HD5870 or HD5850?

[Mech0z]

I am split in 2 minds right now, on one hand I think I should buy the best gfx as its not THAT expensive but its not cheap either, on the other hand the HD5850 is 30% cheaper at a 10-15% performance difference.
At some point I will throw water on my computer (meaning cooling) so that will hopefully give me another 200-400Mhz on my cpu and I will oc my gfx as well be it a 5850 or 5870.

About upgrades, my screen is a 24" with 1920x1200 res and I wont run any higher res anytime soon unless something extremely cool is released (OLED?) I will however upgrade to either I7 or I9 at some point when I suddenly get hold of too much money so even though I might be CPU limited now dont mean I will forever.

Also do you think its worth waiting for the Asus 58xx cards with their custom bios'? If they really OC alot better then I presume the HD5870 will scale very well and with water it should be possible to boost it a good notch.

My current rig:
Q6600 @ 3600Mhz Scythe Mugen II
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P F4
Asus 8800GTS 512
4 x 1Gb HyperX PC6400 (800Mhz 4-4-4-12)
60Gb OCZ Vertex
24" Dell UltraSharp (2407)

So is 5870 overkill or should I just suck up the price and buy it? Or save the money and get a HD5850?

[mR Yellow]

I am split in 2 minds right now, on one hand I think I should buy the best gfx as its not THAT expensive but its not cheap either, on the other hand the HD5850 is 30% cheaper at a 10-15% performance difference.
At some point I will throw water on my computer (meaning cooling) so that will hopefully give me another 200-400Mhz on my cpu and I will oc my gfx as well be it a 5850 or 5870.

About upgrades, my screen is a 24" with 1920x1200 res and I wont run any higher res anytime soon unless something extremely cool is released (OLED?) I will however upgrade to either I7 or I9 at some point when I suddenly get hold of too much money so even though I might be CPU limited now dont mean I will forever.

Also do you think its worth waiting for the Asus 58xx cards with their custom bios'? If they really OC alot better then I presume the HD5870 will scale very well and with water it should be possible to boost it a good notch.

My current rig:
Q6600 @ 3600Mhz Scythe Mugen II
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P F4
Asus 8800GTS 512
4 x 1Gb HyperX PC6400 (800Mhz 4-4-4-12)
60Gb OCZ Vertex
24" Dell UltraSharp (2407)

So is 5870 overkill or should I just suck up the price and buy it? Or save the money and get a HD5850?

I'm in the same boat as u. I might go for the 5850 and get another one when the prices drop.

[wez]

I'd say grab a 5850, if you get the itch later on you could just get a second card as said above :)

[iTravis]

1 HD5850 should be enough for you at that resolution IMO considering it beats the GTX 285 in almost every benchmarks. And like you said you can always OC it higher to match the HD5870 performance as I've heard that its OC capability is better than the HD5870. I don't really think the HD5870 is worth it in your situation that looking for the best bang for the buck. As far as CPU concern, your Q6600 @3.6Ghz should be enough to handle all the games just fine but when you have the cash, an i7 or i9 would be nice, especially with a multi-GPU setup. :up:

[Origin_Unknown]

personally i think im going to go for a 5850 to replace my 8800gts 640 - i only game at 1680*1050 but i'd still like full eye candy

[flopper]

same boat, I got a 5850 to keep me floating.
;)

[Jakalwarrior]

I am waiting to see if the 5850 with its fewer shaders might be able to overclock high enough to overcome its fewer shaders lol. Sort of like the 4770 vs the 4850.

In other words, I want to see what the average fully overclocked performance difference between the two is. The gap may narrow significantly OR it may widen. My 4850 clocks like crap compared to a 4870 because ATI limited its voltage and then made drivers crash if you edited the voltage in bios.

[Chickenfeed]

I am waiting to see if the 5850 with its fewer shaders might be able to overclock high enough to overcome its fewer shaders lol. Sort of like the 4770 vs the 4850.


So far it appears it does within a few %. Worth saving 30% cost if you ask me.

