Yes, plaguing the forum with another videocard upgrade advice thread ($250)

[skeedo]

I'm sick of researching benchmarks! A big problem I seem to be having is a lot of cards out there are either in the $200 or $300 range, I really can't find much for $250. Just looking for a decent upgrade from my 8800GTS, and an HDMI port would be swell so I don't have to buy a DVI to HDMI adapter.

help

 

[happy medium]

The 5850 for 279$. Thats an easy one. 2x as fast as the 8800gts

If you like Nvidia, the gtx 260 for about 180$ 70% faster then a 8800gts

 

[nitromullet]

Best card right now for ~$300 is the Radeon HD5850. Not much worth looking at for ~$250 unless you find a hot deal on a 5850, which you might be able to do with bing cashback.

 

[happy medium]

There is nothing from $200 to 280$ worth buying.

There is a 20$ off code going around for the 5850.
I can't find it or the thread.

 

[zerocool84]

There is nothing from $200 to 280$ worth buying.

There is a 20$ off code going around for the 5850.
I can't find it or the thread.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161302

 

[happy medium]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161302

Thanks, thats the one 270 Shipped for a 5850 is the best price performance out there.

 

[skeedo]

Hells yea, just bought one! What a great deal, thanks guys and thanks newegg

 

[zerocool84]

Thanks, thats the one 270 Shipped for a 5850 is the best price performance out there.

I live in CA so the tax kinda kills it for me but it's still the best deal out there for one.

 

[happy medium]

I live in CA so the tax kinda kills it for me but it's still the best deal out there for one.

That sucks.
I'm kinda lucky there is a Newegg 100 miles from me in New Jersey, but still out of my state so no tax for me. I get orders in 1 or 2 days though.

 

[Imp]

Similar dilemma. Torn between 5770 and 5850. I'm one then the other the next minute. Think I'll just stalk 5850s for the next few weeks and pounce when one dips below $290 (CAD; the cheapest ones on sale right now locally are $305). Can't find a 5770 for less than $190 that's in-stock and doesn't have an annoying cooler.

 

[Arkaign]

Sell your current 8800 OP, and toss the cash at that 5850. I have the 5770 and like it, but if you can afford the 5850, it will certainly last longer.

 

[zerocool84]

That sucks.
I'm kinda lucky there is a Newegg 100 miles from me in New Jersey, but still out of my state so no tax for me. I get orders in 1 or 2 days though.

The main Newegg center is less than a 15min drive from me and wish I could just pick up stuff when I wanted to.

 

[tweakboy]

You can get a GTX 260 896mb 216 core for 175 to 250 dollars. gl

 

[evolucion8]

You can get a GTX 260 896mb 216 core for 175 to 250 dollars. gl

He can get a cheaper and faster HD 4870 for the same price, I think that going to the HD 5850 will be more jaw dropping.

 

[Meghan54]

5850, without a doubt. More future-proof, if that concept is even possible in video cards, than anything else in your price range.

 

[Dream Operator]

Thanks for starting this thread. I have a 8800GTS 512mb and I'm looking to spend $200-300. Finding this was awesome!

I recently picked up a BenQ W1000 1080p projector. It rocks, but it doesn't play nice on my desktop at 1920x1080 60hz. I have to run it at 50hz or the image quality is screwed up.

I learned this can be fixed by changing the pixel format on ATI cards to "RGB 4:4:4 PC standard full RGB or the one best suited to how you have your w1000 setup" (quoting Stix2 from avsforums.com). So ATI it is and the 5850 sounds great.

Thanks again!

 

[tweakboy]

Yes you guys are right, sorry. Didn't think of the big RED machine.

Yes a 5850 will do you good.

ATI really handed it to nvidia this year. Their 5890 chip is 1500 shader pipelines,, the Fermi has 512 shader pipelines. This is according to me doing research on the web. Things can change..

 

[evolucion8]

Yes you guys are right, sorry. Didn't think of the big RED machine.

Yes a 5850 will do you good.

ATI really handed it to nvidia this year. Their 5890 chip is 1500 shader pipelines,, the Fermi has 512 shader pipelines. This is according to me doing research on the web. Things can change..

They aren't directly comparable, nVidia's stream processors are more encapsulated and fat and are properly designed for linear scaling performance with little driver dependency and predictable performance, which means that each stream processor can execute one instruction at a time (Fermi will change that). ATi's HD 5870 stream processors consist of a 320 clusters of stream processors and each cluster have 4 mini alu's plus 1 fat alu in each one of them which requires clever compiler optimizations to maximize its execution resources.

It means that for example, in the worst case scenario which is mostly never, only 1 stream processor of each cluster will work and the other 4 remaining will idle. In the best case scenario which is challenging to get there but near to 85% of utilization, the 5 alu's will work together as far as they're working together with the same thread.

In resume, ATi's execution resources are wider than nVidia's architecture (Of course current GT200 architecture), fermi isn't much wider, but more efficient hopefully.