5850, still rockin on.

[Blitzvogel]

Hell my GTX260 works "good enough" for anything. I'd love to replace it but there's nothing compelling in the $150-175 range. The added cost of this Gen has been depressing.

I wonder how many extra transistors are involved with providing many of the useless (to us gamers) GPGPU functions in the last few generations of GPUs in both camps.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I never understood the GPGPU purpose, seems too narrow to really benefit anyone. I always thought it would be cool if it ran well enough for basic general task but then I think why would someone drop $300 on a GPGPU but not want enough processing power to run games.

 

[Blitzvogel]

I never understood the GPGPU purpose, seems too narrow to really benefit anyone. I always thought it would be cool if it ran well enough for basic general task but then I think why would someone drop $300 on a GPGPU but not want enough processing power to run games.

They are using the same design for both "generally cheap" gaming graphics and really expensive rendering cards and servers, so both camps are leveraging the same overall tech for most of the same features, with some features going unused in the opposite camp. If anything, CPUs are probably even worse in terms of overall utilization. Especially with the GCN architecture, AMD has worked to eliminate the huge need to optimize their drivers to high hell to get efficient performance out of VLIW5. The few VLIW4 parts there were certainly showed that the fifth ALU went unused and in the end was unnecessary. I think AMD payed better attention to this issue with GCN where the efficiency is even greater despite the increase in transistors to increase set of compatible features of the individual compute units.

Interestingly enough, I've noticed this general ratio with upper end and non-binned AMD parts at their reference clocks: 1 GFLOP for every 1 million transistors. Despite for example full speed Juniper having a 1.5:1 ratio, Cape Verde with it's .85:1 still out performs it in actual workloads thanks to actual throughput efficiency and increase clocks. It probably has double the tessellation capability of Juniper as well.

 

[RussianSensation]

HD5850 is still a fast card, once OCed, but it can't run DX11 games with tessellation. For an almost 3 year old card, it has survived very well. Its performance in Batman AC, Crysis 2, Civilization V and Skyrim with mods is lacking due to lack of geometry power and 1GB of VRAM bottleneck. But given its asking price 3 years ago, it was more than worth it.

the 5850 was released at $279 where as the 7950 was released at $449. the 7950 is only 65% faster than the 5850 which is a joke for a card released over 2 years later at much higher price point. at launch prices for both cards, the 7950 actually offered less performance per dollar than the 5850. that's some piss poor progress right there.

Launch prices for 7950/7970 sucked, no question. Let's take a look now:

Sapphire DX HD7950 for $318 with 950mhz clocks (faster than 7950 V2) is 84% faster than an HD6870 (which is faster than the HD5850). That's before 1150mhz overclocking which would make it about 80-90% faster than an HD5870.

$450 VaporX HD7970 GE is 58% faster than HD6970 and 40% faster than a GTX580.

And now let's see what NV has brought this generation:

GTX660Ti for $300 is 54% faster than GTX560Ti ~ GTX470.
GTX670 for $380-400 is 38% faster than GTX570 ~ HD6970
GTX680 for $500 is 34% faster than GTX580

Looks like NV did a far worse job. It becomes more evident when you look at the overall picture: GT640 is the only card under $300 NV still has on 28nm 9 months after HD7900 launched!

The big elephant in the room: What I really want to know is how there isn't a single 28nm desktop NV card worth buying on Newegg without spending at minimum $385 GTX670? So what's a GTX570 owner supposed to upgrade to in order to get good price performance? NV has nothing for that person.

Based on how this generation is shaping up, I am going to remember it as the one where AMD had an indisputed lead from January to end of March, then 1 quarter when GTX670/680 were worth buying until mid-June when Cats 12.7 clawed back all the advantages NV had and price drops made 680 irrelevant, and a 2nd half of 2012 that's shaping up to be a complete destruction of NV's entire lineup (outside of the GTX690) from both a price/performance and single-GPU top performance perspectives. At this point, pretty much not a single 28nm NV card is worth buying other than catching a good deal on a 670 and even then that card only looks good if you disregard OCing on the 7950. The only safe heaven is GTX670 SLI.

In Canada, with MSI TF3 7950 dropping to $276, the cheapest 670 on Newegg.ca going for $410. NV is out to lunch if they think the 670 is worth $130 over an after-market 7950.

In 1 round NV conceded both price/performance and top single-GPU performance. NV hasn't lost a generation this badly since GeForce 7. At least in the past when you bought a 280/285/480/580, you got the best card. This round NV has nothing to offer, just performance/watt on the 670 and PhysX. NV needs to drop prices.

