Tiny little GTX 570 vs. HD 5870 mini-review

[n7]

This is more for my personal confirmation than anything, but i figured i'd share the results.

I just did some quick testing with my new GTX 570 vs. my previous HD 5870.

I don't really play many games these days.
Truth be told, i pretty much just play Borderlands, which is basically the reason for buying the GTX 570.

In all the reviews i've seen nV is better in that game, & i've found my AMD cards (HD 4890/HD5870) to struggle with bad minimum fps in certain areas of Borderlands since i've started playing it, so i decided an upgrade was in order, even if for many other games it's only a sidegrade.
That, & a lot of other games i play at least somewhat are UE3, & in general UE3 seems to prefer nV.


Driver settings default other than graphics quality set to the highest for both AMD & nV.
Used 10.12 Cats & 263.09 Forceware

Game settings were generally maxed @ 2560x1600, but for some i did have settings like motion blur & blinding-bloom-in-your-face turned off.
I ran thru various repeatable areas with Fraps & averaged the numbers.

i7 970 @ 4 GHz (25x160)
4x2 GB DDR3-1600 9-9-9-27-1N
X58A-UD3R
3x80 GB Intel X25-M in RAID-0 + OCZ Agility 120 GB
MSI GTX 570 stock
HIS HD 5870 stock

Borderlands: Knoxx - Road's End 16x AF
GTX570
min - 45 fps
ave - 112 fps
HD5870
min - 36 fps
ave - 95 fps

L4D2: Hard Rain - Mill Escape 4xAA 16x AF
GTX570
min - 73
ave - 92
HD5870
min - 76
ave - 94

UT3: Avalanche (Warfare)
GTX570
min - 72
ave - 117
HD5870
min - 48
ave - 103

DiRT2 built-in benchmark 4xAA 16xAF
GTX570
min - 52
ave - 65
HD5870
min - 43
ave - 51

Mass Effect 2 (capped @ 60)
GTX570
min - 56
ave - 60
HD5870
min - 55
ave - 60

Venetica (capped @ 60)
GTX570
min - 50
ave - 59
HD5870
min - 36
ave - 49

3DMark11 at Extreme preset
GTX570
1691
HD5870
1577

 

[Qbah]

If you mostly play Borderlands, it's not a move I would do. Why? AMD offers MLAA and it makes a HUGE IQ difference in Borderlands at hardly any performance penalty (I am getting buttery smooth results at 1920x1080 maxed with MLAA). If you use regular AA (MS-/SSAA) the IQ difference is really minimal at a high performance cost. MLAA looks a lot better than MS-/SSAA in this game - except for fonts. But just increase them a bit (there's a tool that does this amongst other things) and they are fine - they look different than usual, but still fine (just... different 😛).

I'm sure you'll be happy with the GTX570, as it's a great card overall and a bit faster than the HD5870, but it's not a move I would do or recommend 🙂

I'll give you two screenshots showing the difference in a second - made them for another thread.

EDIT: Here they are:

No AA:



MLAA:


I made them at 1600x900 so that I can easily grab the whole window - MLAA doesn't show on regular screenshots. I'll add MSAAx4 and SSAAx4 once I'm back home.

But if you don't really care about AA and just wanted better performance in Borderlands then yes, this is the best choice.

 

[lavaheadache]

Good job

 

[n7]

If you mostly play Borderlands, it's not a move I would do. Why? AMD offers MLAA and it makes a HUGE IQ difference in Borderlands at hardly any performance penalty (I am getting buttery smooth results at 1920x1080 maxed with MLAA). If you use regular AA (MS-/SSAA) the IQ difference is really minimal at a high performance cost. MLAA looks a lot better than MS-/SSAA in this game - except for fonts. But just increase them a bit (there's a tool that does this amongst other things) and they are fine - they look different than usual, but still fine (just... different 😛).

I'm sure you'll be happy with the GTX570, as it's a great card overall and a bit faster than the HD5870, but it's not a move I would do or recommend 🙂

I'll give you two screenshots showing the difference in a second - made them for another thread.

EDIT: Here they are:

*images snipped*

But if you don't really care about AA and just wanted better performance in Borderlands then yes, this is the best choice.

Thanx for the info.
I may have to pop the 5870 back in & see how MLAA does as i wasn't really familiar with it.

