Which HD 6850?

[Dark Shroud]

Ok I've never bought an after market cooled card like either of these before. I'm buying a card for bitcoin mining meaning OpenCL running on the card 24/7.

Several guys at the bitcoin forums picked today to order 10+ of the HD 5830 model I was going to order today. And now Newegg, Tiger Direct, & Amazon are out of the properly priced cards. AMD is going to have a great year.

So which of these cards would be the better deal? I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte card since its factory OC'd. I'm not familiar with Asus's Smart Doctor at all. Does that change the cards's settings on the fly?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125353

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121419

 

[dualsmp]

Bitcoin being 24/7 app I'd go with Gigabyte just because of the two fans.

 

[Muyoso]

A 6850 can only pull 170-240 Mhash/s depending on how much you overclock it according to the bitcoin hardware guide. A 5770 would do the same and save you about 70 dollars.

BTW, sorry about the 5830, I also ordered one yesterday.

Edit: Also, it really stinks that all of the awesome 5xxx series cards have been purchased in the last few weeks for bitcoin mining, but in a few months there will be a PLETHORA of them on ebay and craigslist after its no longer profitable to mine anymore.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

The Gigabyte is cheaper, go with that one.

 

[mosox]

For 24/7 you can get some XFX card with lifetime warranty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-515-_-Product
Very nice customer reviews too.

You need to register the card on the XFX site within 30 days of purchasing it in order to activate the warranty.

 

[Dark Shroud]

Well I found a couple of HD 5830s around 3am this morning. I almost got a HD 5830 Asus DirectCu model for $114 CAD but my order was canceled. And now NCIX is telling me my order cannot be fullfilled. Apparently some guys decided to post these place to the Bitcoin forums.

A 6850 can only pull 170-240 Mhash/s depending on how much you overclock it according to the bitcoin hardware guide. A 5770 would do the same and save you about 70 dollars.

BTW, sorry about the 5830, I also ordered one yesterday.

Edit: Also, it really stinks that all of the awesome 5xxx series cards have been purchased in the last few weeks for bitcoin mining, but in a few months there will be a PLETHORA of them on ebay and craigslist after its no longer profitable to mine anymore.

I was looking at the HD 6870 because it used less energy and would still be usable for gaming or selling when I was done mining. At this point I probably will just buy some HD 5770s.

 

[Dark Shroud]

For 24/7 you can get some XFX card with lifetime warranty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-515-_-Product
Very nice customer reviews too.

You need to register the card on the XFX site within 30 days of purchasing it in order to activate the warranty.

The XFX model is tempting but I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte card because I know it will take the beating I'm going to put on whatever card I buy.

 

[Muyoso]

Whatever you do, I would do it quick because everything ATI is selling out everywhere. I would love to see a graph of ATI sales over the last couple months.

 

[Dark Shroud]

Just a follow up, I bought a Sapphire HD 5770 from ewiz for $105.98 shipped with a $20 rebate.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/530...deon-hd-5770-1gb-gddr5-pci-express-video-card

 

[lesterhung]

i like XFX for their lifetime warranty, and yes, it does matter when u run it 24/7.
I had a evga295 with lifetime warranty. sold it a few months back, and the buyer said it artifacts now. helped the buyer with the RMA. I ran the card 24/7 on F@H before, maybe that kind of shortened the life. but it is good when warranty is available when needed!

 

[lopri]

Can't speak for 6850 but I've got the ASUS 6870. (looks to have a same cooler as 6850) I was lucky to get it for mere $149 and I am happy as a clam. Its build quality is superb and the fan speed doesn't change from idle to load, meaning the card is virtually silent. I can't hear it at all while running Unigine heaven. I did not mess with voltages or Smart Doctor but simply overclocked using the overdrive in CCC. 915/1050 -> 1000/1200 and I'm satisfied.

 

[deimos3428]

If you are planning on doing any voltage tweaking, avoid that particular Gigabyte model. It uses a voltage regulator that most software does not support. (Ironically, the non-OC Gigabyte model doesn't have this issue.)

Otherwise, it's an excellent choice.

 

[3DVagabond]

Can't speak for 6850 but I've got the ASUS 6870. (looks to have a same cooler as 6850) I was lucky to get it for mere $149 and I am happy as a clam. Its build quality is superb and the fan speed doesn't change from idle to load, meaning the card is virtually silent. I can't hear it at all while running Unigine heaven. I did not mess with voltages or Smart Doctor but simply overclocked using the overdrive in CCC. 915/1050 -> 1000/1200 and I'm satisfied.

The Asus 6850 is built on the same board as the 6870 with the same cooler.