 

[Blitzvogel]

What are the fastest speeds + voltages you guys have or are running your 5850s at?

 

[WMD]

What are the fastest speeds + voltages you guys have or are running your 5850s at?

1030Mhz 1.3v only for 3dmark11

1000Mhz 1.28v metro 2033

 

[Powermoloch]

At 1600x900, my HD 5850 is gonna have a good life.

 

[Borealis7]

i'm blasting through Legend of Grimrock @ 120FPS with my 5850! (120Hz monitor)
can't get any better than that

kidding aside, as long as games remain on Unreal Engine 3, a 5850 can hold it's own very well.

 

[Malz]

I have a 5870 eyefinity 2gb card and I cf it with my older 5850 1gb therefore making it a 5850 cf'ed but Ive been thinking of upgrading for awhile now.

But it doesnt seem like a 7950 would be a upgrade right ? Id need at least a 7970 if I go ati or a 680 gtx for nvidia.

Both seem a tad pricey right now for me to upgrade although tbh Ive had a ati/amd card since the xt1900 you seem to get more for your money

 

[SlowSpyder]

A lot of the time when a new card launches there will be a 5870 on the chart somewhere. I always look for one in the benches as it holds a special place in my geeky heart. Its funny when I see a few of the green posters here call the 58xx cards "not true DX11 cards." Here we are three years after they launched still proving capable enough in a lot of ways, even playable in many newer games.

 

[Arkaign]

Sapphire DX HD7950 for $318 with 950mhz clocks (faster than 7950 V2) is 84% faster than an HD6870 (which is faster than the HD5850).

No doubt the 7950 is a great deal, but I'm not sure the 6870 is faster than a 5850 for the overclockers. IIRC a decent 5850 would push past stock 5870 performance, which is pretty solid. I had a 6950 XFX 2GB unlocked and overclocked, and it was only about on par with the 5870 OC'd cards in situations where the ram limit on the 5870 wasn't an issue.

I've been really let down by quite a few gens from both sides now. I also think AMD lost a lot of mindshare in the casual community when NV launched the 670/680 at lower prices and higher performance, even though the situation is now completely flipped. Price/performance for both sides is extremely disappointing, particularly at the $100-$200 range.

 

[Arkaign]

I have a 5870 eyefinity 2gb card and I cf it with my older 5850 1gb therefore making it a 5850 cf'ed but Ive been thinking of upgrading for awhile now.

But it doesnt seem like a 7950 would be a upgrade right ? Id need at least a 7970 if I go ati or a 680 gtx for nvidia.

Both seem a tad pricey right now for me to upgrade although tbh Ive had a ati/amd card since the xt1900 you seem to get more for your money

If you have Xfire'd 58xx, and don't play at 2560 res or three-wide 1080, I'd wait out this gen, it's just poor value.

 

[RussianSensation]

Arkaign, this generation hasn't been the one to upgrade to on the cheap for HD6950 @ unlocked/OC users. At those speeds you are looking at HD6970 which is still a fast card for most games @ 1080P.

 

[StrangerGuy]

If I have to upgrade from my 5850 there need to be games that needs more GPU power AND actually worth playing beyond eye candy. So far, none.

 

[Arkaign]

Arkaign, this generation hasn't been the one to upgrade to on the cheap for HD6950 @ unlocked/OC users. At those speeds you are looking at HD6970 which is still a fast card for most games @ 1080P.

Yeah, I agree. It's a little disheartening, but I do look forward to the next gen. The 6850 that I had was great, I handed it down to my GF for her PC (she likes Skyrim and a few others). It was slightly disappointing to see the 6950 slower than a 5870 in some situations, and even no faster than a good OC'd 5850. Until the recent AMD price cuts, there was STILL nothing under $400 worth upgrading from a 58xx/68xx/69xx to. Even now it's a bit dicey at the ~$200 price range. It's a sad change from when say the X850 to X18XX was giant, the HD4870 to HD5870 was epic, etc.

What we got this gen were huge prices and relatively small increases in performance/$, and in many respects, a decline in performance/$.

 

[Final8ty]

Still happy with my 5970's, I didn't even bat an eyelid at the new cards on the block.

 

[Blitzvogel]

1030Mhz 1.3v only for 3dmark11

1000Mhz 1.28v metro 2033

Aftermarket cooling, or is that stock

I'm afraid enough to push past 850 MHz

 

[Malz]

Still happy with my 5970's, I didn't even bat an eyelid at the new cards on the block.