Mechz, personally if you are really set to WC the system down the road, I'd get a 5870 as it is easier to justify the cost of a WC setup (and the blocks) on a nicer card. It is still too soon to say how either card scales voltage wise on water ( let alone air ) but I expect they should do decently with a full cover block.

[xXxDieselxXx]

I went for the 5850 last night. I think it's the best bang for the buck. It's not really far behind from the 5870 and if overclocking is possible then even better.

[Razrback16]

I am waiting to see if the 5850 with its fewer shaders might be able to overclock high enough to overcome its fewer shaders lol. Sort of like the 4770 vs the 4850.

In other words, I want to see what the average fully overclocked performance difference between the two is. The gap may narrow significantly OR it may widen. My 4850 clocks like crap compared to a 4870 because ATI limited its voltage and then made drivers crash if you edited the voltage in bios.

There are a number of apps out there that allow you to voltmod the card without BIOS changes.

[tbone8ty]

is a Corsair 520HX psu good enough for 5850?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001

[iandh]

is a Corsair 520HX psu good enough for 5850?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001

Yeah, that's more than enough, in fact it probably could run 5850 CF safely assuming you were running a low power CPU.

[Mech0z]

So far it appears it does within a few %. Worth saving 30% cost if you ask me.

Mechz, personally if you are really set to WC the system down the road, I'd get a 5870 as it is easier to justify the cost of a WC setup (and the blocks) on a nicer card. It is still too soon to say how either card scales voltage wise on water ( let alone air ) but I expect they should do decently with a full cover block.

Thats more or less the biggest reason I am in doubt as I just bought watercooling today for my cpu :) and I will get a fullcover block for my gfx when I get the money again after I buy the card :) But year depending on how they scale I think thats going to decide it, so maybe I should just wait until people have waterblocks for their cards.

[Chris_redfield]

I'm also in great personal debate as to whether or not get a 5850 or a 5870.

I'm just a bit confused by the ATI eyefinity technology. I'm preferably after a single card setup that can power three displays. Is the 5850 capable of doing this (two via the DVI and then one through the displayport?)

[flopper]

I'm just a bit confused by the ATI eyefinity technology. I'm preferably after a single card setup that can power three displays. Is the 5850 capable of doing this (two via the DVI and then one through the displayport?)

yes same as 5870 and as 5770 and 5750 etc...

[koksy]

price/performance is 5850 CF worth it compared to price/performance for a single 5870?

[Chris_redfield]

yes same as 5870 and as 5770 and 5750 etc...

Hmmm, I don't actually really need it to be overly powerful so I might just wait on the 5770 then.

Does anyone know when that is supposed to make an appearance?

[Helloworld_98]

I am waiting to see if the 5850 with its fewer shaders might be able to overclock high enough to overcome its fewer shaders lol. Sort of like the 4770 vs the 4850.

In other words, I want to see what the average fully overclocked performance difference between the two is. The gap may narrow significantly OR it may widen. My 4850 clocks like crap compared to a 4870 because ATI limited its voltage and then made drivers crash if you edited the voltage in bios.

using the same clocks the 5850 and 5870 are about the same performance wise, until you get to high resolutions.

[rintamarotta]

price/performance is 5850 CF worth it compared to price/performance for a single 5870?

2 x 5850 will "own" single 5870 by a lightyear, but if you run 5870 in crossfire then its other way around.

[flopper]

Hmmm, I don't actually really need it to be overly powerful so I might just wait on the 5770 then.

Does anyone know when that is supposed to make an appearance?

nda 12 of october last I heard.

[crosshairs]

Add me to the list..:)

Its killing me trying to decide which card to get....I may just wait and see if there are any price drops in a few weeks.......I have a bad habit of buying hardware the day before the price goes down...

[iandh]

I have both cards atm, some quick numbers with 3.6Ghz PII:


Crysis Warhead bench, Avalanche flythrough 1920x1080 8xAA:

5780: 24fps avg

5850: 20.5fps avg


Crysis Warhead bench, Ambush 1920x1080 0xAA:

5780: 36fps avg

5850: 30.5fps avg




So roughly 17% performance difference, 32% price difference.

The 5850 runs a little bit cooler, and quieter as well. The 5870 isn't really what I'd call hot or loud though.

