I'm stuck, what card do i buy? £200-300

Echo · 11 May 2010 at 16:50

DeadLOK said:
1280x1024.. don't laugh

Echo, what do you mean summer is coming?

GTX 470s/480s are hitting 90c on heavy load - summer temps will be above the boiling point of water :eek:

JTrickle · 11 May 2010 at 18:40

_If_ you get round to overclocking the 6600, and _if_ you get a better monitor, then I'd sooner get 2x 5770s over a 5850 on your budget.

In the meentime, until you sort your monitor, just get 1 5770.

pastymuncher · 11 May 2010 at 19:02

At 1280x1024 a 5770 is enough.

Orcvader · 11 May 2010 at 19:24

Yeah, unless you plan to upgrade your monitor, then a 5770 is more than enough.

mame · 11 May 2010 at 19:48

pastymuncher said:
At 1280x1024 a 5770 is enough.

Orcvader said:
Yeah, unless you plan to upgrade your monitor, then a 5770 is more than enough.

yeah a 5770 is plenty for that resolution. Even if you got a new monitor in a year, there will be a faster cheaper option than there is now and it's going to be a long time before you can't get £70 for a 5770. Even 2nd hand GTX 260s still touch the £100 mark sometimes.

DeadLOK · 12 May 2010 at 09:12

Thanks for all the input.. in my ignorance I bought a 5850 anyway but I plan to upgrade other things next pay cheque anyway

SirCanealot · 12 May 2010 at 09:30

Echo said:
5850, summer is coming

It is????? :O

wolvers · 12 May 2010 at 10:03

Nice choice DeadLOK. You'll be well pleased.

I just got a second hand 5850 to go with the one I bought on release day. 5970 beating setup for under £400.

buttkinz · 12 May 2010 at 10:15

They're a good card, I wouldn't hesitate popping one into a customers pc, if you plan on over clocking tho I'd definatly recommend an Asus or similar that has voltage control.

ooEy · 12 May 2010 at 10:43

+1 for 5850. Best card since the ATI 9800 Pro imho.

Naff8000 · 12 May 2010 at 10:58

I was going to say the 5850 but at your rez you should just get the 5770, maybe put the rest towards a new monitor

DeadLOK · 12 May 2010 at 11:02

Next question, want to spend up to £100 on a PSU as I doubt my old Antec TrueBlue 480w will cut it (ive had to use molex to pci-e power converters which isn't ideal but its working ok for now).

Im looking at an XFX 650w which looks decent, anyone any opinion on this PSU? it has a 5 year warranty which is quite attractive.

Any other recommendations? Plan is to upgrade to i7 kit eventually so it will need to power this.

Cheers

Marine-RX179 · 12 May 2010 at 12:20

DeadLOK said:
Thanks for all the input.. in my ignorance I bought a 5850 anyway but I plan to upgrade other things next pay cheque anyway

Well, definitely get a 1080p monitor next

As for PSU, you can get either a Antec TruePower 650W or a Corsair TX 650W depending on your preference.

For me my personal perference would be Antec over the Corsair, as the Antec TruePower is semi-modular and has 2xPCI-E 6 pin and 2xPCI-E 8 pin, whereas the Corsair only has 2xPCI-E 6+2 pin.

wolvers · 12 May 2010 at 13:01

I would definitely recommend the Fractal Design Newton R2 650W. I just got the 1000w version and have been very impressed with it, and this is coming from an Enermax too.

ooEy · 12 May 2010 at 14:02

+1 on the Antec 650w, finally settled on this after trying the Corsair 650w and OCZ 850w. Silent, modular and well below budget.

DeadLOK · 12 May 2010 at 17:09

bit of a result on that actually, there was an oldish hiper 770w psu laying around the workshop that ive been given.. guess I can put that towards a new monitor for now

ebilcake · 12 May 2010 at 17:31

GTX470, you can get them fairly cheap elsewhere and people can say whatever they want but GTX470 is closer to a HD5870 than a HD5850.

AMG · 13 May 2010 at 03:07

Well looking at the benchmarks with the HD5850 and the GTX470 present it seems to perform faster than the HD5850 mostly, Only if the HD5850 is at stock. if the HD5850 is over clocked on pair was with the HD5870 it performance 10% worse than a HD5870 worst case.

So which card now?

also the HD5850 needs less power, runs cooler, even while overclocked, if you want cuda than fair enough.

ebilcake · 13 May 2010 at 10:28

AMG said:
Well looking at the benchmarks with the HD5850 and the GTX470 present it seems to perform faster than the HD5850 mostly, Only if the HD5850 is at stock. if the HD5850 is over clocked on pair was with the HD5870 it performance 10% worse than a HD5870 worst case.

So which card now?

Some of what you posted does not make sense, but to answer your question I would still go with a GTX470 atm as it does overclock quite well.

drunkenmaster · 13 May 2010 at 10:59

Danny_75 said:
If you look about the net you will find a 5870 for £300....

Thats £30 more than the cheapest you can order, and £240 seems very high for a 5850 considering the price of others around the place.

However, with a 5850 finding the cheapest card isn't the best move anymore, finding the cheapest one that still has software changable voltage control is the best way to go.

A 5830, is an odd card, it is noticeably ahead in some things, but in others it barely pips a 5770, though some reviews seem to vary quite dramatically in where they place the card performance wise vs a 5770.

Frankly for your resolution/games a 5770 might be your best option, then at a later date if you think the 5770 hasn't got quite enough horsepower, grab a second one for crossfire.