480 GTX vs HD 5970

[SmootsDaddy89]

Long story short, I'm changing my computer plans around a lot and saving some money by buying a prebuilt asus with no on board video card, so which would should I stick in it when I buy it?

[SmootsDaddy89]

I meant to put a poll here but oh well.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

Do you know the PSU?

[SmootsDaddy89]

I'm gonna have to replace it with a new once since the PSU in the ASUS blows.

But I'm going for a 1000W Corsair PSU, so I should be fine either way.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

Most people will tell you 1000w is overkill. But that PSU may outlive the PC you're about to drop it in, so you won't hear that from me.

But are you really gonna spend that much on a video card?

[SmootsDaddy89]

Well, there are videos showing the 480 using almost 500W by itself under full load. I don't think it's massive overkill if I still want enough power left over for adding hard drives and poo if I want to.

I can get the 480 for $439 on newegg, so I don't consider that to be too terribly expensive, when I dropped 500+ on an 8800GTX three years ago. If I went with the 5970, then yeah, that's a lot of money for a card, even a dual GPU card. I don't want to have to upgrade cards for another two, preferably three years. I'd rather pay more now than need to upgrade in a year. My 8800 GTX still runs every game out there maxed out at a playable framerate. (Granted, it can't do any of the DX11 stuff on Metro 2033, so that helps a lot.)

I've mostly made up my mind, I'm just curious if anyone has any personal experience with either card before I buy.

I know the 5970 is cooler, quieter, and uses less power than the 480 GTX, while giving a better framerate in 90% of games.

But the 480GTX is better in DX11, especially with tessellation. And also it has physx and 3D Vision support, which yeah, those are gimmicks that few games now are using. But after playing Mirror's Edge with physx on, I can't NOT have it on lol.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

I paid 60$ for my 240gt and there's not a game i can't run max on 1400x900. Nobody here has ever owned either of those two cards I'd be willing to wager.

Why not a 5850? That's probably what I'd go for.

The only real issue with the 5970 is you know it'll drop 50% in price over the next 12 months.

But the 5850 occupies 2 slots and you may not have the space for that.

EDIT: Oh yeah I did have to overclock my card 20% to get a good performance out of it, but it handles it well.

[SmootsDaddy89]

Well yeah, if I had a monitor that size I probably would get a 5850. Or maybe a 465

My resolution is 1920x1200 though.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

I can go up to 1600x1050. The icons and HUD just get so small on most games that its not worth it.

I've just found on my monitor that 1.4x.9 just looks the most natural.

Max res on a 5850 is 2560 x 1600

[Porn Shop Clerk]

Just going off a quick Newegg search:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102881&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-881-_-Product

Seems to be the most popular 5850. Sounds like a great card.

[SorthNarolina]

Were you the guy planning on getting that crazy Alienware system? Good to see you're not doing that one.

If you still might be thinking that way the best company for that is Puget Systems. They're not flashy but they are the best customer service in the business. They also use all the factory warranties for the parts which is great.

You could have some issues trying to a fit the massive 5970 into a prebuilt case.

The 480 is no lightweight either.

A lot of good case manufacturers usually put in an extra support around the middle to help hold the weight of the graphics card. That way it's not stressing the motherboard. The motherboard in the Asus is probably going to be on the cheaper side.

Getting a prebuilt and sticking a beefy graphics card in it is a good route to take but make sure you measure your case, check the expansion slots, help the prebuilt out a little because they aren't really made with expansion in mind unless it's a boutique company.

[Porn Shop Clerk]

My 240gt is enormous, and half heatsink. My gateway prebuilt holds it up fine...but I'd hate to try to fit it into a Dell or Compaq. It'd be a pain to fit and the mobo would probably break down under the stress in a month.

Hey SorthNarolina go d/l Alien Swarm.

[SmootsDaddy89]

Yeah I'm not too worried about size.

The Asus case is a good 6 inches longer than most pre-built desktops that you'd get from Dell or Gateway. It only has one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot though.

Oh well, no installing my old 8800GTX as a dedicated physx card.