ATI HD 4850 vs ATI HD 5770

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Hav0k99

Hav0k99

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May 10, 2002
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Let me start off by saying I have a crappy Dell computer with a conroe e6600 (2.4ghz) and a Dell 375w PSU. Right now I have an ATI HD 4850 video card. Is it worth it for me to spend like $100 + $140 for an ATI HD 5770 to get better performance? Uping the processor is out of the question as I think I can only go to a e6700 and that's it but is way to pricey.

I have no budget to do anything major like build a new PC or change out a lot of parts. My PC consists of 2 160 sata HD's, CPU, ATI HD 4850 and SB X-FI gamer. Will I have a power issue with an ATI HD 5770? and will my current processor bottleneck any improvement?

Thanks an advance!
 
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Yuriman

Yuriman

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Jun 25, 2004
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Sorry, I'm a bit confused. Do you have a 4650 or a 4850?

The 5770 is not noticeably faster than a 4850, but is a decent upgrade from a 4650. It draws less power than a 4850.
 
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blanketyblank

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2007
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You say 4650 as well as 4850. They are a bit different, but assuming you mean a 4850 than a 5770 won't be a huge upgrade. If it's from something like a 4650 it should be huge (I'm assuming a 4650 exists I have no idea).
I went from a 4850 to 5770 and it's still a nice boost since you get more vram as well. Your cpu should be fine for a 5770. In terms of pricing though 140 seems a tad expensive so I'd look into another card then since you can get more performance for that kind of money.
 
Hav0k99

Hav0k99

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May 10, 2002
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blanketyblank said:
You say 4650 as well as 4850. They are a bit different, but assuming you mean a 4850 than a 5770 won't be a huge upgrade. If it's from something like a 4650 it should be huge (I'm assuming a 4650 exists I have no idea).
I went from a 4850 to 5770 and it's still a nice boost since you get more vram as well. Your cpu should be fine for a 5770. In terms of pricing though 140 seems a tad expensive so I'd look into another card then since you can get more performance for that kind of money.
Click to expand...

They key for me is it has to use around the same wattage as a 4850
 
B

blanketyblank

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2007
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What the hell are you smoking? 5770 is slightly faster than a 4870 in modern reviews. So it is definitely not lower or even even.
 
cusideabelincoln

cusideabelincoln

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Aug 3, 2008
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5770 uses less power and is faster. How much faster depends on the game and other factors.

Even under ideal conditions it's really not a huge upgrade, unless you are specifically looking to cut back on power draw. A 6850 would be the least I'd consider a decent upgrade, but its power draw is roughly the same to a little more.
 
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GundamF91

Golden Member
May 14, 2001
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I used to have a HD4850 (actually I still do as a backup card), it draws quite a bit power for a 4xxx card. You'll be fine with 5xxx generation since those suppose to draw less power for same performance, so 5770 will be fine for you. That said, if you don't upgrade the CPU or the PSU, then I'd just stay put with 4850. It's a pretty OK gaming card even by today's standard (if you game 1650x1080), and the 5770 wont' give you a whole lot more for the $100 you'll have to put out for it. That hundred bucks is wasted as an "interim" solution unless you just can't stand your existing game speed. If you're worried that Power Supply won't support bigger cards, you can pick up an inexpensive 500W Antec PSU for 50 bucks. You'll be fine with all single GPU cards out there.

If you want to truly have breakthrough gaming experience, you'll have to upgrade the CPU and PSU to support the power draw. I moved to HD5870 and that is a real leap in performance. So you should just save the money and do a big system upgrade when yo have a chance down the road.
 
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Termie

Termie

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Aug 17, 2005
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www.techbuyersguru.com
cusideabelincoln said:
Even under ideal conditions it's really not a huge upgrade, unless you are specifically looking to cut back on power draw. A 6850 would be the least I'd consider a decent upgrade, but its power draw is roughly the same to a little more.
Click to expand...

This. 4850 to 5770 is definitely not a good upgrade route. And because you are somewhat constrained by your power supply, the 6850 is truly your only sound option.

The real question is what motivates you to upgrade? Are you having trouble in certain games? The 6850 will probably offer about 75-80% better performance, assuming you're not CPU-limited, but it's a lot of money to pour into a system like yours.
 
R

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
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Termie said:
This. 4850 to 5770 is definitely not a good upgrade route. And because you are somewhat constrained by your power supply, the 6850 is truly your only sound option.

The real question is what motivates you to upgrade? Are you having trouble in certain games? The 6850 will probably offer about 75-80% better performance, assuming you're not CPU-limited, but it's a lot of money to pour into a system like yours.
Click to expand...
Even my E8500 bottlenecks my HD 6850, i would think that E6600 won't help the cause.
 
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Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
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RavenSEAL said:
5770 is about even with the 4850, if not lower.
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This is TOTALLY false.

I went from a 4850 to a 5770, 5770 is definitely faster than a 4850, most benchmarks were ~25% faster on my machine. Is that a huge upgrade? Definitely not, but it's not slower in any way. Max power in Furmark dropped rather significantly according to my Kill-a-Watt.

