Go 5870 or Wait for Fermi?

[skulkingghost]

Ok, I am not a fanboy at all. I currently have a GTX260, I picked up a second gtx260 for sli and it does not work at all, I am sick of messing around with it so SLI is out of the question.

Easy question. I am headed to microcenter tomorrow to return my other gtx260, do I just return it, and wait for a FERMI, or should I purchase a HD5870 for $363? I game at 1920x1200, I like to have everything maxed.

Reasons for Nvidia:
I like Cuda + Physx
I use BADABOOM to convert videos
Last ATI card was a 9800 pro.
I am a fan of the frequency of driver updates.
Hear really good things about FERMI, and willing to spend $450 on a fermi card.
Friend has a 4870x2 and I want better FPS than him, its a bragging rights thing.

Reason to go ATI:
At the moment terrible Bad company 2 performance.
Microcenter has 20% off PCI-E card so regular $459 5870 = $363
Eyefinity would be nice, as I would like to add a third monitor soon without the need to sli.


My specs are as follows:
Rig Name: Skulks i7-920
CPU: Quad Intel I7-920 @ 4ghz
Motherboard: Asus P6T
Memory: 12000 MB of Crucial PC1600 DDR3
Video Card: BFG GTX 260 Nvidia Geforce
Hard Drive: OCZ Velocity SSD 120.0 GB
Additional Hard Drives: 4x 1TB WD Green
1x 320gb Seagate Barracude
1x 500gb WD
Monitor: 28" Hannspree HF289H
Additional Monitors: 20" Asus 2203W
DVD R/W: LG 52x DVD+-R/W
Storage Interface: SATA
Sound Card: Auzentech X-FI Prelude
Powersupply: Thermaltake 750w
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500
Internet Connection: Verizon Fios Cable @ 25/12mbs
Operating System: Windows 7 64bit
__________________

 

[happy medium]

In your case I'd wait and buy a fermi and use the gtx 260 for physx.

 

[nOOky]

Depends on how long you wanna wait to see what nvidia offers and if you can tolerate what you are using now until then.

 

[Shilohen]

I say wait, maybe not until xmas, but for a bit. Your card is decent enough, there will be other sales and Fermi will hopefully price pressure the 5870. If not, then I doubt you'll be able to fetch a Fermi card for 450$. Furthermore, ATI might also have an ace up their sleeve as an answer to Fermi gathering dust on the shelves until they finally get released.

Anyway after Fermi get released and the initial frenzy ends up, the prices should be good (may be wishful thinking on my part).

 

[nitromullet]

I've already owned a 5870 and I'm waiting to see what Fermi can do. The 5870 is by no means at all a bad card, and if Fermi isn't really anything special and/or way overpriced I'll probably go with a 5870 again (or two 5850s). You've passed up a 5870 this long, surely another month to wait for Fermi benchmarks isn't too much of a wait. They are also starting to drop in price finally, and I could see the norm being about $360-370 in another month (and less with rebates and special deals).

 

[at80eighty]

if Fermi isnt impressive - i'll spring up for a 5970

 

[SlowSpyder]

Hard to say in your case... it seems you were ready to spend money on another GTX260, so I take that as you don't want to wait. $363 isn't a bad price for a 5870. We also don't know what Fermi's performance will be, will it compete with the 5970 or be a yawner? I personally wouldn't count on Fermi being cheap or being readily available when it launches, so with that in mind I guess if I were you I'd have to decide if I'm happy with my current GTX260 and can hold out for a while to see how the dust settles or if I need more performance now.

 

[smackababy]

I would wait for Fermi, then if it outperforms the 5870, buy it. If it drops the 5870 in price enough, go with that.

 

[Qbah]

The only thing faster than a HD4870x2 is a HD5970 if you want to go red. Also, HD4870x2 is CrossFire on one card, you know that, right?

From the green camp it would be a GTX295 - a bit faster than two GTX260s in SLi. But it's also 2 GPUs on one card with internal SLi. And totally not worth it now.

Based on your requirement list, I'd say wait for Fermi

 

[Creig]

Last ATI card was a 9800 pro.

Not sure why this is a reason to go with Nvidia. ATi has had many good cards since 9800 Pro days.

I am a fan of the frequency of driver updates.

ATi has been on a monthly driver release schedule for years now. I can't imagine you'd need anything more frequent than that.

Hear really good things about FERMI, and willing to spend $450 on a fermi card.

