ATI... erm, AMD vs nVidia!

[Rowan Kahn]

The new 5870s are coming out next month, the ones that support the six displays. They'll have the same specs, except for having 2GB RAM.

Woah I never knew that. Thanks for sharing. 2 gigs of RAM? Damn. I guess that's for the incredible resolutions they have to output. I wonder if that will also translate to extra frames?

February 22, 2010: According to Nvidia's twitter update, the Fermi based Geforce GTX 400 series will be "unveiled" at the PAX East 2010,[9] in a later update Nvidia released the launch date of 26th March 2010 for the GTX 470 & GTX 480 to clear up confusion over the PAX announcement

Well looks like it's too long for me. I thought it was going to be early March. Might as well go ahead and order then.

Lol. 6 displays. I have 2 displays but they're different sizes and from different manufacturers so I doubt it will work.

[Mystical_Titan]

Yeah, saw that, but then there's still no telling how long it's going to take to get here.

[GreyWolf]

Lol. 6 displays. I have 2 displays but they're different sizes and from different manufacturers so I doubt it will work.

I got a 4850 connected to a 23" 1920x1080 and a 17" 1280x1024 screen. I would imagine it woule be messy but I dont see why it shouldnt work

[Mystical_Titan]

I think if you want to play games on a multi-monitor setup, they would probably have to be the same size.

[Rowan Kahn]

Yeah it should be fine for multi-applications just not games.

Yeah, saw that, but then there's still no telling how long it's going to take to get here.

I forgot about that. SA always has a delay.

On another topic: Does anyone know when we'll be getting the HD 5830's? I see a few pages back, that it is a mobility radeon. Could you still use that for desktops. I saw in another article that it fits in between the HD 5770 & 5850. So that maybe the card for me to get. Fits in perfectly if the price is also between the two.

[ADV4NCED]

DX11 aside, why not get a 4890? You can get some pretty good deals for a second hand 4890... Seen some go for +-R1500..

Imho I'd get the 4890 over the 5770 anyday, and if its a case of waiting - then why wait when theres still 4890's floating around at decent prices?

[Rowan Kahn]

Before the 5000 series came out, I was going to get an HD 4890 new for R2k (I think it was a club 3d or Force 3D). But when the new cards came out all the 4890s increased in price. I don't know if this is because of lack of supply but I would still like one if I can find it cheaper. It's pointless getting a 4890 for R2500 when you can get a 5850 for R500. You can even get some 5850s for R2700 (the manufacturer is Vertex 3D, same guys as powercolor, but since they're new I'm cautious).

[Mystical_Titan]

Well, I don't think DX 11 is going to take off straight away. I don't even think DX 10 made a very big splash in the graphics pool, so getting a high-end DX 10 card would probably work over getting a mid-range DX 11 card.

[psychotic_savage]

Well, I don't think DX 11 is going to take off straight away. I don't even think DX 10 made a very big splash in the graphics pool, so getting a high-end DX 10 card would probably work over getting a mid-range DX 11 card.

Currently I think there are around 10 Games that fully support DX11. That was when I last saw.

Opinion : As for the new 5870 that can support 6 monitors what a waste of time. Problem with this is having a setup using 26" monitors will cost in the region of R15000. Of witch a max of 3 could be used in games. Not worth it. The 6 monitors all have to be the same size this is what the eyeinfinity part does. if you are using different sized monitors you can have a max of 4. This is taken from the assumption that on the current 5870 you can have 3 Monitors but they have to be the same size or 2 monitors of different size.

That's my rant over. My suggestion wait till the new 5870 comes out and buy the older 5870 for less.

Trust me the card is a beast.

[Mystical_Titan]

The only reason I might go for the new 5870 is because it's going to have 2 GB RAM.

[psychotic_savage]

More ram is always tempting but I feel that etra money is better spent else where. With having a top end GFX the extra R1000 or R2000 could be used on hooking up a sweet 5 drive array or even a couple gigs more ram. Hell be brave and use the cash for some liquid and over clock the GFX card that will give whey larger performance gains than an extra gig of ram.

