5870 under 400 $ - finally

[MrDiaz]

For how much they used to go for at launch? I don't recall

[Fudd Rucker]

I paid 500 for mine, thats tax and overnight shipping. I was hoping to have gotten another 5870 by now but not when its going to cost me more then the first one.

[belgolas]

NCIX has one under $400 if you have PP. The PP price has stayed the same since launch. The 5970's can be had for much cheaper than their normal price. The 5850 can be had for under $300. The 5770 can be had for below $150 with PP.

Always trying to promote Premier Partnership pricing as it is so good.

[Delavan]

Humm...
I really DON'T want to go there, but those HD5870s are "sexy" and appealing.
I 'd rather buy nVIDIA (read eVGA). Bad Company 2 seems demanding and my GTX260 Core216 will run it nice enough at med-high settings, but it would be nice to get something more potent. If the GTX 470 sells for under $400 (according to prelim. benchies it scores between hd5850 and hd5870) I'd get one.

For ATI cards, I got burned once by an HIS X1950 pro that DOA'd on me.
So I'm only looking at XFX offerings for warranty reasons, which limits my choices. May I assume ASUS (I'm a big ASUS Mobo fan) should be good to go Quality-control wize?

I don't really thrust Powercolor, HIS and Sapphirre (Maybe I'm out-to-lunch).

Would an ASUS be a good go? Can I expect issues with CCC (not a big fan).
I used to buy ATI cards (Rage Pro, X800Pro) and had weird graphical glitches (texture issues) more than any nVIDIA products I owned (7800GP AGP,8800GTS640 SC, GTX260Core216 SC).

Jeez, the performance of these HD5870 and the price $420 PMed for the ASUS vanilla one makes them REALLY interesting right now.

[_dangtx_]

if the price drops like crazy a month or so before the competitions new products come out, then they fear strong competition from said products. if the price cuts are 'small' and late, meh.

still, good to see 5870's where 5850's were

[JD]

Originally Posted by Delavan

Humm...
I really DON'T want to go there, but those HD5870s are "sexy" and appealing.
I 'd rather buy nVIDIA (read eVGA). Bad Company 2 seems demanding and my GTX260 Core216 will run it nice enough at med-high settings, but it would be nice to get something more potent. If the GTX 470 sells for under $400 (according to prelim. benchies it scores between hd5850 and hd5870) I'd get one.

For ATI cards, I got burned once by an HIS X1950 pro that DOA'd on me.
So I'm only looking at XFX offerings for warranty reasons, which limits my choices. May I assume ASUS (I'm a big ASUS Mobo fan) should be good to go Quality-control wize?

I don't really thrust Powercolor, HIS and Sapphirre (Maybe I'm out-to-lunch).

Would an ASUS be a good go? Can I expect issues with CCC (not a big fan).
I used to buy ATI cards (Rage Pro, X800Pro) and had weird graphical glitches (texture issues) more than any nVIDIA products I owned (7800GP AGP,8800GTS640 SC, GTX260Core216 SC).

Jeez, the performance of these HD5870 and the price $420 PMed for the ASUS vanilla one makes them REALLY interesting right now.

ATI drivers have come leaps and bounds from back then. They definitely don't suffer from any major issues, and if they do, ATI usually has a hotfix out shortly after to fix it up.

Also as I'm in the midst of RMA'ing a Sapphire Vapor-X HD4890, it doesn't seem that bad so far. Had no issues with online email support, it's handled by a company here in Markham, ON (basically a middleman). Costs $25-45 (depending where you are in Canada) for processing and shipping back to you. You pay shipping to them of course, or drop it off. Everything's been smooth sailing so far, within 2 days I've got to the stage of requiring Sapphire's approval of the RMA (should only be a few days). Then I just need to drop the card off and wait indefinitely as it goes back to Asia apparently.

On the other hand, I RMA'd a HD4850 to Diamond once and that was a nightmare. Took me around 2-3 months just to get a reply from them via email (I know, phone probably would of been quicker but I don't have the patience to sit on hold). Once the RMA was actually rolling, things were fine from there on out.

So really, I wouldn't worry too much about brand. ASUS should be pretty solid, and technically all these cards are reference based so they really shouldn't differ by much between vendors.

[belgolas]

I can say the ATI drivers are a lot better as well. I have a 5850 and it is rock solid with no issues. ATI does a monthly driver update so it fixes things pretty fast.

[Delavan]

For the ATi drivers, my laptop runs a HD4650 1 GDDR3 and it's a nice decent little GFX chip. I ran my games without graphical glitches (but a few "flashing" effects), but ATI/AMD doesn't SUPPORT their mobility chips with regular CATALYST updates...it's for me a let down from ATI team again. I just can't go on their site and updates my GFX card drivers.

if the price drops like crazy a month or so before the competitions new products come out, then they fear strong competition from said products. if the price cuts are 'small' and late, meh.

still, good to see 5870's where 5850's were

Well said. And yes, there is NO HD5850/5870 "fire sales" yet to be seen. That tells a lot. nVidia should ACT NOW and leak more benchies. If they don't, is that they'll sell their FERMIs at a loss anyway and are not really interested in the fight (this round).

[rojmiller]

Originally Posted by Delavan

but ATI/AMD doesn't SUPPORT their mobility chips with regular CATALYST updates...it's for me a let down from ATI team again. I just can't go on their site and updates my GFX card drivers.

Apparently, ATI will be providing mobility chips with monthly updates starting next month (April 2010).

[Elton]

The HD5870 still has a bit to drop, about $60, IIRC the MSRP was $329 or $350 right? With the HD5850 being $279 at launch.