Graphic Card Decision

[dannyboy2005]

I have spent a fair few pounds on building one of the most up to date systems.

The main specs are:

Intel i7 930
Cosair H50 Watercooler
ASUS Rampage II Gene
6GB Mushkin Redline 998805

My current Graphics card is a Nvidia Geforce 8800GTX

I understand this will be a bottle neck in the system, because it wont be up to speed with the other components.

I have been told that it would be a great system if it had Nvidia GTX 480 or an ATI 5870. The 5870 draws less power, thus generates less heat. On paper the GTX looks great. I understand that Nvidia and Intel work together (AMD + ATI) so would it be suitable if i had the GTX 480?

What are peoples opinions on these cards too?

Thanks
Dan

 

[Captain Zero]

From my experience, mix/matching has not ever been a problem and seems to be more of a marketing gimmick. I run a Intel chip (QX9650 Extreme) and Quadfire without any problems. Save yourself a boatload of cash and get a Radeon 4870x2. It's a serious performer and I *cannot* lag it down, even slightly. Furthermore, the newer cards run so hot that unless you're liquid cooling them, get used to *lots* of fan noise.

 

[dannyboy2005]

From my experience, mix/matching has not ever been a problem and seems to be more of a marketing gimmick. I run a Intel chip (QX9650 Extreme) and Quadfire without any problems. Save yourself a boatload of cash and get a Radeon 4870x2. It's a serious performer and I *cannot* lag it down, even slightly. Furthermore, the newer cards run so hot that unless you're liquid cooling them, get used to *lots* of fan noise.

Thanks
*Takes a google @ Radeon 4870x2. Assuming that x2 is part of the model number, not 2 cards?

 

[mpcrsc562]

Thanks
*Takes a google @ Radeon 4870x2. Assuming that x2 is part of the model number, not 2 cards?

X2 denotes that it has two physical gpus on one board, so yes, the X2 is included as the model number.

 

[dannyboy2005]

From my experience, mix/matching has not ever been a problem and seems to be more of a marketing gimmick. I run a Intel chip (QX9650 Extreme) and Quadfire without any problems. Save yourself a boatload of cash and get a Radeon 4870x2. It's a serious performer and I *cannot* lag it down, even slightly. Furthermore, the newer cards run so hot that unless you're liquid cooling them, get used to *lots* of fan noise.

As you say, from your experience you haven't had any problems with mixing and matching. I would ideally like a powerful graphics card to play ANY game available. I recently bought Flight Simulator X, which on my current system runs, but not to the max.

Would i get same results if i used 2 lower spec cards (saving money) and used them in SLI/ Crossfire mode to get the same spec as say 1 GTX 480? Or is this deemed bad practice?

Thanks

 

[dannyboy2005]

Sorry to sort of hi-jack my own thread, but what is the difference between say Sapphire, ASUS, PNY etc? Why do they fluctuate so much in price for what is really the same model number?

 

[Fumz]

... I understand that Nvidia and Intel work together (AMD + ATI) so would it be suitable if i had the GTX 480?

As has been said, this is pure marketing myth. ATI cards work great with AMD chipset, with Intel chipsets and with nVidia chipsets.

Instead of going SLI or crossfire, have you considered the 5970? It is currently the baddest card on the planet.

 

[mpcrsc562]

From my experience, mix/matching has not ever been a problem and seems to be more of a marketing gimmick. I run a Intel chip (QX9650 Extreme) and Quadfire without any problems. Save yourself a boatload of cash and get a Radeon 4870x2. It's a serious performer and I *cannot* lag it down, even slightly. Furthermore, the newer cards run so hot that unless you're liquid cooling them, get used to *lots* of fan noise.

As you say, from your experience you haven't had any problems with mixing and matching. I would ideally like a powerful graphics card to play ANY game available. I recently bought Flight Simulator X, which on my current system runs, but not to the max.

Would i get same results if i used 2 lower spec cards (saving money) and used them in SLI/ Crossfire mode to get the same spec as say 1 GTX 480? Or is this deemed bad practice?

