Looking to Downgrade from GTX 285 to ATI 5770

I am considering the move from the GTX 285 to the ATI 5770.

The reasoning behind this is that I'm wanting to change from a Dell 30" to the new 27" Cinema display. And obviously the 285 won't connect to this monitor.

My biggest concern is the potential drop in performance.

Having said that the Most intensive graphics application I have is Call of Duty 4: MW. This is at the moment at least. If better game come out that are more graphics hungry things may change, but I can still upgrade down the track.

I'm really struggling to find any comparison between these two cards.
Does anyone have any experience of making this 'downgrade'?

galstaph said:

see barefeats for comparison, the benches are from a 2008 mp, but you get the idea of what is going on in terms of performance between the two cards. If you got the 5870, then you'd be at least equal or better than your current card in all benches on osx, food for thought...

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Excellent, thank you for the link. That's pretty much what I'd been trying to find.

I know the 5870 would be better, but they're not available for sale yet in aus. And it's a little pricey for what I can afford right now. Seeing as Apple decided to reem us Australians on price.

goMac said:

I'm not sure that's really a downgrade. The 5770 and 285 are fairly close. I think the 5770 might be better at pro apps, and the 285 at games, but they're at least competitive cards.

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That kind of what I was hoping for to be honest. I used to have the 4870 in my '07 machine and it pretty much ran most things I did perfectly.

phairphan said:

I was just going to suggest exploring the 4870 route. That way you gain the MDP port and the performance is generally better than the 5770. They're still ridiculously priced at Apple, but you may be able to pick up a reasonably-priced used one from someone upgrading.

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The issue with that is that they are no longer for sale here is Aus from Apple. That and the fact that as you mention they were ridiculously priced.

As for second hand, I have only ever seen 1 original one for sale some time ago. The Aus market is flooded with "knock-off" PC flashed cards selling for equally stupid prices, of course with no Mini-Display ports.

So that's not really an option. It's either go a 5770, or wait for the 5870 (and spend more than I can really afford) or just stick with the 30" and the 285.

*edit*
After reading the barefeets link, I've decided to go the 5770 route for now. And I may upgrade later to the 5870. I'm just really keen to go with the 27" screen for a number of reasons, including the immense amount of heat the 30" dell puts out, along with it's high power consumption.

ekwipt said:

I've never bought anything from these guys before but this is $100+ cheaper than Apple.com.au prices

http://store.maccentre.com.au/accessories/video/video-cards.html

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Their availability is that same as from Apple.

Well I went with the 5770, it arrived today. Put it in and after some preliminary 'testing' it runs all the stuff I do just as well.

There is no noticeable slow down in COD4:MW.

At the moment it's running the dell 30" but I will soon get the 27" mac screen so as it's a slightly lower res it should all be good.

10THzMac said:

Maybe I am being stupid, but can't you buy one of the DVI-MDP adaptors to sort this out and keep your 285. They are pricey but seem to work OK - Atlona do one.

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I've been down the path of adapters before with other Macs. I have to say I'm not a fan of using them. For example I'm using the mini display port from the 5770 to the display port on the Dell screen now anyway with the appropriate cable.

*edit* After having run it for a while the 5770 is definitely not a match for the GTX285.

Running individual applications it's fine. But when you try and starting doing more than one thing at a time it starts to struggle. It's most noticeable when running two different VMware sessions at once, they both slow down a bit as well as simple tasks like scrolling in SL. But the place where it most noticeable is when I 'tab' out of COD4:MW to go check emails or web browse between rounds. It chugs majorly, where as with the 285 it made no difference between when the game was on and when the game was off.

Fortunately both of those scenarios are reasonably rare.

I think that in time when funds improve and the 5870 is released I'll get one of those. But for now the 5770 will be fine. But it's clear that it's no match for the GTX285.