GTX 460 SLI, GTX 480, HD5870 or wait and keep 8800 GTS 640MB?

[Narrlok]

I'm in the process of upgrading my old rig right now because I plan on cannibalizing the parts to build an HTPC, but the graphics card options have got me stumped right now. A pair of GTX 460s cost as much as a GTX 480 and an HD5870 is a few bucks cheaper but would draw less power and generate less heat. I play at 1920*1200 on a GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB currently.

The planned build is a Core i5 760 on either an ASUS Maximus III Formula, Gigabyte P55-UD6 or ASUS P7P55D Deluxe (all boards have 3*PCIe x16 ports), 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, powered by a Corsair 750TX (might trade up to an 850TX if I decide to go 460 SLI w/ 8800 GTS as dedicated PhysX card).

From the benchmarks I've seen, it looks like GTX 460s in SLI is the fastest among the three current options and should significantly outperform the GTX 480. I've never had any experience with multi-card setups though and I've been reading about micro-stutter and other problems with SLI and CrossFireX. Which brings us to the GTX 480 and the HD5870. The power draw and heat generated by the GTX 480 seems insane on paper, not sure it's worth it if the performance gain on the 5870 is so little in most games... then again the GTX 480 would let me do away with the 8800 GTS, which I had planned on keeping as dedicated PhysX with the HD5870.

Btw, on HardOCP's recent review of the GTX 460 in SLI I noticed that the difference between minimum and average FPS on the HD5870 was pretty big in Bad Company 2 @ 2560*1600. Would I be correct in guessing that this would translate to less fluid gameplay? The GTX 460's minimum FPS was around 60% of its average, whereas the Radeon HD5870 was at 38%.

The other option is to wait patiently for an update to the GTX 480 that makes it closer to the 460 in terms of bang for watt or check out Southern/Northern Islands when it comes out. Of course this would be moot if my 8800 dies before that happens. So what do you guys think? I've been searching for NVIDIA's roadmap for 2010, but I haven't had much luck.

 

[nenforcer]

Nvidia is only going to have low end / mainstream cards for the rest of the year unless they decide to release a GTX 490 dual gpu card at some point.

The back to school season is approaching and yet ATI / AMD doesn't appear to be dropping any prices on the HD 5000 series cards.

Depending on your gaming needs I would wait until this fall / Christmas when HD 6000 is suppose to be announced.

If you can't wait that long I would go for the GTX 460 SLI at a price / performance.

The HD 5850 and HD 5870 should really be dropping in price.

 

[happy medium]

I would think there was going to be a full 384 sp, gtx 475 soon also.

 

[Narrlok]

Thanks for the responses and to those who voted. I think I'm going to wait and see what NVIDIA and AMD are gonna come up with in the next few months... have to admit that GTX 460s are really tempting though I'm guessing any mid-range card should be a vast improvement over my lowly 8800 GTS 640MB (G80) at 1920*1200 right?

 

[Grooveriding]

58XX series has been out about a year now and the refresh will hit by year's end. Usually when you're down to about the last 3 months of a generation, I find it's worth waiting for the next ones.

When 68XX series drops it will be the new big boy on the street and you can either get a currently available card a lot cheaper or go for one of the new ones if that's your fancy

 

[happy medium]

A single gtx 460 will double your framerates easily.

Exspect Ati's low end refresh by October and High end by December.
So if you can wait 4 or 5 months, wait for Ati.

 

[3DVagabond]

One option you didn't list would be crossfire HD5770. ~$300.00 and will give you 5870 fps.

I voted wait a couple of months. I'm not as pessimistic about ATI as some. It's not going to be a 4 to 5 month wait, IMO. Personally, I avoid multi-gpu. It has too many issues. The added complexity (unnecessary unless 1 GPU just can't do the job. eyefinity and 3D surround come to mind where I do recommend multi-gpu), necessary profiles and driver optimizations (which some games will never have, especially older games), additional power and heat, etc...

 

[RussianSensation]

The egg has MSI GTX470 for $240 and 5850 MSI for $270. Those 2 are good alternatives. The 470 is almost as fast as the 5770s in CF for $60 less.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/palit_geforce_gtx_470,4.html

I ripped GTX470 a new one when it came out 3 months ago for $350 when 5850s were $290. However, in the last month, it has been undoubtedly the most bang for the buck current generation card at $200-250. The latest drivers brought its performance much closer to the 5870. Overclocked, it easily surpasses the 5870: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3836/msis-geforce-n470gtx-gtx-470-sli/3

 

[3DVagabond]

The egg has MSI GTX470 for $240 and 5850 MSI for $270. Those 2 are good alternatives. The 470 is almost as fast as the 5770s in CF for $60 less.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/palit_geforce_gtx_470,4.html

I ripped GTX470 a new one when it came out 3 months ago for $350 when 5850s were $290. However, in the last month, it has been undoubtedly the most bang for the buck current generation card at $200-250. The latest drivers brought its performance much closer to the 5870. Overclocked, it easily surpasses the 5870: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3836/msis-geforce-n470gtx-gtx-470-sli/3

Crossfired HD5770's are actually less than $300.00. I was just using that as a ballpark figure. I'm not trying to actually sell videocards here. I'm just giving reasonable options.

