Why ppl compare 5870 with GTX 480??

[sunzeal]

Hi

This thing has always confused me.

They compare ATI 5870 with GTX 480 and say 480 performs better and Nvidia is clear winner.

Same thing with SLI and Crossfire thing. They put 2X Radeon 5870 in Crossfire with other Nvidia cards in SLI.

So its like ATi 5970 is the fastest ATI card, so why don't they compare it with GTX 480 or even put in Crossfire and see the benchmarks??

 

[shadow187]

The 5970 is two cards. Simple as that.

Also, you gotta remember ATI skipped two generations on nVidia.

HD4850 - GTS250
HD4870 - GTX260
HD4890 - GTX275

HD5830 - GTX465
HD5850 - GTX470
HD5870 - GTX480

 

[sunzeal]

what exactly does 2 cards means???

 

[welshmousepk]

The 5970 actually has TWO GPUs on the board. its essentially a crossfire setup in its own right.

the 480 is better than a 5870, but the 5970 is better again. its not really contested, its jsut that a dual GPU card doesn't really need to be mentioned. its obviously going to be better.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Two GPU's on one PCB as opposed to the GTX 480 which only has one GPU on one PCB.

Edit: Beaten by welshmousepk :lol:

 

[4745454b]

I personally don't care whats under the hood. I don't care if its two GPUs, or the dust of magic bunnies that powers a card. What matters is the price and the features. Set the cards up by price and compare performance on that. In the case of a tie features should be next. If AMD wants to price the 5870 at the GTX470, let them.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I personally don't care whats under the hood. I don't care if its two GPUs, or the dust of magic bunnies that powers a card. What matters is the price and the features. Set the cards up by price and compare performance on that. In the case of a tie features should be next. If AMD wants to price the 5870 at the GTX470, let them.

But the OP seems to have noticed that the review sites that chuck out these benchmarks don't appear to agree with you on how cards should be compared, not everyone shares the idea of what a "Flagship Card" is.

 

[sunzeal]

well but still their are 2 GPU's in 1 PCB, so its kinda a single card, so it can still be considered as the fastest graphic card, isn't it?

 

[Annisman]

I will never understand the "It has 2 GPUS on one card, so it can't be compared to the other sides flagship" argument.

I have seen both camps use that argument when it is convienant for them to point out how much 'better' their camps card is.

IMO you can compare whatever card you want with whatever card, it's price for that performance that should only be compared. The fanboi antics is lam3.

 

[slo]

Of course, you can compare them. And the fact that it has 2 gpu's doesnt mean that it is not a single card. It is a single card with 2 gpus on it but even that doesnt matter.

If nVidia could stick 2 gtx480 on a single pcb they would, but i would melt pretty quickly

 

[Rustyy117]

Of course you can compare a GTX480 to a HD5970... it doesn't matter if it has 1 or 2 or even 50 cores, it still only uses 2 PCI-E brackets/Slots they both use about the same amount of power and when someone is considering what to spend their money on their not going to care if it its a dual GPU card or not, they want to know the price/performance compared to the competetion amonst other things like heat, noise, features, included bundle/software and warranty length.

Besides which its ATi's Vs nVidia's flagship cards, If nVidia had a dual GTX470 card then I'm sure it would be compared to the HD5970, but they haven't so people are obviously going to compare the HD5970 to the next best thing, the GTX480.

Also the prices are similar so it makes sense to compare two cards in a simialr price range.

 

[asteldian]

The 480 is the clear winner? Really? Performance wise it may beat the 5870, but design wise it is horrible with heat and noise and power,=.

If the 5870 and the 480 were on par with price I would say the 480 is the winner. But they are not, there is over $100 difference. That is a significant difference, just like it is crazy to compare the 480 with the 5970 due to price, it is silly that the 480 is compared with the 5870. I don't compare a $390 card with a $500 card. In reality the 470 is what competes with the 5870 due to price similarities

As for why the 480 is compared to the 5870 - well, Nvidia designed the card to compete against it so it makes sense that is where the comparison is. The 5970 is in its own league and will compete with Nvidias dual GPU card - just as soon as Nvidia work out how to make one without requiring a PSU with a small nuclear reactor in it and needing a water hose directly spraying onto it (which is safe because the water evaporates before it hits the board). Perhaps it will come with a free hazmat suit!

 

[sunzeal]

if Nvidia will manufacture GTX 480x2 like that with 5970, than i think, GTX 480x2 will melt in a day lol along with it it will melt motherboard and other stuffs rofl.

BTW what about the noise eh? We specially have to buy a NOISE PROOF Case for it.

