ATI Radeon HD 5770 vs 5870 1GB

[keithos27]

Can someone please explain to me what the differences between these two graphics cards are? My main use will be with a 6-core Mac Pro and a 27" Apple Cinema Display. I'd like to watch Netflix/Huly Plus full screen. I will not be doing any video editing. I will be doing some audio editing and the basic Apple iLife applications.

What are the pros/cons of the 5770 vs the 5870? I know the 5870 uses more power and I've also heard it's louder.

My Mac Pro will be in my bedroom so noise is a factor.

Thank you,
Keith

[goMac]

You don't need the 5870.

Hell, Flash video doesn't even use the GPU, so really your GPU choice doesn't matter at all.

[sboerup]

I would only commend the 5870 if you plan on gaming. If not the 5770 is still awesome.

[keithos27]

okay, thank you for chiming in. figured i'd ask since the $200 difference is relatively small compared to the overall system cost.

i figured the 5870 would not apply to a user like myself, but thought maybe there is some advantage i was missing/not thinking of.

-keith

[keithos27]

i have an xbox 360, ps3, and wii... i think i have enough gaming options. :D

[waloshin]

i have an xbox 360, ps3, and wii... i think i have enough gaming options. :D

Yeah, I agree go with the cheaper option then for sure.

[jeanlain]

Beside price considerations, the noise and power consumption too argue in favor of the 5770.

[Pressure]

If you only need it for watching flash, why don't you just save money and buy the 27" iMac?

[jeanlain]

If the OP does some audio editing, many cores can be useful.

[Pressure]

If the OP does some audio editing, many cores can be useful.

4 cores would be sufficient for homebrew audio usage.

People have been coping with far less for ages.

[GoogleFish]

Does Aperture make use of the extra power of the 5870?

[englishman]

I've heard that the 5770 is comparable to the old 4870. So its a good card. Apple did take on board the criticisms with previous launches

[goMac]

Does Aperture make use of the extra power of the 5870?

Yes, it would. I don't know if the gains would be as much as something like a game or a 3D app, as Aperture is mostly a VRAM hog and the 5770 and 5870 both have 1 gig of VRAM, but it would help.

[macz1]

The 5770 can be seen as a low-power, silent version of the 4870, offering comparable performance. And in addition to that, it has twice the videoram as the the official 4870...

Not a bad choice for a stock card IMO.

[bearcatrp]

I ordered the 5770. Not a gamer so figured this will be fast enough. Ships 29 September. Since both have 1gb, shouldn't be real far apart on performance. Just hope apple doesn't cripple it in an OS update to try and force us 2008 owners to buy a new pro for the graphics card. Don't plan on getting a new Mac pro until sanyasi bridge comes out. By then I should be able to afford one. :eek:

[crapgarden]

So the 5870 is louder? If so a lot louder? Are we talking vacuum cleaner loud, or running kittens loud?

[toxic]

Does Aperture make use of the extra power of the 5870?

doubt it. it depends on VRAM, not so much GPU.

[chiefroastbeef]

4 cores would be sufficient for homebrew audio usage.

People have been coping with far less for ages.

Let him decide how he wants his money to be spent.

[jav6454]

Can someone please explain to me what the differences between these two graphics cards are? My main use will be with a 6-core Mac Pro and a 27" Apple Cinema Display. I'd like to watch Netflix/Huly Plus full screen. I will not be doing any video editing. I will be doing some audio editing and the basic Apple iLife applications.

What are the pros/cons of the 5770 vs the 5870? I know the 5870 uses more power and I've also heard it's louder.

My Mac Pro will be in my bedroom so noise is a factor.

Thank you,
Keith

One has 800 cores the other 1600 cores.... the rest is well, very well documented.

[Squishy Tia]

One has 800 cores the other 1600 cores.... the rest is well, very well documented.

I think you mean stream processors. ;)

[Sazarret]

Hi guys.
I'd like to amplify the question.
Currently Apple is offering custom set ups for the Mac Pro. The first one with two 5770 cards and the other with one 5870 card. Are the two -slightly inferior- cards togetter better in performance and speed than the one faster card, or the two cards set up it's just for multi-displaying purposes only and will not affect the overall graphic performance?

I work in video post-production and 3D for broadcast, so I'll like to know which set up I should choose for the new Mac Pro I intend to get.

[Mackilroy]

In the case of OS X, they're simply for multiple displays – the only advantage would be that the entire framebuffer of each card would go to whatever monitor it was driving instead of having each monitor consume a portion of one GPU's memory.

