GTX 480 or 5850 CF

B

Borocay

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
218
I am thinking about upgrading from a BFG GTX 280 OC to a GTX 480. However, I was reading the Firing Squad's review of the GTX 480 and noticed that two 5850's in crossfire beat the GTX 480 and was close to a GTX 480 SLI setup in all of the gaming benchmarks. I know for certain that I will never do two GTX 480's in SLI because of the noise, cost and power requirements. I recognize that two 5850's would be about a $100.00 more than a GTX 480 but if it can rival a GTX 480 SLI setup I would be willing to go for it because I just want the most bang for my bucks. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Please no flaming. Here is a link to the review. Thanks. http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_gtx_480_470_performance/page6.asp
 
Last edited:
5850 Crossfired of course. Don't bother with the GTX 480, not worth it. At least you won't have to suffer high temperatures and a load obnoxious fan with 5850's.
 
Even two HD 5850 would use less power than a single GTX 480. The price would be a lot closer after the price gouging.
 
Personally I'd stay well clear of xfire or sli. Performance is a lot faster but is it worth all the additional hassle with drivers, game compatibility, micro stutter, etc?
 
Borocay said:
I am thinking about upgrading from a BFG GTX 280 OC to a GTX 480. However, I was reading the Firing Squad's review of the GTX 480 and noticed that two 5850's in crossfire beat the GTX 480 and was close to a GTX 480 SLI setup in all of the gaming benchmarks. I know for certain that I will never do two GTX 480's in SLI becuase of the noise, cost and power requirements. I recognize that two 5850's would be about a $100.00 more than a GTX 480 but if it can rival a GTX 480 SLI setup I would be willing to go for it because I just want the most bang for my bucks. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated. Please no flaming. Here is a link to the reiew. Thanks. http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_gtx_480_470_performance/page6.asp
Click to expand...

They don't have to be more expensive than a GTX 480. Haven't we seen some insane limited time deals on the 5850 recently? Like $250 for one?
 
Im an EVGA fanboy but am steering clear of fermi. I would have to say ATi FTW this time around :)
 
micro stutter is a myth, i have no microstutter in anything after gaming on a single 5850 for months then going to 2

5850 CF will use slightly more power than a single gtx 480 but will run way cooler even with 2, not to mention pretty quiet for the horsepower delivered. 35-40% fan speed i hit about 60c after hours of bc2 with an OC. Also depending on the game 85% of stuff will be 2x faster than a gtx 480. the other 15% will be faster by a huge amount anyway at 1920x1200 an up.
 
5850 CF would probably be better than a 480, but the cost will also be higher unless you can find a 5850 for 250.
 
Thx for the comments. I have to be honest and say that I am still gunshy of ATI videocards because of my past experiences when I owned an ATi Radeon X800 XT. I loved that card but had all kinds of problems with its drivers when playing HL2 and other games. I finally gave up and installed a 6800 GT and have never looked back. I would love to buy a 5850 or 5870 since I a running a 955BE and would like to support AMD but I have been reading about the GSOD (Gray Screen of Death) with those cards and I don't feel like going through all of those hassles again. I don't mind tinkering with games to get them to work with the latest hardware but I have no patience with RMA'ing things to the manufacturer and waiting for 2 or 3 months for a fix. However, I am also not happy with the Nvidia's latest videocard. I would only buy a GTX 480 from a manufacturer with a lifetime warranty since it will probably have some heat related problems. Appreciate the feedback.
 
GSOD's taken care of with bios update and Kyle did a lot of work getting AMD tracking it down, it is no longer anything to worry about.

The drivers back when the X800 XT was around, you know. Old. Things change.

Save your power bills, support a company that conducts good business behaviour. Go AMD ATI.



e: Temperature issues are a problem. Some people only have room for a computer in a bad spot (ventilation, airflow), some have old poorly ventilated chassis and really don't feel like spending hours moving the parts over to a new one or buying a new one, etc. Having the computer in the right spot makes a lot of difference, a "client" computer kept breaking down in his home but ran flawlessly over a weekend over here where it stood in the open kitchen calculating primes. He only had room in an alcove in the hallway back home for it.
 
Borocay said:
Thx for the comments. I have to be honest and say that I am still gunshy of ATI videocards because of my past experiences when I owned an ATi Radeon X800 XT. I loved that card but had all kinds of problems with its drivers when playing HL2 and other games. I finally gave up and installed a 6800 GT and have never looked back. I would love to buy a 5850 or 5870 since I a running a 955BE and would like to support AMD but I have been reading about the GSOD (Gray Screen of Death) with those cards and I don't feel like going through all of those hassles again. I don't mind tinkering with games to get them to work with the latest hardware but I have no patience with RMA'ing things to the manufacturer and waiting for 2 or 3 months for a fix. However, I am also not happy with the Nvidia's latest videocard. I would only buy a GTX 480 from a manufacturer with a lifetime warranty since it will probably have some heat related problems. Appreciate the feedback.
Click to expand...


