In this case one would do so to let the card compete on an even playing field. If you are going to compare two different cards it shouldn't be against one that has been downclocked significantly for an arbitrary power spec. That and as awseome as the 5970s are running 2560res on 3 screens in intense gaming may require a smallish bump to maintain FPS.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128410

Its an 1156 mobo with 6 memory slots but it still only runs Dual Channel, 860 cant do triple channel

"Where do people get these power numbers? NOTHING any normal person is doing uses anywhere close to 1000W."

Because they like to have high power bills?

Thats why my rig is in the basement, where its nice and cool year round.

Why on earth do people presume a 1000W PSU is going to make your machine run hotter than a 400/whatever?

Logic, guys....just because you CAN access more wattage doesn't mean you are.

Ndvidia drivers have always been very difficult to match up with games, ATI has a more aggresive release history. I've had both and I can't agree with your statement.

I tend to go with whatever company is offering the best value for money.  This was NVIDIA back with their 7000 and 8000 series, and then ATI's 4000 series.  Competition between the two is important, or they get arrogant and start selling their mid-range cards for $300-400, instead of the $150-200 you see today.

However, I dispise NVIDIAs business practices at the moment.  Their constant rebranding to confuse less technical people (8800 GTX, 9800 GTX, or GTX250? Guess what, they're all the same card!) is appalling, and blatant bribery of developers to gimp ATI functionality in games hurts the entire PC gaming community, not just ATI.  I would have gladly bought Batman:AA if I wasn't missing half the graphic effects.

Yea, that rebranding is just a cheasy maketing ploy to create an illusion of product advancement that doesn't really exist, so lame.  My GTS 250 is really just a 8800 GTS with a smaller die and a faster core/memory clock.  It's exactly the same card as a 9800 GT.  If you don't count the 260 series as a mid-range card, they haven't made a real step forward in that venue for several years.  Then there were the driver snafus.  No wonder ATI is kicking their butts right now, anyone with a real engineering department could do it.

Own a 4870 1gb(sapphire) and now a 5850(HIS) and have never had a prob.

every gpu b4 that was Nvidia which i a had probs with.

I always buy cards that are best for my budget but both ATI and NVIDIA have thier ups and downs,so if u get the "down" with any one of the vender,just do a RMA.

Ummm, isn't that what we were talking about.  Personally, I don't care much about nVidia's other offerings since I'm only using their GPU right now.  I don't see myself going with one of their chipsets again  I never got very good performance out of the last set I used, but that was quite a while ago.  I have no experience with their newer chipsets and I doubt I ever will.  As far as software, I don't know of anything that could be considered 5 years ahead of ATI.  Enlighten me...please.

 Think you can flip coin on these cards every couple years; i've had cards from both manufactures and have enjoyed stability and smooth graphics for years now from both companies.  I will say that the last card that I owned from Nvidia went out after only a couple years.  I replaced with same make/model and have been fine ever since.

  Guess I would say samething about other pc parts manufacturers.  Sometimes AMD has a nice chip or upgrade options, othertimes its good to have a Intel chipset.  Looks like jongalt26 gave you some good advise on checking specs when they are available.

  I also don't see anything special in video cards since the advent of 3d tech.  Now, I think I would buy the cheapest card that still plays all the games in a medium resolution.  It used to be true that you needed to check performance through your fps.  If the card didn't keep up with all the data you would see noticable lag, stutter, weird lines, etc..  I don't think that is as important as it used to be?  Seems like you could save quite a bit on money and still play your favorite games with a current low cost card. 

More ATI dominance??

sigh..... (i really want the physx and gpgpu but its not looking good)

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/rumor_first_run_fermi_cards_sport_fewer_cores_expected

j

www.fudzilla.com/content/view/18170/34/ Getting better every day. Shader Clocks look like they have some room to grow and I'm not sure what to make of the mem.