There is that niggle. If you wanted AA though, you might as well go for a GTX480, those things murder AA enabled games like nothing.
I was considering it, but it's a beast when it comes to temperature and power draw. Plus it doesn't consistently beat the 5870 1GB (but it's more money). I still have the rest of the night to think about it, I'm planning on ordering tomorrow morning.
Thing is though if you're getting a 2GB HD5870, then you might as well get the GTX480, you'll see a better gain. Not to mention it isn't as catastrophically hot as people make it. The 8800Ultra was about the same.
From what I see the GTX480 only gains about 4-5 FPS more while drawing 100 watts more power, and getting 20 Celsius hotter than the 5870 (with stock cooler, so the Vapor-X will be even better). The fact that it keeps up better with AA is a big bonus for me, but the way I see it the 5870 does the job just as well using less power and heat. Don't get me wrong, I like NVidia; they just seem to have lost this round.
You should check the numbers over at hardocp.com to see how the 480 stacks up against the 5870, it really is signifigantly more powerful. This isn't even using the new forcewares. Its a shame the waters are soo muddied with the 5870 being soo overpriced :/
I just checked out [H]'s review and the 480 does beat the 5870 in some games. But in the conclusion of their follow up article about the temp and sound they say And that just isn't for me. The 5870 runs cooler and quieter while keeping close to the same performance. Sure I'm paying a premium for it, but in my case I think it's worth it.
a premium for a 5870 ? its a lot cheaper than 480. so its acutally cooler quieter, lower power consumption, slightly slower and much much cheaper
Well the Vapor-X 1GB is $430 while a normal 5870 seems to be about $400. And the 2GB Vapor-X is the same price as a 480.
but your comparing special 5870s against a stock GTX480 ? normal price £320 5870 £390 GTX480 is the GTX worth the £70 i dont think so as it provides only slightly better FPS plus all the other issues with heat power consumption etc
Pretty much spot on. The thing though is when you break 300 quid on a graphics card, well your already into silly money. What's an extra £70 then?
To the OP: You MUST get the 2GB version! I regularly push my GPUs over 1GB, typically in the 1200-1400MB region. I do actually 'need' more VRAM as a few games I have run out of memory when I put more than 4xAA on. Some older games are also vastly inefficient with memory usage when AA is engaged (Doom 3, Quake 4, Stalker, I'm looking at you!). Look at it this way: new games are going to consume more resources than older ones.
Stock the HD5870 has the edge, but if you get a 2GB version, the waters are muddier, that extra 1GB of memory doesn't really justify the cost.
Well, even though I planned on ordering from Newegg today I didn't get to. The card was literally in my cart but by the time I went to check it was apparently out of stock (in both sizes). So no card until Newegg gets more in stock; but there is no ETA on either version yet. As for which card to get, I think I'm going to get the 2GB. For only $50 more I might as well play it safe. If time proves the extra memory wasn't worth it, I didn't spend a ridiculous amount more money; and if it is beneficial in the long run then hey that's fantastic!
