5850 or wait for 5870 using 8400gs

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Cams

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So I built a new rig and used my old card until I had the cash for a new one. I have the money now for the 5850 but my question is should I just wait a month or two longer for the 5870 (extra $100.00) and just keep using my 8400gs? The only things I play right now are cs 1.6 and tetris and sometimes unreal tournament. Not buying new games until I get the new GPU. I am looking to play crysis, GTA IV, Dirt 2 and other new games after I get the card. Then I will be buying a second one in about six months for crossfire. Wht are your opinions? Thanks.

Edit: Oh and is the egg the cheapest place to buy these cards? It is the only site I know of that is trustworthy. I know I could probably ebay it but never would since I prefer using actual busineses like newegg.
 
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Just get a 5870, and forget about crossfire. one 5870 matches the performance of a GTX 295, plus DX11. Not many games support Sli/CF

Not enough anyway...
 
If I were you I'd get the 5870. For the games you want to play it'll easily manage.

I play GTA IV maxed out at 1920x1080 and i get 50+ FPS most of the time. Crysis also runs great on it, never skips a beat and I cant remember what settings I have it on but, high.

The 5870 also allows for future-proofing, especially if your going crossfire
 
The Chad said:
If I were you I'd get the 5870. For the games you want to play it'll easily manage.

I play GTA IV maxed out at 1920x1080 and i get 50+ FPS most of the time. Crysis also runs great on it, never skips a beat and I cant remember what settings I have it on but, high.

The 5870 also allows for future-proofing, especially if your going crossfire
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+1. I know it's $100 bucks more but it's just better.
 
Thats what I figured. Also I dont see myself using it really but eyefinity seems like a cool thing to mess around with. could I do that with the 5870? I didnt know that a game had to support sli/crossfire, what games do support it, and do you think it is something that will become commonplace in the future? Thanks for the help guys. This process has been a nightmare. Finally though my system is bottlenecked by the gpu and not the cpu. My old rig used the same 8400gs and the cpu was the bottleneck. The highest the card ever went was 45% load and 10mb ram used out of 512. lol.
 
I would go 5870, and as others have said, don't even buy the other card. I think that the cost just doesn't give enough benefit to buy a second card. The 5870 will be plenty. I think it's pretty much second-most-powerful to the 5970 at this point. For ATI I would go with that, but you may want to wait and see how good Nvidia's whole "Fermi" thing is going to turn out, and see if you want to buy their new cards that are going to come out.
 
I shouldnt have clicked that link. I'm going to have to get a second. The games I want to play are supported, already have the PSU, and theres an empty slot on my board! damn.
 
I shouldnt have clicked that link. I'm going to have to get a second. The games I want to play are supported, already have the PSU, and theres an empty slot on my board! damn.
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Oops haha:o

What you could do even is in 6 months time buy a 5970 and pair it up with the 5870. Thats three times the power :cool:
 
Cams said:
I shouldnt have clicked that link. I'm going to have to get a second. The games I want to play are supported, already have the PSU, and theres an empty slot on my board! damn.
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I still wouldn't get another. I think that it's a bit overkill.
 
Ha ha your right about the hole burning. I guess I will have to wait and see how the one performs. I have only ever touched computers with onboard graphics and my 8400gs. Who knows I may feel content with just one. Also wont the 5970 "slow down" to the 5870 if they are crossfired?

Someone asked what resolution I game at and thats a good question. Furmark and my display settings say 1360x768. However I am using a samsung 42" 1080p tv for a monitor. I thought that meant I would be using 1920x1080. Guess not. And the PSU is a corsair 850.
 
Cams said:
Ha ha your right about the hole burning. I guess I will have to wait and see how the one performs. I have only ever touched computers with onboard graphics and my 8400gs. Who knows I may feel content with just one. Also wont the 5970 "slow down" to the 5870 if they are crossfired?

Someone asked what resolution I game at and thats a good question. Furmark and my display settings say 1360x768. However I am using a samsung 42" 1080p tv for a monitor. I thought that meant I would be using 1920x1080. Guess not. And the PSU is a corsair 850.
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I use a Westinghouse 1080p TV for my monitor, but I usually keep it at 1280 * 720 so I can actually see the text on the screen, unless I'm watching blu-ray.
 
The Chad said:
Oops haha:o

What you could do even is in 6 months time buy a 5970 and pair it up with the 5870. Thats three times the power :cool:
Click to expand...

Will it really count as you are having 3 5870's? cuz i'm thinking of doing crossfire in future but i'm going to wait for the prices to drop a bit.
 
lubo4444 said:
Will it really count as you are having 3 5870's? cuz i'm thinking of doing crossfire in future but i'm going to wait for the prices to drop a bit.
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I don't see whats stopping you. The 5970 is just two 5870s on one pcb. So in crossfire it should effectively be 3 x 5870. Although you must just overclock the 5970 speeds so it won't have to downclock the 5870 to it.
 
Well, the 5870 is more money than a 5850, but for the price doesnt offer a monumental gain in performance for how much of a premium there is over a 5850. Quite honestly you cant go wrong with either card.
 
^^ Agree

I dont know why so many people are going for the 5870 when the 5850 is $100 less and can match the performance when oc'd
 
The Chad said:
I don't see whats stopping you. The 5970 is just two 5870s on one pcb. So in crossfire it should effectively be 3 x 5870. Although you must just overclock the 5970 speeds so it won't have to downclock the 5870 to it.
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Yeah i guess you are right about that. Thanks.
 
G25r8cer said:
^^ Agree

I dont know why so many people are going for the 5870 when the 5850 is $100 less and can match the performance when oc'd
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They see the model # and think superior :P


Personally I thought the 5870 was the 2GB version and the 5850 was the 1GB...wasn't aware they were both 1GB.
 
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