confused about graphics cards (among other things :P )

[Reaper90]

starting a new thread to not further derail an existing one:

The 460 and 6850 run performance wise very close to each other I have read. Though I do not have either card I am sure either would work fine to run the game.
These are midrange cards.(about 150.00 to 210.00)
There are the higher end cards up from these two cards mentioned.

Been looking at priced of ATI cards, and (pardon the non-computer guy ignorance) I can't figure out something.... what's the difference between "generations" of Radeon cards? cyberpowerpc.com has a ATI Radeon 5870 $38 more than the 6870..... where's the difference? I'm presuming the 6xxx series of cards are "newer and better" - where's the reason for more $$ for a 5xxx series card?

I'm trying to spec a new computer and have been reading and studying as much as I can, but this I don't understand....

I want to initially start with a songle 27" monitor, then move up to a 3 monitor setup in the future. Adding a second card isn't a big problem for me if that is what it takes to do so down the road, but I understand ATI can support a 3-monitor setup with a single card now...

I guess I'm just trying to gain some understanding of what differentiates between the different ATI cards and which one is best for AH (Aces High is the only gaming I do, although in the future iRacing may be in the cards... but I have zero interest in other gaming, FPS games or otherwise. The only thing I can think of that may hold some interest outside of AH and iRacing is XPlane..... but I'm not too worried about that - running AH at full detail with all textures and shadows at max FR is priority one...)

Help?

[NormH3]

Buying video cards is similar to buying bottled water..too many choices.
If you haven't already try www.tomshardware.com
It's a good site for reviews and comparisons.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

starting a new thread to not further derail an existing one:

Been looking at priced of ATI cards, and (pardon the non-computer guy ignorance) I can't figure out something.... what's the difference between "generations" of Radeon cards? cyberpowerpc.com has a ATI Radeon 5870 $38 more than the 6870..... where's the difference? I'm presuming the 6xxx series of cards are "newer and better" - where's the reason for more $$ for a 5xxx series card?

I'm trying to spec a new computer and have been reading and studying as much as I can, but this I don't understand....

I want to initially start with a songle 27" monitor, then move up to a 3 monitor setup in the future. Adding a second card isn't a big problem for me if that is what it takes to do so down the road, but I understand ATI can support a 3-monitor setup with a single card now...

I guess I'm just trying to gain some understanding of what differentiates between the different ATI cards and which one is best for AH (Aces High is the only gaming I do, although in the future iRacing may be in the cards... but I have zero interest in other gaming, FPS games or otherwise. The only thing I can think of that may hold some interest outside of AH and iRacing is XPlane..... but I'm not too worried about that - running AH at full detail with all textures and shadows at max FR is priority one...)

Help?

Your confusion is understandable because ATI/AMD changed the naming of the cards in 6xxx series. In earlier models x87x naming meant a high-end model. Now after 6 series a 6870 is no longer high-end model but a mid-price model.

That explains why the older card costs more.

[Sloehand]

This is another good place for reviews on all computer components.  Seems to keep fairly updated.  Nothing worse than reading a review that's a year and a half old.   

http://graphics-cards-review.toptenreviews.com/

[cattb]

I have been looking at cards as I said before.
The 5870 is older card as ripley has said.
The difference is the 5870 has better performance then the 6870, but not alot more performance. I cannot tell you  how far apart they are in a percentage based on performance, I didn't find that information.
The 6870 has better scaling then the 5870.
The 6870 also has 3d, but 3d is not offered as yet.
Nvidia has some options that ATI does not.
Last note, ATI cards will run with less power then the nvidia cards.
If you look around, you can find the 5870 around 200. Just a matter of looking for specials.
I am not trying to say one brand of card is better then the other, suggest you do some research.

[Reaper90]

OK, so lets say I narrow it down to an ATI Radeon 5870......... whoa! I look at newegg and I've got no fewer than 8 brands to choose from all for the same thing supposedly.... XFX, Sapphire, MSi, ASUS, PNY, Gigabyte, AverMedia, etc....

