Am I making the right decision?

[chubbyfatazn]

After holding on to my trusty X1900 for nearly four years I figured now would be as good a time as ever to upgrade.

I only play at 1360x768. I play TF2 the most, with some FO3 mixed in, and will start playing GTA4, Crysis, and Stalker SoC among others once I upgrade. Herein lies the crux of the issue: do I buy a 4850 or a 5770?

I trawled through most of the reviews Google spit out, but most of them don't include results below 16x10. Those that do indicate that at 1280x1024 the 4850 and 5770 only differ by maybe 5fps or so. I don't have any intentions to change monitors anytime soon. I tend to hold on to cards for longer periods of time. Would the 4850 suffice?

Thanks. Waiting for your responses so I can pull the trigger.

Athlon X2 7750 @ 3.3GHz
4GB DDR2 OCZ, @ 880MHz
Gigabyte UD4P

 

[Udgnim]

do not play GTA4 with your CPU and 5770 (if you have Win 7) since you say you hold on to cards for a while

 

[zerocool84]

do not play GTA4 with your CPU and 5770 (if you have Win 7) since you say you hold on to cards for a while

Well he plays at such a low rez he could play it on low settings it'd be fine. All those games he could run at rez with that card.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

How about the 4850? My main question is whether or not at such a low resolution there would be any discernible difference between the two (other than AA).

 

[RockinZ28]

Either should be fine for your application, guess it just depends how much you want to spend. The 5770 may not have much of an advantage at your res currently, but that gap may widen considerably if you plan on keeping this card another four years.

And yes GTAIV will probably still run like crap without a new cpu. Had my e6600 at 3.6ghz and it ran like utter crap with a HD5870 at high settings. Now with a i7 920 at 4ghz it runs perfectly smooth with the same card at the max settings.

 

[blanketyblank]

depends what price you can get the 4850 at. It will play those games fine at that resolution. GTA 4 is going to play like crap on any card you get since it's mostly CPU bound.
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...ark-review-with-13-processors/Reviews/?page=2
nvidia cards also do a little better in the game
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...Ati-and-Nvidia-graphics-cards/Reviews/?page=2

One thing to consider beyond price is sound and temperature. 5770 is much more pleasing to the ears than the 4850 which has a whining noise when it ramps up. At low speeds it's pretty quiet, but it is also very hot around the 70s. My 5770 is at 35 C and is pretty quiet. Even with the fan on about 60% it's a much more pleasing sound.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

The 4850 is $94 shipped. The 5770 is $160 shipped. Ideally I'd spend as little as possible, but both are well within my limit for spending. With the advice given here though I'm leaning towards a 4850.

Thanks all, I really appreciate the help.

 

[Jetster...]

The 5770 is aslo way less power consumption. It will allign you for future upgrades when you get that new board. They should come down soon also to around $135. Ive seen specials already on Newegg for around $145.

I bought the 5750 and use a lower res because I cant afford that new monitor yet. I runs everything so far without a hickup

 

[blanketyblank]

I agree that for those prices the 4850 is a better buy. However you can get the 5770 now for 135 after bing and rebate. Depending where you're buying from and what state you are in this makes the two cards much closer in price. 104 vs 135 instead if you're in CA and get 10% tax from newegg.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1864743

 

[chubbyfatazn]

I haven't dealt with CB before and I don't want to. From a company like Diamond I wouldn't hold too much faith in getting that $10 back. But thanks for the suggestion.

This is the 4850 in question.

 

[Udgnim]

Well he plays at such a low rez he could play it on low settings it'd be fine. All those games he could run at rez with that card.

as long as he's fine with turning GTA 4 into looking like GTA 3

 

[blanketyblank]

I haven't dealt with CB before and I don't want to. From a company like Diamond I wouldn't hold too much faith in getting that $10 back. But thanks for the suggestion.

This is the 4850 in question.

Looks like a nice card. The heatsink will probably be better than a stock one though looks like a dual slot. Not an issue if you have room, but it takes away one of the advantages of the 4850 being a single slot card.

 

[SlowSpyder]

The 4850 is $94 shipped. The 5770 is $160 shipped. Ideally I'd spend as little as possible, but both are well within my limit for spending. With the advice given here though I'm leaning towards a 4850.

Thanks all, I really appreciate the help.

The 4850 at that price is a very good bargain and should chew through games at the resolution you play at.

But, with that being said, if you can find a cheap 5770 that will give you some nice bonuses that the 4850 does not. You'll get DX11 capability, and you'll have decent power savings. Since it looks like you keep your cards for a while (you said you had your current card for four years) you may want to look towards the 5770 since DX11 will be very likely worth having. Also, if you keep the card for years, the power savings could end up being a good chunk of change saved.

I guess it's really just a decision you can make, is the extra money the 5770 costs worth those extra features or is the enexpensive 4850 the way to go? If it were me, I'd probably get the 5770 since it looks like you'll be holding on to the card for a while, overclock it, and use it for another four years. Just my $.02.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Looks like a nice card. The heatsink will probably be better than a stock one though looks like a dual slot. Not an issue if you have room, but it takes away one of the advantages of the 4850 being a single slot card.

Yeah, that's a non-issue. I don't have any cards below my current X1900 (which is dual slot).

@SlowSpyder: Yeah, I held onto the X1900 for nearly four years because I paid full retail when it came out. Big mistake and regret. I like to think of it being a $100 video card spread out over four years I'd be willing to upgrade every year to year and a half if I could get a good card for around $100. Kind of contradicts what I said earlier, but I buy based on whether or not I see anything good.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Yeah, that's a non-issue. I don't have any cards below my current X1900 (which is dual slot).