Everything is hearsay and PR at the moment. Nobody neutral has been able to get their hands on one for a proper benchmarking session yet. So Fermi is a big unknown. In addition, since it is a completely new design for Nvidia, drivers are most likely going to be problematic for awhile whereas the 5000 series will have been out for six months or more by the time Fermi finally shows up on store shelves.

Reasons for Nvidia:
Friend has a 4870x2 and I want better FPS than him, its a bragging rights thing.

A 5870 is right up there with a 4870X2. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower. You could easily egg him on by saying he needs two GPUs to get the same speed as your one. Plus DX11, Eyefinity, etc.

 

[Blazer]

does Badaboom support ati cards ?

 

[kalrith]

If you buy the 5870 and then Fermi comes out and blows it away or pushes the prices of the 5870 down, then you'll regret your decision. If you wait for Fermi and wind up getting a 5870 anyways, then all you missed out on was a couple months of increased fps. I'd wait.

I'm personally waiting even though I have a 2900 Pro, which is vastly inferior to your video card.

 

[v8envy]

A single 5870 won't give you benchmark bragging rights over a 4870x2. But it will make for better gaming being a single GPU card.

Fermi isn't going to be out until late March or early April. And unlike ATI's launch this will be a very, very soft launch to media only because NV won't have the luxury of stockpiling cards for the launch.

Expect prices in the mid $700s for the few cards floating around. So if you hang out waiting for Fermi you just might be waiting till Christmas after all.

20% puts the 5870 back to MSRP, somewhere it won't be budging from for a while. Buy and enjoy.

 

[PingviN]

If you buy the 5870 and then Fermi comes out and blows it away or pushes the prices of the 5870 down, then you'll regret your decision. If you wait for Fermi and wind up getting a 5870 anyways, then all you missed out on was a couple months of increased fps. I'd wait.

Or you get a second HD5870 when prices drop.

 

[scooterlibby]

I echo the sentiment to hold out for possible price drops. I am waiting to see if Fermi at least drives the 5xxx series down to MSRP.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I'm in the whether you go 5800 or not you should wait for fermi camp, but I voted the third answer because it's true.

 

[SlowSpyder]

If you buy the 5870 and then Fermi comes out and blows it away or pushes the prices of the 5870 down, then you'll regret your decision. If you wait for Fermi and wind up getting a 5870 anyways, then all you missed out on was a couple months of increased fps. I'd wait.

I'm personally waiting even though I have a 2900 Pro, which is vastly inferior to your video card.

Or you can look at it as there is always something faster coming. If Fermi availability isn't great for the first few months he can enjoy gaming on the 5870 for quite a while. I'm not saying he should go with the 5870, but I think his decision should really come down to if he doesn't mind the GTX260 he has currently or really wants an upgrade sooner than later.

 

[kalrith]

Or you can look at it as there is always something faster coming.

I agree with that, but completely new graphics-card lines only come out about once a year. We're about a month away from that, so I think it's worth waiting.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I agree with that, but completely new graphics-card lines only come out about once a year. We're about a month away from that, so I think it's worth waiting.

I'd be very suprised if you can find Fermi based parts for sale without great difficutly (if at all) in a month. I wouldn't be suprised if May ends up being more realistic.

With that being said, I would think with a GTX260 level card you can afford to wait. But I'm just making the point that I doubt Fermi will be easy to find in March. And even if Fermi launches in March, has availability in April, what if AMD's refresh is coming in July - August? Again, there is always something faster coming.

Me, I'd probably wait with a GTX260 (it's what I'm doing with a 4870 for now). But if he finds GTX260 performance to be unacceptable (after all he was willing to buy another one even though Fermi isn't too far away) then I'd buy now.

 

[Imp]

With a GTX260, just wait it out. It's only 2 months, and that card is good mid-range for now.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

In your case I'd wait and buy a fermi and use the gtx 260 for physx.

I voted for a 5870, but since you already have an Nvidia card that could be used as a PhysX card, this is a pretty damn good idea. If you were coming from a 4850 or something, 100% I'd say go with the 5870 now.

 

[dguy6789]

Nvidia made it so that you can't use their cards for PhysX if their driver detects anything ATI in your system.

 

[PingviN]

You don't need to use the latest drivers.

 

[skulkingghost]

I went ahead and bought the 5870... liking it so far. Massive increase in Bad Company 2.

 

[zerocool84]

I went ahead and bought the 5870... liking it so far. Massive increase in Bad Company 2.

I went from a 9800GTX+ to a 5870. Pretty damn big jump.