GTX 470 vs Ati 5850

[Sniper_13]

As you know i have right now GTX 460 which im pleased with. but i got an extra 60$ to spend i figure i step up to either the 5850 or 470. Ive read some discussions about the card and almost everyone vouches for the 5850 in regards to better temps and overclock capabilities. Since i know you guys are experts and some of you have one of this cards i wanted a second opinion.

and also i will most likely SLi or Crossfire one of them down the line, and since i heard problems with xfx and crossfire maybe i should not consider that one, but then again you tell me.

The 470 is 10$ more

EVGA GeForce GTX 470 1280MB (012-P3-1470-AR) nVidia GeForce GTX 470 Chipset (607Mhz) 1280MB (3348Mhz) GDDR5 Dual Display Dual-Link DVI-I/Mini HDMI PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card | Canada Computers

the 5850

either this one

1# Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5 (Game Edition) ATI Radeon HD 5850 Chipset (725Mhz) 1GB GDDR5 (4000Mhz) Memory HD Audio Triple Display (Dual Dual-Link DVI) /HDMI/Display Port PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card | Canada Computers

2# XFX ATI Radeon HD 5850 (HD-585X-ZAFC) ATI Radeon HD 5850 Chipset (725Mhz) 1GB (4000Mhz) DDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI/HDMI/Display Port PCI-Express 2.1 Graphics Card | Canada Computers

or spend extra for the vapor-x

3# Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 TOXIC 1GB GDDR5 (Vapor-X Overclock Edition) ATI Radeon HD 5850 Chipset (765Mhz) 1GB GDDR5 (4500Mhz) Memory Triple Display Dual Dual-Link DVI/HDMI/Display Port PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card | Canada Computers

Oh and i cant forget to add the 6870 into the mix

4# http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_557_558&item_id=034444

gotta admin the Nvidia line up looks much pretier lol

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

ATI changed how they named the cards for there performance, the 6870 should be similar to a 56xx line if I aint mistaken. But, personally, I love Sapphire, and I love ATI, but I LOVE Nvidia for cuda tech, a lot of what I do on the side once in awhile requires Cuda if I wanna get it done in a few hours instead of a few days.

 

[Sniper_13]

So whats this CUDA technology really good for? well from the benchmarks i read that the 6870 is a tiny bit better than the 5850 and of course its supporting newer tech

 

[Abstract Hero]

YA like corrosive I love Nvidia for CUDA and for the insane folding power. So that's whaT i'd get but really what will it do for you.. if your gaming anything will work for you.

EDIT: CUDA takes some of the processing load off the processor to speed up the processes. It's like adding another core to your CPU.

Have you considered using that 60 to get a dedicated Physx card like a GT240 and than sli the 460 later down the road?

 

[Muffin Man]

ATI changed how they named the cards for there performance, the 6870 should be similar to a 56xx line if I aint mistaken. But, personally, I love Sapphire, and I love ATI, but I LOVE Nvidia for cuda tech, a lot of what I do on the side once in awhile requires Cuda if I wanna get it done in a few hours instead of a few days.

^ not 56xx, 57xx line.

but they're only similar to the 57xx in terms of where they place in the series line (like mid end, high end). like the 5770 and 5750 were the mid end for the 5xxx series, the 6870 and 6850 are the mid end for the 6xxx series.

But they don't compare in performance, they're faster cards. 6870 is a little better than a current 5850, 6850 is a little slower.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The HD 6870 is the card to get from that list. It has very similar performance to the GTX 470 but uses 100w less power whcih will make cooling and running two cards much easier. Crossifre HD 6870's also scale extremely well and it will only get better as the drivers mature.

Also CUDA is just nvidia's propriety implementation of gpgpu. All ATI and Nvidia cards also support DirectX Compute and OpenCL whcih are cross platform competitors to CUDA. Since Nvidia has a tiny percentage of the gpu market developers would be stupid to pick cuda over alternatives that will work on any card.

Gpgpu as a whole is still very pointless for consumers though. It only improves performance in a very tiny number of application and has absolutely no effect on anything else.

 

[Sniper_13]

well i mean is there any good added benefits for a dedicated physX card? because honestly if i go with lets say the 6870 and maybe after Christmas they have a good deal on a 6870 and i just crossfire them. From what i read the 470 has higher temps and isnt as good at Overclocking as the 5850 or 6870

btw: any good benchmarks for the 6870 to compare? i heard it takes a big fall on Unique Heaven but excels in Dirt 2, the 470 seems to be the winner in FPS on all the games but then again like you said it uses less power and runs cooler


EDIT: i was checking out some benchies on Youtube and so far the 6870 is the best in the list. with FPS the 470 beats it by 1-2 fps on almost every game and the temps are 47c while the 6870 is 40 at idle. so im gonna go with the 6870 for sure then. btw that thing is massive in size i hope my HAF 922 can fit it

 

[Puddle Jumper]

This review of the 6750 has a good selection of cards and games.

Anandtech: AMD's Radeon HD 6870 & 6850: Renewing Competition in the Mid-Range Market

 

[Sniper_13]

Thanks for the benchies, really helped out. its nice how they stacked the 460 there for comparison seeing i have one. and honestly ill spend that 60$ extra for the 6870 even though its not a night and day difference but still good.

check out the benchies on CIV 5 , the 460 Oc'd takes the 6870 right out lol and the 470 WOW!

EDIT: after seeing allot of benchmarks, the 6870 gets beaten by an overclocked 460 which i already have, what if i overclock the 6870, to which card would that compare to?

so for sure the 6870 then? or the 470? Any final thoughts or any more opinions before i go out and buy it

 

[PP Mguire]

From what ive seen the 6870 is slightly better than even the 470. I tromp around 480 performance with an OCed 465 but im pretty if you OC the 6870 it might be a tad faster. Dont hold me to that though because idk how they performed overclocked.