Thanks

Sorry to sort of hi-jack my own thread, but what is the difference between say Sapphire, ASUS, PNY etc? Why do they fluctuate so much in price for what is really the same model number?

Honestly, it is better to have a single card.

The differences between the companies, to name a few: extra features with the cards; warranty and customer support; "vanilla" cards vs factory overclocks.

 

[dannyboy2005]

... I understand that Nvidia and Intel work together (AMD + ATI) so would it be suitable if i had the GTX 480?

As has been said, this is pure marketing myth. ATI cards work great with AMD chipset, with Intel chipsets and with nVidia chipsets.

Instead of going SLI or crossfire, have you considered the 5970? It is currently the baddest card on the planet.

Yes, untill i saw the hefty £500 price tag.

From my experience, mix/matching has not ever been a problem and seems to be more of a marketing gimmick. I run a Intel chip (QX9650 Extreme) and Quadfire without any problems. Save yourself a boatload of cash and get a Radeon 4870x2. It's a serious performer and I *cannot* lag it down, even slightly. Furthermore, the newer cards run so hot that unless you're liquid cooling them, get used to *lots* of fan noise.

As you say, from your experience you haven't had any problems with mixing and matching. I would ideally like a powerful graphics card to play ANY game available. I recently bought Flight Simulator X, which on my current system runs, but not to the max.

Would i get same results if i used 2 lower spec cards (saving money) and used them in SLI/ Crossfire mode to get the same spec as say 1 GTX 480? Or is this deemed bad practice?

Thanks

Sorry to sort of hi-jack my own thread, but what is the difference between say Sapphire, ASUS, PNY etc? Why do they fluctuate so much in price for what is really the same model number?

Honestly, it is better to have a single card.

The differences between the companies, to name a few: extra features with the cards; warranty and customer support; "vanilla" cards vs factory overclocks.

So its all the same 'Organs' on the card, but these company's stick their name on it, and adjust drivers/ software? Would i download the drive from ATI website, or would i have to go to say PNY website to download it? In this case, there drivers wont be as recent as Readon's?

Thanks

 

[Fumz]

Yes, untill i saw the hefty £500 price tag.

Yeah, lol, it's steep alright, but if you think about it, you're not going to get off any cheaper going to an sli/crossfire setup that can match it.

**edit**

You'd be just fine with either the 5870 or the gtx 480. You could play anything you wanted with either card.

 

[Captain Zero]

For what it's worth, I use Sapphire Radeon's HD4870X2 (2 cars so 4 GPUs) and have found them to be exceptionally robust.

And let me say it again, *nothing* I have thrown at these cards has slowed them down, not even slightly, despite serious effort into hacking games into doing things they're not supposed to do. Using max, max, max settings and increasing LOD to infinity, for example.

The latest cards are fast, sure. But they're overkill and marketing nightmares. Besides, you will have some *serious* noise levels with the fans these new cards run. Bottom line, even today, I'd run a single X2 Radeon over 1 single card. Half the price (if not more) and performance that's just as good in the real world.

So unless all you do is run benchmarks, save some money.

 

[dannyboy2005]

Yes, untill i saw the hefty £500 price tag.

Yeah, lol, it's steep alright, but if you think about it, you're not going to get off any cheaper going to an sli/crossfire setup that can match it.

lol, You could buy a car for that price man lol. Or a nice holiday, but your trying to persuade me to buy a mass produced piece of circuit board LOL.

^^J/k. Dose sound lovely. But, i have seen a few ATI 4870X2 on the bay for around £180. I could buy 2 of them (£360) and save my self around £150.

I suppose my other option is to buy one, see how i get on, then in a few weeks when a newer card comes out (And the price drops for the 4870X2) then buy another one and crossfire it?

Thanks All, Your a great help!

 

[Captain Zero]

I guarantee you this, even one HD4870x2 will chew through anything you can put it through. And I mean *anything*.

That's a bold statement and I don't make it lightly.

I've tested my home-build in ways that are unnatural, if I could kill these cards, I would have by now.

 

[dannyboy2005]

For what it's worth, I use Sapphire Radeon's HD4870X2 (2 cars so 4 GPUs) and have found them to be exceptionally robust.

