Ati 5670 vs Nvidia 240 vs ...?

[XyzLegend]

Hi, I'm looking to getting an Ati 5670 or a Nvidia 240 to last me around 1~2 years. It will be temporary of course, till I save enough money up from my 1st job

So my question, is it worth getting a Ati 5670 or Nvidia 240 over my current 9400gt, if so, which one?


APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: From now to the end of the year, possibly before September if I can make up my mind.

BUDGET RANGE:90~170ish$

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: High/Med Gaming, I know I can't really achieve this much with the size case I'm limited to
Game I want to play on High-ish/Medium:
Metro 2033
Left 4 Dead 2
Singularity
Killing Floor <--Not really that demanding
Other Source games, such as l4d, Team Fortress 2, Half Life 2, Portal...etc.
Starcraft 2
Bioshock 1 and 2

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Nvidia 9400gt & a 400w power supply, but I may get a bigger power if needed

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Windows 7 Home Premium, Can fit only a 6.6inch length or around there graphics card because my case/motherboard is so small. 4gb of RAM. 1 year old desktop. 1 Fan/No extra cooling system

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: (e.g.: newegg.com, ncix.com -- to show us selection & pricing) COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States, Northeast coast.

PARTS PREFERENCES: I want Dx11, but if there is a WAY better card in Performance, let me know.

OVERCLOCKING:Not likely because I do not own a good cooling system at the moment. SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe, probably not due to not enough Slots/not big enough

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Monitor is 1680x1050, but I can accept playing games at 1280x???? or above.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Do they make gpu extension cords ?
p.s. I heard the Ati 5770 is a better choice instead of a 5670 if I were targeted toward that...since I do like Dx11
p.s.s. If you recommend me any other cards, tell me why cause I am not very smart with cards at the moment.

Keep in mind I can only hold around 6 inches of length for a card! (small case)


EDIT:
Do you think it would be ok running a 400 psu on the 5770 which is rated at 450+ psu instead? Cause I don't want to get a whole new psu just for 50w

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
Between those HD 5670 is faster, but since HD 5770 is in your price range,then go for it.Its much more powerful than either 5670 or GT 240(It requires a 450+ PSU though)

 

[dualblade]

5670 is better than gt240, gt240 is comparable to hd 4670 (which i have) which is 20-30% slower than 5670 and i can play all the games you listed at high at 1440x900 except metro 2033 which i can play at high too but at 1280x720.

 

[dualblade]

i have forgotten to say that 5670 doesnt need more than 350w powersupply, so saving a new powersupply price.

 

[infernox_01]

the 5670 would be the best out of the 2 and you wouldnt need a new power supply. not sure about how long it is though. maybe the 5750 would work with the power supply aswell.

 

[ekg84]

What is your case model? r u sure it can only fit 6.6 long card? Cause both 5750 and 5770 from powercolor are 7,2 inch long and u can run them on your psu. There is also 512Mb version of 5770 which is a bit cheaper, and with your resolution it runs as fast as 1gb version.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10012196&prodlist=froogle

 

[Tamz_msc]

If your Power supply is good enough and you have a good case, then the 5770 is the most powerful option that fits your budget.

 

[photonboy]

BTW,
- Forget about Metro 2033. I've got an HD5870, i7-860, 4GB DDR3 and it runs slow. You could crank back the graphics a LOT, but then that defeats the purpose of this game (actually, many other games look BETTER on lower-end hardware. This game simply isn't meant to run on anything but the best hardware.)

- Starcraft 2 scales nicely.

- L4D2, HL2, Portal scale well.

About DX11:
If there's a performance difference, forget about the DX11 card. In fact, unless you have a high-end card like an HD5850/70, it makes more sense in ALL the current games to leave any DX11 option off as it's too demanding. DX11 only makes sense if you can run the game at over 60FPS on HIGH SETTINGS already and want the extra quality.

