4890 CF vs 5850 vs 5870?

[SolMiester]

Meh, I would go single GPU always before dual GPU anyday of the week..perhaps the OP should go for a stand-by 4870 until he is happy to settle of a new gen card next year, either 5xxxx series or Fermi. Lets face it, 4870 is no slouch for 19x12

 

[ChorniyVolk]

Sol, I'd rather go for a 4890 instead of a 4870 if I was going single-card.

And what's so bad about dual cards? I'll probably go with just one when I choose to "upgrade", but for now two 4890s seem like my best option. How common is it to get problems with crossfire/sli in games that are more on the obscure side?

 

[SolMiester]

I have never beeb an advocate for multi GPU's, especially with Ati cards as they needed profiles to run. sandwiches or the dual GPU suffered sicro stutter for ages though thats now gone, heating isses and non linear scaling to name some....the new 5870 is so powerful @ 19x12 and with Fermi around the cornor, I cant see a need for it, however its your money. I'm just stating I'd rather put the money for a 2nd card elsewhere...
I'm a network engineer for accountants, I hate wasted money...
I suggested the older 4870 as a cheap stop gap until prices for 5xxx series drop or Fermi is released is all!

 

[ChorniyVolk]

The 5870 is going up past $400 into $500 territory these days. The 5850 is going quite far into the $300 territory. 2 4890s perform better than the 5870 for less than the 5850.

And like I said (though I don't blame you for not reading through the mountain of text), I don't want a hold-me-over card to wait for the next series/dropped prices, because I want to see great performance now, and any money I lose when/if I sell these cards to replace them with the next gen, I'll just consider "rent".

2 new 4890s for $290 is a great deal from what I can tell, and considering their performance, they're a great option.

As far as heating issues, I'll be getting a decent full tower case with good airflow and good cooling.

And as far as non-linear scaling, do you mean that by paying for 2 4890s I'm not getting the performance of a 4890 multiplied by 2? I suppose one can see it that way, but that applies for all cards, not for just multi-card solutions. Like I said earlier, the 5850 costs twice what I'm paying for the 4890 if not quite a bit more, but it's not twice as fast as one 4890.

The only other problem I can think of is not getting the full performance that one card would with 2, in games that aren't optimized for dual cards or more, but in that case, most games will be playing great regardless, and new games that are pushing the hardware will be optimized for gamers using 2 or more cards because it'd be stupid not to.

But that's just how I see it.

 

[ChorniyVolk]

Well, ordered 2 4890s and an i7 920 cpu (just for the 12.5% bing, might as well order now, only deal on the 920s is at microcenter and they're too far away). I'm pretty sure I'll be very happy with this set up.

 

[MrK6]

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1478583 *whistles* not too late to cancel

You should be very happy with your new rig though .

 

[ChorniyVolk]

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1478583 *whistles* not too late to cancel

You should be very happy with your new rig though .

Eh, I don't know, it costs $60 more and gives me less performance...

 

[Arkaign]

Eh, I don't know, it costs $60 more and gives me less performance...

Less power, less heat, DX11 capability, and the ability to Xfire them later.

 

[ChorniyVolk]

On the other hand, it has DX11, lower power consumption and less heat, it's a single card and the drivers will probably increase performance in the future.

Fuck.

And then there's the 5850 as well, which also gets down to $280 after bing.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Now what?

 

[ChorniyVolk]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_4890_CrossFire/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_5870/

Resolution: 1920x1200

Crysis (4xAA)

HD4890CF -- 36.0 FPS
HD5870 -- 31.7 FPS

STALKER: Clear Sky (16xAF)

HD4890CF -- 54.8 FPS
HD5870 -- 44.1 FPS

World in Conflict (4xAA, 16xAF)

HD4890CF -- 83.0 FPS
HD5870 -- 54.0 FPS

And the 4890CF is at a disadvantage as well, less RAM and older drivers

So I'd be paying more for less.

I don't know guys, I think I got to the right conclusion the first time, no?

 

[crisium]

If you want performance, then yes. 5870 ain't gonna be able to handle 2x 4890.

 

[happy medium]

+1 for 5850 no point going for any dx10 cards, the future already for sale but buy the past. or just wait till Q2/2010 for NV's dx11s.

I agree. +2

 

[ChorniyVolk]

Yeah, but what future am I buying? What point is there to being an early adopter of DX11? There are 3 games that use it right now, and 2 of them I'm not interested.

And the 5850 goes for about the same price as the 4890s, but gets destroyed by them.

At this point, I only see it as 4890 CF vs 5870.

 

[happy medium]

Yeah, but what future am I buying? What point is there to being an early adopter of DX11? There are 3 games that use it right now, and 2 of them I'm not interested.

And the 5850 goes for about the same price as the 4890s, but gets destroyed by them.

At this point, I only see it as 4890 CF vs 5870.

A 5850 is more then enough for any game @ 1900x1080.
Whats the difference between 100fps you will get with 2x 4890's and the 60 you will get with a 5850?