I think even if their are GPU's in 5970 still it is in single PCB and overall acts like a Single Graphic Card.

 

[shadow187]

A GTX480x2 will never happen. Its TDP would be 500W, it would idle at 80c and max at 110c, fanspeed at 80% mind you, and it would be a horrible card. nVidia is probably waiting for their GF104 chips (which have a lower TDP and better efficiency in terms of power/performance) to make a dual card. But the first GF104 is supposed to have performance equal to an HD5770/HD5830, and two of those would ~= an HD5870, but fall extremely inferior to an HD5970.

Also, here's an HD5970 for $600; http://www.nowdirect.com/exec/partInfo/part_detail.tsb?prcpart=ASUEAH5970%2FG%2F2DIS%2F2GD5

There's a $120 pricegap between the GTX480 and HD5870, and the GTX480 and the HD5970.

 

[sunzeal]

i think, we might need a good cooling system if we buy a GTX 480, cooling system might not be needed in 5970 i think.

 

[boosterfire]

This is easy. Let's look at prices.

HD5970 = $699-749
HD5870 = $389-429

GTX480 = $499

Get it now? You don't compare a $700 video card with a $500 video card.

Which proves the comparison is wrong. You don't compare a 700$ video card with a 500$ video card, but you also don't compare a 500$ video card with a 400$ one. It's quite a margin. Why would one compare two cards which are 100$ apart, even if they are the flagship GPUs (note: gpu, not card)?

Despite the price difference, the 5870 is actually quite similar to the 480 performance wise.

 

[shadow187]

A $500 HD5870 (which would be a 2GB Cherry-picked OC'd version) would easily compete with a GTX480.

 

[sunzeal]

yup its quiet unfair people comparing GTX 480 with 5870 and not 5970.

 

[Mousemonkey]

It does amuse me when people put forward the various criteria for how cards should be compared when, at the end of the day, it's up to the individual to draw their own comparisons between the cards that they interested in and how much they are willing to spend on those cards.

 

[sunzeal]

It does amuse me when people put forward the various criteria for how cards should be compared when, at the end of the day, it's up to the individual to draw their own comparisons between the cards that they interested in and how much they are willing to spend on those cards.

its not like how the cards should be compared, if you are comparing some Top Level Cards, than definitely "BEST CARDS SHOULD BE COMPARED".

 

[sunzeal]

i am not very sure, on why people put GTX 285 in SLI and amazed to see that its performance still does not matches that of GTX 480, and price increases alot, people can actually buy a single 5970 instead of putting 2 GPU's in SLI and also can have better performance with almost same price.

 

[Mousemonkey]

its not like how the cards should be compared, if you are comparing some Top Level Cards, than definitely "BEST CARDS SHOULD BE COMPARED".

And the two cards have been and do get compared in many benchmarks but you have to bear in mind that not everybody wants a card with two GPU's on it, I know I don't.

 

[4745454b]

But the OP seems to have noticed that the review sites that chuck out these benchmarks don't appear to agree with you on how cards should be compared, not everyone shares the idea of what a "Flagship Card" is.

My "belief" came about from back in the day when AMD had no answer for the 8800GTS/GTX. The 2900XT and 3870 could only handle the 8800GT, nothing higher. They realized that their card could only handle the 8800GT and priced it accordingly. I'm sure they would have loved to have sold it for more but the performance wouldn't allow it. From that moment on, its always been about cost/performance for me. I don't care if its a single card, dual GPU, dual PCB, CF.SLI setup, etc. How much FPS do I get for how much $$$?

Likely it would have to be a severely down clocked GTX470 if they can even do that which is unlikely.

Someone forgot to tell Galaxy.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/computex-galaxy-demonstates-dual-gpu-gtx-470/9191.html

No word on if it will ever see the light of day, or clock speeds, etc. It does exist however.

 

[sunzeal]

And the two cards have been and do get compared in many benchmarks but you have to bear in mind that not everybody wants a card with two GPU's on it, I know I don't.

why exactly so, if price is not the matter, than why not go for 5970? Does it have some dis-advantage if it has 2 GPU's in it??

 

[Mousemonkey]

It's a matter of personal choice and preference, I don't like dual GPU cards. What I find really funny about this thread is how people have gone from the "single card is better than dual cards and dual GPU cards are just a gimmick" frame of mind to dual GPU card(s) are the best thing out there :lol:, the disadvantages are a lot of heat in a small area and that if there is a problem with one of my cards I can remove and carry on using the machine with only one card whilst the faulty one is being RMA'd if one of the GPU's goes pop on a dual card then you better have another card lying around to use whilst your x2 card is in the post.