 

[XyzLegend]

I've checked both the 240 and the 5670, both are in the 6 inch range and will fit my Pc perfectly. Though the 5770 takes more PSU and is around 7.2inches to 8 inches...which I don't want to risk.

Thank you everyone for your great answers!

So now I have to either get a 5770 or 5670...though as stated above I'm not sure if it'll fit, cause my available Slot with a GPU already in it, is at 6.6 inches....and is like an inch away from my RAM slots...which bothers me, I'll take a closer look at my case again soon. Do you think it would be ok running a 400 psu on the 5770 which is rated at 450+ psu instead? Cause I don't want to get a whole new psu just for 50w

 

[jyjjy]

You keep saying you have a small case but you never say if it is a "slim" case or not. If it is then you need to limit yourself to low profile video cards.
Also where are you getting this 6.6" number? MicroATX motherboards are usually slightly over 9 inches long and boards that aren't at least microATX usually drop the PCIEx16 port.

 

[infernox_01]

i think the 5750 is shorter in length then the 5770 and uses less power then it aswell. at first i also thought he meant height.

 

[ekg84]

all nonreference 5770s from powercolor made with 5750 pcb so they r same size. Power consumption wise u should be fine unless your psu is a total trash, more or less quality 400w psu will run 5770 without a problem. Official power requirements r always a bit overrated. I run 5750 on 300w inwin psu without a hiccup.

 

[XyzLegend]

You keep saying you have a small case but you never say if it is a "slim" case or not. If it is then you need to limit yourself to low profile video cards.
Also where are you getting this 6.6" number? MicroATX motherboards are usually slightly over 9 inches long and boards that aren't at least microATX usually drop the PCIEx16 port.

I'm getting 6.6 from the current card (9400gt) I've got in there now. The card looks like it's about to touch the RAM that's right near it. So, I'm just basing my numbers off that, but I can take a real measure later...

Now my current problem is trying to pick out a good 5670...I was looking for one with DVI/VGA on Newegg, but the one I wanted didn't have it A 1gb one is what I'm looking for.

If anyone knows where/which is a good one, let me know please.

XFX without DVI/VGA ports: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467&cm_re=ati_5670_1gb-_-14-150-467-_-Product
The reviews are great on it, but my Monitor has both the dvi/vga things and this card doesn't have it

And then a visiontek one that has vga/dvi ports: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Visiontek+-+ATI+Radeon+5670+1GB+GDDR5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card/9975432.p?id=1218211781152&skuId=9975432&st=ati%20radeon%205670&cp=1&lp=1 Lifetime warranty ftw

i think the 5750 is shorter in length then the 5770 and uses less power then it aswell. at first i also thought he meant height.

I don't know if that would work correctly seeing as my PSU is at 400 and it's rated at 450...and I don't think it has dvi/vga ports either...but that's based on manufacturer anways. It's 7.25 inches opposed to the 5670's 6.6inches, so it seems fine being a very small difference. If DualSLot does not interfere with anything I may look into it.

 

[jyjjy]

I'm getting 6.6 from the current card (9400gt) I've got in there now. The card looks like it's about to touch the RAM that's right near it. So, I'm just basing my numbers off that, but I can take a real measure later...

What kind of motherboard do you have where the ram is behind the video card? Is it the cooler that is almost touching it? That would only make sense on a poorly designed BTX motherboard.

 

[infernox_01]

that XFX does have a DVI port. im not sure if the 1gb version would be better then the 512mb version.

 

[XyzLegend]

What kind of motherboard do you have where the ram is behind the video card? Is it the cooler that is almost touching it? That would only make sense on a poorly designed BTX motherboard.

This card doesn't have a cooler.......
So its just the gpu itself.
I could tell you the temperature that it idles at but you would melt.

Please take a look at the Visiontek card and tell me if it's any good.

I may also be able to move the actual RAM sticks to a further slot away from the card, giving me a few more inches.

