Which 5870 to buy?

[Darren K]

Okay I have more or less decided to go for a 5870.

Which one though? Asus, XFX (875Mhz model), Sapphire or the Vapor X from Sapphire?

[trn]

I do not trust XFX anymore personally. I suspect they are subbing out cheapo parts in ATI's reference design. I had to RMA mine because the DVI outputs died it also had some minor green artifacting in 2d, and the replacement card they sent me had one dead DVI port out of the box. I'm on my 3rd card now which is working fine. In their defense, XFX customer support has been good to deal with, they always promptly took care of the RMAs and cross shipped the cards and sent me fedex labels for their mistake of sending me a broken card.

MSI cards for $399 on the egg right now, thats what I would buy. Asus is also $399 which would be my 2nd. Either of those can be easily adjusted to run at 875mhz out of the box with no issues.

[zalbard]

Get whatever you like the price and the warranty most of IMO.

[Boulard83]

ASUS come with Voltage tweek ( unlocked bios )

[Darren K]

I do not trust XFX anymore personally. I suspect they are subbing out cheapo parts in ATI's reference design. I had to RMA mine because the DVI outputs died it also had some minor green artifacting in 2d, and the replacement card they sent me had one dead DVI port out of the box. I'm on my 3rd card now which is working fine. In their defense, XFX customer support has been good to deal with, they always promptly took care of the RMAs and cross shipped the cards and sent me fedex labels for their mistake of sending me a broken card.

MSI cards for $399 on the egg right now, thats what I would buy. Asus is also $399 which would be my 2nd. Either of those can be easily adjusted to run at 875mhz out of the box with no issues.

Damn...thats some bad luck

Get whatever you like the price and the warranty most of IMO.

So in terms of performance it doesn't matter which one?

ASUS come with Voltage tweek ( unlocked bios )

What does that mean?

[zalbard]

So in terms of performance it doesn't matter which one?

All of them have the same original design. Only Sapphire Vapor-X card has a different cooler, that's it.
ASUS card's BIOS is the best for OCing, but you can just flash your card for free instead of paying more...

[trn]

Both Asus and MSI cards come with unlocked bios. Both are $399, and I wouldn't pay a penny more for the Vapor-X or an 875mhz card.

All of them have the same original design. Only Sapphire Vapor-X card has a different cooler, that's it.
ASUS card's BIOS is the best for OCing, but you can just flash your card for free instead of paying more...

[Darren K]

All of them have the same original design. Only Sapphire Vapor-X card has a different cooler, that's it.
ASUS card's BIOS is the best for OCing, but you can just flash your card for free instead of paying more...

what would a diiferent bios do better for the card then? Sorry I'm a NooB!

Both Asus and MSI cards come with unlocked bios. Both are $399, and I wouldn't pay a penny more for the Vapor-X or an 875mhz card.

I suppose if the cards can be clocked over the 875 models anyway, why pay the extra!! Good tip.

[zalbard]

ASUS cards have an unlocked BIOS. There is also one available made by MSI you can download.
Unlocked BIOS means that the Ati CCC overclock limits are pushed way beyond 1GHz instead of 900MHz, so you can overclock your card to the limit.
You can also do the same and go beyond 900MHz with the 'locked' BIOS, but you can say goodbye to power saving features then.
Since all cards are the same (in hardware) you can flash any BIOS you like.

[trn]

Asus or MSI are "unlocked" bios allow you to change the Vcore of the card. The unlocked bios's of other cards do not allow you to change the Vcore. Any card can be flashed to MSI or Asus bios but there is always a risk of a flashing going wrong and bricking the card.

For such a minor OC to 875mhz I would doubt you would even need to raise the voltage (not sure on this, I havn't tried.) But if you ever want to OC more or mess around with the voltages why not buy an unlocked card by default for the same $?

Oh yeah... and good point Zalbard, the default bios's only clock up to 900mhz, Asus goes to 1200mhz and msi 1400mhz or somthing? I think the highest a 5870 with good cooling will OC is in the 1100-1150mhz (i'm not to sure but there is a really long 5870 oc'ing thread here.)

[Darren K]

ASUS cards have an unlocked BIOS. There is also one available made by MSI you can download.
Unlocked BIOS means that the Ati CCC overclock limits are pushed way beyond 1GHz instead of 900MHz, so you can overclock your card to the limit.
You can also do the same and go beyond 900MHz with the 'locked' BIOS, but you can say goodbye to power saving features then.
Since all cards are the same (in hardware) you can flash any BIOS you like.

But couldn't I just use MSI Afterburner or AMD clock tool to OC instead?

[zalbard]

@ trn: you can change vCore using any BIOS with MSI Afterburner.

But couldn't I just use MSI Afterburner or AMD clock tool to OC instead?

Yes, but they use the same CCC limit thing.

[Darren K]

[QUOTE=trn;4211952]Asus or MSI are "unlocked" bios allow you to change the Vcore of the card. The unlocked bios's of other cards do not allow you to change the Vcore. Any card can be flashed to MSI or Asus bios but there is always a risk of a flashing going wrong and bricking the card.

For such a minor OC to 875mhz I would doubt you would even need to raise the voltage (not sure on this, I havn't tried.) But if you ever want to OC more or mess around with the voltages why not buy an unlocked card by default for the same $?

what would a diiferent bios do better for the card then? Sorry I'm a NooB!

Ahhh I see I can play more with the GPU's voltage! Can't do this in CCC and ATI tray tools seems limited in the voltage area.

[Darren K]

@ trn: you can change vCore using any BIOS with MSI Afterburner.

Yes, but they use the same CCC limit thing.

so you can go further than 1Ghz using CCC?? Wow ! I'm only air cooling though.

[zalbard]

so you can go further than 1Ghz using CCC?? Wow ! I'm only air cooling though.

I think you're confused. Let me try and clarify.
I'd suggest using MSI Afterburner for overclocking since it lets you control GPU vCore.
It will respect the limit set by CCC (which is BIOS dependant).
However, you can enable 'unofficial overclocking' in AB and go beyond the CCC limit. The issue is, you will lose the power saving features of your card.

[Darren K]

I think you're confused. Let me try and clarify.
I'd suggest using MSI Afterburner for overclocking since it lets you control GPU vCore.
It will respect the limit set by CCC (which is BIOS dependant).
However, you can enable 'unofficial overclocking' in AB and go beyond the CCC limit. The issue is, you will lose the power saving features of your card.

Very possible

I see now that makes sense.

But can I adjust voltage in Afterburner for the 5870? I can't with my 4850.

[zalbard]

But can I adjust voltage in Afterburner for the 5870?

Easily!

[Darren K]

Easily!

Cool!!

But the 5870 should be able to handle alot without having the need to OC, right?

[zalbard]

But the 5870 should be able to handle alot without having the need to OC, right?

Yeah, sure. Pretty much everything to be honest.
You may as well consider 5850 btw, it has 10% of shaders disabled, and can overclock to 1GHz just about as easily as 5870. The cooler's a bit worse, though.

[Darren K]

After alot of thinking I will more than likely go for the Sapphire 5870 Vapor X.

Thr cooling is better and both idle and load temps. Highest temps OC'ed @ 986 /1250 under load were around 64c!!!
Doesn't make as much noise either

AS far as OC goes, it seems it can be pushed up to around 1Ghz anyway, but not quite as far as with the Asus voltage tweak. It's a little more expensive but I feel it may be worth it.



Thoughts?

[zalbard]

Yeah, it might be a good idea, depends on the price ofc.
You won't be disappointed with either version.