upgrading an 8800gts 320

[Xarick]

Well I was going to put in a 5850. But with the price now over $300 I can't pull myself to do it. Running a e6400 @ 3 ghz with 6 gigs of ram on windows 7. I game at 1440x900 but would like to get a new monitor and bump that up to HD resolution. So should I just wait for prices to come down.. or should I spring for something lesser. I would hate to lose out on dx11, but the prices feel out of wack right now.

 

[lopri]

How about a 5770? It's somewhere between 4850 and 4870, performance-wise. I think it will play all but the most demanding games @1080p.

There are some give-and-take's compared to HD 4870 or GTX 260, so you may want to weight those carefully. If I were to make a new purchase I'd be inclined to go with a new 5000 series card.

 

[nemesismk2]

I recommend the 5770 as well, it's much cheaper than the 5850 and offers great value for money.

 

[Highmodulus]

Thirds on the 5770, that is what I ended up getting. Wish the price was $20 less, but the card has lots of headroom- especially as the drivers mature.

 

[MrK6]

I recommend the 5770 as well, it's much cheaper than the 5850 and offers great value for money.

Eh? How can that be when it doesn't even outperform a 4870 (which is ~$100-110)? For ~$160 it goes for, I don't think you can call it a value.

How about a 5770? It's somewhere between 4850 and 4870, performance-wise. I think it will play all but the most demanding games @1080p.

There are some give-and-take's compared to HD 4870 or GTX 260, so you may want to weight those carefully. If I were to make a new purchase I'd be inclined to go with a new 5000 series card.

I agree, considering the advent of DX11 and all the other features available on the 5000 series, it's definitely worth it to pick one up. However, purely from a performance perspective, the 5770 should be priced more in the $120-130 range (at most). I haven't used the card, and maybe performance has picked up with newer driver releases, but if you absolutely need a card but don't want to wait for a 5850, the 4890 or GTX 260 216 would both be great options. However, you'll also give up 5000 series features like DX11 support and Eyefinity.

 

[Highmodulus]

But the 4870 sucks down power like a pig (especially for its performance) and puts off a ton of heat:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3658&p=13

These are serious issues for some users. And the 4870 is probably topped out on performance, while the 5770 is probably going to get faster. The 5770 should be $20 cheaper- but the 5XXX series cards are in strong demand.

If you can't afford or run a 5850 (or find one- and even if you do $300!) the 5770 deserves close consideration.

 

[taltamir]

it also supports DX11 unlike the 4870. And that is going to make a difference in future titles (since DX11 can do the same as DX10 at a better performance).

 

[MrK6]

But the 4870 sucks down power like a pig (especially for its performance) and puts off a ton of heat:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3658&p=13

These are serious issues for some users. And the 4870 is probably topped out on performance, while the 5770 is probably going to get faster. The 5770 should be $20 cheaper- but the 5XXX series cards are in strong demand.

If you can't afford or run a 5850 (or find one- and even if you do $300!) the 5770 deserves close consideration.

The 4870 is only that bad in its stock form - 5 minutes in Rivatuner or RBE and you can drastically reduce idle power. However, my point is that you really can't call the 5770 a "value" from the traditional price/performance perspective, since there are solutions that provide equal performance at much less cost. As with any component purchase, the OP has to decide what is really important to him (performance, power consumption, noise, features, software, etc.), and be aware that there are multiple solutions available on the market that offer different combinations of these attributes.

 

[Highmodulus]

Yeah unfortunately the entire HD5XXX series won't be values per se; unless you happened to buy one quite early. But the performance received for power used under load and the heat put off makes the HD5XXX series more compelling for not that much extra IMHO.

Probably not going to see anything looking like a deal from either ATI or Nvidia for quite a while unless the yields improve and the demand drops.

