5970 or GTX 480

[GGPlena]

Hi,

First let me apologise that my first post is a lame vs. question. But I need some advice...

I am building a new no limit(s) rig. I will use it for software development and of course some gaming

Mobo will probably be: Asus P6T6 WS Revolution
CPU: Core i7 980-X

Should I go for ATI 5970 or Nvidia GTX 480?

Thanks!

 

[OCGuy]

Well "no limits" for a single card would be the top performing card, which is 5970.

Otherwise 480 SLI for maximum performance. You better have AC in the room though

 

[GGPlena]

I should have added that the only reason for me thinking about getting Fermi is that I have gotten this idea that Nvidia will work more closely with partners/gaming studios software vice...

 

[ZimZum]

Well "no limits" for a single card would be the top performing card, which is 5970.

Otherwise 480 SLI for maximum performance. You better have AC in the room though

Not to mention whatever PSU you have its almost a guarantee it will be woefully insufficient for 480 SLI.

 

[KIAman]

If cost is no issue and you must get something now, I'd go with 2x5970 in crossfire and make sure you got a beefy PSU.

 

[Dark Shroud]

I should have added that the only reason for me thinking about getting Fermi is that I have gotten this idea that Nvidia will work more closely with partners/gaming studios software vice...

Well you got the wrong idea. Only a around 20 or so games use PhysX and only 2-3 of those are any good. Nvidia doesn't play nice with people unless you're using thier technology, even then it's their way or the highway.

AMD is working with the teams from Bullet & Havok. Havok is a very popular physics engine. AMD is also working with dev teams to get support for eyefinity into games.

AMD is also working on OpenCL now as well.

Basically you'll be better off with the 5970. It uses less power, produces less heat, while pout performing the GTX 480.

 

[at80eighty]

2x5970

 

[GGPlena]

The PSU will be Corsair HX 1000W...

I will only use a single card...because of the heat and power issues. My main use for the rig is software development...and I need a stable setup.

 

[MagickMan]

5970, just make sure you have enough room in your case.

 

[v8envy]

Looks like intangibles are the deciding factor here. Let me throw a few things into the ring:

Pros for 480:
Single GPU, no crossfire issues
High likelyhood of stable Linux drivers supporting latest kernels and Xorg
CUDA
PhysX
3Dvision

Pros for the 5890:
Higher performance in games with good multi-GPU support
Slightly lower heat, noise
Eyefinity

Now, if I was in your shoes (and I am, since I use my "gaming" machine to sling Java and SQL for $) I wouldn't get either of these cards. Both will be loud at idle in the winter or spring and roar like a bear once it gets warm. The 480 will be both louder and hotter. You better have a huge, very well ventilated case for either and both will simply pour out the heat.

Bleeding edge is never a good idea when your number #1 priority is stability.

From what I read between the lines your best bet is a Sapphire Vapor-X 5870. Keep the rest of the budget for an upgrade, and live with the "lackluster" performance until the refresh cards are out this fall.

 

[Blue Shift]

From what I read between the lines your best bet is a Sapphire Vapor-X 5870. Keep the rest of the budget for an upgrade, and live with the "lackluster" performance until the refresh cards are out this fall.

+1

 

[GGPlena]

Looks like intangibles are the deciding factor here. Let me throw a few things into the ring:

Pros for 480:
Single GPU, no crossfire issues
High likelyhood of stable Linux drivers supporting latest kernels and Xorg
CUDA
PhysX
3Dvision

Pros for the 5890:
Higher performance in games with good multi-GPU support
Slightly lower heat, noise
Eyefinity

Now, if I was in your shoes (and I am, since I use my "gaming" machine to sling Java and SQL for $) I wouldn't get either of these cards. Both will be loud at idle in the winter or spring and roar like a bear once it gets warm. The 480 will be both louder and hotter. You better have a huge, very well ventilated case for either and both will simply pour out the heat.

Bleeding edge is never a good idea when your number #1 priority is stability.

From what I read between the lines your best bet is a Sapphire Vapor-X 5870. Keep the rest of the budget for an upgrade, and live with the "lackluster" performance until the refresh cards are out this fall.

You are spot on...
Damn you for forcing me into considering a 5870

The case will be: Corsair 800D (which is huge)

 

[MagickMan]

Corsair 800D? 5970 all the way for a single card, if cost isn't a concern.