I have been using pretty much ati again since middle of 08, aside from a bad patch of drivers towards towards the end of 08 with me personally, I have to say aside from a couple CF glitches that are always taken care of its been pretty smooth sailing for me.
I played a huge enuff spectrum of games also.
 
I haven't seen a GSOD umm since the very very first batch of 5870s came out. I think that's a problem of the past now.

Just to set you straight 2 ATI gpus in crossfire scales well. Anymore than 2 is when you get into trouble. And yes a pair of 5850s will beat a single GTX 480 like a drum. A pair of 5850s is about equivalent to a 5970, and the 5970 is still the indisputed fastest single video card on the planet.
 
Honestly I would just get another GTX 280 and call it a day. I have GTX 285s in SLI and I keep trying to tell myself to upgrade to a couple of something new, and I wouldn't see much of a change in gamep[lay unless I dropped a ton of money on not only new cards, but another couple monitors too. These cards run everything on my monitor just fine, and new 30 inchers to flank my current 30 inchers is a lot bigger hit than I am willing to take. The reviews show that my 2 gtx 285s are faster than a gtx 480 and almost as fast as a couple 5850s anyway, which is just a shade faster than two GTX 280s. Would cost a lot less as ell, but who am I kidding, I will end up with a new couple cards anyway :)

Is DX11 worth it over DX10? Maybe.
 
5850 CF was overkill for me at 1920x1080, so I put the second in my girlfriends pc. It is a seriously powerful solution.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
5850 CF was overkill for me at 1920x1080, so I put the second in my girlfriends pc. It is a seriously powerful solution.
Click to expand...

Blasphemy! You can never have too much power!! /facetiousness

Though I still do plan to X-fire my 5870 with my 24" 1920x1200 monitor........at least til I can afford 2 more monitors for Eyefinity.
 
sbuckler said:
Personally I'd stay well clear of xfire or sli. Performance is a lot faster but is it worth all the additional hassle with drivers, game compatibility, micro stutter, etc?
Click to expand...

What hassle? Oh no, there were blinking textures in Bad Company 2 for a week before ATI fixed it. Definitely not worth the extra performance at a lower cost! Durrrrr
 
I like my overvolted, overclocked, 33C idle, 60C gaming, quiet, 5850s in CF. No gaming issues for me.
 
I have a 28" Hanns-G monitor with 1900 x 1200 resolution. My GTX 280 has been a damn good videocard that I bought new when they were first released. It plays all of my games perfectly and I really don't need to upgrade, but my wife has given me the okay to buy a new videocard and I am not going to pass up the chance. It's one of the few things I enjoy doing every couple of years. I have a read that ATI fixed the GSOD problem but I still see post during the past week from people still complaining about the problem. I'm still debating the pros and cons of each card. I enjoy the whole process of researching the cards and looking at all of the benchmarks before I make the final decision.
 
MrLonghair said:
e: Temperature issues are a problem. Some people only have room for a computer in a bad spot (ventilation, airflow), some have old poorly ventilated chassis and really don't feel like spending hours moving the parts over to a new one or buying a new one, etc. Having the computer in the right spot makes a lot of difference, a "client" computer kept breaking down in his home but ran flawlessly over a weekend over here where it stood in the open kitchen calculating primes. He only had room in an alcove in the hallway back home for it.
Click to expand...
That has nothing to do with the specific temperature a card is running at. If it was an intel CPU, we would call it the distance to TJmax that is important. The same applies here. If Nvidia designs their chips to run at 110C, and they run at 90C (random numbers pulled out of my ass) it is better than a design by company X that is running at 70C and has a design limit of 75C.
 
I'm on the same monitor you have, with a 5850. At 1920x1200, there really isn't much of a need to go beyond a single 5850. I can play almost everything with eyecandy maxed. If I were you, I'd go for one 5850 now, and then pick up another down the line when prices fall. Two of them is a bit overkill for single monitor. A 5870 might be a good idea for you as well, as then you spend only $400, and have plenty of power.
 
Will fermi really sell at the guideline prices or will there be price-gouging due to limited supply? I'd wait for a 2 GB version though (launches at the same time as fermi do, 12th april)
 
Borocay said:
I have a 28" Hanns-G monitor with 1900 x 1200 resolution. My GTX 280 has been a damn good videocard that I bought new when they were first released. It plays all of my games perfectly and I really don't need to upgrade, but my wife has given me the okay to buy a new videocard and I am not going to pass up the chance. It's one of the few things I enjoy doing every couple of years. I have a read that ATI fixed the GSOD problem but I still see post during the past week from people still complaining about the problem. I'm still debating the pros and cons of each card. I enjoy the whole process of researching the cards and looking at all of the benchmarks before I make the final decision.
Click to expand...