Both have 800 shaders, 16 ROP, 40 texture units... but the 5770 is clocked 36% faster.
5770 also has over 20% more memory bandwidth even though it's only 128 bit, because it uses DDR5 instead of the DDR3 in the 4850.

So the 5770 is faster in every way than the 4850. Not hugely so, but as I said, I saw around 25% FPS improvement in every benchmark I ran.
 
R

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
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Concillian said:
This is TOTALLY false.

I went from a 4850 to a 5770, 5770 is definitely faster than a 4850, most benchmarks were ~25% faster on my machine. Is that a huge upgrade? Definitely not, but it's not slower in any way. Max power in Furmark dropped rather significantly according to my Kill-a-Watt.

Both have 800 shaders, 16 ROP, 40 texture units... but the 5770 is clocked 36% faster.
5770 also has over 20% more memory bandwidth even though it's only 128 bit, because it uses DDR5 instead of the DDR3 in the 4850.

So the 5770 is faster in every way than the 4850. Not hugely so, but as I said, I saw around 25% FPS improvement in every benchmark I ran.
Click to expand...

DoubleFacePalm.jpg
 
toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
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well to be fair if you would have quoted the person you were replying to or at least said power consumption in your reply then there would be no confusion.
 
Hav0k99

Hav0k99

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May 10, 2002
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Termie said:
This. 4850 to 5770 is definitely not a good upgrade route. And because you are somewhat constrained by your power supply, the 6850 is truly your only sound option.

The real question is what motivates you to upgrade? Are you having trouble in certain games? The 6850 will probably offer about 75-80% better performance, assuming you're not CPU-limited, but it's a lot of money to pour into a system like yours.
Click to expand...

What motivtes to upgrade is that with newer games (COD:BO and BF:BC2) I am not satisfied running the games at lower settings. I'd like to get a 6850 if it will make an improvment with what I have now and carry over the card later into a new system. Also the 4850 gets really hot. I have a an additional exaust fan in the next slot to help keep it cool.
 
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heat901

Senior member
Dec 17, 2009
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Id save your money!! I am running an e6600(overclocked to 3.2) with a 4870, so I would save your money and wait till sandybridges or bulldozer or the 7k series... well thats my plan. If anything I would upgrade my PSU and get new cpu heat sink and fan and try to over clock that e6600... I do not know if you motherboard can do it but that e6600 should easily get to 3.0+. Also just make sure your case has some good air flow. :D
 
cusideabelincoln

cusideabelincoln

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Aug 3, 2008
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A quad core processor is going to make the biggest difference for you in those two games, as seen by the difference between dual and quad here:
http://www.techspot.com/review/336-cod-black-ops-performance/page8.html
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/battlefield_bad_company_2_tuning_guide,7.html

If you're running at 1080p, then it's also likely the 4850 is also holding you back. But it's hard to gauge which is holding you back more, CPU or GPU. I'm inclined to say the CPU is holding you back more in Bad Company 2.

You have the option to just get a new motherboard and processor, which you can do under $200 or about the same price as what a 6850 will cost you. So you have a choice in front of you. If you plan to upgrade your system relatively soon (in the next few months), then I'd say get a 6850 now and enjoy the improved IQ, but don't expect a (big?) performance increase until you upgrade the processor.

Hav0k99 said:
I'd like to get a 6850 if it will make an improvment with what I have now and carry over the card later into a new system. Also the 4850 gets really hot.
Click to expand...
A 6850 should provide some improvement, but I doubt it will increase your framerate. Instead you should be able to turn up GPU-dependant features, like AA, AF, and textures, without seeing a performance drop. So the games will look better, but I doubt they will run better.

A 6850 should reduce the temperature, but it will probably be bigger than your 4850 so you need to make sure it will fit.

A 6850 will most definitely carry over to your next system, especially considering your processor will indeed hold it back in heavily multi-threaded games.
 
Hav0k99

Hav0k99

Platinum Member
May 10, 2002
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heat901 said:
Id save your money!! I am running an e6600(overclocked to 3.2) with a 4870, so I would save your money and wait till sandybridges or bulldozer or the 7k series... well thats my plan. If anything I would upgrade my PSU and get new cpu heat sink and fan and try to over clock that e6600... I do not know if you motherboard can do it but that e6600 should easily get to 3.0+. Also just make sure your case has some good air flow. :D
Click to expand...


It's a Dell Optiplex 755. I can't overclock the cpu. I wonder if this system will take a quad processor.


I appreciate everyones help! This is why I love Anandtech Forums <3
 
V

Vdubchaos

Lifer
Nov 11, 2009
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Attic

Attic

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Jan 9, 2010
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cusideabelincoln said:
5770 uses less power and is faster. How much faster depends on the game and other factors.

Even under ideal conditions it's really not a huge upgrade, unless you are specifically looking to cut back on power draw. A 6850 would be the least I'd consider a decent upgrade, but its power draw is roughly the same to a little more.
Click to expand...


I'd echo this advice and the other advice suggesting somehting with more oomph than a 5770.

Dell PSU's are complete garbage.
 
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