Which Of These Two Cards is the better one

[bushisland]

XFX Radeon HD5870 850 MHz 1GB ($439.00 Can) or Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X 870 MHz 1GB ($459.00 Can). There is only $20.00 different. I know the Vapor-X is OC and supposed to run cooler. Some say the fan is louder also, when at a high speed. I always have run XFX for the warranty and reasonable support. I don't really know much on Sapphire.

 

[Zubasa]

Sapphire is the big guy that makes most of ATi cards.
Anyways, if you are getting a Vapor-X makes sure that it has the same software voltage control as the reference board.

 

[ckoons1]

xfx because of warranty

 

[DOM]

i think both are non ref. pcb dont let you give more volts, all the ones with the fan in the center is what i been told

 

[mlee49]

XFX has an incredible warranty that is only rivaled to BFG. Personally your not going to notice the difference between the cards unless your heavily overclocking them. Also from what I've seen the 5k series cards dont really run that hot in comparison to the 4k cards so the VaporX isn't wining that much imo.

The XFX is cheaper and will be a nice upgrade from that 9800GTX.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

For that price difference it's the HD5870, of course.

10% more performance for 4% more money, it's a no-brainer.

Not to mention that the HD5870 Vapor-X has lots of overclocking headroom without having to mess with voltages, whereas the HD5850 @ 850MHz could very well be near its limit.

 

[DOM]

on the ones wiz has reviewed the only one that hit 1000mhz on the core was the powercolor, is another one that you cant mess with the volts

also where are you getting the card from ?

 

[ToTTenTranz]

on the ones wizhas reviewed the only one thats hit 1000mhz on the coreis the powercolor is another one thatyou cant mess with the volts

Punctuation, please.. I really can't understand your post.

 

[DOM]

Punctuation, please.. I really can't understand your post.

i fixed it some, but i wasnt talking to you in the first place lol

 

[MilkyWay]

XFX should have a better warranty, the sapphire will have better cooling but its not as good as proper after market cooling. Last gens cards (4xxx series) sometimes had crappy heatpipes with the toxic version of sapphire.

Sapphire is the major ati brand, they make okay cards but arnt the best overall. Im sure a lot of people will agree.

 

[bushisland]

on the ones wiz has reviewed the only one that hit 1000mhz on the core was the powercolor, is another one that you cant mess with the volts

also where are you getting the card from ?

Vapor-x is in stock at Extreme PC here in Canada. They also carry the regular HD5870 from Sapphire. XFX from NXIC, but they are out of stock.

 

[bushisland]

XFX has an incredible warranty that is only rivaled to BFG. Personally your not going to notice the difference between the cards unless your heavily overclocking them. Also from what I've seen the 5k series cards dont really run that hot in comparison to the 4k cards so the VaporX isn't wining that much imo.

The XFX is cheaper and will be a nice upgrade from that 9800GTX.

Yes I believe that is the way I so go. But I'm not 100% sure yet. Thanks

 

[Zubasa]

For that price difference it's the HD5870, of course.

10% more performance for 4% more money, it's a no-brainer.

Not to mention that the HD5870 Vapor-X has lots of overclocking headroom without having to mess with voltages, whereas the HD5850 @ 850MHz could very well be near its limit.

They are both 5870s

 

[bushisland]

Sapphire is the big guy that makes most of ATi cards.
Anyways, if you are getting a Vapor-X makes sure that it has the same software voltage control as the reference board.

Could you explain what you mean, by "same software voltage control". I'm still learning all this tech stuff. Thanks

 

[Zubasa]

Could you explain what you mean, by "same software voltage control". I'm still learning all this tech stuff. Thanks

It really doesn't matter all that much unless you are going for the highest overclocks

What I meant was that all of the reference 5870 cards support voltage control on the core with software.
Many of the non-reference cards use different components, thus no control.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_5870/4.html

 

[bushisland]

It really doesn't matter all that much unless you are going for the highest overclocks

What I meant was that all of the reference 5870 cards support voltage control on the core with software.
Many of the non-reference cards use different components, thus no control.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_5870/4.html

Got it! Thanks

 

[bushisland]

Vapor-X Picture

Here is a Pic of the Vapor-X card, If anyone is interested. http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=34750&stc=1&d=1270595562a

 

[ToTTenTranz]

They are both 5870s

My bad.
I got the impression the XFX was a HD5850.

 

[overclocking101]

sapphire warranty is great just as good if not better than XFX. I have rma'd 6 diff cards to them all because of my own mistake and knowing that they rma'd them anyways, XFX will not rma if you admit it was a end user screw up. and it looks way cooler than that XFX card to.

 

[bushisland]

sapphire warranty is great just as good if not better than XFX. I have rma'd 6 diff cards to them all because of my own mistake and knowing that they rma'd them anyways, XFX will not rma if you admit it was a end user screw up. and it looks way cooler than that XFX card to.

Good to know. Thanks for the input.

 

[jasper1605]

my 5850 toxic can OC like a madman. It can't hit the really high clock speeds like some of the reference cards but I run it at 920/1330 stable w/ 100% load (via F@H, furmark, and heaven unigine). Even in ambient temps of 35c the card never broke 60c w/ fan at 60-70%

Edit: I realize you're looking at the 5870 but i figure my 5850 experience is a good rep of the sapphire quality and ability since the same cooling is used on both cards.

 

[bushisland]

my 5850 toxic can OC like a madman. It can't hit the really high clock speeds like some of the reference cards but I run it at 920/1330 stable w/ 100% load (via F@H, furmark, and heaven unigine). Even in ambient temps of 35c the card never broke 60c w/ fan at 60-70%

Edit: I realize you're looking at the 5870 but i figure my 5850 experience is a good rep of the sapphire quality and ability since the same cooling is used on both cards.

Yes, I was also looking at the Sapphire HD5850 Toxic 765MHz to. It's $365.00 Can here, and $94.00(+Taxes) cheaper than the 5870. In your opinion how would that match up to the 5870 Vapor?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

say your 5850 is overclocked to 850/1200 vs the 5870 at 850/1200 the 5850 is only 3% slower thats it clock to clock same speeds theres a 3% difference

so if you DONT plan to heavily overclock a 5850 oced will give you 5870 performance for $100 less

 

[jasper1605]

say your 5850 is overclocked to 850/1200 vs the 5870 at 850/1200 the 5850 is only 3% slower thats it clock to clock same speeds theres a 3% difference

so if you DONT plan to heavily overclock a 5850 oced will give you 5870 performance for $100 less

I can't give a true comparison against the 5870 vapor-x since I've never had one. I've seen many a 5870's hit 1050 on the core and the vapor-x would help do that to keep the card cooler. If I were to start all over from scratch on this computer I would still stick with my 5850. The slight extra speed (maybe 5 fps on most games) gained from a 5870 just isn't worth the +100 for me. If you want to break the 1ghz core then get the 5870. If you're fine w/ 900 then get the 5850. As far as the cooler goes, it's awesome. I had gts 250's before this. Completely stock clocks on 100% fans those things hit 80c on full load. this toxic w/ the OC i've got on it at full load w/ 50% never breaks 70.

edit: the factory OC isn't really applicable since we're all talking about OCing the card well above and beyond what the factory does.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

actually vapor x probably wont since u cant up the voltage if you cant up the voltage you wont get stable and most 5850s will hit 950 + core with 5870 default voltage aka set the 5850s voltage to that of a 5870 and u will in most occasions top out at the same core range

if you want to really overclock any 5k card you need a reference model as reference models will overclock further due to the voltera chip or w/e its called