Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 SLI vs. ATI Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire

[dividebyzero]

Even though it makes sense that a person willing to spend this kind of money on video cards will likely have a 30" monitor I'd really love to see these benchies run at 1920 just for the sake of the numbers.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/palit_geforce_gtx_470,1.html

A reasonable assumption would also be to forego an expensive IPS 2560x1600/1440 and use three cheaper monitors in a 5760x1080 display. Most interest in these cards SLI'ed that I've seen is leaning towards surround gaming- which requires two (or more cards) since nVidia cards can only support two monitors each.

Just as a side note....Regarding GTX400's stacked in consecutive PCIe x16 slots on a board, I, like nVidia wouldn't recommend the practice. Using a bog-standard P6T is a great way to inflate temps -not that the cards need any encouragement in that area. I think I'd be looking at a board that can seperate it's two primary graphics slots with at least two PCI/PCIex1/blank slots, such as the
P6T Deluxe/P6TD, P6T6 WS, P6T7 WS, R3E, M3E, P7P55D/P7P55D-E Deluxe/Premium or Sabertooth i55 when it comes to Asus products (amongst others I'm sure).

 

[ebolamonkey3]

I have a question, how did you run the tests using that 700w power supply??!

 

[Guest]

Not alot of 5870 CF VS GTX 480 SLI Benchmarks around , thank you taking some time to get one up
I just recently built my new rig, I currently have:

Asus Maximus Rampage Extreme III X58
Corei7 930 @ 4.2 ghz on air 24/7 max Max Load 70C with Hyperthreading, 60C W/o Hyperthreading on a Noctua Cooler NHD
GTX 480's SLI
6 Gig G.Skill Ripjaw triple channel @ 1600 mhz
OCZ agility 120 GB SSD for main Drive
OCZ agility 120 GB for Games
2 x 1TB WD Caviar Black in Raid 0 for Video Capture
Spedo Advanced Case, lot of fans to keep things cool.

Both cards reach about 90C max on a hot day @ 100% load, I have them on PCI Express Slot 1 & 3 to give them breathing room Idle about 48C for both. ( they replaced 2 4890's in CF which idled @ 60C and Max load at 85C)

So I don't see what the big fuss is all about with those temps, oh and my 4890's used to crash quite often in the newer games .I.e Borderlands, Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2.

I agree that the power requirements are much higher, but the performance they deliver makes up for at least some of the that cost. Using an Ultra X4 1050w Power Supply which runs the system solid.

 

[dividebyzero]

I have a question, how did you run the tests using that 700w power supply??!

 

[Timonius]

ebolamonkey3 said:
I have a question, how did you run the tests using that 700w power supply??!

Ah yes, perhaps you can answer the good old power supply mystery.

 

[Guest]

3GB SLI vs. 2GB Crossfire: Which is King?

There is something seriously wrong here. Picking a 1GB card for a test of 2560x1600 with anti-aliasing in Crossfire? Sorry dear, but that's just silly and that makes this review pretty pointless. You should at least have picked one (two) of the 2GB 5870 versions, when going for the higher res with AA.

All this review really tells me is that 3GB are better than 2GB in dual configurations with 2560x1600 and AA.. You could have done that with a one-liner and a single graph.

Nice design and colours in the graphs,

 

[Julio Franco]

I have a question, how did you run the tests using that 700w power supply??!

Good catch. The PSU info was incorrect indeed, we will update the specs as soon as Steve comes back online (he lives on the other side of the globe).

 

[dividebyzero]

3GB SLI vs. 2GB Crossfire: Which is King?

That's probably been established

There is something seriously wrong here.

Fanboy using the Guest account....check
Imminent whinging over Red Team card not "winning" the fps battle...check
No, I'd say we're right on track so far

Picking a 1GB card for a test of 2560x1600 with anti-aliasing in Crossfire?

So, while CF'ed reference 5870's CAN run games at 2560x1600-as shown in the review (and a few others available online) your quibble is that CF doesn't WIN.
Question: Wasn't one of the main promotional tools used to sell this card the Eyefinity technology (i.e. 5040x1050 +) ?

You should at least have picked one (two) of the 2GB 5870 versions, when going for the higher res with AA.