[Mystical_Titan]

You're assuming the card is going to be much more expensive.

[psychotic_savage]

I am assuming but I think its a fair assumption. It's not really the cost of including the extra gig of ram its more the status that they would charge for.
2GB DDR5 sounds better than 1GB DDR5 and they know the card would be more suited for people with the money to spend. Anyone who can afford the 6 monitors isn't really going to sweat the extra dosh for the card.

But my argument still stands, is the extra 1 gig going to increase your performance more than that of say an extra few extra HDD's in raid on your installation drive.
Considering that games don't use the card at 100% usage yet unless you running on a 42" TV.

[Mystical_Titan]

Let's say for arguments sake that the 2 GB version costs R 1,000 more than the 1 GB version. For that R 1,000 you could buy 2 HDDs. You probably couldn't buy any gaming RAM that worth having in your system. As you said that if you can afford 6 screens, the cost of the card won't bother you. You could also then safely say that anyone buying a 5870 also already has a TB HDD or two in their PC. So really, the argument goes both ways.

[psychotic_savage]

I guess its all going to come down to the price difference but really the 1 gig card is ample.

[Mystical_Titan]

No arguments there.

[Mystical_Titan]

Well psychotic_savage, looks like the 2 GB version of the 5870 is going to be much more pricey than the 1 GB version.

Check the following links from an online store in the US:

http://www.sabrepc.com/p-192-xfx-ati-ra ... etail.aspx

http://www.sabrepc.com/p-191-ati-radeon ... ition.aspx

[Rowan Kahn]

Ohhhhh &%&*! That is expensive. I saw screen shots where you could play Hawx on 6 monitors. So I checked it out on youtube. Boy is it amazing.
Check this link for Hawx on 6 monitors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzGtxlaPQqY
And this for 3 monitors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHNxUR_n ... re=related
I can see that after using the 6 monitors for awhile that it'll be hard to go back to even 3 monitors. It'll seem extremely limiting to your gaming performance. If this becomes mainstream, we'll wonder how we ever coped with one screen.
The borders are irritating but you're brain will screen it out after awhile. I also read somewhere that borderless HD tv's are in the making which means they'll be making borderless LCDs. I think at the moment you can buy curved monitors for eyefinity.
You can buy 19"/20" monitors instead of 23" to save on cash and still get the eyefinity experience.

The 6 screen HD 5870 comes with 6 display ports. I don't know any one that has a screen with display port so it looks like we'll need to shell out quite a bit of cash

[Mystical_Titan]

No-one is going to get 6 screens for gaming just yet.

Big companies might have it in-store as a display, but I think that's about it for now.

[Rowan Kahn]

Lol. For sure. It's just one of those things we dream about. Same as like having an HD 5970.
For the moment, this looks like the best setup to get. If only it was cheaper and available locally:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/oste ... -games-on/
But who knows. Nvidia's 3D technology might trump eyefinity. It looks like we're headed for war between 3D and muli-monitor setups. Ultimately this will decide whether ATI or Nvidia win this fight. I think I'd prefer single screen 3D. Though it would be nice to have a taste of both be4 deciding

[Mystical_Titan]

No, it will not decide whether nVidia or ATI win the fight. They will always find something new to fight about.

[wizardofid]

No, it will not decide whether nVidia or ATI win the fight. They will always find something new to fight about.

They will always be in a price war....

[Mystical_Titan]

I wouldn't necessarily say that... sure, to some degree the price of one will always have an affect on the other, but for the most part ATI cards are cheaper because they don't perform quite as well as the slightly more powerful nVidia cards. This has been the trend in the past, but it could change.

[wizardofid]

I wouldn't necessarily say that... sure, to some degree the price of one will always have an affect on the other, but for the most part ATI cards are cheaper because they don't perform quite as well as the slightly more powerful nVidia cards. This has been the trend in the past, but it could change.

Yeah intel can finally come to the ball game and make a proper high end GFX

[Mystical_Titan]

Dang... I was considering getting Club 3D's version of the HD 5870, the over-clocked edition, but no stock in SA.