is 5870 worth the extra $$$ over the 5850?

[jasper1605]

Hey all, I'm a first time builder so I'm still trying to get a handle on what's good and what's not. I'm not at all experienced in overclocking past letting a program do it for me so would getting a 5850 and using afterburner on it be more performance to dollar smart than the same strategy with a 5870?

 

[MKmods]

it depends a lot on what res you use. To me it would be pretty hard to justify the extra cost of a 5870(extreme card) over a 5850(excellent card).

For 95% of the comp users a 5770 is plenty.

A lot has to do with the resolution and games you play (or intend to play)

 

[erocker]

Clocking the 5850 to 5870 speeds yields in almost the same performance. Plus the 5850 is $100 dollars cheaper and is much shorter in size. If I would have to choose again I would stick with the 5850's.

 

[Fourstaff]

Short answer: Nope

Long answer: No, because 5850 is usually more than enough to handle most games at any resolution except the highest and at decent framerates, and I see you have a 1080i monitor, so 5850 should provide more than enough juice.

Edit: erocker types fast

 

[boulard83]

IM 100% satisfied with my HD5870. At first i was planning to buy a HD5850. But i decided to go for the HD5870. Clocked 950mhz with 1.175v on stock cooling. GREAT card.

 

[jasper1605]

I'll be jumping up to a 1080p monitor in the near future and I'm one that likes to turn on the eye candy as much as possible too lol.

But in other words, is the 5870 more designed at benchmarking than noticeable difference in gaming?

 

[MKmods]

with ur mobo how about a 5770 and maybe 1 more later on if you need it?

And the 5830 should be out soon too

 

[shevanel]

ill make this decision when I crank up AVP in a couple weeks and BC2 in a month or so..

Right now the 5770 is enough for me, I had 2 5770's and it was really fast so I have an idea of how a 5870 compares but like I said.. for gaming.. I need to see how these new games run.

If you want to save money a 5850 is never a bad choice.. if you have the money to spend and want a little more than a 5850 then a 5870 is never a bad choice either.

It's all about what you use it for + your budget.

 

[jasper1605]

@ MK

I prefer to keep the card as strong as possible instead of resorting to Xfire or SLI for the games that don't scale well to multiple cards

 

[Duffman]

@ MK

I prefer to keep the card as strong as possible instead of resorting to Xfire or SLI for the games that don't scale well to multiple cards

+1 on that for me.

That's why I just got a 5870

 

[MKmods]

@ MK

I prefer to keep the card as strong as possible instead of resorting to Xfire or SLI for the games that don't scale well to multiple cards

are there games that dont work well on Crossfire/SLI? (all the comps I built have played just fine) and if you want strong as possible get the 5970.

 

[jasper1605]

yeah the 5870 is really tempting, but $100 is also tempting lol

Edit: I would like to be able to buy other things for a computer too MK lol. Not just the video card

 

[MKmods]

(suggesting a 5970 was my attempt at humor)
I was wondering if you have a pair of 250s right now why do you want to upgrade?
(thats a pretty nice setup already)

Because neither the 5770,5850 or 5870 is worth the $$ over what you already have..
(the comp you already have should be fine for at least a couple years)

 

[kylzer]

5850 by far more bang for you're "buck"

 

[jasper1605]

sorry mk, that was my response with my own humor lol.

The reason I'm asking largely is because of a second build / or if that doesn't happen I'm becoming quite unhappy with nvidia lately as their drivers have been destroying my graphics. I've had massive problems with the last 3 sets of driver upgrades and I'm curious as to how ATI handles (as I'm a first timer in the realm of build your own computers)

 

[carrera997]

sorry mk, that was my response with my own humor lol.

The reason I'm asking largely is because of a second build / or if that doesn't happen I'm becoming quite unhappy with nvidia lately as their drivers have been destroying my graphics. I've had massive problems with the last 3 sets of driver upgrades and I'm curious as to how ATI handles (as I'm a first timer in the realm of build your own computers)

If your hoping for better drivers with ATI/AMD you will probably be disappointed. While I personally have not had that many issues there are many that are not happy with the quality and performance of the monthly builds.

 

[Binge]

Hey all, I'm a first time builder so I'm still trying to get a handle on what's good and what's not. I'm not at all experienced in overclocking past letting a program do it for me so would getting a 5850 and using afterburner on it be more performance to dollar smart than the same strategy with a 5870?

no a 5850 is just an underclocked 5870. All tests reveal the extra TMU and SPs give a negligible performance increase due to other bottlenecks present in the card. The 5870 also produces more heat.

