New GPU(s) - 5850 CF?

[Zpewn]

Okay. I'm currently looking to upgrade my GTX260 to something better since I think it's bottlenecking the rest of my computer. I'm not sure about what to get though. From what I see, putting 2 5850 in crossfire is the best bang for the money? I'm an enthusiastic gamer and I play pretty much every game I can get my hands on, so I want the cards to be as powerful as can be without being bottlenecked by anything else in my system.
Also, I've been using nvidia cards for the past many years, which means I am going to miss PhysX a bit if I'm going ATI. Would it be possible to use my GTX260 for handling physx, or even use my old Ageia PhysX card for it?

I'd like to hear the recommended card(s) in the price range of 2 5850s (if it isn't the 5850's :awe and if that isn't enough, what card would fit my system the best?

My other specs are as following:

i7-920 @ 4.0GHz
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
3x2GB OCZ Platinum PC3-12800 @ 1600MHz
Coolermaster Real Power M1000

Sorry for the clumsy writing and thanks in advance for your help.

 

[RussianSensation]

Hey ZPewn, welcome to AnandTech!

1. I don't think there is an easy way to use PhysX with 5850s in CF and your 260 as a PhysX card without a hack.

2. If you don't mind dual cards, I would say 5850s OCed or dual GTX 470s would be a great "bang for the buck" for mid-high end.

So it's either 470s @ $330 a piece : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-550-_-Product

or 5850s @ $290 a piece: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-494-_-Product

Both XFX and EVGA have lifetime warranty.

With 470s, you get better tessellation performance and generally faster performance. They will run hotter and louder though. The 5850s are cheaper and can be overclocked to 5870 speeds and will run cooler and quiter, however, lack the tessellation performance and PhysX. Both options have their pros and cons. I think you should pick based on the games you play / intend to play. SLI scaling is really good:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-470-2-3-way-sli-review/5

Personally, if you don't want to bother overclocking the 5850s, I would lean towards the GTX470s simply because such a powerful setup will allow you to have tessellation and PhysX (which you mentioned is important to you). GTX series often have better minimum framerate as well: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3745/nvidias-geforce-gtx-465/4

However, if you were to overclock the 5850s, then they will be a better bang for the buck (most likely).

 

[Zpewn]

Thanks for your reply! I didn't even consider the 470's. Any reason you linked those specific cards, or doesn't it matter what brand it is?

The cheapest 5850 available to me is $330 a piece and the one you linked is like $430 here.

compared to the 470's

The cheapest 470 is around $430 here and the one you linked is $460.

Now that you know the prices, what would you recommend? Seeing as I can get the 5850 for $100 cheaper.

 

[CitanUzuki]

Couldn't he just use the latest beta drivers from nvidia if he wants physx with no hack?

 

[Zpewn]

Couldn't he just use the latest beta drivers from nvidia if he wants physx with no hack?

Seeing as I'd want to update my drivers at some point in time I would say no :awe:

So far I'm still leaning towards the 5850's because they are that much cheaper for me if the brand doesn't matter. I can live without physx and seeing as there's not really many tessellation games out there atm.. well yeah.

What if I bought the 5850's and clocked them? Would I need better cooling for them? If yes, what kind?

 

[v8envy]

5850s can overclock well, but overclock exceptionally well if you can adjust the voltage higher. If overclocking is important you will wish to find a "reference" design 5850, the cheaper designs are not known for OCing well.

Vendors do matter. Some don't have reference 5850s. Some have terrible warranties or RMA procedures. XFX is about as good as it gets for the ATI side; but if warranty and RMA are unimportant the sticker on the card won't matter so long as it's a reference design. EVGA is the gold standard for nvidia board partners.

With a killowatt PSU you should be fine with 470 SLI also. tomshardware just did a system builder marathon with a 920, UDR3 and 470 SLI. They used a Silverstone 650 PSU, which was just barely adequate for that build.

While there's no technical reason an NV card can't be a physx processor as you've already gathered Nvidia disabled the physx ability of their cards (including Agea cards) if they detect an ATI card in the system. There are hacks for this detection, but seeing as NV is working hard to keep you from combining their hardware with ATI that's not something to rely on.

 

[Zpewn]

I have decided to get the GTX470's because I'm not too comfortable about switching to ATI and missing out on some features, such as PhysX and better tessellation.

I have decided to go for the EVGA version simply because it has a 10 years warranty.

