HD 6870 or GTX 570?

[Matthew McEwan]

Hey everyone, just new to these forums and was just wondering about a graphics card. I am hoping to build my own system for around £1000 my original plan was to get the Pre-OC'ed i4 530 bundle at aria.co.uk as I had seen Toms video on a £600 gaming rig. I understand mine is £400 over that but I was just wondering whether the 6870 used in his video would handle gaming on a 27 inch monitor at 1920x1080, games will probably vary between WoW being the least demanding and up to Mass Effect 2 being the most demanding. I would like to be able to play Mass Effect 2 at the highest settings. The GTX 570 was my first thought as it would provide some future proofing aswell, but I dont know if the CPU will bottleneck so I dont know if a 6870 would be a better choice. Otherwise I could save a little more and get a better bundle.

Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[Proctor]

Well, the 6870 will be the cheaper option for sure. The 570 is more expensive, will do better in a wider range of games, and has Physx and CUDA for various other applications.

But speaking of Mass Effect 2, I ran that maxed (or close, the game does some kind of auto-settings) with my fps close to or at 60 at 1920x1080 on a 3.4GHz Pentium D and 9800GT. It's a very well optimized game. There was even a little headroom for me to adjust the shadow resolution (which can make shadows so awesome and detailed).

They're both good modern cards and shouldn't have too much trouble with too many things.

 

[alienware]

6870 isn't even in the same city as the 570, let alone the same town.

 

[Proctor]

6870 isn't even in the same city as the 570, let alone the same town.

and that's why it's ~60% of the 570's price now.

In the US on newegg:

6870 - $219 lowest ($199 with rebate even)

570 - $349 lowest

 

[alienware]

Yes the 6870 is cheaper. However, it performs on the same level as a 5850 did pretty much, maybe a 5-10% improvement tops. It's a mid range card.

I didn't say the 570 was cheap, but to compare the two is pretty crazy. You'd be better off comparing the 6870 to a 1gb+ 460OC.

I mean, at least you can overclock a 460.

 

[pcwhizzer]

Hey everyone, just new to these forums and was just wondering about a graphics card. I am hoping to build my own system for around £1000 my original plan was to get the Pre-OC'ed i4 530 bundle at aria.co.uk as I had seen Toms video on a £600 gaming rig. I understand mine is £400 over that but I was just wondering whether the 6870 used in his video would handle gaming on a 27 inch monitor at 1920x1080, games will probably vary between WoW being the least demanding and up to Mass Effect 2 being the most demanding. I would like to be able to play Mass Effect 2 at the highest settings. The GTX 570 was my first thought as it would provide some future proofing aswell, but I dont know if the CPU will bottleneck so I dont know if a 6870 would be a better choice. Otherwise I could save a little more and get a better bundle.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Hello Matthew,

On reading this I would suggest as everyone has....the GTX570 is the most future proof and value for money card out there right now, especially if you intend on building a gaming rig. One thing i've learnt over the past 10 years of PC building experience is that you don't go cheap ass on a GFx card.

anyway. Which ever option/road you decide to take will without doubt still give birth to an awesome rig....

 

[Matthew McEwan]

My main worry is that the GPU will outplay the CPU by too much, not sure if this will actually be a problem. I would hate to have to update the CPU soon after purchasing it. Will I experience any bottlenecking issues with an i3 540 @4.2Ghz and a GTX 570?

 

[alienware]

Yes the I3 will bottleneck the 570 ever so slightly. However, the raw muscle in your system will hammer out any of AMDs offerings in the same price bracket. A GPU is the single most expensive part you will buy. So, overkill is always good.

And don't forget with your system there's pretty much nothing stopping you throwing in an I5 at a later date

Edit. Also consider this mate.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-137-GW&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1810

£30 cheaper than the 6950 and right about the same speed. Infact, I reakon spec for spec it will actually down the 6950. It costs less and comes with a neat game too. You're kind of right. A 570 may well be overkill in your machine. Bloody lovely cards though

 

[Matthew McEwan]

Ok great! Good to finally know that it will work well.

Thank you guys for the great info and timely response!

 

[pcwhizzer]

Yes the I3 will bottleneck the 570 ever so slightly. However, the raw muscle in your system will hammer out any of AMDs offerings in the same price bracket. A GPU is the single most expensive part you will buy. So, overkill is always good.

And don't forget with your system there's pretty much nothing stopping you throwing in an I5 at a later date

Edit. Also consider this mate.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-137-GW&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1810

£30 cheaper than the 6950 and right about the same speed. Infact, I reakon spec for spec it will actually down the 6950. It costs less and comes with a neat game too. You're kind of right. A 570 may well be overkill in your machine. Bloody lovely cards though

I could'nt agree more AlienALX