Video Card mess

[jpinks]

I had a 5870 Sapphire card and gave my son my old 8800 GTS 640. Well the 8800 finally died (he tried the oven trick and no go either) and I put my 5870 in his pc. I cant believe its gonna cost me more to replace that card with the same card than when I bought it. So my question is Southern Islands/Northern Islands???? I felt sure Computex or even possibly E3 would have had some info on them. I can understand ATI being happy with the 5800 series but I would think by now they would want people to know something about the next gen cards. Are they rolling over for NV because I read there is a GTX 485 on the way?? Is ATI in trouble with this next gen since it wont move to 28nm (NI) because of the foundry issues?? As someone wanting a new card I am very lost as to which way to go.

 

[RussianSensation]

Do you not have warranty on the 8800GTS card? Check.

I cant believe its gonna cost me more to replace that card with the same card than when I bought it.

Blame 40nm supply constraints of TSMC. Supply and demand.

So my question is Southern Islands/Northern Islands????

Likely will not come out until October/November 2010.

Are they rolling over for NV because I read there is a GTX 485 on the way??

Not performance wise. GTX 470 is faster than the 5850 and GTX480 is faster than 5870. However, 5850 is $290, GTX470 is $330, 5870 is $350-370 and GTX480 is $460. So the pricing also makes sense. Bang for the buck 5850 > GTX470 and 5870 > GTX480 though (plus better power consumption).

Is ATI in trouble with this next gen since it wont move to 28nm (NI) because of the foundry issues??

They won't release their new cards on 28nm until next year. Therefore, Southern Islands will be on 40nm. But it's too early to talk about it since it isn't coming out any time soon. Performance wise, I would imagine it will surpass GTX485.

So bottom line is, bang for the buck, I would get a 5850 and overclock it (for your son) and take the 5870 back from him. At the same time, there are hardly any games that push a 5870. And the ones that do (Crysis: Warhead, Metro 2033, STALKER: Call of Pripyat) won't be maxed out even with the next generation either (esp. not if tessellation if involved). Also, your processor won't be fast enough for anything beyond 5870. It is arguably already bottlenecking current high end videocards unless you apply 8AA.

 

[Kenmitch]

As far as ATI being in trouble I doubt it. They just don't do the green machine marketing campaign

I'm sure ATI will release the info when the time is right. As in have some testing done etc.

Current pricing does knda suck tho.