anybody else having a tough time deciding which graphics to buy

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Xarick

Golden Member
May 17, 2006
1,199
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Man I have been agonizing over three weeks on this. My 8800gts 320 just cant run 1920x1080 so Ihave to upgrade. However, the current climate is just got me at a total impass.

I can go for a 5850 for the cheapest but slowest option.. sure you could overclock it, but who is to say you will get a good overclocker.. and frankly I don't like to OC my video cards.

So then I could go for a gtx 470 which will give me slightly better performance at the cost of heat. The other thing is that it gives me physx and with a single gpu mobo that is a nice option. Sure everyone says physx should not be a factor, but if it was no biggie then people wouldn't be trying to hack drivers to make it work. But then there is fan noise. Not that my 8800gts is quiet by any means, but not sure I want even louder.

Or I could just drop the most cash and get the 5870 with the most performance. Of course it is the worst of the three in overall value per performance, but if you aren't overclocking it gives you headroom in the future.

I am have hovered my hand over buy for all three cards and here I sit still without one. I thought I would have bought one a month ago when fermi was finally revealed, but still completely on the fence.

When I go look I see these prices:

5850 for $290. Powercolor
Gtx 470 for $360. EVGA
5870 for $390. Gigabyte

Tough choice.
Anyone else?
 
toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
actually with prices like they are its made my decision to wait even easier. hell theres not even a card out there now that can even beat my gtx260 for the same price I paid for it 18 months ago.
 
happy medium

happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
14,387
480
126
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X

Xarick

Golden Member
May 17, 2006
1,199
1
76
physx is an odd duck to me. It is something I would like to have, but the performance hit is insane.
 
toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
if physx is really important then just buy a dedicated card such as the 9800gt or gt240.
 
S

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,001
126
happy medium said:
The new non-reference dual fan gtx 470's from Palit and a few other companies, reduce heat by 10/12c ,which brings it down to around the 5800 series temps at load.(80's). They also are 4db quieter.
Look out for them.

http://www.guru3d.com/news/palit-nonreference-geforce-gtx-470-w-custom-cooling/

http://www.gainward.com/main/edm/GTX470/gw_edm_20100428.html

If you don't like to overclock then a 5870 is your only other choice, unless you want to spend 500$.
Click to expand...

The OP said he's concerned about heat... a better cooler does not change the heat output, it just means the temperature of the GPU is lower than with the reference cooler. The GTX470 still puts out as much heat and uses as much power as the reference part.

OP, if you are interested in Physx, than a GTX40 might be best for you. I don't think Physx will ever be a factor personally... but that's just me, but you never know. Out of all of those I'd get the 5850 if you aren't too hung up on Physx. It'll be fine for 1080P resolution. I know you said you don't like to overclock video cards, but with a bit of work 5870+ performance is easy to obtain from a 5850.
 
WaitingForNehalem

WaitingForNehalem

Platinum Member
Aug 24, 2008
2,497
0
71
Just Cause 2 offers realistic water and a bokeh filter only on Nvidia cards due to CUDA. So you also need to decide if CUDA is important along with 3d vision.
 
nenforcer

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
1,767
1
76
At this point I would wait until June when the GTX 460 comes out and we have a midrange competitor.

Your best best would be to get a GTX 460 / 470 and use your GTS 320 as the dedicated PhysX card. You don't need a SLI motherboard to do this.
 
nenforcer

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
1,767
1
76
Your motherboard most likely has at least 2 PCI-E express connectors, more than likely 3 or 4. PCI-Express connectors come in different sizes, and of course your new GPU would go in the same slot as the current video card and is most likely a x16 or x8 sized slot. The other connectors are possibly shorter x8, x4 or even x1. You probably need a minimum of x4 for PhysX but I'm not an expert on this.

Tell us your motherboard model and we can tell you exactly where it would go.
 
X

Xarick

Golden Member
May 17, 2006
1,199
1
76
p5qse I only have two 1x connectors. The rest are pci.
So thats likely a no go for me.
 
B

badb0y

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2010
4,015
30
91
5850 is best bang for the buck, Everything after that increases at an increment of 5-10%. The 470 is 5%~ faster but costs like 50$ more and the 5870 is like 5% faster than 470 and costs another 50$ more and GTX 480 is like 10-15% faster than 5870 and costs 100$ more.
 
nenforcer

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
1,767
1
76
Well it looks like your motherboard with only 2 extra x1 PCI-E slots rules out that option.