I went from a GeForce 280GTX SSC to a Radeon 5870. Granted it's not a CF solution I have had a very pleasant experience and I don't intend to switch back to Nvidia until they provide a higher quality product again.

Maybe next refresh?

In your case, I'm sure you would be happy with either choice.
 
Borocay, in your case, I would ask the wife if you could put the money aside and spend it later. You have a GTX280 which will play everything fairly well at the 1920*1200 resolution you game at.

Unless you really want to go DX11. If you really wanted to go DX11, then I guess you seriously have to consider the gtx480. I would go that way rather than go the way of sli or crossfire. But, even then I would still wait until cards start hitting retail and see how the public get on. Of course, noise and heat are things you have to consider and then making sure you got a good powersupply, 700w minimum!!

It's nearly april now, I would wait until August/September and see if there is anything interesting coming along. I'm not sure the upcoming 2Gb cards from ATI are going to do anything for you at the resolution you play at. So I probably wouldn't consider them.

lol, I am actually in sort of the same position as you, I have a 4870x2 in my own home PC, nothing out there yet has made me really want to upgrade.
 
MrGuvernment said:
what are your other system specs and res you game at?
Click to expand...

I am guessing this was pointed at me..?

I have eyefinity 5760x1080 and most any game I play I can run it at high settings with lower 2xAA again depends on game

I can run MW2 MAXED, BC2 MAX 2xAA, AvP DX11 High 2xAA etc

I am very happy with my setup and the performance it brings me. :D

920 @ 4.15ish
2x 5850s XFX cards
Eyefinity 3x P2310Hs
6GB RAM
128GB SSD
stuff like that

OH and a small PSU compared to the one you would need for the Fermi cards :p

Oh and I was reading people talking about GSOD... I have never had issues with that before
 
I agree with you 100% and [P]USSocp is around the corner where they serve cookies and milk, not cigarettes, beer, and prostitutes. I look at it this way people have a intel 920-965-980 or what have u overclocked to 4ghz or more. People are bitching about this vidcard and so forth but yet run intel cpus that have max tjmax or tdp or what ever ur still pulling 135 max and bitching about a card that runs hot isnt this or that, but is top of the line single card. All I can say go get a low wattage AMD prcessor and stfu you have no claim at all or move over to [P]USSocp. I run a 502 blown big block in my truck dual carbs damn, should I be worried about gas and prices of gas, hell no I would not have built it if I was so, now people stfu please if you want to conserve wattage save the earth or what have you change ya intels in or dont overclock or buy a amd cpu k and ati cards. simple as that.


vengence said:
That has nothing to do with the specific temperature a card is running at. If it was an intel CPU, we would call it the distance to TJmax that is important. The same applies here. If Nvidia designs their chips to run at 110C, and they run at 90C (random numbers pulled out of my ass) it is better than a design by company X that is running at 70C and has a design limit of 75C.
Click to expand...
 
Instead of trying to decide on a GTX 480 or 2 5850's in crossfire, have you considered just going with a single 5970? I know that trying to find one is not easy right now, but they can be found as many people here have them. As someone also suggested, you could also wait a bit as we know that the 2 gig versions of the 5870 are on their way soon.
 
Borocay, in your case, I would ask the wife if you could put the money aside and spend it later. You have a GTX280 which will play everything fairly well at the 1920*1200 resolution you game at.

Unless you really want to go DX11. If you really wanted to go DX11, then I guess you seriously have to consider the gtx480. I would go that way rather than go the way of sli or crossfire. But, even then I would still wait until cards start hitting retail and see how the public get on. Of course, noise and heat are things you have to consider and then making sure you got a good powersupply, 700w minimum!!

It's nearly april now, I would wait until August/September and see if there is anything interesting coming along. I'm not sure the upcoming 2Gb cards from ATI are going to do anything for you at the resolution you play at. So I probably wouldn't consider them.

lol, I am actually in sort of the same position as you, I have a 4870x2 in my own home PC, nothing out there yet has made me really want to upgrade.
Click to expand...

I guess I could put the money to the side but it would get spent on something else. I would like to upgrade now while I can still get a decent price for my GTX 280. Plus, I have the itch to upgrade and that is as close to an addiction as I have. I would like to upgrade to a 5850CF since it is will be able to handle all of the games that will be released in the next year or two. Since I only upgrade every two years or so I want to make sure that whatever I buy can play all of the games that will be released in that time period. I plan on staying at 1900 x 1200 but future games will be more graphic intensive so 5850's in crossfire will pay off later on down the road when I need the horsepower. I am just scared that ATI's drivers will start taking a crap and I'll be stuck with expensive paperweights. Nvidia's drivers also have their problems but for the most part they have been stable and trouble free. I appreciate all of the comments.
 
