Which card for 1600x1200?

[konakona]

Might be a bit vague question, but here goes nothing.

I am looking for a relatively cheap card (definitely under $150) to put into my secondary rig. The primary rig already has a 5850 (RMA'd, but still), so I am not really looking for all out eyecandy here; I could skip AA, some less noticeable stuff like accurate shadows and whatnot. The targetted resolution is a 1600x1200 on a 22'' CRT, though there is a slight chance I might bump it up to 1920x1200 if I ever get that soyo MVA fixed (not counting on it). I would like to be able to play all the latest and the greatest titles on it though.

The motherboard supports CF, but the computer being secondary and all I have no plans for that in the near future. The PSU is a modest Antec EW430, powering PhII 965BE @3.8/2.8 + 4GB DDR3 + a tv tuner + sound card + 3HDDs. Not terribly concerned about power bills, but the PSU definitely must be able to handle it (may add another hdd in the future) and don't intend to upgrade the PSU either.

I don't care about PhysX/3DVision/Eyefinity, at least not now and not on this comptuer. DX11, maybe if still playable. Airflow in my Antec 300 is decent and I am not opposed to overclocking by any means. OCability and good scaling from oc'ing is a big plus. I want something quiet.

All this points to a cheap HD5770, and I was eyeing on this one. The review on it said fan was whiny @100% and whisper quiet @70%.Eggreviews suggest it seems to OC fairly well. Either this, or maybe I could sit out a few more weeks to see if another deal on a cheaper 5770 with a reference cooler would pop up.

Your thoughts?

 

[happy medium]

Yes, a 5770 is good for 1600x1200. I have 5750 thats runs past 5770 speeds and a 1600x1200 monitor.

A 5770 should overclock to 900+ 1300+ and give you 4890 speed.

EDIT: Antec 430 will run it easy.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

I'm actually downgrading to a 5770 from an 9800 GX2. Don't need the power atm (and can't stand the heat). Then I'll get a high-end card when the new ones roll out (HD 6xxx, Fermi 2?).

Maybe going with this one (-$4.50 with bing cashback):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...70%201GBD5-PPG

But, gonna check out the MSI Hawk. May be a better buy.

 

[konakona]

well 4850 seems to be a tad cheaper and we all know they are somewhat faster.
the question is, is 1600x1200 high enough rez where 5770s limited memory bandwidth becomes dominant?

Also, both are known to OC well, so does the picture change when their average OCs are applied to?

 

[v8envy]

4870 is a tad faster. 4850 with DDR3 will not be, at least not at 19x12. IMO GT250/4850/5750 is just a hair under the "acceptable" cutoff for 19x12, and a 5770/4870/GTX260 216 is the absolute minimum to consider. By process of elimination due to pricing and availability the 260 and 4870 (and 4890) go away, leaving only the 5770.

It's not that it's the best option, it's the only available option. And at about $130 for the various hot deals it's not worth agonizing about.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

deleted

 

[Borealis7]

i am currently using the 4850 512MB for 1600x1200 gaming and it works great, i hit 60FPS with vSynch on. on the other hand i dont play very demanding games...

Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2, Borderlands and the likes.

 

[toyota]

i am currently using the 4850 512MB for 1600x1200 gaming and it works great, i hit 60FPS with vSynch on. on the other hand i dont play very demanding games...

Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2, Borderlands and the likes.

sorry but you dont average 60fps with vsync on in all those games. your cpu alone would keep you from doing that in Dragon Age. http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...rks-75-percent-boost-for-quad-cores/Practice/

in Borderlands even a faster gtx260 cant average that at 1600 with that cpu either. http://techreport.com/articles.x/18448/6

in Mass Effect 2 the gpu is certainly strong enough and your cpu is probably okay enough to get 60fps but no benchmarks right of hand.

 

[Borealis7]

sorry but you dont average 60fps with vsync on in all those games. your cpu alone would keep you from doing that in Dragon Age. http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...rks-75-percent-boost-for-quad-cores/Practice/

in Borderlands even a faster gtx260 cant average that at 1600 with that cpu either. http://techreport.com/articles.x/18448/6

in Mass Effect 2 the gpu is certainly strong enough and your cpu is probably okay enough to get 60fps but no benchmarks right of hand.

in borderlands i get tearing all over the screen unless i force vSynch and same for everyone else who played the game. have you played it?

in DA:O i didnt get tearing because vSynch was always on, and gameplay was silky smooth.
ME2 is a console port (wait...they all are!) and even 3 year old hardware pwns it.

BTW...i dont use AA and absolutely no shadows so...your links fail

 

[drew726]

With a 4850 being on sale for 70 dollars today, I don't think how anything could beat it at. At that price two 4850's is the same price as one 5770.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1964414

 

[toyota]

in borderlands i get tearing all over the screen unless i force vSynch and same for everyone else who played the game. have you played it?

in DA:O i didnt get tearing because vSynch was always on, and gameplay was silky smooth.
ME2 is a console port (wait...they all are!) and even 3 year old hardware pwns it.

BTW...i dont use AA and absolutely no shadows so...your links fail

you might want to actually check your framerate because you are not averaging 60fps in all those games and thats all I am saying.

 

[MrK6]

you might want to actually check your framerate because you are not averaging 60fps in all those games and thats all I am saying.

Yeah, I'd say so too. If you want to run three year old hardware at great framerates, then you run three year old graphics settings, it's that simple. You can't magically pull performance out of those transistors.

 

[konakona]

With a 4850 being on sale for 70 dollars today, I don't think how anything could beat it at. At that price two 4850's is the same price as one 5770.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1964414

that does look interesting, with 512mb vram and all. The card is going into a secondary rig after all, and the price difference there is quite hefty (~$130 vs $70)

 

[konakona]

Just got me a sapphire 4850, couldn't resist that price