Hold off for GTX 470 replacement ?

[Oreo]

As some of you may know my GTX 470 has gone in for RMA after fan failure. I've got my ATI 4870 back in and im happy with it for now, i don't actually miss the 470 that much.

Point is when the RMA goes through and i get my £300 back, i am wondering whether it's worth waiting 3 months or so to see what changes come in the GPU world. I was thinking it would be clearer how much drivers improve the 470's performance, the price may drop, or maybe even some new card revisions from ATI (5890 ?) and nVidia (GTX 475?). I have my birthday in a few months too, so may even have some more money.

So is there no point in me waiting and i should get a replacement immediately, or hold out a little ?

 

[james.wired]

The 470 is seing some performance increases with new drivers, but if you are happy with the 4870 then I honestly say just use it until the next refreshes come out. If you think you could use that 300 for something else and you would get a replacement card around your birthday...do it But it really just depends on how content you are with the 4870 over the 470.

 

[dirkpitt45]

Go with a 5870 maybe? It'll hold its value, so when the 5890/475 comes out you could probably still get 350 or so for it easy.

 

[Sean W.]

You are chasing a rabbit down a very deep hole. this is the way the computer world works, every few months a newer better thing comes out and you think " man if i had that then i would be happy, i wish i could have that " no matter how long you wait , this will ALWAYS happen. But it is the first Quarter of this fiscal year, Nividia just came out with some new cards, so ATI should be coming out with a new card here pretty soon.

it all depends on how long you are willing to wait for the newest greatest thing?...

 

[Oreo]

The 470 is seing some performance increases with new drivers, but if you are happy with the 4870 then I honestly say just use it until the next refreshes come out. If you think you could use that 300 for something else and you would get a replacement card around your birthday...do it But it really just depends on how content you are with the 4870 over the 470.

I am alright with the 4870 for the next few months, it still lets me play all my games on at least medium settings. But of course, i would prefer maximum settings. I guess it would make sense to hold out until i cripple under the pressure of wanting a new card.

Go with a 5870 maybe? It'll hold its value, so when the 5890/475 comes out you could probably still get 350 or so for it easy.

I am tempted to go with a 5870 this time, my thoughts of nVidia have gone down quite a bit after a reference bored fan failed just weeks after i installed it..

You are chasing a rabbit down a very deep hole. this is the way the computer world works, every few months a newer better thing comes out and you think " man if i had that then i would be happy, i wish i could have that " no matter how long you wait , this will ALWAYS happen. But it is the first Quarter of this fiscal year, Nividia just came out with some new cards, so ATI should be coming out with a new card here pretty soon.

it all depends on how long you are willing to wait for the newest greatest thing?...

Yeh, i'm aware of this. But then if i can still play my games at satisfactory settings for now then it may pay off to wait a while to see who is most likely to win the Fermi/5xxxx war. ATI is obviously doing much stronger at the moment, but i can't help but think when i see such discrepancies between different games that the nvidia drivers need a good sorting. Some games the 470 beats the 5870 5 or 10 percent and others its 5 or 10 percent behind the 5850, and in one or two games it isn't even any faster than last gen GTX285.

And then there is question i can never get out my head. Do i want 4 monitor support, or do i want 3D Vision and PhysX. And yeh i'm aware of ATI's Stream and OpenCL stuff - but who knows if it'll come into games.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Osiris posted a thread about the Galaxy 470 GC or something, I had a look through the benchmarks and it's quite an impressive improvement over the stock nvidia model.

 

[dirkpitt45]

A single 5870 only supports 3 monitors for Eyefinity, unless you go with a "6" version.

 

[Oreo]

A single 5870 only supports 3 monitors for Eyefinity, unless you go with a "6" version.

Heh, i meant to type 3. That is perfectly fine for me

Osiris posted a thread about the Galaxy 470 GC or something, I had a look through the benchmarks and it's quite an impressive improvement over the stock nvidia model.

I might take a look, thanks.

 

[Oreo]

Wow i'm impressed, my RMA has already been processed and i have £299 sitting in my bank
Great turn around speed considering the parcel was only picked up from me (free of charge) on monday.

Now onto the fun part.. ma next purchase !

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Decided what you're getting yet?