Good upgrade from a 4850

[Texashiker]

Some big games are going to be released soon (like Duke Nukem Forever and Brink), and I would like to upgrade my video card.

Since June of 2010 I have been running an ATI 4850 with 512 megs of memory. What is a good cost effective upgrade from the 4850?

Lets put a cap of $150 on the new card.

Current system specs:

Motherboard - ASUS M4A785-M
CPU - AMD 620 quad core 2.6Ghz AM3 - also going to be upgraded
Memory - 6 gigs of PC6400 DDR2 800MHz
Windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Video card - ATI 4850 with 512 megs memory

For my sons birthday he got an ASUS GTX460 with 768 megs memory. The price on the 460 came down a little bit, so I thought about ordering the 1 gig version. But I do not know if the improved performance can justify the cost from the 4850.

The 4850 seems to be a good solid card, so is it even worth it to upgrade at this point?

Long story short:
I have a 4850
What is a good cost effective upgrade


Side note:

I want to upgrade my cpu to something a little more current, so the video card that the cpu will be upgraded at the same time. I would like to keep the total cost of cpu and video card around $300 or less.

 

[deimos3428]

The $150 limit puts you just barely in GTX460 range. 6850s would be a couple bucks more if you favor ATI. Either would be a significant improvement over a 4850.

You mentioned you were going to upgrade the CPU as well. I can't think of a significant upgrade in the $150 range. A quad core Phenom II won't add much performance; an Intel chip would be too expensive after you factor in a new motherboard.

The Athlon II X4 620 is pretty good, just clocked too low. So you'd be better off overclocking it (will likely reach 3.0 to 3.2 Ghz with a cheap $20 aftermarket HSF like the Hyper 212+). Put the remaining $130 or so towards the GPU budget as well, and you're in HD6950/6970 to GTX570 range.

As for whether or not it's worth it to upgrade...ask yourself what your system can't do now. If you can't think of anything..don't upgrade at all.

 

[Texashiker]

The $150 limit puts you just barely in GTX460 range. 6850s would be a couple bucks more if you favor ATI. Either would be a significant improvement over a 4850.

Thank you for the reply.

After I posted this thread I went around looking at some of the bench marks with the 4850, 460 and 6850.

Instead of upgrading the CPU, I am now thinking of going with the 1 gig version of the GTX 460 and putting another 2 or 4 gigs of memory in the system. For around $70 I could get 4 more gigs of memory, for a total of around 10 gigs.

The 4850 runs good, but lags down a little bit at higher resolutions.

Since I am running windows 7 - 64 bit, I would like a video card that supports DX 11.

Left 4 Dead 2 is my current game of choice. When Duke Nukem and Brink are released, I will be playing them.

In short:
Do no upgrade cpu - take that money and buy more memory
Go with the 1 gig version of the GTX 460

 

[Ghiedo27]

I would just stick to the video card upgrade for now. You're going to want to upgrade the cpu within a year or so I imagine, and when you do that you're going to need a new platform which means DDR3. Any money spent on more DDR2 wouldn't net much (if any) performance gain anyways.

 

[blckgrffn]

I would just stick to the video card upgrade for now. You're going to want to upgrade the cpu within a year or so I imagine, and when you do that you're going to need a new platform which means DDR3. Any money spent on more DDR2 wouldn't net much (if any) performance gain anyways.

I agree.

Although if you aren't going to OC your processor, I think that something like a Phenom x2 955 would also net some significant gains across the board.

Between your CPU and video card, I think you could get at least ~$100 from the FS/FT forums. Perhaps upgrade you video card first, sell the 4850 and then re-evaluate your CPU?

At ~$180 AMIR a 5870 is a pretty awesome card for the money, available right now @ NewEgg. And I can vouch for how much faster it is than a 4830 - much, much, much faster especially @ 1080p (what resolution do you use?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-316-_-Product

Worth a look because I had a NewEgg tab open

 

[Texashiker]

Although if you aren't going to OC your processor, I think that something like a Phenom x4 955 would also net some significant gains across the board.

The motherboard supports 125 watt cpus, the X4 955 was going to be my choice anyway.

Between your CPU and video card, I think you could get at least ~$100 from the FS/FT forums. Perhaps upgrade you video card first, sell the 4850 and then re-evaluate your CPU?

The 4850 would either go to my wife or my daughter. My daughter plays games from time to time, like left 4 dead 2, and she will probably be getting diablo III when it comes out.

At ~$180 AMIR a 5870 is a pretty awesome card for the money, available right now @ NewEgg. And I can vouch for how much faster it is than a 4830 - much, much, much faster especially @ 1080p (what resolution do you use?)

