Some input on my Video Card

bcrankshaw

Hi All

I just want to know if anyone has any views on the new Video  card I bought

I went to Toms Hardware and it has received good input around benchmarks

 

 Gigabyte Radeon ATI 5870 Eyefinity 2 GB

Quizzical

You should have waited about another two weeks and then gotten a Radeon HD 6950 or 6970.  That will offer better performance for about the same price.  Even the reference 6850 and 6870 models offer support for six monitors, so I'm sure that the 6950 and 6970 will, too.

And this is why you ask before you buy the card, rather than after.

thecrap

And in jan the 580 will be released so you should have waited probably get 1/4 price drops for that card

Quizzical

Rumors say that the GeForce GTX 580 will launch any day now, but likely as a paper launch.  The GTX 480 is already more expensive than a Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6, and the GTX 580 will probably be more expensive yet, though.

And the GTX 580 might not be that great of a card, either.  It's not going to be a die shrink, as there isn't any new process node available.  It's not going to be a new architecture only 7 months after their last new architecture.  The soonest that Nvidia could realistically have yet another new architecture is about a year form now.  Nvidia doesn't even have room to get extra performance from the brute force of a larger die, as if they can't get sufficient yields out of a 250 mm^2 die (used in GTS 450) to launch a fully functional desktop part, how are they going to get decent yields by going larger than the 530 mm^2 used for the GTX 480?

The GTX 580 could be as simple as a respin of GF100, for hopefully better yields and reduced power consumption.  It might throw in the tweaks of GF104, but have three GPCs rather than two.  But I don't think Nvidia can pull off a miracle, as none of the usual ways of improving performance are available to them.

Doomedfox

Its true waiting prolly would have been better but that doesnt change the fact that u got yourself a really nice card which should have enough power to play most games on high settings.

Quizzical

And if you didn't want to wait, you could have gotten about 90% of the performance for 60% of the price from a Radeon HD 6870.

Shqip

You should be able to play all current games at high setting, I have the GTX295 which came out Jan. 2010 and played WOW, AION, FFXIV, and LOTRO at highest setting and at1920X1080 res.

thecrap

yeah well no problem on MMOs I consider them hardware friendly games

Benthon

As others have said, and graced by Quizzical, you should've gotten the 6870 or waited a few weeks for the 6970. And unless you're running a ton of monitors, the 2GB of the 5870 is somewhat of a waste.