Is best for overclocking and also is the quietest? Should I just go with the cheapest? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-148-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
-
Competitor rules
Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.
Which 5850?
- Thread starter BenJ
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 4 Aug 2010
- Posts
- 323
- Location
- London
Well that one has a reference cooler, so the overclocking possibilities arent that great, but then again its the cheapest one going by what you said.
Its a matter of whether you are willing to pay more money to get better overclockability.
XFX also have a lifetime warranty which may be something to consider, but that means you cant overclock if you like that idea.
Its a matter of whether you are willing to pay more money to get better overclockability.
XFX also have a lifetime warranty which may be something to consider, but that means you cant overclock if you like that idea.
Reference design means best overclocking abilities because you can tweak the voltage. Plus there are quite a few coolers you can purchase later on
XFX doesn't sport lifetime warranty in the UK - only in the US. It does however have Premium Priority warranty with OcUK, which could be really useful if your card fails at any time.
I agree that HIS Turbo with MW2 seems like a good buy anyway. You get a game worth £20 plus non-reference cooling and decent overclocking capabilities.
Reference design means best overclocking abilities because you can tweak the voltage. Plus there are quite a few coolers you can purchase later on
XFX doesn't sport lifetime warranty in the UK - only in the US. It does however have Premium Priority warranty with OcUK, which could be really useful if your card fails at any time.
I agree that HIS Turbo with MW2 seems like a good buy anyway. You get a game worth £20 plus non-reference cooling and decent overclocking capabilities.
So the HIS one you are talking about is this one? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-003-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
So its best to go for a reference design so that I can tweak the voltage to get the most out of an overclock? How do you tell if its a reference design, does this just mean not modified with a different cooler?
I just bought the HIS Turbo, haven't overclocked it yet as I want to give it some time to be broken in. It's currently idling in a very poorly cable managed case at 45c, at 30% fan speed which is basically silent. I played Dragon Age at Max, 4x AA, 1920x1200 last night and it went up to around 60-65c.
I recommend it for sure. :3
I recommend it for sure. :3
Yes, that is HIS one I was talking about. Afaik it doesn't allow you to tweak voltage but they overclock fairly well at stock and have really good coolers.
Reference designs are for those who either cope with noise (like me), want to watercool (like me) or are looking for an aftermarket cooler (like me also) for their graphics. The good thing about them is that they allow you to flash BIOS from other cards such as Asus or MSI to get rid of standard overclocking limits (775/1125) or just use Afterburner/AMD GPU Clock to override them, they're compatible with all waterblocks and aftermarket coolers and allow you to control voltage. They are hard to get these days but I believe XFX is one of the reference rev.1 cards. Sent OcUK a webnote if you're interested.
Interesting, it sounds to get quiet and a good overclock then I will need a reference card, but these are noisey in comparison to a non reference, but these are cooler and are limited.
Hows about getting the £209 xfx reference card and an aftermarket 30 odd quid cooler. Must be the best of both worlds then?
Yes, but you're looking at spending almost £240 on it. It's worth it though, especially if you don't mind voiding warranty. Wouldn't it be better to find a used Asus reference on warranty (they all must be, haven't been out for a year yet) and getting an aftermarket cooler? You wouldn't have to flash BIOS then in order to bypass overclocking limits. There's a lot of options tbh but as I stated earlier, you can overclock with that HIS, although you won't achieve as good results as some do with reference models.
I've managed to find a place selling the Asus HD 5850 for £218, this sounds like the best to me if you think having the voltage tweak is worth it. Basically an extra tenner over the XFX and a quid or two over the HIS.
Sent OcUK a webnote if it's a reference PCB card - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-148-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
This will save you some money now, you'll get a direct warranty with OcUK for 2 years and you can voltage tweak anyway. If you want one more year of warranty then go for Asus one, although as far as I'm concerned, changing the cooler may void warranty (it may not be true though, I'm not even sure if it's sealed anyhow). There are also 2 games to sell with that XFX card.
Reference cards can bump voltages, make sure you can change the cooler without voiding warranty too.
This will save you some money now, you'll get a direct warranty with OcUK for 2 years and you can voltage tweak anyway. If you want one more year of warranty then go for Asus one, although as far as I'm concerned, changing the cooler may void warranty (it may not be true though, I'm not even sure if it's sealed anyhow). There are also 2 games to sell with that XFX card.
Reference cards can bump voltages, make sure you can change the cooler without voiding warranty too.
Cheers for the help mate! So I assume the outcome of the webnote was that the xfx card is a reference one? On offer this week too and added a couple of games
Lol, spelling mistake - "Send OcUK a webnote and ask if it's a reference PCB card"
Ah ok, ta
Strange reply to my webnote requesting if the XFX was a reference design card,
"Thank you for your webnote. Unfortunately we would not be able to supply that information as the version we currently have maybe different from the one you receive if you placed an order."
Surely if they said yes and I then ordered then I would get the one they currently have. Bizzare.
Ah well their loss, just bought a 2nd hand sapphire toxic 5850 for £175, seemed a good deal to me?
"Thank you for your webnote. Unfortunately we would not be able to supply that information as the version we currently have maybe different from the one you receive if you placed an order."
Surely if they said yes and I then ordered then I would get the one they currently have. Bizzare.
Ah well their loss, just bought a 2nd hand sapphire toxic 5850 for £175, seemed a good deal to me?
They don't order particular models I guess. Afaik newer ones are not reference PCBs.
Doesn't matter though as you grabbed a bargain card anyway! Good deal tbh, how old is the card? Mint condition? They suppose to overclock really well plus they come with Vapour-X cooling.
Doesn't matter though as you grabbed a bargain card anyway! Good deal tbh, how old is the card? Mint condition? They suppose to overclock really well plus they come with Vapour-X cooling.