Poll: Choosing a different GPU. Opinions?

[TOO S0BER]

Alright, so I've been planning my PC build for a good month and a half. Doing research, reading reviews, getting specs, etc. I finally have my final draft (well, for the most part). One problem; I read some reviews on the GPU I planned on using (ASUS ATI Radeon 5870)

Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121374&cm_re=radeon_hd_5870-_-14-121-374-_-Product

I read many of Newegg's user reviews on this particular card, and it seems the ASUS model has a terrifyingly high fail rate and very frustrating RMA/Customer Service. So, I'm asking the Escapists; What is a reliable manufacturer for this card? I've read some reviews on different manufacturers and I'm leaning towards PowerColor brand.

While I'm at it, I might as well include the current build specs: Many of these components have already been purchased, and are not subject for change.

CPU: Intel Core i7 950
Mobo: EVGA X58 LGA1366 FTW3 132-GT-E768-KR 6 Gb/s SATA
RAM: Corsair 1600 MHz (3x2GB)
Case: NZXT Phantom (When the become available...out of stock)
HDD: 500 GB WD Black Caviar 7200 RPM SATA (x2)
SSD: OCZ 60 GB Agility 2
PSU: Thermaltake Black Widow 850W
Optical Drive: Samsung Black Blu-Combo

 

[oplinger]

Sapphire is probably the best imo.

 

[TOO S0BER]

Sapphire is probably the best imo.

And Why is sappire the best? Looking for more than a simple answer, because I'll be allocating around $350-$400 here.

 

[TheBaron87]

ASUS makes good motherboards but that's about it. My friend knows PC hardware very well and he says ASUS is "good," but not the best. According to him get a Sapphire or Powercolor. I'm using an MSI 5770 just because it was a little cheaper and my mobo is also MSI. It's been working fine so far, but I've only had it for about 8 months so I can't comment on expected lifetime.

 

[The Cheezy One]

ASUS do alright stuff, and have decent support
Sapphire is probably better though

 

[Fluse]

Imho your looking at the wrong GPU all together. For roughly the same price as a single 5870 you can get a GTX 460 SLI setup, which will outperform a single 5870 by upwards of 30% at high resolutions. It depends ofcouse on your monitor, but with computer your putting together i would think your gonna run atleast 1920x1200 and this is where a GTX 460 SLI setup would shine! Dont take my word on it though, look up some reviews! ill start you off with this one:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_460_SLI/1.html

Also, who makes the cards realy doesnt make much diffrence, seeing as most of them are the same refrence design (and the GPU itself is bought stock from ATI/Nvidia respectively). Its a luck draw more or less, if you get a faulty one.

 

[oplinger]

Sapphire is probably the best imo.

And Why is sappire the best? Looking for more than a simple answer, because I'll be allocating around $350-$400 here.

Sapphire is the largest supplier of ATI based video cards.

I can't really tell you the video cards never break, they all do.

I can't really tell you the video card will never have a defect, they all do.

I can't really tell you that the video cards performance is above the others, thats the chipset, not who put it on the card.

I can't really tell you that the support is great, I've never used it, I haven't had a problem with any video card I've ever bought.

I didn't give you a simple answer because I'm an idiot, i gave you a simple answer because you can't just say one licensed manufacturer is above the rest. Look at a picture, if it's got a big fan, Wahoo get that. If not, ignore it. You won't escape the other problems.

 

[TOO S0BER]

Sapphire is probably the best imo.

And Why is sappire the best? Looking for more than a simple answer, because I'll be allocating around $350-$400 here.

Sapphire is the largest supplier of ATI based video cards.

I can't really tell you the video cards never break, they all do.

I can't really tell you the video card will never have a defect, they all do.

I can't really tell you that the video cards performance is above the others, thats the chipset, not who put it on the card.

I can't really tell you that the support is great, I've never used it, I haven't had a problem with any video card I've ever bought.

I didn't give you a simple answer because I'm an idiot, i gave you a simple answer because you can't just say one licensed manufacturer is above the rest. Look at a picture, if it's got a big fan, Wahoo get that. If not, ignore it. You won't escape the other problems.

I never thought you were an idiot because you gave a short answer. Short answers just don't really help me with resolving a question like this.

 

[TOO S0BER]

I feel like I can't really trust many posts from escapist. So much of it seems like brand loyalty (i'm speaking more from my previous 2 threads...).

 

[oplinger]

I feel like I can't really trust many posts from escapist. So much of it seems like brand loyalty (i'm speaking more from my previous 2 threads...).

Brand loyalty would be our opinions, no? This is what you asked for, is it not?

Plus the question itself is somewhat silly. You're not asking us about GPUs at all. You're asking us about who puts them on the card the best. And if you wanted opinions on just that, that is what you got.

Welcome to the world of computers and electronics.

 

[TOO S0BER]

@Metalhandkerchief maybe you'd like to elaborate

 

[TheBaron87]

You lost me at ATi.

Seriously, why even? Why seek out compatibility issues if it can be avoided?

ATI's power/cost ratio make nVidia look like overpriced trash. nVidia spends all their money marketing and passes those costs on to us :\

 

[EvilMaggot]

You lost me at ATi.

Seriously, why even? Why seek out compatibility issues if it can be avoided?

ATI's power/cost ratio make nVidia look like overpriced trash. nVidia spends all their money marketing and passes those costs on to us :\

true what he said, the power/cost ratio i would anyday give my money to ATI because its high end cards for a reasonable price, compared to nVidia where the new GTX480 has alot of errors and the 5970 is just pwning it... and its cheaper.. i dont have anything against nVidia i actulley got a GTX260 but that was the best at the time. but im defo gonna go with a ATI next time and prob made from XFX - my GTX260 is from XFX and have no problems at all... tho dont buy anything BFG - a mate of mine has been through 4 GTX285 failing from BFG, and a power supply aswell

 

[SimuLord]

I wish I could have nVidia's superior driver architecture on ATi's power-to-price ratio. ATi Catalyst drivers suck.

