ATI 4870 vs 5770 vs Nvidia GTX 260 Core 216

J

Jordo

New Member
Basically I'm having a controversy here... which to go with.

I'm getting all sorts of different answers from different places, why one is better, why the other is etc. And I was wondering if I could get some quick advice on which you personally find to be a better buy and why?

I'm going to be using this comp mainly for gaming/partial autocad use for business. Other specs will be as follows.

- Intel i5 750
- G.Skill PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24
- OCZ 500W PSU (May increase)
- ASUS P7P55D
- WD 1TB

Gaming will most likely run in 1920*1200 max resolution. I have a 22" CRT.

For the price difference is it really worth getting the 5770 over the 4870? I've heard the 4870 performs just as well and is generally $40 cheaper.

Thanks for the help in advance.
 
You plan to Crossfire/SLI later?

SLI = Nvidia
Crossfire = ATi

If you don't plan to then this is unimportant.

I would go with the 5770.....if you pay the extra the 4890 puts it to shame but it doesn't have DX11.

It will at least more "future proof" as DX11 might run better with the card thus make it superior to 4870/4890.
 
Twist86 said:
You plan to Crossfire/SLI later?

SLI = Nvidia
Crossfire = ATi

If you don't plan to then this is unimportant.

I would go with the 5770.....if you pay the extra the 4890 puts it to shame but it doesn't have DX11.

It will at least more "future proof" as DX11 might run better with the card thus make it superior to 4870/4890.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply.

I don't plan to go SLI or crossfire in the future. This computer will probably be scheduled to last me for the next 2-3 years. So maybe it would be wiser to go with the 5770 just for the DX11 and "future proofing" as you mentioned.

On another note, should 500W PSU be sufficient for this Vid Card, or should I bump it up to at least a 600W?
 
Honestly id get this one instead.
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=33041&vpn=OCZ600MXSP&manufacture=OCZ Technology

Sites claim you only need 450w for the XFX version of the 5770 but I always like to have more power then I need for a few reasons.

1. Upgrades - In 1 year you might find a cheap GPU in your local papers and want to buy it to max those games out again.
2. PSU wont have to give you 90% of its capacity thus will run cooler and less issues of it blowing up and killing your system.

Extra $20 but leaves you with more roads to go down should you ever have the itch to upgrade and will ensure your system has plenty of power. As always though always wait for a second opinion before buying anything to ensure the first person wasn't a idiot :P


Because trust me overloading a PSU and IF it should fail you will wish you spent a little more then having a $600+ PC die on you. I have seen people who have done this (but they used crappy crappy PSUs not like OCZ/Corsair) that lost every part on their computer.
 
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Thanks again for the help.

Yeah I'm definately going to look at a higher capacity PSU. I may not upgrade the GPU down the road, but I might be upgrading the RAM in the future and it would be nice having the "wiggle room" to do that with.

The extra $20 is not really an issue at this point because I have my build under $900 right now and my budget was for around a thousand.
 
Well to be honest ram wont take that much power to warrant the next step up but the GPU might stretch it as 450w is considered the minimum so 500w imho is stretching it.

The 750w PSU in my signature I bought when I first built my X2 4400+ got it for $90 and it has lasted 2 upgrades now....maybe even a 3rd as I don't SLI/Crossfire either :P
 
i second the hd 5770. it may be a little bit buggy now but it can only get better from here. it uses less power and performs about the same as the 4870. plus, if you DO crossfire, it will (assuming you have 2 pcie 16x 2.0 running at 16x each) perform roughly the same as the 5870, which is more than double the price. definitely future proof.
 
I would say 5770 if you want something for the future, but if you are running windows 7, a lot of people are having driver problems with it.

Like a few posts above, 10-30 more dollars and you can get a 4890, which will blow the 5770 away.

I was torn between these exact 2 cards a few days ago and went with the 4890 because it is the best sub $200 card.

its $190 on newegg. I know bestbuy isn't the best, but they have XFX 4890s for $179 right now, so I picked mine up there and I got it right away.

:good:
 
Twist86 said:
You plan to Crossfire/SLI later?

SLI = Nvidia
Crossfire = ATi

If you don't plan to then this is unimportant.

I would go with the 5770.....if you pay the extra the 4890 puts it to shame but it doesn't have DX11.

It will at least more "future proof" as DX11 might run better with the card thus make it superior to 4870/4890.
Click to expand...

Another reason why to go for the 5770 (I think)
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=615&card2=564
 
kyleswitch said:
I would say 5770 if you want something for the future, but if you are running windows 7, a lot of people are having driver problems with it.

Like a few posts above, 10-30 more dollars and you can get a 4890, which will blow the 5770 away.

I was torn between these exact 2 cards a few days ago and went with the 4890 because it is the best sub $200 card.

its $190 on newegg. I know bestbuy isn't the best, but they have XFX 4890s for $179 right now, so I picked mine up there and I got it right away.

:good:
Click to expand...

In here:
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=615&card2=608

4890 and the 5770 seem equal other then the Memory Bandwith.
 
yeah, but it also has the latest features. DX11 is a superset of DX9, DX10/10.1, ubt it also has new features. and when DX11 is implemented properly it gives better peformance with DX11 cards (obviously) but we have yet to see this. DX11 still new, so it just needs time to mature.
 
Your telling me that like I didnt already know. Its still the slowest of the three. Dont care if its DirectX 13. I guess you have a pile of DirectX 11 games. But by the time you do the 5770 will be a old card and still out performed by the 4870/GTX 260.
 
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StrangleHold said:
Your telling me that like I didnt already know. Its still the slowest of the three. Dont care if its DirectX 13. I guess you have a pile of DirectX 11 games. But by the time you do the 5770 will be a old card and still out performed by the 4870/GTX 260.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna share the blows of the dx11 fans with you, I agree.

Just a couple moths ago I had the choice between these three video cards; settling with the GTX 260 Core 216 rather quickly. I wanted performance, and the GTX 260 Core 216 provides that flawlessly. I also needed rock-solid drivers, which the Core 216 provides also.

It all depends on what you want.
 
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