[whiskey]

Hey guys,

Are there any advantages to the 5870 for photoshop work? I currently have the 5770 as well, but sometimes find it a bit slow when I'm moving layers around.

Just curious. I would likely sell my 5770 to fund the 5870.

Thanks

[kunia]

so you're spending thousands on a new mac pro, yet trying to save 200$ and going with crappier card (sorry but it's a ****** card)...I sort of fail to understand that.

5870 is much more powerful. And no, it's as "loud" as the 5770 (I have both). And although you're not doing any video edition or use aperture or even play games or do any 3d cad work under windows, what if in 2 months you find some crazy new hobby that might require that extra gpu power?

Meh...no matter how cheap of a brand new mac pro you get, this is NOT a budget buy...$1k for 5-10% boost in processor juice I understand, but 200$ on a 2x more powerful video card that won't feel obsolete in 1 year, I don't.

[dimme]

Hey guys,

Are there any advantages to the 5870 for photoshop work? I currently have the 5770 as well, but sometimes find it a bit slow when I'm moving layers around.

Just curious. I would likely sell my 5770 to fund the 5870.

Thanks

I am under the impression for photoshop work you will not see a advantage.

[Cutra]

While I currently have an ok card in my mac pro the ati 2600 I"m really debating getting the 5770 for the 269.00 from Apple.

One big question will be other than frame rate will i see a difference in pictures and picture quality or will my screen look the same?

What do you guys think?

[derbothaus]

Hi guys.
I'd like to amplify the question.
Currently Apple is offering custom set ups for the Mac Pro. The first one with two 5770 cards and the other with one 5870 card. Are the two -slightly inferior- cards togetter better in performance and speed than the one faster card, or the two cards set up it's just for multi-displaying purposes only and will not affect the overall graphic performance?

I work in video post-production and 3D for broadcast, so I'll like to know which set up I should choose for the new Mac Pro I intend to get.

The 2 cards are not linked for performance. You get 2 cards in OS X for extending display support. OS X does not offer a "crossfire" solution. The 5870 would be the much faster option for raw performance doing 1 thing like gaming. But at the same time does not offer that much more for OpenGL pro app performance relative to the 5770. There is an apparent Apple Pro apps ceiling. Things don't scale. So I don't really recommend the 5870 unless you are gaming. Or until there are more uses for OpenCL.

[chris2002]

You don't need the 5870.

Hell, Flash video doesn't even use the GPU, so really your GPU choice doesn't matter at all.

You're joking, right?

[goMac]

You're joking, right?

Nope.

The only GPUs at present which support Flash's H.264 hardware acceleration are the 9400m, 320m and 340m. And besides that Flash has no GPU acceleration.

5770 and 5870 don't matter at all for Flash.

[derbothaus]

Nope.

The only GPUs at present which support Flash's H.264 hardware acceleration are the 9400m, 320m and 340m. And besides that Flash has no GPU acceleration.

5770 and 5870 don't matter at all for Flash.

He's not joking. It is all too true.

[llirik]

Reviving a bit of an old topic, but I'm trying to decide on this as well.

I actually have an early 2008 Mac Pro and decided to upgrade it a bit instead of getting a toped out iMac (i save money a bit, and the 4 internal harddrives are quite necessary for my work).

This is what I do with my machine:

- Design... lots of Photoshop at print resolutions.
- Photography... Aperture 3 mostly, and it hangs a bit here and there
- Video Editing... don't really do anything too big on top of Color Grading. A bit of After Effects here and there.
- A little gaming here and there, not much at all though.

The machine is currently:
- 2 x 2.8 quad-core
- 14 Gb 800mhz ram
- 256 SSD main drive
- the stock NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB card

so now... i think the card is old and suffering a bit with age and I want to upgrade. I use 2 monitors, so as I understand, have 2 cards at 1gb doesn't actually equal 2gb. I only really use one monitor for most of the work, with the second to speed up workflow.

On this thread, there seems to be a differing opinion as to which card is actually better. For my uses above... will i actually see 5880 gains? I dont care so much for the "loudness"... my card now gets really loud when playing on Steam as it is.

Also, since i still DO have the original card (doubt there's much resale at this point)... is it compatible to use both cards, so i can have my primary on one, and the secondary on the other? Or is it just one or the other? I haven't been able to find any info on that.

Finally... im thinking of getting the Thunderbolt Display.... i know the thunberbolt options won't work with the actual Mac Pro... but can the minidisplay still be linked and used just as a display to the thunderbolt. I dont really care to get the Cinema display as i do have a 2011 Macbook Pro and want to take advantage of that.

Thanks for the help!