Looking to spend $300-350

kennebell347

kennebell347

Member
Looking for a GPU to replace my current GTS250 in my sig below. Also in my sig is my current setup. Looking for straight gaming performance. A list of some of the games I play are as follows:

Dragon Age
Stalker series
COD series
Crysis series
Starcraft 2
Age of Empires
Fallout series

So, I need a GPU that can handle running these games at max settings at resolutions over 1440x900. I am willing to upgrade my powersupply and even run two cards. Say I buy a cheaper card for 200 bones or so and play on it for awhile till I can get another to crossfire. If this setup would be better than a $300 single GPU then I may go for that.

TIA
 
Twist86

Twist86

Active Member
Yeah 5850 will be just fine....the games you listed my 260 maxed out (minus AA/AF) with vysnc enabled and had no issues at all thus stable 60 FPS (includes SC2) At your resolution though it will be 1-2 years I bet before you will want to buy a second 5850 so sit back and enjoy the price drops :p
 
Darth Shadious

Darth Shadious

New Member
The 5850 is fine for that res. The 5870 is almost overkill really plus quite a bit more expensive than the original budget stated.
 
kennebell347

kennebell347

Member
As long as 1 5850 is a decent leap forward from my GTS 250... that is all I want. Within a month I will buy another 5850 and 800 watt psu and crossfire them. Any ideas on which brand to go with?

How will two 5850s be? Comparable to 5970 or close? I think that is wishful thinking. though lol. Correct me if I am wrong.
 
Darth Shadious

Darth Shadious

New Member
you would need 2 5870s to be up there with a 5970. But 1 5850 is plenty bro. I have an XFX 5870 and love it, so I recommend XFX.
 
bomberboysk

bomberboysk

Active Member
kennebell347 said:
As long as 1 5850 is a decent leap forward from my GTS 250... that is all I want. Within a month I will buy another 5850 and 800 watt psu and crossfire them. Any ideas on which brand to go with?

How will two 5850s be? Comparable to 5970 or close? I think that is wishful thinking. though lol. Correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...
Two overclocked 5850's will be comparable to a 5970, personally though i wouldnt run dual 5850's. Personally i would almost tend to say wait and see if a dual gpu fermi card comes out, or see what the 6000 series brings as far as power consumption and overclocking vs purchase a 5850 or 5870 at this point in time. Then again, that is my opinion.
Darth Shadious said:
you would need 2 5870s to be up there with a 5970. But 1 5850 is plenty bro. I have an XFX 5870 and love it, so I recommend XFX.
Click to expand...

Eh, XFX has by far the worst customer support/warranty practices out there for their graphics cards.
 
kennebell347

kennebell347

Member
bomberboysk said:
Two overclocked 5850's will be comparable to a 5970, personally though i wouldnt run dual 5850's. Personally i would almost tend to say wait and see if a dual gpu fermi card comes out, or see what the 6000 series brings as far as power consumption and overclocking vs purchase a 5850 or 5870 at this point in time. Then again, that is my opinion.


Eh, XFX has by far the worst customer support/warranty practices out there for their graphics cards.
Click to expand...

Don't take this as me being a smarta$$ but I have been told to wait for the past 2 years for new cards to come out. Every time I look to upgrade my GTS 250 people tell me to wait. If I keep doing that I will be waiting forever. I was told to wait for fermi and I did and now no one recommends buying one.

So I am going to buy a card now and deal with it being obsolete in a few months or so. No matter what I wait for... something better will come out after it.

So right now I am torn between the 5850 crossfire or one 5870.
 
Darth Shadious

Darth Shadious

New Member
I would always recommend a single card option over CFx. I would highly recommend a 5870. Plus later, you coulod CFx another one when they're cheaper.
 
G

Gabe63

New Member
ASUS has some of the best support there is. I have both cards and like the 5870 but the 5850 is a great card. Some people do not like the card you posted due to overclocking issues though, no personal exp. It has a bad rep on OC.net.

I would look for a used card right now since people are selling ATI 58XX and the prices are coming down. I would skip the 5970, most you see used are fresh from RMA, both mine failed also. I have a Diamond ref 5850 that has about 20 minutes of use that I would sell for $220. Problem is they do not pass on warranty making it a gamble used. You can buy a new 5850 for $300 from the egg.

If I was looking used I would go ASUS. They warranty by the serial number and have a 3 year warranty. Hindsight.

Good luck
 
joh06937

joh06937

New Member
if you plan on jumping right into crossfire with the 5850, then i'd say get the 5870. as far as which one to get, i'd stick to sapphire, asus, xfx, and gigabyte.
 
kennebell347

kennebell347

Member
Is the GTX480 worth the dough over the 5870? Doesn't beat the ati card by much but costs $50 more. Doesn't have Eyefinity and my mobo isn't sli capable. Should I stick with the 5870?

I'm ordering tomorrow or Thursday for whichever I decide on
 
G

Gabe63

New Member
If I went nvidia I would get a 470 before I bought a 480. The price is around $320 and it gets near 5870 performance.
 
kennebell347

kennebell347

Member
O.K. thank you all for your opinions. I just got another thing going to sweeten the pot on a 5870 so I am gonna go that route. Next month I will buy a better PSU and crossfire it with another.
 
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