@SlowSpyder: Yeah, I held onto the X1900 for nearly four years because I paid full retail when it came out. Big mistake and regret. I like to think of it being a $100 video card spread out over four years I'd be willing to upgrade every year to year and a half if I could get a good card for around $100. Kind of contradicts what I said earlier, but I buy based on whether or not I see anything good.

If you are only planning on keeping the card for 12-18 months than I'd probably go with the 4850. A year or so from now with DX11 games are more plentiful you can upgrade. I'd think the 4850 would do just fine at that resolution. But really, I don't think you can go wrong with either of those cards, just be sure to shop around and find a good deal. It seems like 5770's have some good deals that come and go.

 

[RockinZ28]

I haven't dealt with CB before and I don't want to.

???
Cashback is the shit. Ridiculously easy to use, must have at least $300 CB this year already. You just get money for going through their site, it still confounds me as to why lol.

 

[RobsTV]

I guess you did not see this thread comparing the faster HD 4870 to the HD5770?:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2049084

The 4850 and 5770 differ by more than a few fps..
Check benchmarks that use latest drivers, not original benchmarks.
4850 and 5750 are similar in speed, with slight speed advantage to 5750.
4870 and 5770 are similar in speed, with slight speed advantage to 5770.

I upgraded from a HD 4830, which does run about the same as the 4850. The HD 5770 was a nice upgrade.

In the games you mention, at the resolution you use, the both the 5750 and 5770 are faster than the 4850 in latest benchmarks with drivers designed for the newer cards.

Stalker SoC uses DX11, and reports are that it runs and looks great running DX11 with HD5770. I am downloading benchmark now to test. Also using 1360x768 here on 50" plasma. Of course you will not be able to do Stalker SoC in DX11 with the 4850. Only test I've done in DX11 so far was the included Dirt 2, which runs great with all settings at highest levels (Ultra or Max.)

If it is only about money, get the 4850.
If you also want to plan ahead a little, get the 5770.
HD 5770 is more future proof. Better if you hang on to cards.
Add another in a year and get better than HD 5850 performance.
Every week the 5770 can be found for less than $140.
Paid $135 for the 1gig Powercolor PCS+ factory overclocked card a couple weeks ago.
But, just paid $100 yesterday for a 4850 that a friend needs, who only plays WOW.

EDIT: ran DX11 benchmark test for Stalker SoC using HD 5770 at resolution OP plans on running.

(Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6GHz, 640gig 5400RPM green HD, Win7 32bit w/3gig. Cold and Quiet HTPC)

DX11, Ultra, 1360x768, enable tessellation

Avg scores:
day 79.1
night 79.8
rain 92.1
sun shafts 44.4

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Just get the 4850. There is no point spending more than $100 bucks on a card for your system, and the 4850 can still play many games smoothly up to and including 1920x1080 res maxed settings (no AA/16x AF).

A year or two from now you can peek around and see what interests you again. Or spend some money on a monitor, for god's sake its what you look at the most when using your comp put $150 down for a 23" or something.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Yeah, I know that the 5770 is at par with the 4870 and the 5750 is at par with the 4850, and I forgot to check for reviews with newer drivers. Seeing those benchies from Stalker certainly shifts my favor towards a 5770. Thanks for taking the time to run those tests.

How would this 5770 fare in my system? It's only got half the memory of regular 5770s, but I suppose I could consider it a 512MB 4870, right? At which point it would be a solid choice.

And GodIsAnAtheist, I use a TV as a monitor to save space, so I'm not going to upgrade for awhile.

 

[blanketyblank]

Yeah, I know that the 5770 is at par with the 4870 and the 5750 is at par with the 4850, and I forgot to check for reviews with newer drivers. Seeing those benchies from Stalker certainly shifts my favor towards a 5770. Thanks for taking the time to run those tests.

How would this 5770 fare in my system? It's only got half the memory of regular 5770s, but I suppose I could consider it a 512MB 4870, right? At which point it would be a solid choice.

And GodIsAnAtheist, I use a TV as a monitor to save space, so I'm not going to upgrade for awhile.

yeh 512 or 1 gig probably won't make much difference to you and it's a pretty decent price.
But really check out CB even if going through newegg. Probably not much at this point, but it's free money.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

And GodIsAnAtheist, I use a TV as a monitor to save space, so I'm not going to upgrade for awhile.

-Ohhhhh for some reason I thought you had like a 15" monitor. You actually have one of those 720P compatible TV's. Ok nvm.

Still buy the 4850. Best bang for the buck.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Alright guys, one last question.

Which one of these scenarios is better?

1) My current 7750 and a 5770
2) An X3 720 and a 4850

Instinct tells me the second one is better, but I'm not 100% sure. Thanks much. Going to buy something tonight.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Option 2

 

[damage424]

I play on 1440x900 with a 4850 and q9550, both stock. I can play 95% of my games maxed out. Just my 2 cents....

 

[evolucion8]

An HD 4850 will be able to max most games at that resolution, heck, besides of Crysis, my brother in law can max any game at 1280x1024 plus 2x or 4xFSAA with his HD 3870 with games like Need for Speed Shift, Bioshock 2, Resident Evil 5 with no problems whatsoever. It may not exceed 40fps most of the time at such setting, but never dips below 27fps and that's more than enough for him. An HD 4850 is twice faster, you will be good for a while, specially with the latest games that are console ports.