Thank you, I will look at the 5870

 

[mnewsham]

The 4850 would either go to my wife or my daughter. My daughter plays games from time to time, like left 4 dead 2, and she will probably be getting diablo III when it comes out.

Sounds like an awesome family

 

[betasub]

Plenty of useful detail in OP, but no monitor/resolution specified?

There's a major factor not being considered...

 

[Texashiker]

Plenty of useful detail in OP, but no monitor/resolution specified?

There's a major factor not being considered...

<sarcasm>I am running 640X480 and 16 bit colors. </sarcasm>

Unless something comes up, I think I have settled on the Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 with 1 GB of memory.

I was really leaning towards the GTX 460, until I found out that the 6850 offers more video ports, and only requires 1 power cable, where the gtx 460 requires 2 power inputs.

6850:
1 x HDMI
1 x DisplayPort
2 x DVI
Effective Memory Clock - 1000MHz (4.0Gbps)
Memory Interface - 256-bit
Price: @ $175


GTX 460:
1 x mini HDMI
2 x DVI
Effective Memory Clock - 3680MHz
Memory Interface - 192-bit
Price: @ $159


From the performance reviews, it looks like the 460 and the 6850 go back and forth depending on the game. With less then a $20 difference, price is not an issue, its the options for later on down the road that made the deciding factor. When I upgrade my monitor, I would like DisplayPort to be an option.

 

[blckgrffn]

Sounds like a good choice to me Great thermal/sound characteristics while being an actual upgrade from your 4850.

 

[OCGuy]

Gtx460

 

[betasub]

<sarcasm>I am running 640X480 and 16 bit colors. </sarcasm>

Sorry I asked. Maybe you are running 1080p, maybe lower, maybe significantly higher. Could make a difference. But you'd rather be sarcastic.

 

[Texashiker]

Sorry I asked. Maybe you are running 1080p, maybe lower, maybe significantly higher. Could make a difference. But you'd rather be sarcastic.

Asking about resolutions is like asking about underwear - it can change at anytime. Just because I am running at a certain resolution today does not mean it will be that way tomorrow.

To answer your question, I am running windows at 1280X1024, and I run most of my games at that same resolution.

 

[toyota]

Asking about resolutions is like asking about underwear - it can change at anytime. Just because I am running at a certain resolution today does not mean it will be that way tomorrow.

To answer your question, I am running windows at 1280X1024, and I run most of my games at that same resolution.

yeah because at 1280x1024, you are obviously someone who routinely upgrades their resolution.

 

[f1sherman]

GTX 460 has higher OC potential, but I wouldn't recommend it without i5+ / decent speed Phenom II X4

 

[cusideabelincoln]

yeah because at 1280x1024, you are obviously someone who routinely upgrades their resolution.

Except he never said resolution can change routinely; he said it could change at any time.

 

[toyota]

Except he never said resolution can change routinely; he said it could change at any time.

well he mentioned underwear so that's why I said that. he should have just answered the guys question though. 1280x1024 is certainly not a res where a 6850 level card is needed and unless he has concrete plans for a monitor upgrade it would be a little silly.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

well he mentioned underwear so that's why I said that. he should have just answered the guys question though. 1280x1024 is certainly not a res where a 6850 level card is needed and unless he has concrete plans for a monitor upgrade it would be a little silly.

This is what he said:

The 4850 runs good, but lags down a little bit at higher resolutions.

So the 4850 is not satisfying him. Anything less than a 6850 wouldn't be much of an upgrade, IMO, and anything faster than a 6850 is pretty much out of his price range. The question was pointless.

 

[toyota]

This is what he said:



So the 4850 is not satisfying him. Anything less than a 6850 wouldn't be much of an upgrade, IMO, and anything faster than a 6850 is pretty much out of his price range. The question was pointless.

lags at "higher resolutions" but his resolution is 1280x1024? um okay. a 4850 should not really be lagging at that low res unless trying to run pretty crazy settings.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

lags at "higher resolutions" but his resolution is 1280x1024? um okay. a 4850 should not really be lagging at that low res.

You presume too much.

 

[Texashiker]

lags at "higher resolutions" but his resolution is 1280x1024?

Correction, I am running left 4 dead 2 at 1360X1024, AA 4X, everything else pretty much on high, and I get anywhere from 70 - 100 fps in No Mercy finale and in The Parish finale.

One problem that I found tonight was that vertical sync was enabled, which limited my fps to 60.

I might just hold off on my 4850 upgrade until prices drop a little bit more, or save up for a complete system upgrade at the end of the year.

Fraps was used to check the fps.

 

[deimos3428]

At that resolution your 4850 is serving you quite well.

However, the 6850 should still be an improvement in terms of wattage, heat, and noise. Plus expandability of course, in the event you decide to move up to 1920x1080 or something similar.