Official 5870 Review/Discussion Thread!!!!

[zmatt]

Any speculation about GT300 at this point is crap. We know hardly a thing. All of the reports of GT300 specs are form questionable sources and are pretty much the same "preview" specs we have seen for a long time just the specs are doubled. Nvidia hasn't had much of a retort after ATI's launch, which to me speaks volumes. Last time they talked about CUDA and PhysX as if it was the second coming, of course that turned out to be crap, but at least they had something to say. This time, nothing. What does that mean? I'll let you decide.

 

[Baez]

Nevertheless I have a strong feeling this is going to be the exact same debacle as when the first DX10 cards came out. Although ATI is a little stronger this time around.

The situation: ATI releases their card and it is good but still not the best. They somehow fail to top everything even with newer technology. Once ATI is finished nVidia comes along and improves on what ATI missed. It really annoys me. Why can't ATI just stay put a little while longer and make a card that kills the competition?

No one can deny that the 8800GTX held the #1 spot the longest of any card we've seen. The thing was an absolute powerhouse that blew everyone away. And it made ATI look like the undeniable underdog. What I want to see from ATI is a tech changing juggernaut like the 8800. Keep the competition steady. Don't let nVidia win every new tech battle. Instead of releasing the 2 series too early they should have waited a bit and released the 3 series as the 2 series.

 

[dirkpitt45]

I think ATI is doing fine... They should stick to the mid-high level cards. Nvidia had the overall better cards, but they were more expensive. ATI's are still good, but not as good as Nvidia. Better bang for your buck with ATI, and thats what I like .

 

[Wildside]

what ATI is beating Nvidia so hard is: lower prices. Reminds me of Microsoft vs Apple computers.

 

[zmatt]

Nevertheless I have a strong feeling this is going to be the exact same debacle as when the first DX10 cards came out. Although ATI is a little stronger this time around.

The situation: ATI releases their card and it is good but still not the best. They somehow fail to top everything even with newer technology. Once ATI is finished nVidia comes along and improves on what ATI missed. It really annoys me. Why can't ATI just stay put a little while longer and make a card that kills the competition?

No one can deny that the 8800GTX held the #1 spot the longest of any card we've seen. The thing was an absolute powerhouse that blew everyone away. And it made ATI look like the undeniable underdog. What I want to see from ATI is a tech changing juggernaut like the 8800. Keep the competition steady. Don't let nVidia win every new tech battle. Instead of releasing the 2 series too early they should have waited a bit and released the 3 series as the 2 series.

I don't know if you noticed. But the 5870 does kill the competition. The only card that is faster is the GTX295, and its dual gpu and cost $100 more. What do you want the 5870 to do, cure cancer? That is about as big of an improvement as any rational person could hope for.

In short the 5870 dominates right now and it makes a whole slew of cards obsolete. And it will only get faster as driver updates are released. The gtx295 wont, since it has been out for awhile. I imagine the hd5870 will be faster than it before too long. And then that makes it the fastest card period, and Nvidia wont have a response for a few more months.

Lets be honest with ourselves. The 5870 means that Nvidia no longer has "faster" cards. ATI used to rule in price/performance and were happy to uncut Nvidia that way. Now they are faster too, and small and cooler. The gt200 cards are obsolete and can't compete. I would have liked fo the 5870 to launch cheaper, but even given it's current price it still has a great price/performance ratio.

 

[dirkpitt45]

I'm gonna wait till xmas before getting a new card either way. Hopefully the 4890 or gtx 275 will have dropped enough to be affordable(sub $200). Or if I'm lucky maybe Nvidia will go the "Bang for your Buck" route and have a decent dx11 card for the same price; although thats pretty unlikely.

 

[zmatt]

I'm gonna wait till xmas before getting a new card either way. Hopefully the 4890 or gtx 275 will have dropped enough to be affordable(sub $200). Or if I'm lucky maybe Nvidia will go the "Bang for your Buck" route and have a decent dx11 card for the same price; although thats pretty unlikely.

Although there is little reputable info available, my gut tells me Nvidia won't go that way. They still seem to be going for massive uber gpus that cost a lot and brute force their way through 3d. If they can get it down to a small enough process then it will be cheap enough and cool enough to be practical. But if they don't open with a die shrink it will be disastrous. Note that they never launch a new generation with a die shrink. They tried that once and it didn't work out to well.

 

[philbar71]

I don't know if you noticed. But the 5870 does kill the competition. The only card that is faster is the GTX295, and its dual gpu and cost $100 more. What do you want the 5870 to do, cure cancer? That is about as big of an improvement as any rational person could hope for.

In short the 5870 dominates right now and it makes a whole slew of cards obsolete. And it will only get faster as driver updates are released. The gtx295 wont, since it has been out for awhile. I imagine the hd5870 will be faster than it before too long. And then that makes it the fastest card period, and Nvidia wont have a response for a few more months.

Lets be honest with ourselves. The 5870 means that Nvidia no longer has "faster" cards. ATI used to rule in price/performance and were happy to uncut Nvidia that way. Now they are faster too, and small and cooler. The gt200 cards are obsolete and can't compete. I would have liked fo the 5870 to launch cheaper, but even given it's current price it still has a great price/performance ratio.

i think what we were really hoping for is another 8800Ultra. you know? like the massive lead it has over the 7950 just look at how it slaughters it. that's what we were really wanting. (or at least i was)

 

[veg1992]

i think what we were really hoping for is another 8800Ultra. you know? like the massive lead it has over the 7950 just look at how it slaughters it. that's what we were really wanting. (or at least i was)

Don't say that!!

Then nVidia will make another $600+ card .

 

[philbar71]

Don't say that!!

Then nVidia will make another $600+ card .

but think if nvidia does not make a $600 5870 killer (i am not saying that they will, this is a completely hypothetical statement) then the 5870 will stay at $380 until nvidia drops the prices of the GTX 295, which they most likely wont because (as it has been stated before) GT 200 is a ungodly huge piece of silicon and is so extremely expensive to make [/sarcasm]