[jaredpace]

thanks, iandh can you tell us the voltage of each gpu? Is it like 1.09v for 5850 and 1.16v for 5870?

[iTravis]

I have both cards atm, some quick numbers with 3.6Ghz PII:


Crysis Warhead bench, Avalanche flythrough 1920x1080 8xAA:

5780: 24fps avg

5850: 20.5fps avg


Crysis Warhead bench, Ambush 1920x1080 0xAA:

5780: 36fps avg

5850: 30.5fps avg




So roughly 17% performance difference, 32% price difference.

The 5850 runs a little bit cooler, and quieter as well. The 5870 isn't really what I'd call hot or loud though.

Do you mind to let me know what settings you run at?

[iandh]

thanks, iandh can you tell us the voltage of each gpu? Is it like 1.09v for 5850 and 1.16v for 5870?

Yes, 1.15 or so for 5870, 1.088 for 5850.


Do you mind to let me know what settings you run at?

Run was using Crysis Warhead benchmark tool 0.33

Maximum settings (enthusiast)

GPU stock speed

[Sam_oslo]

Yes, 1.15 or so for 5870, 1.088 for 5850.



Run was using Crysis Warhead benchmark tool 0.33

Maximum settings (enthusiast)

GPU stock speed

Those volts are indicating that 5850 could have a better OC, specially with some volt tuning. It would be interesting if you could find the max OC and take a new run.

[Mech0z]

To turn the topic quiet a bit, would you take a used GTX285 with EK waterblock for 1650dkk when a HD5850 with MCW60 + ramcooler would cost me 2200dkk I am thinking if I should just get the ATI and get DX11 and if the overclock of the HD5850 will make it much more powerful than the gtx285

[flopper]

5850 any day.
why buy old old tech?

[Mech0z]

5850 any day.
why buy old old tech?

Due to it being cheaper :) but I am tempted to wait until GT300 release as I have a faint idear HD5850 and 5870 are going to drop in price, else the HD5870x2 have to be mighty exspensive :o

[iTravis]

The HD5850 doesn't need to be OC to outperform the GTX 285 as its stock speed is already faster. You ask the people here to give you an idea whether you should get the HD5850 or 5870 and most vote for HD5850, sure you can wait but there's no guarantee that AMD will drop the price of their HD5xxx series when GT300s come out. If you want the best for your buck for a high end card, the HD5850 is a perfect choice.

[flopper]

Due to it being cheaper :) but I am tempted to wait until GT300 release as I have a faint idear HD5850 and 5870 are going to drop in price, else the HD5870x2 have to be mighty exspensive :o

gt300, feb 2010.
5850 today.

People percive price and functionality so different,
I pay much the same as I got my 4870 last year for a 5850, and get almost double the performance with the possibility to run 3 screens (and I will one day).(selling off my 4870 512mb allows me to get it at a good price ratio)

Now, if I was considering the 285 even when it is cheaper, it has old tech dx10, it is slower, cant overclock that much, (5850 hitting 1ghz) dont support windows 7 fully, and cant do eyefinity out of the box.
Now, some say what about PhysX?
Well, today people have cracked and patched PhysX so its doable to run ati/nvidia toghter in batman.

Now, the only reason you still want the 285 is that your to cheap to get what is best for you:p:

[Sam_oslo]

Due to it being cheaper :) but I am tempted to wait until GT300 release as I have a faint idear HD5850 and 5870 are going to drop in price, else the HD5870x2 have to be mighty exspensive :o

It is not a good idea to go for a outgoing tech when the new is here aleready.

The real choice is between 5850, 5870 and GT300. GT300 would probably match the performance, but seams to be a few months away, and it remains to see if nVidia have learned the lesson about pricing.
When it comes to price drop, ATI has no reason to compete with it's own products and 5870x2 won't affect other prices. Only a good&cheap GT300 can force a drop, and in case, you have to wait until the next year. (Unless something unexpected happens).

I personally waiting to see if ATI can do something with the multi-GPU performance. If they can "fix" it then 2x5850 or 5850x2 would be a great price/performance choice.