 

[jyjjy]

Is it possible to take a pic of the motherboard/card? What you are describing sounds pretty odd. When you say it doesn't have a cooler do you mean it doesn't have a fan? If that is the case some of the passively cooled cards actually have a heatsink that wraps around the back which may be why you think your ram will be in the way. On most cards the back is totally flat so you might have a lot more room than you think.
FYI that Visiontek card is insanely overpriced for an HD5670.
The XFX card does have a DVI port btw and is a much better buy but it is still overpriced. For that card you should ignore the different memory sizes. The HD5670 isn't powerful enough to effectively use more than 512mb of ram so it really doesn't matter. This would be a good choice;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150466
But before ordering that answer my questions about the motherboard/9400GT. If you cant take a pic(or even if you can) exact model numbers would help.

 

[XyzLegend]

Is it possible to take a pic of the motherboard/card? What you are describing sounds pretty odd. When you say it doesn't have a cooler do you mean it doesn't have a fan? If that is the case some of the passively cooled cards actually have a heatsink that wraps around the back which may be why you think your ram will be in the way. On most cards the back is totally flat so you might have a lot more room than you think.
FYI that Visiontek card is insanely overpriced for an HD5670.
The XFX card does have a DVI port btw and is a much better buy but it is still overpriced. For that card you should ignore the different memory sizes. The HD5670 isn't powerful enough to effectively use more than 512mb of ram so it really doesn't matter. This would be a good choice;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150466
But before ordering that answer my questions about the motherboard/9400GT. If you cant take a pic(or even if you can) exact model numbers would help.

Ok, I'll see if I can take a pic sometime.

On that graphics card, my Monitor has those two port things, DVI and VGA. Blue and white...
Now, do I need to have both dvi and vga in a gpu in order for my screen to work? Or can I just run one of them running through?

And is that 1gb not really matter because of only this model doesn't use it very well?
By the way, that graphics card is perfect, and will fit my system sizes/requirements. As the 1gb ones tended to be 8 inches. (This is probably the one I need)

Here is my motherboard/model: http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1014837R/1014837Rnv.shtml
Take note I swapped it out with the 8500gt it was made with and installed win7 instead of Vista and made a total of 4gb ram.


Anyways, I'm going to see a professional tomorrow in person, I'll see what he has to say.

 

[jyjjy]

The monitor only needs to be connected to either a DVI or VGA port, not both.
Alright. This is your motherboard;
http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/Intel2/4006194R/4006194Rmv.shtml
Just as I said it is not possible for a video card to touch the ram unless there is something on the back of the card.
The PCIEx16 slot is H on the diagram. The cooler for any dual slot card will face downward, covering one of the PCIEx1 slots(I on the diagram.) The ram slots are V, they are entirely above the PCIEx16 slot and will not block a video card no matter the length.

 

[jyjjy]

FYI this is the inside of your case;
http://support.gateway.com/s/Cases/3507131R/3507131Riv.shtml
The only thing that will limit the length of a video card is marked F, the hard drive cage.

 

[amirp]

i can tell the op for sure that any card up to a 4850 (9.5 inches) will in fact fit, i also have a G33 mobo
and op one thing i would be worried about is that you have a pci-e16 gen 1 slot, and the many new ati cards are pci-x 2.1 cards, i have heard that they work from some people and from others that they will not work in the original pci-e
if you do get the pci-e 2.1 card and it does in fact work on your motherboard could you please pm me or respond in this thread
thanks

 

[XyzLegend]

Alright, I'll return later with more news after I've seen the professional.

 

[XyzLegend]

Ok, well the "guy" said everything would be fine if I were to install this card, XFX 5670 512/1gb...and to get a higher PSU, which I already have planned out...everything looks according to plan...

Seems I'm gettin myself a XFX ATI Radeon 5670 512mb! Many Thanks to you all for helping so much!

 

[XyzLegend]

Best answer selected by XyzLegend.

 

[jyjjy]

You can in fact use an HD5750 if you can afford it. It would be much more appropriate for your resolution. And that is even with just your current PSU. If you are upgrading it you can use almost any card you want.