So....the review should use the non-reference AMD cards (Eyefinity6/Toxic, overclocked)
Well guess what....
Sapphire 2Gb HD 5870 offers lower framerate than GTX 480 in Crysis Warhead
Sapphire 2Gb HD 5870 Toxic offers lower framerate than GTX 480 inAvP
Sapphire 2Gb HD 5870 offers lower framerate than GTX 480 in BFBC2
Sapphire 2Gb HD 5870 Toxic offers lower framerate than GTX 480 in Metro 2033
Sapphire 2Gb HD 5870 offers lower framerate than GTX 480 in STALKER:CoP
Which covers five of the six games tested.
BTW: Using the 2Gb card also throws out the pricing comparison, and if the review were using non-reference 5870's then surely non-reference GTX 480's should be used also (Pretty exhorbitant at $520...but then again so is this). The Zotac card also runs quieter, cooler and even though overclocked uses virtually the same wattage in comparison to the reference model.

All this review really tells me is that 3GB are better than 2GB in dual configurations with 2560x1600 and AA..

Since 4Gb of HD5870 falls to 3Gb of GTX 480 then it should tell you that:
1. SLI on GTX480's scales really well
2. The GTX 480 suffers only a minimal performance hit under heavy AA -unlike it's nVidia predecessors
3. A 2Gb HD 5870 still uses the same 256Mb frame buffer as the 1Gb
4. Maybe AMD need to tweak/redesign Cypress to compete at extreme IQ settings ( hellllllooooooo Southern Islands)

You could have done that with a one-liner...,

So could I...but I've given up swearing for Lent

 

[Relic]

Good read, just wish I was in the top echelon of enthusiasts to give something like that a shot =D.

Guest said:
The next time any pc gamer other than the "extremist" is gonna rant about console graphics being inferior.... I say "STFU"!!! cause your setup is not the best either.

Mid-range systems can still outdo consoles, so your point is moot. Console gamers are the ones that claim you need a behemoth like system worth thousands of dollars to properly game on when in reality you don't.

 

[Guest]

105 degree's in sli? wtf in my opinion nvidia just over clocked it themselves to gain an advantage over amd look at the cooler and its 4 heat pipes there just pre over clocking to up performance and power consumption.

The single cards performance is identical when comparing 5870 and then 480 and the 5870 is much older now. Amd ftw for single card. Although I do agree the scaling of crossfire is poor for amd compared to nvidia (not for the 5770 range though which goes upto 80% consistently) and a 5970 should be looked at instead (probably why they released it in the first place).

summary

-105 degrees wtf
- single cards are identical performance but nvidia just o/c the crap out of it with a mass cooler.
- amd crossfire fails on 5870
-5970 should be considered instead.

 

[red1776]

Guest said:
The next time any pc gamer other than the "extremist" is gonna rant about console graphics being inferior.... I say "STFU"!!! cause your setup is not the best either.

you forgot "my dads bigger than your dad"
This is great! I've often thought we don't hear nearly enough from the 6-12 year old demographic.

 

[LinkedKube]

you forgot "my dads bigger than your dad"
This is great! I've often thought we don't hear nearly enough from the 6-12 year old demographic.

I was thinking I must be a pretty smart 12 year old. When I read that comment earlier I thought to myself. " You've already lost the race by the time UPS shows up at your door with your purchase." Just as quick as we upgrade, there's another announcement.

Anyway, I think ati needs to get on the ball, and by the end of this year. Although I'm sure they could make their cards pump out more power and more heat. Ati seems a little more practical to most people. While the nvidia fan boys wait in line to get hit by the next big black and green nuclear reactor they can get their hands on.

 

[Guest]

@ Guest who said 5970 should be considered instead ... are you a bone head? The Radeon Hd 5970 is slower than a pair of Radeon HD 5870's and that is why it is cheaper. Given the option you should always go for a pair of Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire cards when two slots are available.

As for all the guys jumping up and down about them not using 2GB cards do some research. For the most part you get a frame or two more, hardly worth the massive increase in price.