Please do give me some input on my choice if you feel like it. I'm going to order it when I get home in about 2 hours.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[darckhart]

i have similar setup hardware-wise to you. i use 5850CF (each oc'ed FAR past 5870 speeds) and my GTX260 for physx using the beta driver where they forgot to disable physx. it is a POWERFUL and great bang-for-the-buck solution. sure, you are missing a bit on the tesselation performance, but, honestly, i havent played any games where i thought the tesselation added to the game greatly. in metro2033, i actually think the game looks better without it (everyone/thing ends up looking puffy with it on). the only other game i played that used it a lot was avp3 for the alien models really, and since they were black....

chances are, if you only use your gtx260 from now on for physx, then you have no *real* need to upgrade the nv "drivers" except when new versions of the physx part comes out. iirc, the last game that "forced" me to upgrade my physx because the game checked the version was metro2033. as for the other games, the version supplied with the beta drivers was sufficiently high to make it a non-issue. of course, inevitably, you will need to upgrade the physx portion and you can choose to use the hack if it's available. (i used it for the 196 series driver and it simply replaces the dll with a modified one where the disabling of physx by nv check is not included.)

that said, if you feel the price difference makes up for this, go with the 470s. if not, the mixed combo is TERRIFIC.

 

[Genx87]

I just got an EVGA 470 and am impressed with it. I moved from an ATI 4850. But my setup isnt nearly as powerful as yours. I am running an E8400@4Ghz.

You should see a nice bump in performance. And depending on how your 260 is cooled. It may actually be better for your case temps. In my situation the 4850 was dumping its heat into my case. The side of the case where the GPU sat was noticeably warm to the touch. Not anymore because the 470 dumps the heat out the back of the case.

 

[Will Robinson]

The cheapest 5850 available to me is $330 a piece and the one you linked is like $430 here.

compared to the 470's

The cheapest 470 is around $430 here

$200 more for a GTX470 setup over Crossfire 5850s?
Not worth it.

 

[RussianSensation]

Now that you know the prices, what would you recommend? Seeing as I can get the 5850 for $100 cheaper.

If a single 5850 is $100 cheaper than a GTX470, that means a 5850 CF setup would be $200 cheaper than the SLI setup. In that case, I would get a 5850 CF setup without a doubt. $200 is a lot of money in savings towards next generation. In other words, you could sell the 5850s later and put that $200 towards a new CF/SLI setup.

 

[Zpewn]

Okay. I didn't do anything yet, but I'm planning to get the 5850's now. What vendor should I pick out of these cheap ones?

Sapphire
Club 3D
Asus
Gigabyte

Wouldn't it matter since we're already in the cheap end?

 

[Elfear]

Okay. I didn't do anything yet, but I'm planning to get the 5850's now. What vendor should I pick out of these cheap ones?

Sapphire
Club 3D
Asus
Gigabyte

Wouldn't it matter since we're already in the cheap end?

I've had good luck with all of those brands except Club 3D which I've never owned. I'm sure someone will chime in but I seem to remember Asus having the best warranty.

 

[Will Robinson]

Sapphire is the senior add in board maker for ATi and have a pretty good reputation.I've had 3 different Sapphire models over the years and all performed well with no problems.
So of those 4 makers you listed I'd be comfortable going with Sapphire.

 

[happy medium]

Why not get 2 gtx 465's in sli and use your gtx 260 for physx?
Are they also exspensive where you shop?

gtx 465 sli benches......

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-465-sli-review/11

 

[Sp12]

Why not get 2 gtx 465's in sli and use your gtx 260 for physx?
Are they also exspensive where you shop?

gtx 465 sli benches......

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-465-sli-review/11

The 465 isn't really an awesome part, it produces just as much heat and uses more power than it's non-binned siblings, but has performance typical of 5830 on most review sites.

I can cherry pick reviews too, for example:

73 vs 54 FPS for a 5850 vs 465. If you really want sli I would wait for the 460. I don't think you'll be disappointed with just about any dual-card setup though.

You can keep your card for physics no matter what, Nvidia's been pretty bad at disabling the patch, and the non-blocking beta drivers are stable.

 

[RussianSensation]

I would probably go for the Asus brand for the Voltage Tweak ability or the XFX for the lifetime warranty.

 

[happy medium]

The 465 isn't really an awesome part, it produces just as much heat and uses more power than it's non-binned siblings, but has performance typical of 5830 on most review sites.

I can cherry pick reviews too, for example:

73 vs 54 FPS for a 5850 vs 465. If you really want sli I would wait for the 460. I don't think you'll be disappointed with just about any dual-card setup though.

You can keep your card for physics no matter what, Nvidia's been pretty bad at disabling the patch, and the non-blocking beta drivers are stable.

Thast not a sli review? did I miss something?

 

[Skurge]

Why not get 2 gtx 465's in sli and use your gtx 260 for physx?
Are they also exspensive where you shop?

gtx 465 sli benches......

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-465-sli-review/11

If a GTX470 is $100 more than a 5850 there, I doubt a 465 is gonna be much cheaper.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Thast not a sli review? did I miss something?

You're telling the OP to buy a GPU that has 4890/5830 performance. The 5850 is a much better buy.

SLI/Crossfire scales nearly the same (with an adequate CPU) but varies from game to game. The 465, unless priced very competitively, is a bad buy.

 

[MagickMan]

OP, Xfire 5850s are just insanely powerful. I run a pair myself, and with a healthy OC they can destroy anything out there in their price range. Hell, look at what I run on a 650W PSU, and it's amazingly cool and quiet.