 

[*kjm]

You are spot on...
Damn you for forcing me into considering a 5870

The case will be: Corsair 800D (which is huge)

That is what I would do.... Heck it is what I did months ago

 

[Apocalypse23]

send me the chedda!

 

[InfoTiger]

3x5970

 

[BenSkywalker]

I am building a new no limit(s) rig. I will use it for software development and of course some gaming

What type of software development are you going to be doing? If it is gaming based and you want to see the difference in support, fire off an email to both ATi and nVidia and ask them a question about a game you are working on. No need to trust rumors or anything else, see for yourself.

 

[GGPlena]

3x5970

lol

 

[GGPlena]

What type of software development are you going to be doing? If it is gaming based and you want to see the difference in support, fire off an email to both ATi and nVidia and ask them a question about a game you are working on. No need to trust rumors or anything else, see for yourself.

I am a consultant I work mostly in the financial sector. My work is almost always on the server/service side (designing and implementing scalable and fault tolerant backends). So no...I don't need the graphics capabilities in my work...

 

[konakona]

Not sure how triple SLI with 6 cores scales though.. If watercooling is ok, 480 SLI looks like a good candidate.

 

[RussianSensation]

I should have added that the only reason for me thinking about getting Fermi is that I have gotten this idea that Nvidia will work more closely with partners/gaming studios software vice...

GTX480 is about 15-20% faster than 5870 up to 1920x1200 and about 5% faster once you start gaming at 2560x1600. Now imagine adding a 2nd 5870 on top of that..... Obviously 5970 will be faster in a majority of games. If price is not an issue, GTX480 SLi will be the fastest setup. However, as a single card, 5970 has no equals.

EDIT: if you are only into light gaming, just pick up a 5770 1GB for $130-140. At least you have the option to run 3 monitors on it.

 

[bossqueen]

Well, as i know, the score of 3dmark vantage in extreme mode is
5970 > GTX480 > 5870 > GTX470 > 5850. Therefore, if you wanna get better performance, 5970 is a good choice. However, you have pay more money on it XD.
The price of 5970 on newegg is from $699.99 to $749.99, but all of them are out of stock. On the other hand, the price of GTX 480 is about $ 500.

 

[Zebo]

5970 and 480s are failures waiting to happen. too much heat and power into a small area. Get two 5850s just as fast as 5970 , cheaper, quieter and if something happens you still have one card while other is in the mail. I will never buy another x2 card after many issues.

 

[cplpro]

If the 5970 would't be so damn expensive it would be a good choice.
But like Zebo says, there are many issues because of the x2 core.

If someone doesn't care about TDP and temps, why not buy the 480?

Your father will be proud of the new BBQ

 

[darXoul]

5970 and 480s are failures waiting to happen. too much heat and power into a small area. Get two 5850s just as fast as 5970 , cheaper, quieter and if something happens you still have one card while other is in the mail. I will never buy another x2 card after many issues.

Hi, Zebo. Long time no see...

What kind of problems did you have with your dual GPU card and which card did you have?

Since my GTX 280 FTW from EVGA kicked the bucket (BTW, I'll never buy an air cooled FTW card again, they are overclocked too aggressively with reference cooling, and the failure rate is outrageous), I've been running a GTX 295 single PCB version.

In fact, I kinda like this card because:
a) microstuttering is not an issue, it seems blown out of proportions by German journalists,
b) the card performs WAY better in many games, with a clearly visible advantage in terms of smoothness/FPS (Fallout 3, LotRO DX10, Crysis, etc.) and image quality (8*AA is often "free"),
c) it's actually quieter than the 280 FTW - the fan has a more pleasant sound and the card is stressed less often

but there are minor, yet annoying issues sometimes like e.g. a bug in Fallout 3 where the daytime sky with HDR flickers with every elevation change or mouse panning movement in SLI mode.

Therefore, my next setup will be single GPU again. The 480 disappointed me - I don't care so much about power draw but noise and heat simply suck and performance ain't that stellar, either, especially in older, yet demanding games like Crysis. I'd gladly buy a powerful single GPU card with large VRAM for GTA IV but I have literally nothing compelling to upgrade to.

I was wondering what your X2 issues were.