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Trying to decide between the 460 and 6850

GregI

GregI

GregI

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Joined
10 Dec 2007
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For my price point (about 140) I think either of these cards is the best I can get.

I have had ATI before and one reason why I want to try out Nvidia is to test how good their drivers are. A certain site has the EVGA 1GB for 127 while the 6850 is about 145.

It seemed clear cut to me but then my friend mentioned to me about how "unreliable" the 460's can be. He said something about that they just stop working in certain motherboards and Nvidia can't explain it.

Any comments on this?
 
I don't know enough about this 460 issue I'm sorry I can't help you there but a 1GB 460 is a solid card that will in most cases push slightly more frames than a 6850, an ATI 5850 beats them both by the same margin... However 460 and 6850 can be overclocked considerably.
 
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GregI said:
For my price point (about 140) I think either of these cards is the best I can get.

I have had ATI before and one reason why I want to try out Nvidia is to test how good their drivers are. A certain site has the EVGA 1GB for 127 while the 6850 is about 145.

It seemed clear cut to me but then my friend mentioned to me about how "unreliable" the 460's can be. He said something about that they just stop working in certain motherboards and Nvidia can't explain it.

Any comments on this?
Click to expand...

I've owned a 460 before and I experienced not one single problem. Amazing card that will not let you down. However, the 5850 is quite a bit cheaper and faster at the moment.
 
TerryH said:
I don't know enough about this 460 issue I'm sorry I can't help you there but a 1GB 460 is a solid card that will in most cases push slightly more frames than a 6850, an ATI 5850 beats them both by the same margin... However 460 and 6850 can be overclocked considerably.
Click to expand...

5850 can also be overclocked?:rolleyes:
 
Erm yeah sorry, 150 max on GPU clock and say 200 Mhz on Memory must be a considerable OC right.... :rolleyes:

Just to tone it down, yeah they be can OC'd but 6850 can be pushed quite a bit more.
 
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The 6850 has lower power consumption which is a bonus. Performance depends entirely on the game being played. Raw performance IIRC goes to the 6850 by an insignificantly small margin (around 1% I think, will try to source).

Other than that they're very similar. The reason I went for the AMD is the lower power consumption and I could get one for £130. Shopping around I'm sure you can still get them as cheap.

If you have a very good PSU, I'd tell you get a 5850. More powerful card overall (10% or so), but performance increase will once again depend entirely on the game.

Both cards overclock well AFAIK. My 6850 reaches 1GHz on the core and 1.1GHz on the memory at the same time just above stock volts (33% and 10%). I believe that GTX460s are a bit harder due to linked clocks, so overclocked AFAP, the HD6850 probably wins. The 5850 isnt known for overclocking tbh, and they run quite hot/noisy without non-reference coolers, but you should be able to get some out of it.
 
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