 

[happy medium]

The cheapest 1gb 4870 on new egg is 154$ shipped and it's the Xfx that has heat problems. The next best price is 165$

The best price on a 5770 is 165$ shipped.
The Asus 5770 with the adjustable voltage for better overclocking is 175$

The cheapest 4890 is 180$ with a 20$ rebate= 160$

Which do you choose? Tough one!
The 4870 would not be one of my choices.
It's between the 4890 and 5770 and the 4890 is ~ 20% faster and cost 5$ less.
The 5770 might improve with drivers and direct x 11 but by the time a great 100% direct X 11 game comes out it might be a better time to upgrade again.

At these prices its a tough choice ,but the 4870 is no longer in it.

 

[happy medium]

Eh? How can that be when it doesn't even outperform a 4870 (which is ~$100-110)? For ~$160 it goes for, I don't think you can call it a value.

I agree, considering the advent of DX11 and all the other features available on the 5000 series, it's definitely worth it to pick one up. However, purely from a performance perspective, the 5770 should be priced more in the $120-130 range (at most). I haven't used the card, and maybe performance has picked up with newer driver releases, but if you absolutely need a card but don't want to wait for a 5850, the 4890 or GTX 260 216 would both be great options. However, you'll also give up 5000 series features like DX11 support and Eyefinity.

If you can find me a brand new 1gb 4870 (not the XFX one) for 100/110$ . I''ll buy us both one. Give me a link!

Edit: Xarick, If I were you I'd get a cheap used 4850 512 for about 75$(sell your gts 320 for 40$) and sit back and wait till after Christmas. Should let you play most games at high setting @ 1400x900. By then prices will drop due to the new Nvidia line up and better 40nm yeilds.
Just my 2 cents that will save you a dollar.

 

[MrK6]

Yeah unfortunately the entire HD5XXX series won't be values per se; unless you happened to buy one quite early. But the performance received for power used under load and the heat put off makes the HD5XXX series more compelling for not that much extra IMHO.

Probably not going to see anything looking like a deal from either ATI or Nvidia for quite a while unless the yields improve and the demand drops.

I definitely agree. To me, the 5870 was a tremendous value - the performance of my GTX295 without all the drawbacks of multi-GPU, using 60% of the power, with DX11 support for an even trade in price ($400 sold, $400 bought). However, that's at the high end, and I think the mid-range market offers a lot more competition. Without digressing further, I think I'd have to know what exactly the OP is looking for in a video card and what his specific budget is.

The cheapest 1gb 4870 on new egg is 154$ shipped and it's the Xfx that has heat problems. The next best price is 165$

The best price on a 5770 is 165$ shipped.
The Asus 5770 with the adjustable voltage for better overclocking is 175$

The cheapest 4890 is 180$ with a 20$ rebate= 160$

Which do you choose? Tough one!
The 4870 would not be one of my choices.
It's between the 4890 and 5770 and the 4890 is ~ 20% faster and cost 5$ less.
The 5770 might improve with drivers and direct x 11 but by the time a great 100% direct X 11 game comes out it might be a better time to upgrade again.

At these prices its a tough choice ,but the 4870 is no longer in it.

There are other places to buy computer hardware besides Newegg: http://microcenter.com/single_produc...uct_id=0293728

 

[happy medium]

MRK6,

Thats a 512mb one but good find.

Edit the Op said he wanted to upgrade to 1080p, so a 512 card is not so good.

Edit : in store pickup only.

 

[taltamir]

the 4850, while a nice upgrade from an 8800GTS; isn't enough of an upgrade overall...

Edit the Op said he wanted to upgrade to 1080p, so a 512 card is not so good.

Actually it is perfect, 512MB is more than enough for 1080p. It is higher resolutions like 2560x1600 that need more ram than that.

 

[happy medium]

512 mb is not more then enough for 1080p.
If you game with high settings with modern games, this is what most people on here and myself NOW recommend.