The difference is more heat,power consumption ,with the same performance that you can see with the naked eye.
One major difference is you can add another 5850 cheaper later on ,but you will need to sell 2 4890 direct x 10 cards that most people wont want when you want some direct x 11 action later next summer.
Think about it!

Look at these 5850 crossfire benches. Thats what you will miss later on and direct x 11 just so you have a few extra fps now.??

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5850-review-crossfire/

 

[happy medium]

Yeah, but what future am I buying? What point is there to being an early adopter of DX11? There are 3 games that use it right now, and 2 of them I'm not interested.

And the 5850 goes for about the same price as the 4890s, but gets destroyed by them.

At this point, I only see it as 4890 CF vs 5870.

If your buying hd5850, your not buying to be an early adopter, your buying for performance, low power usage on a single card with future crossfire in mind ,and future direct 11 games.

You should keep the card for at least a year or add another one right?

 

[ChorniyVolk]

What do you mean, more than enough for any game at 1920x1200? I'm not going to be just sitting around and playing last years games or anything, for stuff that is out now and stuff coming out soon, the 5850 isn't always enough, and the difference between it and the 2 4890s going off of that benchmark (I won't say the 4890 is at a disadvantage just because maybe the 58xx series is disadvantaged due to early drivers as well) are 37% for Crysis, 49% for STALKER and a whopping 70% in World In Conflict, and in none of them does the 5850 pull 60FPS or more.

I mean I don't know, purely based on power, the 4890 CF beats the 5850 by quite a bit, and unless there's some crazy twist of events in the future, they're going to beat them in more games that come out that can push hardware.

As far as people not wanting them, they go for $150 each on ebay these days, how far could prices really drop?

On the other hand, I guess you have a point, in most games it won't matter, and with new drivers that put more life into the 58xx series along with the ability to overclock the 5850, I could probably push for decent FPS in even the crazier games.

I guess a 5850 is a better option than a 5870, right? I believe I had this discussion in a thread I made a while ago, where it showed that a 5850 is a better deal because when they're both overclocked, the gap in performance is smaller.

How about this for justification? I can probably safely overclock the 5850s to higher than I can overclock the 4890s due to less heat and power usage, right?

And the 5870 costs too much for the smaller performance increase, I'd be paying 30% more for 10%-15% more power.

Damn, and I was so happy with 2 cards and all that and excited I finally came to a conclusion in my search. Well I suppose I am now as well.

How's Sapphire? 5870 is from XFX with lifetime warranty but Sapphire only gives out 2 years for the 5850, but oh well, that's not too bad.

 

[happy medium]

What do I mean more then enough?

Heres a 5850 review.
Where do you see a game that is not easily playable @ 1900x1080?
Look at the overclocked scores. They are the ones at the same level as the 5870.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx5850/12.htm

 

[Arkaign]

1 5870 now, 1 later for Xfire

 

[ChorniyVolk]

Yeah, other than Crysis I don't see much.

I will ask though, why is there such a difference between the XFX and Sapphire versions of the card in CoD WaW? I mean, aren't they the same exact card? Why did they even test both?

 

[ChorniyVolk]

Anyway, I ordered the Sapphire 5850.

Arkaign, you don't think even one 5870 is overkill? happy has a point.

I guess I'll stick with the 5850, overclock it if I need to, and either add on another one later or hock it and see what to get to replace it in a couple of months.

 

[ChorniyVolk]

God dammit, the 5850 is backordered.

So what now happy? You figure the 4890 CF is a better buy than the 5870?

I can't see it, even with all the magical powers of less power usage and less heat, the 5870 costs too much and gives too small an increase in performance as of now.

The 5850s were one thing, I forgot that they rocked, being confused by needlessly-high FPS and all that, but 4890 CF vs 5870 is a different story.

I suppose just one 4890 is also an option, one the one hand it's weaker than the 5850, but on the other hand, I will be hocking it no matter what, whereas with the 5850 there was a good chance I'd keep it. So with the idea of hocking it in mind, I'd probably lose some cash, and losing twice that amount of cash if I want DX11 and all that other nonsense sounds less appealing.

 

[happy medium]

Anyway, I ordered the Sapphire 5850.

Arkaign, you don't think even one 5870 is overkill? happy has a point.

I guess I'll stick with the 5850, overclock it if I need to, and either add on another one later or hock it and see what to get to replace it in a couple of months.

You made a very wise choice.

 

[ChorniyVolk]

You made a very wise choice.

Didn't make it soon enough apparently.

 

[ChorniyVolk]

Yeah, so I guess just one 4890 should be enough, so we're back to 1/8 into this thread. It performs a few steps below the 5850, but as you showed me with that, it'll still get great performance in everything gut 5 or so titles that push hardware. Getting 2 is a waste of money, especially if I have plans to hock them for cash in the future, because I'd be losing twice as much on "rent".

So one 4890 then? How's that sound?

 

[happy medium]

Dude where are you buying it? (5850) What online store?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=hd+5850

USA?