New card query

[jeremyshaw]

Because newer games are ever more demanding on the GPU. The HD5850 was a monster, in it's own right, when it was released. However, it's climbing on 1.5 years since that day. It's showing it's age already, IMO. It still should fare okay at lower settings (multimonitor), however.

[akula2]

Because newer games are ever more demanding on the GPU. The HD5850 was a monster, in it's own right, when it was released. However, it's climbing on 1.5 years since that day. It's showing it's age already, IMO. It still should fare okay at lower settings (multimonitor), however.

true. newer games are more demanding. no doubt in that.
the reference 5850 has been for more than year but sapphire tweaked up toxic 5850 released much later with some benefits to the user like better over clocking, cooling etc. it costs only a little more like $20 or so.

is there any games portal or site which recommends cards based on new games performance in terms of fps etc? i could only get the numbers from review sites coz i would like to understand more on medium to high resolution settings/performance in fps on multiple lcds.

one more thing is i dunno how 6950 fares on linux distros such as FC14

[Chickenfeed]

one more thing is i dunno how 6950 fares on linux distros such as FC14

AMD Linux drivers still leave a lot to desire. Not the best by any stretch.

As far as declaring the 5850 as being obsolete of course I mean in lieu of newer cards such as the 6950/70s. Given in some cases a 5850 can be tamed on a single 1920x1080/1200 display, 3 monitors is more than pushing it in some cases. My point is if you want better single gpu performance with higher image quality, the 6 series cards are going to go that much farther with Eyefinity setups. No disrespect to the 5850 or anything, I had a 5870 for about a year and quite liked it, I just feel Eyefinity setups are multi card territory. Still if you want the best current single card Eyefinity experiance, a 6970 would be the card to go with.

[akula2]

AMD Linux drivers still leave a lot to desire. Not the best by any stretch.

am loosing my sleep over that any hardware component i choose should be truly cross-platform - linux/mac/windows support must coz me not biased or tagged to a particular OS.

As far as declaring the 5850 as being obsolete of course I mean in lieu of newer cards such as the 6950/70s. Given in some cases a 5850 can be tamed on a single 1920x1080/1200 display, 3 monitors is more than pushing it in some cases. My point is if you want better single gpu performance with higher image quality, the 6 series cards are going to go that much farther with Eyefinity setups. No disrespect to the 5850 or anything, I had a 5870 for about a year and quite liked it, I just feel Eyefinity setups are multi card territory. Still if you want the best current single card Eyefinity experiance, a 6970 would be the card to go with.

no disrespect at all. am gaining by such fruitful discussion. please feel free.

alright. i wish to build 2 pcs. one with p55/5850 2gb toxic and other with p67/6950 toxic (hope it comes out soon). later config would have multi-lcd, with 3d. both config has single card as common. means no cfx etc.

so am kinda confused choosing 5850/5870 for p55 (coz massive rebate from newgg on 5870). next, which one to go between 6950/6970 for p67. both config are not built for games but no compromise on gfx cards in terms of price/performance. i was told by many to go with 5770 flex card for p55 in terms of saving money and power but it's also meant for eye mode which i don't intend to use with p55. am confused. i think 5850 toxic fixed for p55. now, i have to decide about what should i put for p67.

one big point. peak watt difference between 6950 and 5850: 50W plus!!

you suggest 6970, for eye mode and single card. one question if i may. in the same given requirement, why 6950 not suggested?

am thinking from dollar saving, power saving plus heat reduction. pls throw some more light