And let me say it again, *nothing* I have thrown at these cards has slowed them down, not even slightly, despite serious effort into hacking games into doing things they're not supposed to do. Using max, max, max settings and increasing LOD to infinity, for example.

The latest cards are fast, sure. But they're overkill and marketing nightmares. Besides, you will have some *serious* noise levels with the fans these new cards run. Bottom line, even today, I'd run a single X2 Radeon over 1 single card. Half the price (if not more) and performance that's just as good in the real world.

So unless all you do is run benchmarks, save some money.

Great summery there Captain, Rep has been left.

I'll look into a bit more of the 4870X2 and compare it against my 8800GTX (Which in its hey day several years ago was tbqh, a Sl*t) but unfortunately, games have came faster and demand more hardware, its technology after all.

I do plan to O/C my processor to about 4.6Ghz/ 4.8Ghz as i believe i can do it with the system cooling i have purchased .

I'm not interested in bench marking at all. I made my current pc over 5 years ago iirc, and i based it on a alienware computer and planed to keep it for several years. Times moved on, games more demanding and IMO, its becoming slow (I have reformatted within the last 6 months, so its completely clean)

Thanks for your help dudes, I'll get back to you in the near future.

 

[jr26]

The 4870x2 is a pretty damn good card (as long as the game supports crossfire). I don't know what games you play but there is a chance your CPU will eventually turn into your bottleneck. A lot of newer games are cpu intensive just as much as gpu. So I would not advise going with anything higher powered(like the GTX 480 or Radeon 5970) until you've upgraded your cpu because they won't be using their full potential.

 

[CPSlowik]

AMD makes great graphic cards

 

[Captain Zero]

The 4870x2 is a pretty damn good card (as long as the game supports crossfire).

Agreed. And to clarify, one card (even the X2 with 2x GPU's) isn't technically using CrossFire and the system doesn't see it as such. CrossFire/SLI isn't what makes the 'bridge' necessary, it's combining both PCI-E slots that makes this an issue.

Still, I've never had any kind of problem running 4 GPU's in CrossFire mode. Even on *very* old games.

 

[dannyboy2005]

The 4870x2 is a pretty damn good card (as long as the game supports crossfire). I don't know what games you play but there is a chance your CPU will eventually turn into your bottleneck. A lot of newer games are cpu intensive just as much as gpu. So I would not advise going with anything higher powered(like the GTX 480 or Radeon 5970) until you've upgraded your cpu because they won't be using their full potential.

why will mmy cpu be a problem? Its a 930, it has simular specs to the new 970 and half the price.

 

[bobkn]

I guess that I'd have two problems with the 4870X2:

It seems to be currently unavailable new at retail (at least at www.newegg.com, in the US), should you want to buy new.

It's a single-card crossfire solution. I think that crossfire is effective, but it's not as robust as a single card. (I had some unhappy experiences with a pair of 4870s in crossfire. Maybe ATI has cleaned up their driver act since.)

The fan noise on a Radeon HD5870 is unobjectionable. A GTX480 can get a bit loud when the card is fully exercised.

The next step down gets you nearly as good a card at a more attractive price: Radeon 5850, nVidia GTX470.

As for your CPU bottlenecking the system, I suggest that you overclock it. My I7 920 runs all the time at 3.8 GHz with a Thermalright Ultra 120 air cooler. It's possible to do better with other CPUs, but not much better.

 

[jr26]

The 4870x2 is a pretty damn good card (as long as the game supports crossfire). I don't know what games you play but there is a chance your CPU will eventually turn into your bottleneck. A lot of newer games are cpu intensive just as much as gpu. So I would not advise going with anything higher powered(like the GTX 480 or Radeon 5970) until you've upgraded your cpu because they won't be using their full potential.

why will mmy cpu be a problem? Its a 930, it has simular specs to the new 970 and half the price.

I thought you had a Amd Athlon 4800+ X2? That's what your specs show. If you have a 930 your fine. I should have known when you said 4.6 Ghz... Duh on me!