05-19-2010, 02:50 PM
Currently running 2 XFX Radeon 4890's with a 1 gig of DDR5 each. Thinking of going to either 2 5850's or a Gigabyte SOC 5870. Not even considering a 480, just because of heat/noise issues. (no card should be running at 90 degrees most of the time, or be that noisy).
So, I googled around, and my 2 cards are actually about equal with the 5870 in most stuff. But it doesn't have the nice pretty graphics of DX 11 and the true hdmi out (audio as well).
Now, I'm running an Antec 902 case, and to be honest, the 4890's are VERY tight fit up against the drive cages. I think the 5850's are actually a little longer than the 4890's, and I KNOW the 5870 is quite a bit longer. Really don't want to have to get a new case just to change vid cards. I'd actually like to get the Saphire 4 gig toxic 5970, but I know a 13" card wouldn't fit.
Now, if I buy a 5870, I can put it in the bottom PCI-E slot and it will fit, but I don't think that ones the true 16 bit bus or something like that. Any thoughts? ideas? suggestions?
So, I googled around, and my 2 cards are actually about equal with the 5870 in most stuff. But it doesn't have the nice pretty graphics of DX 11 and the true hdmi out (audio as well).
Now, I'm running an Antec 902 case, and to be honest, the 4890's are VERY tight fit up against the drive cages. I think the 5850's are actually a little longer than the 4890's, and I KNOW the 5870 is quite a bit longer. Really don't want to have to get a new case just to change vid cards. I'd actually like to get the Saphire 4 gig toxic 5970, but I know a 13" card wouldn't fit.
Now, if I buy a 5870, I can put it in the bottom PCI-E slot and it will fit, but I don't think that ones the true 16 bit bus or something like that. Any thoughts? ideas? suggestions?