Last edited:
The GTX 480 is posting numbers equal to or greater than a GTX 295 - the obvious difference being that it's a single GPU card that runs DX 11.

For me, this is a no brainer. It's the GTX 480 all the way.

EDIT: I didn't realize that you game at 1900x1200. Then it's even better. The GTX 480 is blazing trails at that resolution.
 
Last edited:
WabeWalker said:
The GTX 480 is posting numbers equal to or greater than a GTX 295 - the obvious difference being that it's a single GPU card that runs DX 11.

For me, this is a no brainer. It's the GTX 480 all the way.
Click to expand...

No ATI considerations? 5870, 5970?

I don't know how I feel about this GPU market right now, all told.
 
Also, it's possible that your present card could actually outperform a 5850 crossfire setup - if the profile is just no good, or hasn't even been written, then depending on the game, you could actually end up with lower frames per second.

The thing that you need to know about the GTX 480 is that it's the fastest GPU on the market - it's the equal of the 5870 in virtually every game, but in others it's just spanking the 5870. People around here keep on saying that the GTX 480 is only averaging 15% more than the 5870.

There's a great book out called How To Lie With Statistics, and here's another example of that. The truth is that few games on a GTX 480 are actually running 15% faster than they are on a 5870. Most are running either at the same speed as the 5870, or quite a bit faster.
 
Q-BZ said:
No ATI considerations? 5870, 5970?

I don't know how I feel about this GPU market right now, all told.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't recommend somebody upgrade from a GTX 280 to a 5870 - the performance is just too close.
 
WabeWalker said:
The GTX 480 is posting numbers equal to or greater than a GTX 295 - the obvious difference being that it's a single GPU card that runs DX 11.

For me, this is a no brainer. It's the GTX 480 all the way.

EDIT: I didn't realize that you game at 1900x1200. Then it's even better. The GTX 480 is blazing trails at that resolution.
Click to expand...

Blazing is accurate.....also, there is no game that a gtx 280 will out perform 5850 cf. 5850 cf setup is pretty much equal to a 5970, which spanks a gtx 480.
 
dccmadams said:
Blazing is accurate.....also, there is no game that a gtx 280 will out perform 5850 cf. 5850 cf setup is pretty much equal to a 5970, which spanks a gtx 480.
Click to expand...

If the crossfire profile isn't working properly then yes his current card will generate virtually the same FPS as he's getting right now with his GTX 280. (And when I say 'virtually the same' I mean real-world performance. If a game generates 50 fps on one card, and 59 on another, you'll never notice that while actually playing the game.)

People always think that when they go to a crossfire setup or an SLI setup that they'll be doubling their framerates. Almost never happens, even if there is a decent profile. When there isn't a decent profile then you're paying all that extra money for power that you're not getting (in that game).

This is the obvious advantage of the GTX 480 - its greatest strength is that it's a single GPU card.

You can ask virtually any person here what the greatest strength of the 480 is, and unless they're completely jaded, they're going to say that the 480's greatest strength is that it is a single GPU card. That's the point I'm making, and it's THE most important consideration that the OP has to make.

Here's a benchmark for a game in which the GTX 280/285 is outperforming a 5850. (Note that the op games at 1900x1200)

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3650&p=8

It's not the rule, but it does happen. I personally don't like SLI or Crossfire setups. Maybe the OP does. It's his decision. It's just a major downer when you spend all that money, and it doesn't pay off, especially if you happen to love the game that the sli or crossfire profile isn't working well on.

And please don't try to tell me that the GTX 480 isn't a fast card. The thing screams. In some cases it IS kicking the 5870's ass. That 15% faster statistic is just incredibly misleading. At the OP's resolution, the GTX 480 is clearly running 30% to 45% faster in certain games - in others it's even, and those are the titles that are taking down the average.
 
Last edited:
The other thing I would add is that, in addition to the GTX 480 being a single GPU card, and therefore not having the same problems as a Crossfire or SLI setup, it also tessellates better.

How big of a deal will this be?

You have to think long term. Clearly the OP is not the type of person who is going to be buying a brand new GPU once every six months. We're starting to see tessellation appearing in games right now. What will it be like six months from now, twelve months from now?

One website reviewing the GTX 480 seemed to pick up on this:

"The GTX 480 is definitely a good card in terms of both its performance and the micro-architecture. It's faster than the HD 5870 by a fair amount, which will only increase as tessellation becomes more prevalent.

With the DX11 tessellation feature touted to propel PC gaming far beyond the realms of what its console siblings can offer, the power of the GTX 480's DX11 pipelines should see it staying the course far longer than AMD's top single-GPU card."

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...-679629/review?artc_pg=5
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top