GTX 480 vs 5870 - Recommendation for a friend

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The GTX 480 is a hot, power hungry card. That said it can be faster and I believe it overclocks well. The 5870 can fall behind when tesselation is used but it uses less power and isn't as hot. It all depends on what type of card you want.

The GTX 480 is as fast as the GTX 570 but the GTX 570 is more efficient. The 6950 is slightly faster than the 5870. I would recommend the 6950 or the GTX 480. The GTX 570 isnt worth it imo when the GTX 480 is cheaper and the GTX 480 has more VRAM. VRAM will become more important as time goes on. 1.5GB isnt just for triple monitors anymore.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Why choosing older cards when we have newer and faster ones already? I think that your friend could try also GTX 570, GTX 560Ti, HD 6970 and HD 6950

 

[Grooveriding]

Price being equal between the 480 and 5870 and if he does not care about the louder 480, the 480 is a faster and better card all round if they are priced equally. It does tend to overclock pretty well, but expect more noise and more heat from an already loud card if you do.

In general the 480 is a smidge faster than a 570 and comes with more VRAM and a more robust and solid PCB design.

If the 480 is costing him the same as, say, a 6970 or 6950 that can be unlocked, then one of those cards would be a better choice.

If he plans to go multi-gpu at a later date, again a 6970 or 6950 is a better choice as crossfire scales better than SLI.

 

[v8envy]

5870s currently have insane resale value due to the bitcoin craze/fad. Either cash in, or get it to resell.

The 480 not so much.

 

[Rifter]

for the same price the 480 is better, no question.

 

[Shmee]

what resolution is he playing at? a 2GB 6950 could really help at higher resolutions.

I play at 2560x1600. my xfire 6950's outperform sli 580's at this res due to their extra memory, at least thats the way it was in the last benchmarks I saw.

 

[Skurge]

Unless their much cheaper than 6950 or gtx 570, I don't know why you would be considering those 2 cards.

 

[3DVagabond]

What are these cards going to cost? What's the specs of your friends system, especially PSU and case, and what resolution will it be running? Without knowing there's no way to make a recommendation.

 

[skipsneeky2]

What are these cards going to cost? What's the specs of your friends system, especially PSU and case, and what resolution will it be running? Without knowing there's no way to make a recommendation.

Don't forget processor if its a dual core none of those recommendations would count when a quad would be the better move.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Guys, this is a cleaned up spam thread, and the original OP is now banned. I'm all for having the discussion, but I thought you should know he's not here to answer your questions.

edit: At least I think that's correct. I'm pretty sure TakeNoPrisoners wasn't the original OP.

 

[3DVagabond]

Don't forget processor if its a dual core none of those recommendations would count when a quad would be the better move.

Yes, that's true. I just expected he'd give CPU specs, but didn't want the PSU and case left out because of the 480's "special needs".

Thanks Bill. Hate talking to the wall, so to speak. :thumbsup: