Getting a new comp, plan to dual display

[liezryou]

So im looking at this comp right now: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1CFEQA

It has a 470 GTX. I've read that the 5850 is better for 60$ less. Now i plan to use this comp on a dual monitor setup and i plan to play higher end games like bc2 and crysis etc. So my question is, should i stick with this or move to a 5850?

 

[RazberyBandit]

They're actually pretty close to each other in performance, with a slight lead usually favoring the GTX 470. The cards tend to trade blows from title to title. One of the key differences is power consumption. The 5850 uses a good deal less than the GTX 470.

If you were considering a CrossFireX capable motherboard (790X, 790GX, 890GX, or 890FX chipset) and considering adding a 2nd card now or in the near future, then I'd say the ATI card would be the logical choice. If you were to choose one of the SLI-Ready motherboards, then an nVidia card would be the logical choice.

Something you may wish to reconsider in that build is the memory. DDR3-1800 memory isn't necessary. Quality DDR3-1333 and 1600 modules tend to outperform 1800 modules due to their lower CAS rate and overall tighter timings. They also usually operate at lower voltage (1.5v vs. 1.65v to 1.9v) so they're more energy efficient.

 

[liezryou]

Thanks for the reply. And thanks for the memory info, i thought it would be worth it for only 29$, but guess not.

And actually now that i think about it, if i can actually crossfire a 5850 with a future gfx card, like say, a 6580, then i think i will buy a crossfire capable motherboard and change to a 5850 for now. But i heard that crossfire and sli do not provide a linear performance ratio (i.e. a 5850 crossfired with a 5850 will not provide the same performance as 2 individual 5850), so i dunno about that. I also heard that the 5850 does poorly in a dual monitor setup.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Unless ATI does something unheard of, you can't CrossFire cards of different generations. 5XXX's don't work with 4XXX's, nor do 4XXX's work with 3XXX's, and so on.

You are correct that Crossfire and SLI don't offer a linear increase in performance. You won't get twice the performance from two cards, but Crossfire and SLI do often deliver 40% to 80% more performance than a single card. It all depends on the game. Many people will argue that if you don't intend to Crossfire or SLI immediately or within a month or so after the initial purchase, not to bother factoring them into the equation.

As for the memory, try contacting them in order to get an idea what CAS latency the modules they use tend to be. Tom's did a review recently about RAM performance that specifically dealt with this issue. It was done on the Intel 1156 platform, but should still be applicable: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-870-1156,2482.html

Oh, and as for the dual-monitor consideration... If you mean gaming using two monitors, then the GTX 470 has another slight advantage due to it's increased memory capacity. But, a 2GB version of the 5850 does exist... If that seems attractive, consider buying your video card separately.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

What you gonna be playing on this rig ? If the focus is old DX10 favorites, I'd get the 5850. If it's newer DX11 games, the 470 has a significant advantage winning 8 outta 9 benches in DX11 at 1920 x 1200, high settings. Cost in dollars per frame is about teh same for both cards. Adding a 2nd card, the 470 also provides better scaling performance.

Don't take my word for it though......Be careful of what you "hear" unless it's substantiated by a published source. Here's one comparison which is a "roundup" of several articles.

http://www.softsailor.com/news/22371-nvidia-geforce-gtx-480470-benchmarks-review-roundup.html

few more tidbits:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/30297-nvidia-geforce-gtx-480-review-32.html
480 provides 13% increase in average fps and 19% increase in min fps with 19% increase in price over 5870

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/30321-nvidia-geforce-gtx-470-review-32.html
470 provides 10% increase in average fps and 15% increase in min fps with 15% increase in price over 5850

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/30321-nvidia-geforce-gtx-470-review-32.html

 

[liezryou]

Best answer selected by liezryou.
n
nThanks those articles along with the seperate 470 article on softsailor helped alot. I think if i'm investing 1100 dollars on a new rig i'll put down 60$ extra for DX 11 and like 15% performance increase, also OC'd it can go up to gtx 480 level :O. Heating shouldn't be an issue cause its liquid cooled.