 

[Guest]

Yea, it's all a conspiracy that the Nvidia setup ripped the 5870 setup. Cherry picked cards, mass oc's, etc. etc. No, they should not be compared to a 5970. I remember all you ati fans complaining back in the day, when nV had sli on a stick and all I heard was, you can't compare, you can't compare!!!! Now all of a sudden things have changed I guess. The 5970s are a load of problems anyways in crossfire and people are pissed that they do not work as advertised. I think the 5870 crossfire was the best choice to bench against. You could bench with the 2 gig versions, but then you would lose out on the $ side and performance side. By the way, they will beat the 2gig models too. Of course the benchies would become closer, but not as much as you would like to think.

By the way, I have owned ati cards the last 3 years, so no I am not a fanboy. You guys just get ridiculous when your card gets trashed. Always some deep antics going on behind the scenes with you guys. DId you not expect something that uses more power. more heat and more money wouldn't smoke the 5870s?

 

[Guest]

a 5% performance gain with a 20% heat and coast isn't smoking anything cept your computer box.

^^ single cards

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I had been of the opinion that CrossFire scales better than SLI. This review seems to change that conception.

I'm impressed by that 90% scaling.

 

[LinkedKube]

Just 5%, did you look at the charts at all?

 

[red1776]

a 5% performance gain with a 20% heat and coast isn't smoking anything cept your computer box.

^^ single cards

....I think you forgot to carry the 1...

 

[Guest]

OMG i cant stand people specially fanbois who just would say anything to justify their brand preference or purchase

@people saying biased unfair comparison "they should compare it to the 5970"
Looks like many ati fanbois are butt hurt at how well Fermi scales on SLI and the power of the GTX 480, even more now with the new drivers

Ok to start off the 5970 is a dual GPU and the GTX 480 is a single GPU
Second of all in the USA the 5970 cost $200 more than the GTX 480, whereas the GTX 480 only costs $100 more than the 5870.

New egg is the one of best places where you can buy Computer parts here in the USA and has the some of the best prices around here
It list the 5970 at $700 http://tiny.cc/73be8 and the GTX 480 at $500 http://tiny.cc/38zm5 and the 5870 at $400 http://tiny.cc/dv5q1

Point one:
2 GTX 480 on SLI are way faster, it easily beats ONE 5970

Point two:
The 5970 scales like **** on crossfire when you add a second 5970, it is almost a waste of money, on average just 10 to 15 percen faster than 2 way SLi GTX 480, also important to note that is some cases 2 GTX 480 match or even outperform quad 5970 depending of res and Anti Aliasing NOT to mention it quad 5970 would cost you $400 MORE than the nvidia configuration

Point three:
5970 should only be bought if thats would be your only graphics card and you DON'T plan to add a second one in the future, since it would be a waste of money considering how bad it scales on quad crossfire when you add a second 5970

Point four:
3 way SLI GTX 480 costs $1500
Quad crossfire 5970 costs $1400
So the the 3 way SLI nvidia configuration would blast the **** out of the quad 5970 for just $100, considering that even 2 way GTX 480 matches quad 5970 in some games/cases

http://www.maingearforums.com/entry.php?24-So-You-Want-To-Buy-A-GeForce-Part-2

Note
I wouldn't go as far as 3 way sli, 2 way sli is the best choice, add water blocks to each card ($300 total) overclock the 2 way sli GTX 480 and you would get 3 way sli level performance at cool temperatures that do NOT surpass 60 °C at almost silent levels thanks to the water cooling


IMPORTANT NOTES (that enraged fanbois always forget to mention when they call fermi an sub par product)

-GTX 480 has superb dx 11 tessallation support, it does it better than any ati card, as games mature and start utilizing tessellation more heavily the GAP is just going to get bigger

-Fermi scales great on SLI anywhere from 80 to 90 percent

-GTX 480 handles Anti Aliasing like no other, it really has superb performance, it takes a much lower performance hit when jumping from 4XAA to 8/16xAA (if you enable 8/16 AA the GTX 480 can be 40% faster than the 5870)

-One word: GPGPU aka CUDA as of now fermi has no competition on the GPGPU field it folds like crazy, it really is the best card for video editing/edition, photoshop etc

- Better drivers, well.. DUH...