Any difference between brands or am I buying the same thing with a different sticker on it no matter which one I choose?

[ebfd11]

Everyone has their opinion about vid cards along with brands. Myself I am partial to the PNY brand because of their reliability in my opinion. I have had no less than 5 PNY cards ( upgrading to bigger cards ) and I have had 0.0 problems with them. If you are wondering about the different versions look at the specs on all of the versions and go from there.

Just a quick comparison between 4 different cards right now
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048&IsNodeId=1&Description=ATI%20Radeon%205870&bop=And&CompareItemList=48|14-161-329^14-161-329-TS%2C14-121-388^14-121-388-TS%2C14-102-872^14-102-872-TS%2C14-125-326^14-125-326-TS%2C14-125-322^14-125-322-TS

The GIGABYTE Radeon HD 5870 GV-R587OC-1GD Video Card looks like the better card in the comparision from what i selected, but the final decision would be yours to make.

LawnDart 

[TequilaChaser]

If I was looking to buy an ATI Brand card I would pick one of the following Branded ATI cards

ASUS
Visiontek
XFX
Sapphire

only thing I don't like about the ASUS is their 3 year warranty vs XFX & Visiontek usually offer Lifetime replacement warranty

I choose to include Sapphire for their lower compared cost to others

do your research thoroughly on any cards and compare the brands to one another

[Masherbrum]

XFX

[Reaper90]

This is another good place for reviews on all computer components.  Seems to keep fairly updated.  Nothing worse than reading a review that's a year and a half old.   

http://graphics-cards-review.toptenreviews.com/

THANK YOU! That's exactly the kind of "side-by-side" comparison I've been looking for, explained a lot! 

[CRYPTIC]

MSI is making some decent cards. They have a couple that come with aftermarket coolers the hawk or the cyclone.

[Reaper90]

So my next question is: If I plan to run 3 monitors, and Radeon cards can support 3 monitors with one card with their "Eyefinity technology," is a single 5870 going to be able to run Aces High on 3 27" ASUS LCD monitors at full detail, shadows and all, at max frame rate, or am I going to need to step up to a Radeon 6950 or 6970, OR would I be better off with two 5870's to run the 3 monitors?

This is a big deal I think because the size of the Radeon 6xxx cards will in part determine what choices I make on what case all this goes in, as I've read they're too large for many mid-tower cases.....

CPU I'm looking at is "Intel Core-I7-950 3.06 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366," coupled with 8GB of Corsair Dominator DDR3/1600MHz memory, btw...

If I'm gonna shell out the dough I want this to be an "all-out" build - I don't intend to spend the money and not be able to enjoy all the eye-candy, not after playing this game for 2 years on a 6 year old computer with everything set to the lowest detail.....

[jocrp6]

OK here's the deal, ATI/AMD, Nvidia  all they make is the die,  board and processor-Then passed out to the finnishers, XFX,Diamond,ASUS,MSI ect,ect. The quality of the new-born card depends on the parts that they install on it, capacitor's, choke's, resistors. thats where the price differace
comes in,  follow me,  kinda like a car bodyshop,  you get what you pay for. lol. 
  And as far as the overall diff betrween ATI/Nvidia?  they use differant type's of processor threading, I use to be a ATI person for a long time, (middle of the road, Im just not gonna spend over 250 buck's on a damn vid card) lol  and not wanting to dis the ATI people, but for serious gaming/
need to study Nvidia a little more,  (my opinion)

[cattb]

As far as runnning 3 monitors and which card. I have no answer. I think one of the things that need to be looked at is the resolution of of the monitors. I believe, but I could be wrong, the higher the resolution of the monitor then the better card needed to run your monitor.(correct me if I am wrong)

Also if you go with 2 cards then there is the extra power needed to run them and the cooling of your PC case.