Really I got my 5850 early in the cycle (after deciding not to cf my 4850) then picked up a much better 5970 for alot less than the 5850 (thanks to the anandtech hot deals forum too btw) I then have waited the 6000 and now the 7000 out this is the longest I think that my cards where absolutely fine.

Ive always though been interested in video cards and somewhat itchy to pull the trigger on a upgrade , Just dont want to upgrade for the sake of it need to really have a improvement

 

[psolord]

I got myself two 5850s at 230 euros shortly after they launched. Still having them on my secondary rig and still do some gaming on them.

I honestly can't remember having any more fun with any other cards in the past, reason being, they were cheap, they were fast, they were silent and they overclocked great. What else can the average enthusiast ask? Oh yeah, he can ask for AMD to reconsider their pricing on future cards.

I see even today that they perform great. I honestly wouldn't have to upgrade to the 570 SLI setup, if I was a bit more reasonable and didn't share the tech fever that many of us do. I do have bumped into some framebuffer issues here and there though but a little lowering of the settings (AA in Serious Sam 3 for example) will do wonders.

After almost three years, I still admire their ability to happily overclock to 950/1250 from their stock 725/1000 with a mere 1.2V and auto fan to boot, which actually keeps the cards quite silent still but a bit toasty at 85C. Still you get a free 25-30% more performance, something I could never do with my 570s.

 

[guskline]

Running 2 of the 5850s in rig 3 below. Got 7318 3Dmark11 Performance score.

 

[Insomniator]

I really want to upgrade my GTX 470 but whats the point?

I play SC2 and just started GTA IV (!). Skyrim, GW and these other RPG's don't interest me. What else is pushing the tech these days? Batman, ME, Borderlands - all playable maxed on a 470 (and certainly newer 200 dollar cards). I'm not interested in multiple monitors and new levels of AA as a way of using power in PC's that would otherwise be wasted. Make games that look better and better on 1 simple 24 inch monitor that most people have.

Fucking consoles.

 

[WMD]

Aftermarket cooling, or is that stock

I'm afraid enough to push past 850 MHz

Stock cooling. Most 5850s (reference) can handle at least 950mhz with ease.

 

[RussianSensation]

Ive always though been interested in video cards and somewhat itchy to pull the trigger on a upgrade , Just dont want to upgrade for the sake of it need to really have a improvement

If you waited out this long, 6 more months and you could have your wish with HD8970/GTX780. As other gamers have mentioned, the games need to improve though. The level of GPU performance now is ridiculous and it's the little enhancements such as Depth of Field, SSAA (Ubersampling), extreme tessellation or directcompute global illumination (Dirt Showdown, Sleeping Dogs) that eat away at performance. But are they worth it for most people to go out and buy $500-1000 of GPUs? Probably not.

I am hoping Metro Last Light, Far Cry 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter and Crysis 3 bring improved graphics. Ironically the game I am most looking forward to is Company of Heroes 2 and that's not about graphics

 

[Malz]

If you waited out this long, 6 more months and you could have your wish with HD8970/GTX780. As other gamers have mentioned, the games need to improve though. The level of GPU performance now is ridiculous and it's the little enhancements such as Depth of Field, SSAA (Ubersampling), extreme tessellation or directcompute global illumination (Dirt Showdown, Sleeping Dogs) that eat away at performance. But are they worth it for most people to go out and buy $500-1000 of GPUs? Probably not.

I am hoping Metro Last Light, Far Cry 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter and Crysis 3 bring improved graphics. Ironically the game I am most looking forward to is Company of Heroes 2 and that's not about graphics

OMG me too ! of course with a name of Russian sensation I could see how COH eastern front could hook you but Ive personaly always been interested in that theater , And thought that it was missing from the orginal COH . I also like world of tanks a nice "free" game if you like the WW 2 classics

 

[Final8ty]

Yeah, I agree. It's a little disheartening, but I do look forward to the next gen. The 6850 that I had was great, I handed it down to my GF for her PC (she likes Skyrim and a few others). It was slightly disappointing to see the 6950 slower than a 5870 in some situations, and even no faster than a good OC'd 5850. Until the recent AMD price cuts, there was STILL nothing under $400 worth upgrading from a 58xx/68xx/69xx to. Even now it's a bit dicey at the ~$200 price range. It's a sad change from when say the X850 to X18XX was giant, the HD4870 to HD5870 was epic, etc.

What we got this gen were huge prices and relatively small increases in performance/$, and in many respects, a decline in performance/$.

I agree.