Radeon 5870 on newegg... How good of a deal is this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102893&cm_re=radeon_hd_5870-_-14-102-893-_-Product
The 2GB version is only worth it if you're going to buy a second 5870 for CF. Reason being that the 2GB of VRAM only comes in handy with very high resolutions ("very high" as in at least 2560x1600, and more like 5760x1200). At resolutions of 1920x1200 and below you won't see any improvement in framerates.
Im trying to get a machine that can blow games like crysis away when they are fully modded. My dad has a 1gb card and can only play crysis on high settings until it slows down. Would it be different hardware that would do that?
You could grab a GTX 480 for that price, or you could even bung a couple of 5830's in Crossfire and easily beat the 5870 listed. If the price premium was only $30-$50, I'd consider it, but an extra $100 is a bit excessive.
Im trying to get a machine that can blow games like crysis away when they are fully modded. My dad has a 1gb card and can only play crysis on high settings until it slows down. Would it be different hardware that would do that?yentlequible
Absolutely. You should also take whatever his CPU and RAM are into consideration. Those can limit performance as well. CPU/RAM/GPU is the triangle of parts that can hold performance back.
[QUOTE="yentlequible"]Im trying to get a machine that can blow games like crysis away when they are fully modded. My dad has a 1gb card and can only play crysis on high settings until it slows down. Would it be different hardware that would do that?stoutlad
Absolutely. You should also take whatever his CPU and RAM are into consideration. Those can limit performance as well. CPU/RAM/GPU is the triangle of parts that can hold performance back. My processor will most likely be a 3.4Ghz quad core AMD, and Im trying to find a good deal on 6GB of ram
...My dad has a 1gb card and can only play crysis on high settings until it slows down. yentlequible
VRAM doesn't always give a clear indication of performance. A 1GB 9800GT will easily get trumped by an 896MB GTX 275, and the same goes in a comparison of a 1792MB GTX 260 vs a 1GB GTX 285. The extra VRAM will obviously help at higher resolutions, but it shouldn't be the ultimate force in your decision making.
Would it be different hardware that would do that?
yentlequible
You need to list your entire system specs before anyone can make a proper recommendation, especially the resolution you plan on gaming at.
Im trying to get a machine that can blow games like crysis away when they are fully modded. My dad has a 1gb card and can only play crysis on high settings until it slows down. Would it be different hardware that would do that?yentlequible
VRAM only matters when the GPU can actually handle the graphics being processed. You could put 4GB of VRAM on an HD5400 and it wouldn't make a lick of difference in how it performs. Meanwhile my HD5970 (which only has 1GB of VRAM per GPU) can max out Crysis completely (8x AA and all settings "very high" at 1920x1080) and still get about 50 FPS average (60 FPS if I leave off AA).
[QUOTE="yentlequible"] ...My dad has a 1gb card and can only play crysis on high settings until it slows down. MaoTheChimp
VRAM doesn't always give a clear indication of performance. A 1GB 9800GT will easily get trumped by an 896MB GTX 275, and the same goes in a comparison of a 1792MB GTX 260 vs a 1GB GTX 285. The extra VRAM will obviously help at higher resolutions, but it shouldn't be the ultimate force in your decision making.
Would it be different hardware that would do that?
yentlequible
You need to list your entire system specs before anyone can make a proper recommendation, especially the resolution you plan on gaming at. All I really know so far is the 3.4ghz quad core processor I will be getting, 6GB of RAM (don't know what brand yet), probably a 750w power supply, and I am still searching for a good motherboard. Also, I will be on 1920 x 1080 resolution. I am not upgrading my old computer, I am completely building one from scratch.
Im trying to get a machine that can blow games like crysis away when they are fully modded. My dad has a 1gb card and can only play crysis on high settings until it slows down. Would it be different hardware that would do that?yentlequible
to blow away crysis you also need a quad core cpu clocked to 3.6 or higher, but my card runs crysis 55+FPS at 1680x1050 2AA all very high extremely smooth with very seldom dips to a minimum of 45FPS. The gigabyte 5870 super overclock would be better that that sapphire cause it will overclock to 1,000 core 1400 memory easily, it handles crysis like a dream.
VRAM doesn't always give a clear indication of performance. A 1GB 9800GT will easily get trumped by an 896MB GTX 275, and the same goes in a comparison of a 1792MB GTX 260 vs a 1GB GTX 285. The extra VRAM will obviously help at higher resolutions, but it shouldn't be the ultimate force in your decision making.
[QUOTE="yentlequible"]
Would it be different hardware that would do that?
yentlequible
You need to list your entire system specs before anyone can make a proper recommendation, especially the resolution you plan on gaming at. All I really know so far is the 3.4ghz quad core processor I will be getting, 6GB of RAM (don't know what brand yet), probably a 750w power supply, and I am still searching for a good motherboard. Also, I will be on 1920 x 1080 resolution. I am not upgrading my old computer, I am completely building one from scratch.
At that resolution you should stick with a 1 GB card and cut out 2 gigs or RAM unless your going to be using it for rendering.
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