Minimum Frame Rates

[Rezident]

I'd nearly decided on a 5870 Vapor-X but the one thing bothering me (apart from current prices) is the minimum frame rates. Nvidia cards seem more consistent in this area and while the ATI cards appear to be better value for performance in general, frame rates dropping (say below 20 - 25 FPS) - even if only briefly - is the main thing that bothers me when gaming. I think it sometimes happens with my 4890 although in general it is fine.

Do 5xxx users ever notice this in graphically intensive games? I didn't think it would be a problem at 1680 x 1050 anyway but I am soon hoping to upgrade my monitor also to 1920 x 1200.

Also, is this something that might be likely to be improved upon with driver updates, or is it likely just due to hardware differences between ATI and Nvidia?

 

[Kynd]

I have done a little research on this matter, and when comparing the likes of the gtx 480 and ati 5870 at stock speeds doing a side by side comparison in bfbc2 running the same demo, you can notice during heavy-on-the-gpu-scenes
the 5870 dropping to the very low 30s well the 480 would remain firmly in the 40s.

Also i noticed that besides minimum frame rates the 480 seems to recover a lot quicker from dropping down in fps, while the 5870 spends a few micro seconds more sitting in the lows before bouncing back.

Before anyone gets upset... these are not tests iv run myself, just videos iv seen online.

 

[Devious]

Its the reason i would get a 470/480 over the 5*** but I would want to get a water block for it also which pushes the cost up.

 

[MoRT489]

I play BC2 at 5040x1050 all settings high, with no AA on a 5870 and I dont notice any slowdown. BC2 usually sits around 50fps at this res but dips to 30fps arent a problem as the game still looks smooth and i never see it below this. At 1680x1050 all high + 8xAA the 5870 destroys BC2 and I would expect (given my results at 5040) that at 1900x1200 a 5870 would easily do the job

 

[lanzarobbie]

I play BC2 at 5040x1050 all settings high, with no AA on a 5870 and I dont notice any slowdown. BC2 usually sits around 50fps at this res but dips to 30fps arent a problem as the game still looks smooth and i never see it below this. At 1680x1050 all high + 8xAA the 5870 destroys BC2 and I would expect (given my results at 5040) that at 1900x1200 a 5870 would easily do the job

thats good to know i want to go eyfinity in the future and im waiting for my q6600 to arrive.