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Big Difference: 5870 v 5850?

that depends on your resolution. and what games you play. and how important eye candy is to you. and how sensitive you are to a difference of a few fps at different frame rates.

figure those things out, then look at frame rate charts on different web sites to attempt an approximation of what you'll see. try AT, www.alienbabeltech.com, hardocp, techpowerup, hardwarecanucks for starters, then ask around if you still don't have enough info.
 
well you could just look at the dozens of reviews and make that determination for yourself. that being said it also depends on your setup as to whether you should consider a 5870 in the first place. if you have lower end dual core and/or use a res below 1920 then you probably shouldnt be looking at the 5870 anyway. also when they are both overclocked to their max the 5850 is only about 5% slower.
 
5850 overclocks rather nicely. No need for a factory OC'd version; get the cheaper one.

Ditto on the other specs though.
 
5850 is enough for 16x10, 5870 very borderline overkill. I've had my 5870 with a 16x10 monitor and I even maxed Crysis....every single settings on high, 2x AA, and in 95% of scenarios average FPS is above 30.

Now I have a 19x10 HD monitor, 5870 still goes great for Crysis with all settings maxed, but minimum FPS are more pronounced. Never mind, another 5870 in a few months will fix that! 😀
 
Specs:

Q8200 C2Q

P5Q Mobo

Currently 4GB Kingston--getting 8 GB G Skill DDR2 1066 (Kingston has been faulty from the start)

HD 4850

1.5 TB of HDD

Coolermaster 600W PSU

Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
 
yeah 5850. I would certainly try and oc that cpu a bit too because it is a little bit slow especially for those games that arent using more than two cores.
 
5850 is enough for 16x10, 5870 very borderline overkill. I've had my 5870 with a 16x10 monitor and I even maxed Crysis....every single settings on high, 2x AA, and in 95% of scenarios average FPS is above 30.

Now I have a 19x10 HD monitor, 5870 still goes great for Crysis with all settings maxed, but minimum FPS are more pronounced. Never mind, another 5870 in a few months will fix that! 😀

is that on "high" or "very high"?
 
is that on "high" or "very high"?


Hopefully on very high. I have everything set on High with AAx8 and i'm getting 45-65 through most of the first level in the wooded areas.

I run 5850 with i5 750 at 3.6 and only used the generic OC tool in the CCC and haven't had an issue playing any game with settings maxed.
 
I'd only get a 5870 if you're running above 1920x1200, or if you are against overclocking and have to buy extra performance. The cards are so similar that you really won't be able to tell the difference between an overclocked 5870 and an overclocked 5850 until you really push them.
 
i'd only get a 5870 if you're running above 1920x1200, or if you are against overclocking and have to buy extra performance. The cards are so similar that you really won't be able to tell the difference between an overclocked 5870 and an overclocked 5850 until you really push them.

this
 
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