So after making my decision to get the 5870 /Vapor x or Asus ROG Non Platinum

[CoolHandL]

This is tough cause i have the money from a computer sale, 2 rebates and an expense cheque from work ( a little one ) so i have in total $620.00 Burning a hole in my pocket... and I should wait till mid October for the release of the 6xxx cards from AMD. the GTX 480 prices im seeing are great... 6 under $500. But heat and noise is always a concern for me.

[martin_metal_88]

Well I used to work with all card all the day...if heat and noise are a concern for you a 5870 is the right choise. Good performance price ration, low power, both sapphire and asus have nice fan on them.

[FreeKnight]

I have the 5870 in my pc in my living room and am very happy with it. It's whisper quiet and I've had great performance. I think your best bet is took look at the benchmarks for the specific apps/games you're using and let that decide.

The GTX 480 will give you better tass, but considering that nothing really makes heavy use of that yet, keep in mind how soon you'll upgrade. If you're going to get a better card in a year, you won't be missing much with ATI's camp and you'll have less heat and power consumption (but that might not be an issue for you). Either card is a safe bet. At the resolution I'm using the 5870 vs 480 difference was minimal and I wanted quiet and cool as much as performance, but the 480 does have a little more oomph in many situations.

Just identify what you prioritize and let that guide your decision (and I wouldn't worry about the look of the card. How much time are you really going to spend looking through that side panel? It's what's on the screen that matters!)

[JMCD]

5870 vapor x will be quiet and cool, which seems important to you. I'd get that card for ati, or the gigabyte 470 superclock for nvidia. Much better than their counterpart reference designs as far as heating/noise goes.

[jcmaz]

+1 for the Gigabyte GTX 470 SOC. In fact, SKY said that the 470 SOC would be up for sale soon. Grab it while it's hot!!!

Here's the review: Gigabyte Geforce GTX 470 Super Overclock Review

[CoolHandL]

Thanks All I went with.........drum roll please.......

The Sapphire Vapor X HD5870. It just felt right for what i want, the price was right ($420) and every thing i read about this baby is good if not great. Im happy with my purchase (15 minutes ago) and cant wait to get home an plug this monster in.

so now I need to find some other stuff to sell to finance the second one to crossfire. ha ha.

Vapor X HD5750 for sale OBO.

Thanks again for the input every one, i know some of you are shaking your Nvidia heads, but in the end its what i wanted and well, it got it. maybe i will do a different build with a gtx480 soon.. maybe my next project. a red PC, ie all amd ati etc.. and a green machine all intel and nvidia.