I bought two 5870s today after reading the GTX 480 reviews yesterday

[AdamK47]

I'm not brand loyal. I've had dozens of cards from each side since PC 3D accelerators were available. After reading the reviews of the GTX 480 yesterday, it made my decision to buy two 5870s from Micro Center much easier. I had two 2GB GTX 285s in my system (soon to be for sale on these forums). They are great cards and work well with my 750W PC Power & Cooling power supply. If I were to go with two GTX 480s I would have to upgrade the power supply and then pay ~$550 per card before tax. A good single rail 850W to 1000W power supply is ~$175. With the 5870s I can still use my current power supply and I only have to pay $400 per card. Not only that, but 185W vs 250W to 290W is a significant differance in heat output. A good difference when I consider the small size of my computer room. It would be unbearable this summer. I'll be using these 5870s for a while. Perhaps nVidia can work out the problems with the GTX 480 and release a lower power consuming 512 core refresh later this year. The card the way it is now doesn't seem finished.

 

[coldpower27]

Your going from GTX 285 SLI to 5870 Crossfire? So much money to spend!!

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Grats?

Edit: I see you're using an LN37A550 for a monitor. I like you.

 

[Kenmitch]

Your going from GTX 285 SLI to 5870 Crossfire? So much money to spend!!

Hmm....His money his choice.

To me it sounds like he wanted to upgrade his video cards to the latest tech. He did what alot of others did and waited to see what fermi had to offer. He looked, he read and then crunched all the data. Came to the conclusion that he waited for nothing. Best bang for the buck for him goes to the red team.

He's gonna offset the cost with the sale of current cards so seems like a logical choice to me.

 

[Grooveriding]

Enjoy!

I did exactly the same with my two gtx 285s, sold them and got two 5870s. Haven't looked back.

I didn't wait 6 months though

You'll enjoy the difference, it was a huge leap in performance up from the 285s

Enjoy your new cards.

 

[Apocalypse23]

I'm not brand loyal. I've had dozens of cards from each side since PC 3D accelerators were available. After reading the reviews of the GTX 480 yesterday, it made my decision to buy two 5870s from Micro Center much easier. I had two 2GB GTX 285s in my system (soon to be for sale on these forums). They are great cards and work well with my 750W PC Power & Cooling power supply. If I were to go with two GTX 480s I would have to upgrade the power supply and then pay ~$550 per card before tax. A good single rail 850W to 1000W power supply is ~$175. With the 5870s I can still use my current power supply and I only have to pay $400 per card. Not only that, but 185W vs 250W to 290W is a significant differance in heat output. A good difference when I consider the small size of my computer room. It would be unbearable this summer. I'll be using these 5870s for a while. Perhaps nVidia can work out the problems with the GTX 480 and release a lower power consuming 512 core refresh later this year. The card the way it is now doesn't seem finished.

Power to you man! cheers

 

[secretanchitman]

I'm not brand loyal. I've had dozens of cards from each side since PC 3D accelerators were available. After reading the reviews of the GTX 480 yesterday, it made my decision to buy two 5870s from Micro Center much easier. I had two 2GB GTX 285s in my system (soon to be for sale on these forums). They are great cards and work well with my 750W PC Power & Cooling power supply. If I were to go with two GTX 480s I would have to upgrade the power supply and then pay ~$550 per card before tax. A good single rail 850W to 1000W power supply is ~$175. With the 5870s I can still use my current power supply and I only have to pay $400 per card. Not only that, but 185W vs 250W to 290W is a significant differance in heat output. A good difference when I consider the small size of my computer room. It would be unbearable this summer. I'll be using these 5870s for a while. Perhaps nVidia can work out the problems with the GTX 480 and release a lower power consuming 512 core refresh later this year. The card the way it is now doesn't seem finished.

i like your thinking. its what i would have done too if i had the money to spare.

 

[PUN]

Why did you get 2x 5870?
Under your resoultion, a single 5870 is enough.

 

[Tempered81]

I'm guessing he likes newer games like Metro, Stalker & Crysis. Doesn't he have like 200 games on his HDD? heheh

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Why did you get 2x 5870?
Under your resoultion, a single 5870 is enough.

because 2x GTX285 in SLI is easily faster than a single 5870, he'd be downgrading if he just got a single 5870.

 

[Zebo]

Nice but I think 2 5850's is ultimate bang for the buck in high performance especially so if you find them @ $259 retail. Will walk all over GTX 470 in performance and use less power, be quieter for same price. It's a shame no reviewers pointed this out.


In your case i'd definitely got 2 5850s

 

[PUN]

because 2x GTX285 in SLI is easily faster than a single 5870, he'd be downgrading if he just got a single 5870.

?!?! what does 2x gtx285 being faster than a single 5870 has to do anything with him playing on 1920x1080 resolution?

