Solved ASUS HD 6850 or ASUS GTX 560 (non-Ti, DirectCU, 810MHz)?

[nekov4ego]

Helllo everyone,

I wanted to buy the Radeon HD 6870 but it's not on the market here anymore, so I will have to buy another one -- hopefully not the HD 7850 xD. So, which one should I pick: the ASUS EAH6850, or the ASUS ENGTX560. Give your reasons please. I need the answer before Wednesday (2nd of May)

I read stuff about both of these, I'm really "new" to NVIDIA but I am also confused now. Asked people, some say Radeon, some say GeForce... I really don't know. Help me out, I'll appreciate it.

Ask away for more info if you need to.

 

[ben946210]

I have always been an ATI/AMD fan when it comes to video cards so I'm gonna say go with the 6850. I have one and it is great. It is typically cheaper than the Nvidia and is slightly higher on Passmark's benchmarks. Also, I totally agree with Asus as a brand as they are one of the bests.

 

[M1GU31]

6870 compares to the 560,I would go with the 560 since its comparable to the 6870 but also depends what resolutions your going to be playing on. Although the 6850 should be sufficient enough to run pretty much any game at decent resolutions and at a cheaper price, a bit of overclocking would get it at speeds or close of a stock 6870. Have you checked amazon.com for a hd 6870? I bought mine 2 months ago at amazon.

 

[smarteyeball]

ASUS ENGTX560.

This.

Give your reasons please.

The GTX 560 (non Ti) outperforms the 6850.

Performance is similar, but the 560 has the edge in most games.

Personally, I've found Nvidia drivers to be less problematic and overall more 'stable' than AMD CAT drivers. They also tend to get fixes out for 'new' titles quicker than AMD.

Nvidia drivers are better in Linux than AMD (if you use Linux)


(Just keep in mind neither camp is perfect, but having owned several cards from both AMD and nvidia - I prefer nvidia drivers.)

I need the answer before Wednesday (25th of April)

:huh: It's the 29th mate

Asked people, some say Radeon, some say GeForce... I really don't know.

That's always the way


Basically both cards are decent and should overclock well.

Also, the Asus DCII coolers are great. (I've got a GTX 580 DCII in my machine and a 6950 DCII in my old (now sisters machine). Both are nice and quiet and cool efficiently.

But for the performance edge and arguably better drivers - I'd personally go for the GTX 560.

(If you could afford the extra, this would be even better than both)

 

[nekov4ego]

@clearfire62 Yep, ASUS offer better warranty than any other brand here. And I like that DirectCU top ^^

@M1GU31 Amazon isn't an option for me, I can't afford the delivery from there. I play at 1920x1080p (see my PC specs for more info)

@smarteyeball Nope, I can't afford the Ti you sent. I don't think I plan to overclock... I can't afford to hurt or even kill my GPU and have to buy another one, because I won't be able to xD So I'm not in the position to risk.
- Just realized I'd picked the wrong Wednesday. I'll change it, thanks for the note.

So basically I can't go wrong with either? I read and was also told that the GTX 560 will outperform the 6850 and it's only 10 euros more so it's worth it, and didn't NVIDIA have some fetures like PhysX for some games out there? I think that would be nice too.

Also some said AMD has had problems with shadows. No idea what problems those would be but if you know anything about that, please let me know.

 

[ganjiry]

im an AMD/ ATI fan but id say go with the gtx560. reasons i know of a few people struggling to play bf3 at half decent seetings with a 6850. i had an xfx6850 myself and they are an ok card but but the 560 is the better card out of the 2 plus nvidia has physics.

 

[EzioAuditore]

@clearfire62 Yep, ASUS offer better warranty than any other brand here. And I like that DirectCU top ^^

@M1GU31 Amazon isn't an option for me, I can't afford the delivery from there. I play at 1920x1080p (see my PC specs for more info)

@smarteyeball Nope, I can't afford the Ti you sent. I don't think I plan to overclock... I can't afford to hurt or even kill my GPU and have to buy another one, because I won't be able to xD So I'm not in the position to risk.
- Just realized I'd picked the wrong Wednesday. I'll change it, thanks for the note.

So basically I can't go wrong with either? I read and was also told that the GTX 560 will outperform the 6850 and it's only 10 euros more so it's worth it, and didn't NVIDIA have some fetures like PhysX for some games out there? I think that would be nice too.

Also some said AMD has had problems with shadows. No idea what problems those would be but if you know anything about that, please let me know.

Yes. PhysX is there in nvidia cards which provides realistic cloth, paper, smoke etc animations but there's a catch.
The game your playing needs to support physX to utilise this feature.
Some games like Mafia 2, Batman AA support it.

