Is it worth upgrading to a ati 7850 from 2x ati 5850?

[davidst99]

Hi,

I was wondering if it was worth upgrading my 2x ati 5850 in crossfire to an ati 7870. I think I can get about a $100 each for my 5850s and the ati 7870 cost about $280 on newegg after rebate. I can't find a chart that list both the 5850 and a 7870. Thanks for any advice.

David

 

[legcramp]

To a 7950 yes, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

 

[lakedude]

Depends on your goal.

Not worth it for performance.

The new 28nm chips do use less electrical power but I doubt that is your priority.

 

[MontyAC]

Stick with what you have.

 

[davidst99]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll wait until the the 7 series come downs in price or wait until the next generation of cards.

David

 

[Termie]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll wait until the the 7 series come downs in price or wait until the next generation of cards.

David

You made the right choice.

See my thread on going from 5850 crossfire to a GTX670: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2245778

A 7850 would be a downgrade, plain and simple. A 7950 would be a side-grade unless you were willing to overclock heavily.

 

[RussianSensation]

Termi's analysis came in handy to many 5850 CF owners 🙂 Thumbs up!!

Ya, wait for next generation or for current generation prices to fall.

 

[davidst99]

You made the right choice.

See my thread on going from 5850 crossfire to a GTX670: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2245778

A 7850 would be a downgrade, plain and simple. A 7950 would be a side-grade unless you were willing to overclock heavily.

Thanks for the link. It was very helpful. I'm going to try to overclock my 5850s and see if I get any performance boost.

David

 

[guskline]

Termie did a great and thorough job of comparison. 5850s in CF still pack a punch in 1920 x 1080 or below resolution.

 

[KingFatty]

Or, consider you are holding a depreciating product, and think of whether it will drop much more in price to where you'll lose money?

I doubt it, I think the 5850s won't fall too much more so it's worth the money to hold onto them. On the flipside, if you get a 78XX or 79XX, I bet that will depreciate more steeply than your 5850s, so you'll suffer more depreciation compared to holding the 5850s and buying later when the newer cards have depreciated more.

 

[davidst99]

Or, consider you are holding a depreciating product, and think of whether it will drop much more in price to where you'll lose money?

I doubt it, I think the 5850s won't fall too much more so it's worth the money to hold onto them. On the flipside, if you get a 78XX or 79XX, I bet that will depreciate more steeply than your 5850s, so you'll suffer more depreciation compared to holding the 5850s and buying later when the newer cards have depreciated more.

Thanks for the info. Yes I was worried about my 5850s losing money. I hope there's still demand for them in future when the next generation of cards come out. I can still play most games at max resolutions.

 

[WMD]

The 5850 overclocked is faster than a 5870. The 7850 stock is around the 5870 to as fast as the 6970 if tessellation is used. The 7850 overclocks 20% - 30% but scaling is poor. Go for 7970/ 670 minimum.

 

[Silverforce11]

The 7850 overclocks 20% - 30% but scaling is poor.

Have you seen the huge thread on this forum? There's an even bigger one on ocn. Scaling is almost perfect. It's average OC is 40-45%.

 

[WMD]

Have you seen the huge thread on this forum? There's an even bigger one on ocn. Scaling is almost perfect. It's average OC is 40-45%.

http://ht4u.net/reviews/2012/powercolor_radeon_hd_7850_pcs_plus_im_test/index12.php

Compare the 7850 pcs+ at 1000mhz to a regular stock 7850. 16.2% OC but just 6%, 7%, 9%, 10% and 13% gain in performance in the 5 tested games. I wonder if power tune is throttling the card at stock.

I read both threads. Scaling is usually very good in tessellation bottle-necked benchmarks such as 3dmark11 or heaven but less good in actual games.

 

[Termie]

http://ht4u.net/reviews/2012/powercolor_radeon_hd_7850_pcs_plus_im_test/index12.php

Compare the 7850 pcs+ at 1000mhz to a regular stock 7850. 16.2% OC but just 6%, 7%, 9%, 10% and 13% gain in performance in the 5 tested games. I wonder if power tune is throttling the card at stock.

I read both threads. Scaling is usually very good in tessellation bottle-necked benchmarks such as 3dmark11 or heaven but less good in actual games.

Have you seen the huge thread on this forum? There's an even bigger one on ocn. Scaling is almost perfect. It's average OC is 40-45%.

Looks to me like scaling is anywhere from 20-30% with a 40% overclock. Not surprising at all.

The 7850 OCs very well, but constantly talking about "perfect scaling" is really pushing it. No card has anywhere close to perfect scaling.