This is what I would do. If you've made it this far with that video card I would wait another month, 1 1/2 months when this GTX 460 is suppose to come out and compete with the ATI 5830 / 5850 at around $300 +- $25 or so.

Since it looks like your budget goes up to $400 you do have some flex room on the card you choose.

You still may end up going with the 5850 / 5870 but its possible this GTX 460 may bump prices down on the 5850 to maybe $250 - $275.

Now if you'd like to stay with nVidia you could get either a GTX 460 or 470 and then sell your GTS 320 card on eBay and used those funds to buy a PCI-E x1 PhysX PPU card. Those come from ASUS, BFGTech and Dell anywhere from $40 to $60.

I think those PhysX cards are still decent enough to run the effects from Mirrors Edge and Batman: Arkham Asylum but not positive.
 
Puffnstuff

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,025
4,795
136
JC2 looks fantastic on my 480's with everything cranked up. I'd tell you to spend a little more and get a 480 but you could get a 470 and keep your current card for physx.
 
dug777

dug777

Lifer
Oct 13, 2004
24,778
4
0
I was in a similar position and very recently went for the 5850 (an XFX Black edition - you get a small overclock as standard (765/4500 against 725/4200 I think?).

Everything I have read in terms of reviews and experience on here has suggested they are generally superb overclockers (and especially so if you get a reference sample with the ability to control voltage through software), and I couldn't justify the very significant steps up in price for a GTX 470 or a 5870 in that light, I should easily be able to pass a stock GTX 470 (and almost certainly at lower power consumption/heat and noise levels) and a stock 5870...

I was also concerned that the GTX 470 wouldn't play nice with my 500W PSU (Antec Earthwatts), nvidia says a 600W psu is required (and looking at the AT review the GTX 470 is pretty power hungry at load, about 90W more than the 5850. Probably would have been ok but better safe than sorry, especially overclocking.)

Another more minor drawcard for me was the the low idle power draw of the 5850 :)

Physx etc didn't matter to me in this decision, so it was pretty easy all in all, the 5850 ticked all my boxes.
 
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Qbah

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
dug777 said:
I was in a similar position and very recently went for the 5850 (an XFX Black edition - you get a small overclock as standard (765/4500 against 725/4200 I think?).

Everything I have read in terms of reviews and experience on here has suggested they are generally superb overclockers (and especially so if you get a reference sample with the ability to control voltage through software), and I couldn't justify the very significant steps up in price for a GTX 470 or a 5870 in that light, I should easily be able to pass a stock GTX 470 (and almost certainly at lower power consumption/heat and noise levels) and a stock 5870...

I was also concerned that the GTX 470 wouldn't play nice with my 500W PSU (Antec Earthwatts), nvidia says a 600W psu is required (and looking at the AT review the GTX 470 is pretty power hungry at load, about 90W more than the 5850. Probably would have been ok but better safe than sorry, especially overclocking.)

Another more minor drawcard for me was the the low idle power draw of the 5850 :)

Physx etc didn't matter to me in this decision, so it was pretty easy all in all, the 5850 ticked all my boxes.
Click to expand...

That's exactly like me :) Though my PSU is 520W :p Same reasoning though! It was kinda spooky reading that :p
 
Keysplayr

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,209
50
91
Everybody who offered that the OP should use the 8800GTS as a dedicated PhysX card. He has only 1 (one) WUN, PCI-e slot in his mobo. If he wants PhysX, he needs an NV card in that slot.
 
D

Dark Shroud

Golden Member
Mar 26, 2010
1,576
1
0
nenforcer said:
used those funds to buy a PCI-E x1 PhysX PPU card. Those come from ASUS, BFGTech and Dell anywhere from $40 to $60.
Click to expand...

Is that a real product? The only PhysX PPU cards I've ever seen are PCI not PCI-E 1x. And while you can still find them new all of them seem pretty dated.
 
Keysplayr

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,209
50
91
Would not bother with PPU anymore. Nvidia GPUs much better equipped to handle PhysX, especially GF100 series.
 
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