 

[MKmods]

sorry mk, that was my response with my own humor lol.

The reason I'm asking largely is because of a second build / or if that doesn't happen I'm becoming quite unhappy with nvidia lately as their drivers have been destroying my graphics. I've had massive problems with the last 3 sets of driver upgrades and I'm curious as to how ATI handles (as I'm a first timer in the realm of build your own computers)

Ive done thousands of builds and some go easy/smooth and some dont. It dosent matter which one it is (ATI or Nvidia).

One of the "BAD" things about the internet is anyone can say anything so thousands of so called experts say thinks that are just ridiculous (just read through some of the Newegg reviews) If someone gives advice "Google" them to find out if they have any cred in the first place before you go spending a bunch of money on stuff.

here is a perfect example of ridiculous;
"If your hoping for better drivers with ATI/AMD you will probably be disappointed"

I used to use almost exclusively Nvidia for my builds so I got pretty good at getting stuff to work smoothly first time... When I did ATI builds I seemed to have a few probs so I continued to use Nvidia. In the last year I started using ATI again (3870,4770,4830,4850,4870,5770) and their drivers seem to work just fine. I am a bit bummed that Nvidia it taking so much time for their new cards but since my new mobo is Crossfire I probably wouldnt switch over anyways.

I had a pair of 5770s and they worked fine but for some reason I wanted a bit more(I honestly have no clue why as the 5770s played everything at Ultra) so I sold them last week So I am waiting for the 5830 to come out (maybe in the next week)

 

[PaulieG]

I suppose it depends how much you have to pay for each card. I purchased a Asus 5870 because I paid just $350 for it after bing cashback. There are many 5850's like a couple of the XFX models that are nearly that much. I am just in awe of this card. I'm currently running it at 1010mhz with a slight voltage increase, and the thing won't break 68c on full load.

 

[MKmods]

I wish I had a ton of $$ so I could just buy 3 5870s for shits and giggles...But the OP asked if it was "worth it"..

I have to say unless you are benching or just want to say you got a 5870 its not really worth the extra $ over the 5850.

However like Paulieg mentioned discounts/sales or even buying used can help a lot to get a better card for less $. Take a look at the F/S section too..

 

[Kei]

I like MKMods (I sense great wisdom lies in that head)

Right now I don't really thinkt he 5870 is worth the premium over the 5850 unless you're heavily into benching and things of that sort. I was the same way with the 4870 versus the 4850, like this generation both cards have MORE than enough power to do whatever you want with current software.

Honestly it's much like the i7 versus Phenom II situation, sure overall the i7 has more outright speed....but are you actually gonna ever use that speed? This round I decided to just buy a 5770 which is better than the last generation cards (equal/better than 4890 if you OC the card a bit), but runs much cooler and used less power and space.

I'd say go for the 5850 if you're looking for a single card solution, if you don't mind dual cards then the 5770 is more powerful than both and you can wait to buy the other one. All are great options, and whenever nVidia puts out there new card it will likely be a great option too.

Kei

 

[MKmods]

Thanks Kei..

its funny about the last gen cards. I sold a 4870 to a guy in Brazil but he said he was having probs so he sent it back to me to RMA. I put it in my own comp to check it out and saw it was running around 80C in my comp (my cases should be a lot cooler than an avg case so in his case it was probably running close to 100C)
These cards are nutts, but the 5770s were in the mid 30C range (what a difference) Another tidbit was my comp was pulling between 500 to 600watts at the wall with the 4870s and around 250watts with a pair of 5770s and OCd AMD 965.

The amount of improvement is amazing from the 4XXX series to the 5 XXX series. i just wish the Nvidia stuff would hurry the hell up..

 

[DirectorC]

I'm actually eying the 5750. I didn't think I'd settle for 'low' end again, but that card performs on par with GTS250/4850 and that's all I really need. Runs Crysis all high with 4XAA and gets 28FPS at 1920x1200. Yeah that sounds powerful enough.

 

[r9]

I'm actually eying the 5750. I didn't think I'd settle for 'low' end again, but that card performs on par with GTS250/4850 and that's all I really need. Runs Crysis all high with 4XAA and gets 28FPS at 1920x1200. Yeah that sounds powerful enough.

Overclocked it matches 4870