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A step up from a 512mb 3850.

Moonpie2

Moonpie2

Moonpie2

Soldato
Joined
23 Dec 2002
Posts
2,895
Location
Shiny Shanghai
Hello thar !!

I've had my 3850 for a while now, and I actually thought it was pretty awesome back in the day when I got it for £75.
But I was wondering about upgrading again but am not too clued up on all the different card revisions and incremental numbers.
So do you think it's possible for me to get a pretty decent step up in power for the same £70 or so these days ?
If so.... with what card ?

Cheers
 
Add another tenner to your budget & you'll be able to take your pick of any of the HD4850's available.
 
Absolutely its possible fella. Get yourself in the Members Market and pick up a 4850. They seem to be going for around 60 sheets currently and they'll offer a fair boost over your current card.
 
I was thinking 4850, but then I got all snobbish and thought I needed a 1024mb one.
Is that the case or will a 512mb one be just as supah ?
 
Moonpie2 said:
I was thinking 4850, but then I got all snobbish and thought I needed a 1024mb one.
Is that the case or will a 512mb one be just as supah ?
Click to expand...

4850 isnt powerful enough to drive the resolutions (plus AA) that need 1GB of RAM imo, just upgrade to a better card later, there is no such thing as "futureproofing". Personally I think a used 1GB 4870 would be the best purchase and would last you longer.
 
CoD4 primarily, Grid, left4dead, Demigod....as usual the only thing it struggled with was Crysis.

I did testing about a year back and there was only roughly a 5-8% difference between a 4870 and 4850 clock for clock due to the memory bandwidth.
 
There are some great bargains to be had in MM at the moment.

Hell, if you can stretch to it, a GTX260 216SP can be had for £85.

If not, then a 4870 would be withing your budget and a massive upgrade from what you have already.
 
gurusan said:
CoD4 primarily, Grid, left4dead, Demigod....as usual the only thing it struggled with was Crysis.

I did testing about a year back and there was only roughly a 5-8% difference between a 4870 and 4850 clock for clock due to the memory bandwidth.
Click to expand...

To be fair you vastly overclocked your 4850 and voltmodded it didn't you? So at stock speeds if the OP isn't going to overclock the 4870 is more than 5-8% faster.

Also they are only a tenner more 2nd hand so why not?
 
I did (920mhz core :D ), but I also used it at stock speeds and it handled everything very well.

I fully agree though if he can pick a 4870 1gb or GTX 260 216 in the MM he should go with one of those.
 
Greebo said:
To be fair you vastly overclocked your 4850 and voltmodded it didn't you? So at stock speeds if the OP isn't going to overclock the 4870 is more than 5-8% faster.

Also they are only a tenner more 2nd hand so why not?
Click to expand...
A voltmodded and heavily overclocked card is not normal, and its silly to give people advice based on that. He should know better to be honest. :p

A stock 4870 is about 30-40% faster than a stock 4850 in most situations at resolutions of 1900x1200 and higher.
 
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