Thinking about upgrading from 8800GT, have 2600k

[LuluTheMonk]

I recently upgraded my Q9300 to:
i7 2600k
16 GB RAM
MSI P67 GD65 (it was the only p67 board I could get my hands on at the time)
Vertex 2 60GB
Samsung F3 1TB
HP ZR24W

All told I spent about $1,000 on the upgrade. I was upgrading mostly for photo editing and video editing/encoding. Now I am only left with 2 older components in my computer:
HX 520
8800GT
P182B

I recently just picked up Medal of Honor and BFBC2 on a Steam sale, and I think my 8800GT is starting to die (strange graphical anomalies as if it was O/C'd, but its not, random crashes to desktop). The performance at 1920x1200 was adequate in Medal of Honor, but I haven't tried out BC2 yet.

Monitors:
1920x1200
2x 1280x1024
Budget:
no specific budget, but looking to play BFBC2, and BF3 when it comes out, but I will only be gaming maybe 10-15%, with the rest split up with a large majority spent photo editing, simple web development, browsing, netflix, etc.

Options:
Buy: XFX 5850 $140 AR so I can utilize all 3 monitors now
or
Wait for 7xxx series and hope my 8800GT makes it, and if it dies, re-evaluate the 6950's to see if they have come down in price.

What would you do?

 

[crisium]

Radeon 5850. You really can't go wrong with a card that is faster than GTX 460 and Radeon 6850 for less money.

 

[Termie]

Plenty of reasons to go for 5850: (1) your 9800gt is not going to keep up with your 2600k; (2) your 9800gt is busted(!); and (3) you have three monitors.

In your case, the only warning I would give you is that the 5850 won't be around anymore once BF3 comes out, so if you wanted to go crossfire at that time, you'd have to buy used. If you went with the weaker HD6850, the crossfire option would likely be open to you. It's available for $145AR right now (with code THREEPOINTER): http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...-2DVI-HDMI-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-Video-Card

You could also go for the 6870 for $167AR right now (with code THREEPOINTER): http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...MI-2x-Mini-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-Video-Card

The HD5850 is still the best single-card deal around, but for a system as modern as yours, you might find yourself wanting more power 6 months from now.

BTW, the lowest price I've seen on an HD6950 2GB is right here, for $225AR shipped after code (THREEPOINTER): http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...MI-2x-Mini-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-Video-Card

 

[soccerballtux]

I recently upgraded my Q9300 to:
i7 2600k
16 GB RAM
MSI P67 GD65 (it was the only p67 board I could get my hands on at the time)
Vertex 2 60GB
Samsung F3 1TB
HP ZR24W

All told I spent about $1,000 on the upgrade. I was upgrading mostly for photo editing and video editing/encoding. Now I am only left with 2 older components in my computer:
HX 520
8800GT
P182B

I recently just picked up Medal of Honor and BFBC2 on a Steam sale, and I think my 8800GT is starting to die (strange graphical anomalies as if it was O/C'd, but its not, random crashes to desktop). The performance at 1920x1200 was adequate in Medal of Honor, but I haven't tried out BC2 yet.

Monitors:
1920x1200
2x 1280x1024
Budget:
no specific budget, but looking to play BFBC2, and BF3 when it comes out, but I will only be gaming maybe 10-15%, with the rest split up with a large majority spent photo editing, simple web development, browsing, netflix, etc.

Options:
Buy: XFX 5850 $140 AR so I can utilize all 3 monitors now
or
Wait for 7xxx series and hope my 8800GT makes it, and if it dies, re-evaluate the 6950's to see if they have come down in price.

What would you do?

guess you could upgrade if you wanted to, since you're only moderately CPU bottlenecked with that rig.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Plenty of reasons to go for 5850: (1) your 9800gt is not going to keep up with your 2600k; (2) your 9800gt is busted(!); and (3) you have three monitors.

The HD5850 is still the best single-card deal around, but for a system as modern as yours, you might find yourself wanting more power 6 months from now.

Ugh. I have a 5850 at 1920x1080 and I'm already looking for better performance in BC2. Average frames are fine, but I can get some pretty wicked slow downs when a bunch of dust and smoke is in view. I'm kind of scared to see what the fps minimums will be in BF3.

 

[Termie]

Ugh. I have a 5850 at 1920x1080 and I'm already looking for better performance in BC2. Average frames are fine, but I can get some pretty wicked slow downs when a bunch of dust and smoke is in view. I'm kind of scared to see what the fps minimums will be in BF3.

Yeah...for anyone looking to build a system for BF3, I'd guess an HD5850 (or any of the current cards in the $150-$200 price range) will be the bare minimum for good performance at 1920. I for one will be upgrading from my HD5850 for BF3.

But in the OP's case, it's a perfect card for the games he wants to play today. He should just keep in mind that his CPU has power to spare for newer games to come, and he might want to plan for that.

 

[LuluTheMonk]

Guess I may just have to give BC2 a try this weekend. If your 5850 is already struggling, I may just have to try and hold out for a 7xxx, unless my 8800GT quits on me and I may just have to shell out for the 6950 2GB.

 

[Termie]

Guess I may just have to give BC2 a try this weekend. If your 5850 is already struggling, I may just have to try and hold out for a 7xxx, unless my 8800GT quits on me and I may just have to shell out for the 6950 2GB.

The 5850 is 2.2x faster than an 8800gt in BC2 (and also allows the much better DX11 settings). The 6950 is about 2.6x faster than an 8800gt. Put another way, it's 20% faster than a 5850 but currently 55% more expensive. For most people, I'd say the 5850 makes more sense. In your case, with the CPU to support crossfired 6950s, it's a tough call. That being said, your PSU would not handle two 6950s, so unless that's another upgrade you're willing to make, I say go with the 5850 now, and move up to whatever the current card is in late 2011 to play BF3.

 

[aghusker]

I'm in similar boat. Just built a new i5-2500k rig, but using 8800 GTS 320MB.
Haven't gamed in a while, so still playing on some old games (Oblivion now, Dragon Age Origins next, Starcraft 2 third, Crysis fourth, then maybe Dragon Age II).

Close to getting something now...but with 28-nm coming soon, I think I'll just wait it out.
Figure I will spend $200 late this year on 28-nm, and I'll be set for another 4-5 years based on my limited gaming