 

[nekov4ego]

@ganjiry Yeah in different games each of the cards will perform differently and sometimes the 560 may be better, sometimes the 6850 may have the advantage. Pesonally I doubt I will be able to notice the difference unless I have FRAPS showing me the FPS I'm getting.

@EzioAuditore Yeah, I know. But it's still a plus over AMD. Add it to the better performance of the 560 and it's worth the €10, isn't it? : ) I'm an AC fan too by the way xP

 

[EzioAuditore]

@ganjiry Yeah in different games each of the cards will perform differently and sometimes the 560 may be better, sometimes the 6850 may have the advantage. Pesonally I doubt I will be able to notice the difference unless I have FRAPS showing me the FPS I'm getting.

@EzioAuditore Yeah, I know. But it's still a plus over AMD. Add it to the better performance of the 560 and it's worth the €10, isn't it? : ) I'm an AC fan too by the way xP

Yeah it is indeed a plus over amd. I'm sure it'll be a upgrade well worth.
And hop aboard then on the ac fan tower and prepare for leap of faith.
Waiting eagerly for ac3.

 

[smarteyeball]

@smarteyeball Nope, I can't afford the Ti you sent.

That's fair enough. Then non-Ti is still a decent performer.

I don't think I plan to overclock... I can't afford to hurt or even kill my GPU and have to buy another one, because I won't be able to xD So I'm not in the position to risk.

Honestly, there is minimal risk involved in OCing a GPU, but it's your card and your choice

You can always search about what's involved or ask here later if you feel more comfortable with the idea.

(I personally OC all my video cards and haven't hurt one yet )

So basically I can't go wrong with either?

Neither are a bad choice.

Also some said AMD has had problems with shadows. No idea what problems those would be but if you know anything about that, please let me know.

I vaguely recall reading one or two games (can't remember which though) had some issues with shadows rendering. It may have been fixed by now :huh:

 

[ganjiry]

ive never had a single problem with either of my ATI cards or drivers and am more than happy with my card. as for problems with shadows, i have no clue what thats all about. the 6850 is a good card it ran the bf3 beta well but i upgraded b4 bf3 released so cant coment on how it performed in the actual game. plus u can pick them up for sub £100 now

 

[stormy13]

plus nvidia has physics.

No Nvidia has Physx, very large difference. Physx only comes into play if the game uses hardware (AKA CUDA) accelerated Physx, of which there isn't that many available (20 odd with a half dozen or so mainstream titles, with the rest being ones that most have never heard of).

 

[M1GU31]

ok just go with the gtx 560 then , that card matches the 6870 in performance they run almost the same.Here you can compare gpus and as you can see they are almost the same so the 560 would be a good choice if you cant get the 6870 GeForce GTX 560 vs Radeon HD 6870 – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare

 

[nekov4ego]

OK, so I have the GTX 560 now and it's awesome. The FPS is really not so stable on some games but it never drops below 30.

I haven't forgotten about you guys I'm gonna give reps tomorrow.

Just one more thing... does this card HAVE to be so noisy? If I reduce the fan speed, will the card overheat or something?

 

[ganjiry]

usually if u reduce the fan speed it will still speed up once it hits a certain temperature. so u will be ok. just try n get a balance between noise n temp. adjust so its as quiet as poss but keeps the temp from raising when.
its down to the fact that the coolers fans r so small meaning they need to spin faster to move more air

 

[nekov4ego]

What temp do I need to keep it away from? I adjusted the fan speed to 45-50% when it becomes just a bit noisy but the CPU fan is noisier so it's not a problem. And I played for an hour and I checked the temps. It was 65-67C.

 

[ganjiry]

gpu's run a lot hotter than cpu's and 65c is nothing for a gpu so ur well within the temp limits. i think anything below 90c is ok. u have nothin to worry about ur temps r good.
i have my fans set at 45% which keeps my gpu @ 46c when idle. it will raise ingame but doesn't go over 62c.
its mad how much difference there is in noise once the fans go over the 50% mark lol. @ 45% my fans run at about 1900rpm which is pretty quiet but as soon as they go over 2000rpm it starts gettin loud lol. no probs when i have my headset on tho

 

[nekov4ego]

I set SmartDoctor to notify me if it ever reaches 80C. I too have headphones but I'm not alone in the room. My brother is sleeping while I'm playing sometimes.

 

[ganjiry]

hehe. u have no need to worry. temps wont get that high

 

[nekov4ego]

Thanks, you're very helpful. I just noticed that it actually is my PSU actually... it's the noisy one. I suppose I can't do anything about that, no?