Unfortunately normal AA is much too hard on FPS for me @ 2560x1600 with the 5870, but i would love to be able to enable AA & still get good fps, since the game really can use AA!

 

[Qbah]

Thanx for the info.
I may have to pop the 5870 back in & see how MLAA does as i wasn't really familiar with it.

Unfortunately normal AA is much too hard on FPS for me @ 2560x1600 with the 5870, but i would love to be able to enable AA & still get good fps, since the game really can use AA!

Please report back after you try it 🙂 And remember to install Catalyst 10.10e - MLAA isn't supported on HD58xx using WHQL drivers (only hotfix ones).

 

[n7]

Ah crap, i remembered the other reason why i didn't use AA.

Pink fracking borders!
Apparently happens with nV too.

See this crap?
Pardon the massive picture, but it's best for showing the issue.

Does this happen with MLAA?

 

[Qbah]

Ah crap, i remembered the other reason why i didn't use AA.

Pink fracking borders!
Apparently happens with nV too.

See this crap?
Pardon the massive picture, but it's best for showing the issue.

Does this happen with MLAA?

*snip*

😱 That looks really bad. No, it doesn't happen with MLAA. I don't use regular AA in Borderlands as the performance hit vs IQ difference is very much not worth it. But whenever I play it I use MLAA and always have amazing IQ and super smooth gameplay (seriously, it's like magic 😛).

EDIT: And damn, that's with AA on and I can't really see any difference in the background (lots of aliasing...). Just try MLAA... It may sound I'm overhyping it, but seriously, I was in shock.

 

[n7]

Hmm.

Put back the 5870, installed 10.10e & enabled MLAA 4x.

Really don't like how it makes everything fuzzy looking, but whatever.

Still purple borders though, & fps tanks, badly. Much too poor to be useable.

I thought maybe it had to do with the outline shader that you can remove with some tweaks (no black borders then), but i've got pink outlines regardless of black borders turned on or off.

Can you post a screenshot of your inventory window?

I'm starting to wonder if it has to do with some setting i've tweaked or disabled.

 

[Qbah]

Hmm.

Put back the 5870, installed 10.10e & enabled MLAA 4x.

Really don't like how it makes everything fuzzy looking, but whatever.

Still purple borders though, & fps tanks, badly. Much too poor to be useable.

I thought maybe it had to do with the outline shader that you can remove with some tweaks (no black borders then), but i've got pink outlines regardless of black borders turned on or off.

Can you post a screenshot of your inventory window?

I'm starting to wonder if it has to do with some setting i've tweaked or disabled.

Don't force AAx4. MLAA is a separate thing. Leave AA to be controlled by the application and just tick MLAA on (the MLAA option is not governed by the AA control preference). Because by doing what you did, you were running both MSAA and MLAA at the same time 😛

Can't post screenshots right now, not at home. I'll update this thread as soon as I'm back home though (should be within next 12-18 hours).

 

[n7]

ohhh, i assumed it'd have to be forced, kk

edit: Holy shit!

MLAA is amazing 😱
It makes the game look gorgeous.

I can't believe how good it looks.

 

[Qbah]

ohhh, i assumed it'd have to be forced, kk

edit: Holy shit!

MLAA is amazing 😱
It makes the game look gorgeous.

I can't believe how good it looks.

Welcome to the MLAA club :thumbsup: I was as shocked as you are right now and couldn't believe it 🙂 And hardly any performance difference!

 

[Skurge]

ohhh, i assumed it'd have to be forced, kk

edit: Holy shit!

MLAA is amazing 😱
It makes the game look gorgeous.

I can't believe how good it looks.

lol

So what are you going to do with the 570?

 

[n7]

Well, MLAA = great, but it's cutting my fps in half. Actually according to Fraps, worse than half.

If i went Crossfire perhaps, but i do not like multi-card setups :\

Here's some numbers from running around in Old Haven with lots of firefights.

w/ MLAA on (looks awesome)
min - 25
ave - 47

w/ no AA (runs awesome, well, not as awesome as with a GTX 570)
min - 32
ave - 102

Huuuuge difference, & it just feels so much smoother w/o MLAA.