- 8/16xAA a single GTX 480 is 20% than the 5870 and heavy tessellation to the equation and the performance gap gets bigger

Final note:
Its pathetic when people mention power consumption of 2x GTX 480 Vs 2X 5870
One would think that ANYONE planning to spend 800/1000 dollars on Graphics card would have at LEAST an decent 1000 watt PSU. Only enthusiast would spend that much on graphics cards and enthusiast clearly have beefed up power supply and don't have a problem with power consumption

"ZOMGZ my electricity bill"
All i have to say ti this is *facepalm* it wold probably cost you an extra $2 more than the ati configuration a month in your electricity bill

 

[grvalderrama]

"ZOMGZ my electricity bill"
All i have to say ti this is *facepalm* it wold probably cost you an extra $2 more than the ati configuration a month in your electricity bil"

350w-170w=180w/20w= 9...Nine 20w CFL.... Imagine 9 more lamps in your house, that would give you a more accurate idea of the energy consumption between SLI and Crossfire. (when idle)

790w-590w=200w/20w= 10....Ten 20W CFL... Under load...
Not so environment-friendly...

 

[ruzveh]

for me ATI 5 series card is KING. I am infavour of more efficient card like high performance, features with less power consumption and heat. Less heat will also lead to long life of my purchase that i make. I dont intend to use my graphics card 24x7 for gaming but my graphic card will work for 24x7 coz i keep my PC running all time. And if the idle power consumptions r on the roof then god save me with the electricity bills and life of the card every now and then.

Yea so with ATI i will game when i want and i will leave the pc idle without worrying much abt power and heat factor. Win win for both

 

[dividebyzero]

"ZOMGZ my electricity bill"
All i have to say ti this is *facepalm* it wold probably cost you an extra $2 more than the ati configuration a month in your electricity bil"

350w-170w=180w/20w= 9...Nine 20w CFL.... Imagine 9 more lamps in your house, that would give you a more accurate idea of the energy consumption between SLI and Crossfire. (when idle)

790w-590w=200w/20w= 10....Ten 20W CFL... Under load...
Not so environment-friendly...

Observations...
1. What happens if you turn off 10 lights in your house when gaming?
ii. Don't know about Argentina...but in NZ 1kw/hr is $0.16-0.21 (I pay $0.17), so on a generous computer/gaming session the differential could be 3hrs idle @ 180w (540w) + 5hrs gaming @ 196w (980w) = 1.52kw x 30 days x $NZ 0.17 = $NZ 7.75/mo ($US 5.51/month or 21.67 Pesos)....assuming I run the system 8hrs a day every day.
c. When did ATI enthusiasts suddenly become eco-crusaders ? It was certainly after the R600 went EOL...must be because global warming hadn't been invented in 2007!
§. The max power draw for both the 5870 and 480 is usage under Furmark...You spend a lot of time playing Furmark gr ? So, when all's said and done you're basically saying 800 watts system usage = bad, while 600 watts system usage = acceptable ?
Here's some table's showing the relative power draw for both cards at Idle, normal 3D usage, maximums and blu-ray playback. You can breathe easy....the world's demise has been put back two weeks.


@ Guest (post #44)
You forgot pics of the nVidia sales brochure. I'm also deducting points for lack of Powerpoint presentation.

 

[Guest]

Unfair resolution to the ATI cards, 1GB of memory will not cut it in most of the benched games with max IQ, should have benched at 1900x1200 or use the 2GB radeons.

 

[Guest]

Yeah 1GB won't cut it at max rez as shown by the drop in performance in crysis with 8xAA versus no AA where it works fine, anyway in most of the games the 5870's where well close enough to the 480's except for the ones where Vram is obviously being maxed out like metro2033 which is undoubtedly one of the biggest Nvidia supported titles out there.

You game at max rez then yes 480's all the way, all be it with high temps, noise, and massive power consumption, under max rez then ATI all the way easily.

 

[RavenXXX2]

Great review, always appreciate Techspot's unbiased detailed reviews.

On the review I feel the rez is a bit to much for the 1GB radeons as shown by the dodgy results in some of the tests, a lower rez or 2GB cards would have been a fairer test, or you could have benched at 1920x1200 as well as the tested rez. The 5870's still performed well in the majority of the games and anything under the tested rez I would go ATI, the power consumption and heat of fermi is ridiculous, fermi SLI and water cooling should be a requisite.