1280x1024,1440x900 = 4830/9800gt 512mb at least
1650x1050= gts 250/4850 512mb at least,
1920x1080 = gtx 2xx, 4870 1gb/4890
2560 x1600 = 5850/5870 or crossfire/sli gtx 2xx / 4870/4890

My 9800gtx+ 1gb brought me from medium setting to high setting with Crysis @1024x768. I can now play Far CRy 2 at high settings with no slowdown. I upgraded from a 8800gt 512mb. I played @1280 x1024 with my 8800gt.
I'm currently playing, Crysis and Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2, Need for speed shift,Left for Dead,Modern warfare 2 all @ high setting @ 1600x1200 except for crysis of course.
Yes I'm doing some catch up with some games I missed. [:

Edit :Crysis resolution to 1024x768.

 

[yh125d]

512 is "enough" for 1080p usually, because the cards with that much memory will often be just as limited by the core as the frame buffer.


But generally if you have the budget to do so, get 1gb for 1080p+

 

[RussianSensation]

HIS 4890 on the EGG for $160 is the best deal out there right now. I upgraded from 8800GTS 320 and am pretty happy with it. If you want DX11 then go for 5770.

 

[Washoe]

Hi all, I'm considering the ASUS 5770.

Any idea how loud are these cards? I'm not a fan of noisy graphics cards.

 

[sciwizam]

Hi all, I'm considering the ASUS 5770.

Any idea how loud are these cards? I'm not a fan of noisy graphics cards.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3658&p=13

Quite silent compared to others

 

[postmortemIA]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3658&p=13

Quite silent compared to others

If they have custom cooling, which doesn't seem so, it might be even better. But all ASUS cards I had were very optimized to be quiet.

 

[Malfeas]

Is there a frys nearby? I just bought a 5850 for 279$ there, they had many 5870s too.

 

[Xarick]

Checked my frys and they have none

 

[taltamir]

512 mb is not more then enough for 1080p.
If you game with high settings with modern games, this is what most people on here and myself NOW recommend.

1280x1024,1440x900 = 4830/9800gt 512mb at least
1650x1050= gts 250/4850 512mb at least,
1920x1080 = gtx 2xx, 4870 1gb/4890
2560 x1600 = 5850/5870 or crossfire/sli gtx 2xx / 4870/4890

My 9800gtx+ 1gb brought me from medium setting to high setting with Crysis @1024x768. I can now play Far CRy 2 at high settings with no slowdown. I upgraded from a 8800gt 512mb. I played @1280 x1024 with my 8800gt.
I'm currently playing, Crysis and Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2, Need for speed shift,Left for Dead,Modern warfare 2 all @ high setting @ 1600x1200 except for crysis of course.
Yes I'm doing some catch up with some games I missed. [:

Edit :Crysis resolution to 1024x768.

every single review I have ever seen has shown that 512MB is more then enough for the 1920x1200... 1GB sometimes benefits performance by a few percent, but the cost is usually not justified...
what are you basing your recommendation on?

 

[postmortemIA]

every single review I have ever seen has shown that 512MB is more then enough for the 1920x1200... 1GB sometimes benefits performance by a few percent, but the cost is usually not justified...
what are you basing your recommendation on?

he has old 8800 rebadged card that can't run 1920x1200 regardless how much RAM he's got. It has no merit to tell whether 4870 512M or such can run 1920x1200.

 

[toyota]

every single review I have ever seen has shown that 512MB is more then enough for the 1920x1200... 1GB sometimes benefits performance by a few percent, but the cost is usually not justified...
what are you basing your recommendation on?

if you have decent card like a 4870 or better that is strong enough to push higher settings then 512mb is NOT enough. its nonsense to say it only makes a little difference because the point is once you exceed 512mb you will get hitching that might not even be reflected in the framerate for a benchmark. at 1920 there are games like Batman, GTA 4, Crysis/Warhead, STALKER Clear Sky, Far Cry 2 and others that all exceed 512mb of ram on settings that a 4870 or better can handle.