Now when is nV gonna implement something like that?!
It's awesome, just at the expense of fps, & for my resolution, i need every improvement to min fps i can get... :\

 

[Qbah]

Well, MLAA = great, but it's cutting my fps in half. Actually according to Fraps, worse than half.

If i went Crossfire perhaps, but i do not like multi-card setups :\

Here's some numbers from running around in Old Haven with lots of firefights.

w/ MLAA on (looks awesome)
min - 25
ave - 47

w/ no AA (runs awesome, well, not as awesome as with a GTX 570)
min - 32
ave - 102

Huuuuge difference, & it just feels so much smoother w/o MLAA.

Now when is nV gonna implement something like that?!
It's awesome, just at the expense of fps, & for my resolution, i need every improvement to min fps i can get... :\

Ouch... well, I game with v-sync + triple buffering on (max 60 FPS) and at 1920x1080, so for me it was going from 59 AVG with ~40MIN to ~55AVG and ~35MIN. So for me it's a very small difference. Though I play at 1920x1080, so that's most likely the reason. My HD5850 is overclocked making it almost as fast as a HD5870.

If you need pure speed, the GTX570 will offer you that 🙂 Especially at 2560x1600 (more VRAM helps too). But once you saw MLAA in Borderlands in action... 😉

 

[BFG10K]

Well, MLAA = great, but it's cutting my fps in half. Actually according to Fraps, worse than half.

Yep, I’m not sure where the idea is coming from that MLAA doesn’t have a big performance hit. In almost every game I’ve tested it in, it’s slower than 8xMSAA/2xSSAA.

 

[n7]

Ouch... well, I game with v-sync + triple buffering on (max 60 FPS) and at 1920x1080, so for me it was going from 59 AVG with ~40MIN to ~55AVG and ~35MIN. So for me it's a very small difference. Though I play at 1920x1080, so that's most likely the reason. My HD5850 is overclocked making it almost as fast as a HD5870.

If you need pure speed, the GTX570 will offer you that 🙂 Especially at 2560x1600 (more VRAM helps too). But once you saw MLAA in Borderlands in action... 😉

Yeah i don't really like fps caps or vsync unless imperative, so i removed the cap in Borderlands.

It looks damn nice, & i think i could even learn to tolerate the blurry text, but i can't really tolerate the fps...too much of a hit.

2560x1600 is a beast of resolution, close enough to double yours, & unfortunately it means either multi-GPU setups, or living with limitations.

Wanna say a huge thanx for the help on this though...very great to know this.

 

[spinejam]

Thanks for the mini-review! 🙂

 

[Skurge]

you could always return the 570 and get a 6970 and get the performance plus MLAA

 

[Elfear]

you could always return the 570 and get a 6970 and get the performance plus MLAA

Or get a 6950, unlock to 6970 speeds, save $50-60, and have MLAA.:biggrin:

 

[Qbah]

I have another idea - try running the game at 1920x1200 with MLAA. Perhaps it will look better than running 2560x1600 and no AA. And you're welcome 🙂

 

[toyota]

I have another idea - try running the game at 1920x1200 with MLAA. Perhaps it will look better than running 2560x1600 and no AA. And you're welcome 🙂

AA will never make up for running below native res on an LCD.

 

[Dadofamunky]

No kidding.

Interesting topic, indicating among other things what a big jump in resource intensity it is, going from 19x12 to 25x16.

 

[Qbah]

AA will never make up for running below native res on an LCD.

Normally I would agree with you as I have seen the effect of non-native resolution and it sucks. However, MLAA is kinda special. I'm going to try it out myself and see once I get back home. Will probably test at 1600x900 and 1440x810 or something. The difference should be more pronounced in my case (as I'm sitting like 1.5m from a 40" screen and the PPI of my screen is a lot lower than a 30" 2560x1600 LCD). Though the results will be rather subjective in the end (as there's no easy way to show it besides personal observation).

 

[bryanW1995]

nice thread

 

[nOOky]

Played some Borderlands and enabled MLAA after reading this thread. Does look nicer, the text does get kind of sketchy, and even some Flash games I play show the difference. I probably still like super-sampling AA better, but that's a huge performance hit with just my 6870. I'd probably need Crossfire or a 6970 to make that playable.
Despite what some say about mid-range systems being too fast for today's games, that's obviously not with everything cranked. Maybe I need another 6870 🙂