5850 Upgrade?

[MoPHo]

I built a rig last July and decided on a mid-level setup:

i5 750 (@ 3ghz) w/ a hyper-212+;
4g DDR1600;
XFX 5850 ZAFC (reference cooler); and
Biostar TPOWER i55 LGA 1156 P55 (8x/8x CF/SLi possible)

I'm primarily looking to play Skyrim and Diablo 3. I may dabble in Battlefield 3 (use my roommate's account when he's out), but I don't see myself planning this upgrade solely for that.

I play @ 1080p so I'm looking to see what could keep me afloat with some decent options at that resolution. Will have a total of $400 after the first week of September to mix some upgrades together.

As of right now, I'm looking at just picking up another 5850 and calling it a day, but I'm not sure if the RAM and CPU would be bottle-necking, or if CF'ing those two would perform well enough on an 8x/8x setup.

And before anyone asks, yes, I can wait until the next-gen drops. However, I'm still limited to that $400 so I'm not sure which would give better results with an i5/4gb RAM setup. I know RAM prices are pretty low right now, so I may just upgrade that anyways as it's ~$30 to double it.

Any thoughts, I'd appreciate. Any addt'l input necessary, I'd provide.

Thank you.

 

[nanaki333]

your 5850 is fine. blizzard is known for making games playable across the most modest of platforms. pick up another 5850 if you find one on the cheap, that should help with BF on really high settings i'm sure.

 

[WMD]

Don't bother going crossfire. Many new games scale poorly and graphic artifacts are not uncommon with CF/SLI. Some games just plays badly that you may find yourself disabling CF and getting a smoother experience. In the end it is not worth it.

Why speculate and decide now? You should wait for the games to release then look up benchmarks to see what would be the best upgrade. By that time next generation hardware should appear. You will then have a choice to buy today's card at a lower price or the latest and greatest.

In the meantime overclock your gpu and cpu the best you can. A 5850 clocked 875MHz/1200MHz will perform similar to a 5870. Most reference card will hit 950MHz - 1000MHz with voltage increase. Still no slouch even today.

 

[max347]

Honestly I would sell your 5850 now. Prices are still high on that card because of bitcoin mining, so you should be able to move to a 6870 for near free. No- not a large increase, but its an increase for free, I'd take advantage of it. Ram is cheap, newegg had been having sales every week. They even have an 8gb kit of 2133 for $75 this week if you need speed. If not, there is an 8gb kit of 1333 for $28 AMIR.

 

[nanaki333]

Don't bother going crossfire. Many new games scale poorly and graphic artifacts are not uncommon with CF/SLI. Some games just plays badly that you may find yourself disabling CF and getting a smoother experience. In the end it is not worth it.

funny... i don't have artifacts and all games play great on my 6970 xfire. i most certainly have never disabled it. xfire scaling is very good now, up to like 90% in some games. 5850 isn't that much slower stock clock for stock clock.

 

[dalamchops]

funny... i don't have artifacts and all games play great on my 6970 xfire. i most certainly have never disabled it. xfire scaling is very good now, up to like 90% in some games. 5850 isn't that much slower stock clock for stock clock.

i don't think i've ever had an issue w/ CF either. Though 6xxx series crossfire much better than the 5xxx series.

 

[MoPHo]

Honestly I would sell your 5850 now. Prices are still high on that card because of bitcoin mining, so you should be able to move to a 6870 for near free. No- not a large increase, but its an increase for free, I'd take advantage of it. Ram is cheap, newegg had been having sales every week. They even have an 8gb kit of 2133 for $75 this week if you need speed. If not, there is an 8gb kit of 1333 for $28 AMIR.

I'm not sure I understand what bitcoin mining is and how it's factoring into this. Could you go into detail or maybe PM me about it if it's a touchy subject...?

Edit: I'm familiar with the currency, but not the 'mining' aspect.

 

[WMD]

Honestly I would sell your 5850 now. Prices are still high on that card because of bitcoin mining, so you should be able to move to a 6870 for near free. No- not a large increase, but its an increase for free, I'd take advantage of it. Ram is cheap, newegg had been having sales every week. They even have an 8gb kit of 2133 for $75 this week if you need speed. If not, there is an 8gb kit of 1333 for $28 AMIR.

Not even worth the hassle going from 5850 - 6870. Already benchmarked these 2 card on my system and ended up returning the 6870. The performance gain at stock clocks are minimal. About 0-5% max. However a 5850 @ 900mhz is actually much faster than a 6870 @ 1000mhz I all the games I tested.

 

[MoPHo]

Not even worth the hassle going from 5850 - 6870. Already benchmarked these 2 card on my system and ended up returning the 6870. The performance gain at stock clocks are minimal. About 0-5% max. However a 5850 @ 900mhz is actually much faster than a 6870 @ 1000mhz I all the games I tested.

I did some checking and the performance boost wouldn't be that great if I got one, but if I sold my 5850 and picked up two 6870's, there's quite a boost...

And that would sit well under my $400 limit because one would be drastically reduced because of a 5850 sale...

 

[KevinH]

I'm not sure I understand what bitcoin mining is and how it's factoring into this. Could you go into detail or maybe PM me about it if it's a touchy subject...?

Edit: I'm familiar with the currency, but not the 'mining' aspect.

http://www.bitcoin.org/

Basically it's a virtual currency with the added benefit that you could "mine" for bitcoins using your computer and you could get earn bitcoins for it. In any event, the short version is gpu's were found to be stellar at mining and that the 5XXX series is hands down the best series of graphics cards in terms of mining efficiency (specifically teh 5830/5850/5870). There was a HUGE premium on these cards since they were discontinued. Prices are still high on them though not as much as before as the bitcoin craze has died down a bit.

Quick check on ebay shows the 5850 going for 220 easily. If you're not using it to mine, sell it. Get something better.

 

[Powermoloch]

Your 5850 is still good, you can make a quick buck as noted above :awe:

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

http://www.bitcoin.org/

Basically it's a virtual currency with the added benefit that you could "mine" for bitcoins using your computer and you could get earn bitcoins for it. In any event, the short version is gpu's were found to be stellar at mining and that the 5XXX series is hands down the best series of graphics cards in terms of mining efficiency (specifically teh 5830/5850/5870). There was a HUGE premium on these cards since they were discontinued. Prices are still high on them though not as much as before as the bitcoin craze has died down a bit.

Quick check on ebay shows the 5850 going for 220 easily. If you're not using it to mine, sell it. Get something better.

The 5850 isn't selling for 220 easy. Maybe for some of the brands, but not all 5850's can get that price.

Thats why im holding onto mine.

If I could get that price however, I would consider a 6950. (hint, hint)

 

[TemjinGold]

I sold mine and went to a 580. Amazing boost.

 

[chihlidog]

Dont bother until the 7xxx series comes out. You have the same cpu/gpu I do. There's nothing wrong with it. The only worthy upgrade to a 5850 right now, IMO, is a 6970, and with the 7xxx series not far off, they might be significantly faster and run significantly cooler than the current gen cards. If they dont, you havent really lost anything, so just pick up a 6970 then.