Ati 57** or 58**

[Jason Dewhurst]

As above I was tempted to go 59** but there a little out of my budget, does anyone know the difference exactly between 57 and 58?

 

[James Yates]

The 5770 is a mid range card that's currently a bit over priced. The 5850 is overpriced still and not worth it at all. A 5870 might be worth a look but only if its less than £180. You might find a 5830 but it'll probably cost near enough the same as a 6850 and its a worse card.

6850 is a little above a 5850 and the 6870 is around a 5870 for performance but they do tessellation a bit better.

Basically it goes 5970>5870>6870>6850>5850>5830>5770.

I'd pick a GTX 470 over all of those though, better drivers, better with AA and just as powerful.

 

[Jason Dewhurst]

Cant stand nvidia, running a 260 and the amount of problems I have with sutters and lack of quality AA/AF is a joke, Plus the bulkiness of nvidia cards is a joke.

So the 6870 is what my budget can handle you think?

5870 - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-...0mhz-1600cores-dp-dvi-hdmi-aliens-vs-predator £200+

mext one up on scan is 280 but thats a little ott for me.

 

[James Yates]

I wouldn't go XFX, their support is absolutely shocking as of late. Their cards are usually cheaper for a reason too - lower quality components.

I'd grab this instead. Reference design, good company and a great price. Performance might be a tiny bit down from the 5870 but it'll overclock really well and be great card for the price.

I'd have to disagree on the AA/AF, ATI's usually looks a LOT worse than the 4 series Nvidia cards. Every card will be bulky too at this sort of price range - ATI's are usually a bit longer than Nvidia's but otherwise around the same sort of size. Fair enough if you've had issues and want to change to ATI though. Just be warned that their drivers can be absolutely terrible and require a few hot fixes before they get good.

 

[Jason Dewhurst]

Well I have dual crossfire capability, so I wouldnt get the advantage of sli if i ran dual nv cards, my board supports ati better.

And I had a hell of a job wiring up my hd audio from case to board with my current card because of its size, and the hd audio front panel still doesnt work nor does the usb ports on front either.....

As for the AA/AF

Lets take NWN2 With this system I should be able to run it at full, but I get stutters and I get wierd white edges on all textures with this card, be it cave entrances, walls, player body outlines, the card just cannot display it properly, of course it could be an old game on one of the newest drivers but I also had this on my old 8500 GT I assumed it was the card and expected the 260 to cope with it but alas it still doesnt, as above it could just be an old game engine.

my specs:

AMD Athlon II x4 630 2.8 gb
ASUS M4A77TD PRO
4gb DDR3 ram (unsure of brand)
500gb HDD
260 GTX
PB Full HD viseo 1080 Monitor

 

[Christopher Aponte]

Maybe also worth looking into the new 570GTX
should be faster or around the same performance of the 480, runs cooler and quieter...and it is the 470 replacement

 

[Jason Dewhurst]

and over my budget.....