850 in Dec 09.

 

[Obsoleet]

HDMI was one of the main features that caught my eye with the 4670 I had as an interim card before getting my 5850 in Dec 09.

Yup, they had HDMI that passed audio long before Nvidia. It seemed to take NV so long that I pretty much just gave up on their stuff. I've been very happy with my card, drivers were solid for me from day 1. On 12.10WHQL now and still no problems. It might not top a benchmark chart, but it plays my games as smooth as I need them to play.
I had a mixed experience with my (Radeon) 9800. When I need another one, after this experience I can't see myself not buying another AMD card.

Though up until the Vista era, when I dropped NV due to driver problems, I didn't have many issues with those either. The HDMI audio convinced me to take the risk and it was well worth the ~$300 I spent on this card.

 

[Makaveli]

I bought my 5870 (in my main rig I'm typing on now), on launch day. I've used it happily ever since. Don't need anything faster for the 19200x1200 gaming I do.. I crank up the FSAA and so forth on the games I play.. all lighter weight than something like Crysis (don't like Crysis at all). League of Legends, Killing Floor are my mains.

Its done the job and continues to for me. I called it when the 5870 was released, seeing how significant it was.. but as you can imagine, received fanboy accusations for trumpeting such an amazing card.

If AMD releases another 9800Pro / 5870 triumph.. I'll let you know and the NV guys will downplay it guaranteed. 3 years later, they'll admit it.

First card to topple the Voodoo1 as my favorite/best card of all time, which was an amazing one for me being my first 3D video card. Having HDMI audio on the 5870 (first came out on the 4870 and I'd been eying a move over to the Radeons ever since that peaked my interest..), was a killer feature for me and still is to this day.
Beast!

Agreed but I think the 9700pro was the triumph card the 9800 was just a refresh

 

[Obsoleet]

I misspoke, I meant the 9700Pro. I picked up the refresh in 9800nonpro form, and flashed it to a Pro.