 

[Fluse]

You lost me at ATi.

Seriously, why even? Why seek out compatibility issues if it can be avoided?

ATI's power/cost ratio make nVidia look like overpriced trash. nVidia spends all their money marketing and passes those costs on to us :\

This is just plain wrong! read the review(or rather the performance graphs in it) i posted erlyer in the thred, the GTX 460 / GTX 460 SLI is the best power/cost ratio of high end GPUs on the market atm.

Your statement is clearly based out of a GTX 480 vs. 5870 discussion, but that dosnt make it universally true for all models! And honestly, if you dont take your time to research something, you shouldnt make statements like that!

The same goes for you Metalhandkerchief, over all there is nothing wrong with AMD's (ATI) GPUs, other then the fact that many games get designed specificly for Nvidia GPU's. But from that to saying that AMD cards have compatability issues over all, is abit of a strech imho.

 

[oplinger]

You lost me at ATi.

Seriously, why even? Why seek out compatibility issues if it can be avoided?

ATI's power/cost ratio make nVidia look like overpriced trash. nVidia spends all their money marketing and passes those costs on to us :\

This is just plain wrong! read the review(or rather the performance graphs in it) i posted erlyer in the thred, the GTX 460 / GTX 460 SLI is the best power/cost ratio of high end GPUs on the market atm.

Your statement is clearly based out of a GTX 480 vs. 5870 discussion, but that dosnt make it universally true for all models! And honestly, if you dont take your time to research something, you shouldnt make statements like that!

The same goes for you Metalhandkerchief, over all there is nothing wrong with AMD's (ATI) GPUs, other then the fact that many games get designed specificly for Nvidia GPU's. But from that to saying that AMD cards have compatability issues over all, is abit of a strech imho.

Nvidia is great for games these days. It's separate shader clock works wonders on shader heavy games of today.

However when we make a leap in textures Nvidia will crash and burn and ATI will take off.

And i'd like to mention, many games don't get designed for specific GPUs, not in the sense you're saying. Nvidia controls PhysX now, and they've developed a way for their GPU to be used as for PhysX calculations (See Cryostasis, the tech demo of this.) Otherwise they design the game and determine what it runs best on, based on who funds the studio >.>

Nvidia: Specialized shader clock.

ATI: More general processing.

You lack shaders, Nvidia is just wasting its lack of power.

 

[Fluse]

Nvidia is great for games these days. It's separate shader clock works wonders on shader heavy games of today.

However when we make a leap in textures Nvidia will crash and burn and ATI will take off.

And i'd like to mention, many games don't get designed for specific GPUs, not in the sense you're saying. Nvidia controls PhysX now, and they've developed a way for their GPU to be used as for PhysX calculations (See Cryostasis, the tech demo of this.) Otherwise they design the game and determine what it runs best on, based on who funds the studio >.>

Nvidia: Specialized shader clock.

ATI: More general processing.

You lack shaders, Nvidia is just wasting its lack of power.

True or not, this dosnt change that fact that in practical (actual games), aswell as theoretical tests(bench programs) a GTX 460 SLI setup is on averege better power/cost ratio then any other high end GPU setup. Beating both 5870, 4870X2, GTX 295 and GTX 480 in perfomance but at the same or much lower cost. If anyone actualy bothers ro read up, u will find that in the real world, this setup can (at high resolutions) nearly rival a HD 5970 which is MUCH more expensive.

 

[Fluse]

Manufacturer-wise, XFX has a good reputation in the ATI line-up. Sapphire sells a lot of graphics cards, but they're not as renowned for sheer quality as XFX. Not sure about ASUS - their motherboards are among the best, but I think they're relatively new in the GPU market.

Then again, the NVIDIA-exclusive EVGA whips the lot.

...

The problem with dual-graphics card setups is that they're very hungry on electrical power. Seriously, if you think about it, desktop PCs shouldn't have to have 850W power supplies for reasonable performance, particularly as graphical standards have stagnated somewhat since 2007.

This is most defenitly true, but the same can be said for the Core i7 hes planning to use compared to some of low power Athlon or Phenom II CPU's. And he is putting the 850W in there regardless, might aswell make it work alittle no?

 

[Admiral Stukov]

I myself have always run with ASUS hardware, simply because of it's reliability.

 

[oplinger]

Nvidia is great for games these days. It's separate shader clock works wonders on shader heavy games of today.

However when we make a leap in textures Nvidia will crash and burn and ATI will take off.

And i'd like to mention, many games don't get designed for specific GPUs, not in the sense you're saying. Nvidia controls PhysX now, and they've developed a way for their GPU to be used as for PhysX calculations (See Cryostasis, the tech demo of this.) Otherwise they design the game and determine what it runs best on, based on who funds the studio >.>

Nvidia: Specialized shader clock.

ATI: More general processing.

You lack shaders, Nvidia is just wasting its lack of power.

True or not, this dosnt change that fact that in practical (actual games), aswell as theoretical tests(bench programs) a GTX 460 SLI setup is on averege better power/cost ratio then any other high end GPU setup. Beating both 5870, 4870X2, GTX 295 and GTX 480 in perfomance but at the same or much lower cost. If anyone actualy bothers ro read up, u will find that in the real world, this setup can (at high resolutions) nearly rival a HD 5970 which is MUCH more expensive.

..Sorry but i'm really finding it somewhat retarded we're comparing 2 cards to single cards. I'm just going to leave it at that for now. >> I doubt you'll ever be persuaded.