There is no need for a dual GPU if playing under 1920x1080 resolution. Even crysis runs pretty good.

 

[skrewler2]

ya, the 480 just runs way too hot for my liking. maybe if they were water cooled it'd be fine. 5870 has impressed me with how cool they run compared to typical nvidia bleeding edge cards.

 

[Hauk]

Why did you get 2x 5870?
Under your resoultion, a single 5870 is enough.

Why do people bother to ask questions like this? It's obvious (by his previous cards) that he's an enthusiast. Enthusiasts typically don't run "enough." Overkill FTW!

No offense to you sir, but that's why..

 

[terentenet]

Good choice and under normal circumstances I would also get 2 5870 and CF them... but I will get 3 GTX480 when they appear, watercool and Tri-SLI them.
I'm in love with 3D Vision, that keeps me away from ATI.
I also think performance will get better on the GTX480, drivers used in reviews were clearly incomplete and immature (features missing, nvidia said something about version 256 that would bring all to table). That's when I want to see reviews.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Just watch out for those 10.3 drives, my XP machine still crashes from them; aka blue screen, in vista.

 

[Maximilian]

Welcome to the club :thumbsup:

 

[dguy6789]

?!?! what does 2x gtx285 being faster than a single 5870 has to do anything with him playing on 1920x1080 resolution?

There is no need for a dual GPU if playing under 1920x1080 resolution. Even crysis runs pretty good.

You speak as if a 5870 is enough to run 1920x1080 on any game at any image quality setting. FYI, it would be VERY easy to crank up the AA enough to make a 5870 choke big time at 1920x1080 on plenty of games.

 

[Skott]

Those 5870s will won't be as noisy as a 480 either most likely. That thing sounds like a vaccuum cleaner under full load. I think nVidia made a step backwards with the 480 in design. Sure its 10%-15% faster but heat, power consumption, and the noise definitely subtracts from it. Oh, and it so far it doesn't do multi-screen gaming like Eyefinity. I bet ATI execs are snickering and laughing.

 

[ZimZum]

This is why were not likely to see a 5xxx price drop. Alot of people like Dguy were waiting to see what Fermi brought to the table. And after seeing it are now purchasing a 5xxx solution.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

This is why were not likely to see a 5xxx price drop. Alot of people like Dguy were waiting to see what Fermi brought to the table. And after seeing it are now purchasing a 5xxx solution.

It's not as black and white as that but that may be one reason. Another may be the production/supply of the chip.

 

[PUN]

You speak as if a 5870 is enough to run 1920x1080 on any game at any image quality setting. FYI, it would be VERY easy to crank up the AA enough to make a 5870 choke big time at 1920x1080 on plenty of games.

Please name one.
Let me give you a head start. Crysis Everything maxed (including AA) will give you 35fps.
Please name plenty of others that are more demanding than Crysis.

If OP is just having fun CF/Sli-ing vidcard, that's fine. Maybe he is looking to move to 2560x1600 resolution. He hasn't done so in his 2xGTX285, so I was wondering of all the waste with no gain.

 

[The Sauce]

Nice but I think 2 5850's is ultimate bang for the buck in high performance especially so if you find them @ $259 retail. Will walk all over GTX 470 in performance and use less power, be quieter for same price. It's a shame no reviewers pointed this out.


In your case i'd definitely got 2 5850s

This. ^

Even with minimal overclocking (i.e. 850/1200) the 5850 is an easy match for a 5870 in current applications, which do not use the extra shaders. Crossfiring 2x5850's would offer equivalent performance and shave $300 off the price. As well as power savings.

 

[Kenmitch]

This. ^

Even with minimal overclocking (i.e. 850/1200) the 5850 is an easy match for a 5870 in current applications, which do not use the extra shaders. Crossfiring 2x5850's would offer equivalent performance and shave $300 off the price. As well as power savings.

I agree with this statement 100% and not just because I have one....Best bang for buck cross-fire for those willing to push the chip to it's true potential.

For those who don't overclock then I'd have to say the HD 5870 cross-fire is the next best solution....But for those who have the xtra bucks and are willing to push the chip it's the current winner!

I think the 5xxx series still has room for improvement and with some tweaking of the silicone ATI can milk it for a while as nVidia scratches it's head.

 

[AdamK47]

Hmm....His money his choice.

To me it sounds like he wanted to upgrade his video cards to the latest tech. He did what alot of others did and waited to see what fermi had to offer. He looked, he read and then crunched all the data. Came to the conclusion that he waited for nothing. Best bang for the buck for him goes to the red team.

He's gonna offset the cost with the sale of current cards so seems like a logical choice to me.

Exactly

Why do people bother to ask questions like this? It's obvious (by his previous cards) that he's an enthusiast. Enthusiasts typically don't run "enough." Overkill FTW!

No offense to you sir, but that's why..

Exactly