 

[Imported]

This thread is pretty relevant for me as I also have a 640MB 8800 GTS. Looks like I may just wait as well since the only games I play on my PC now are Starcraft II and FFXI..

 

[OCGuy]

460 SLI is awesome for the price.

 

[bryanW1995]

I would think there was going to be a full 384 sp, gtx 475 soon also.

I dunno, we've all been speculating that this is going to happen, but if nvidia is still having yield issues then I don't see that happening. they'll just wait to come out with a gtx 5xx in the spring of next year I bet.

 

[Markfw]

The egg has MSI GTX470 for $240 and 5850 MSI for $270. Those 2 are good alternatives. The 470 is almost as fast as the 5770s in CF for $60 less.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/palit_geforce_gtx_470,4.html

I ripped GTX470 a new one when it came out 3 months ago for $350 when 5850s were $290. However, in the last month, it has been undoubtedly the most bang for the buck current generation card at $200-250. The latest drivers brought its performance much closer to the 5870. Overclocked, it easily surpasses the 5870: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3836/msis-geforce-n470gtx-gtx-470-sli/3

U don't know where you saw that. They are $300 with a $30 rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127501

 

[d4a2n0k]

U don't know where you saw that. They are $300 with a $30 rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127501

Put code EMCYVNV39 in and it brings the price down to $269.99 before rebate. Pretty sweet deal.

 

[Tempered81]

I voted wait. And when it comes time, get the single gpu as recommended by 3Dvagabond. I would wait to see the reviews of a GTX480 OC vs. a 6870

 

[happy medium]

I voted buy 2 gtx 460's overclock them to 825 core each (easy) and enjoy 650$ 5970 performance on the cheap. Enjoy much better minimum framerates also. Then if you want get a cheap physx card later, you have the option .
That should last you until the 6000 series or gtx 580 comes out late next year easy.

Why would you wait months and months for something if you only have a 8800gts 640?
Thats slower then a single 8800gt!

 

[JonnyDough]

happy medium, yeah its old but I have the same card. It so happens to play most games still quite fine. Not all of us waste our cash.

Narrlok, if you have a fast processor and an SLI mother board I recommend seeing if you can find another GTS 640mb for under $50 USD. We have B-stock here available on certain manufacturer sites and I'm looking at one for that price right now. I have no idea about availability or pricing in Sweden, or what your system specs are.

 

[happy medium]

happy medium, yeah its old but I have the same card. It so happens to play most games still quite fine. Not all of us waste our cash.

Narrlok, if you have a fast processor and an SLI mother board I recommend seeing if you can find another GTS 640mb for under $50 USD. We have B-stock here available on certain manufacturer sites and I'm looking at one for that price right now. I have no idea about availability or pricing in Sweden, or what your system specs are.

If your telling me a 8800gts 640 plays games at 1900x1080 (the op's res.)just fine, I'm gonna have to say show me the benchmarks or give me a link of some sort. Unless you mean at ultra low detail? But that wouldn't be just fine.

If he buys another 8800gts and wants to upgrade later, they will be worth nothing by then. He just might get 35$ for it now.

 

[Narrlok]

I play these games at 1920*1200:

Battlefield 2
Battlefield 2143
Dawn of War 2
Dragon Age: Origins
Empire: Total War
Fallout 3
Left4Dead
Left4Dead 2
Mount&Blade
Napoleon: Total War
Supreme Commander
Team Fortress 2
The Witcher

I usually turn off AA if things start feeling too choppy, but leave most other settings at close to max. (Smoke effects can slow things down quite a bit sometimes)

Found a comparison between the G80-based 8800 GTS and the HD 5770.

To play Crysis or Crysis Warhead at 1920*1200 I really have to tone things down, so I've held off on finishing those games for now.

Current specs are:
Intel C2D E6600 2.4GHz
ASUS Basswood2 P965 motherboard
4GB DDR2
8800 GTS 640MB (G80)

I've already received most of the parts for my upgrade:
Intel Core i5 760
ASUS P7P55D Deluxe (can do 8x/8x/4x on the PCIe x16 ports)
750W Corsair TX PSU
4GB DDR3 PC12600

I'm hoping to play Crysis 2 and Bad Company 2 w/ most settings maxed at 1920*1200 so an older card isn't an option, and I'd rather not spend money on a temporary solution (HD5770 until Christmas) if a GTX 475 or HD6870 is just around the corner.

 

[happy medium]

I'm hoping to play Crysis 2 and Bad Company 2 w/ most settings maxed at 1920*1200 so an older card isn't an option, and I'd rather not spend money on a temporary solution (HD5770 until Christmas) if a GTX 475 or HD6870 is just around the corner.

Crysis 2 ,according to the creators is supposed to be a little more demading as Crysis 1.
Crysis 1 I believe was just poorly coded.
Gtx 460's will be much faster then a gtx 475 and even if the 6870 does come out, estimates are it will be only 30/35% faster then a 5870. That makes it about 10% faster then a gtx 480.
2 gtx 460's will STILL be faster or just as fast, especially if you overclock them.
I say you should go for it.

 

[RussianSensation]

HD6870 is not around the corner per say. Probably looking at October timeframe. We really don't know what the price of that card is going to be. You can always use the 8800GTS 640 over the summer. Enjoy the nice weather and get a new card when the colder weather hits!