Upgrade from 5850 to a 480

Adster3000 · 24 Aug 2011 at 20:24

I have a potential buyer for my 5850. I am after a second opinion on whether I should do this, as a 480 is a fairly significant upgrade from my 5850 (according to Anandtech.)

I want something better for BF3 and Skyrim, I plan to upgrade to the new gen cards when the top end models are released.

The specific 480 I am looking to buy is the refurbished one they have here on OCUK, because of its decent price.

I play at 1280x1024, by the way. Bare in mind I'm after the best performance possible on the 2 mentioned games.

Thanks.

Devrij · 24 Aug 2011 at 20:30

You'd be better off investing in a higher res monitor tbh. A 5850 is more than enough at that res. Overclocked, mine handles most games @ 2560x1440

Adster3000 · 24 Aug 2011 at 20:35

Devrij said:
You'd be better off investing in a higher res monitor tbh. A 5850 is more than enough at that res. Overclocked, mine handles most games @ 2560x1440

I'm fine with this monitor currently. I will be upgrading when I have one of the next gen cards. If i were to upgrade my monitor, all that'll accomplish is losing a chunk of my fps. I definitely don't want that.

I'm pretty sure my 5850 won't fare well with BF3 with the settings raised as much as I'd like to. Same with Skyrim.

Thanks for the reply and your opinion.

mickyflinn · 24 Aug 2011 at 20:45

pc specs please.

pastymuncher · 24 Aug 2011 at 20:49

A 5850 should easily max everything out at 1280x1024, hell, even a 5770 can do that. As above, what are the rest of your pc's specs?

Adster3000 · 24 Aug 2011 at 20:54

Phenom 965 @ 4GHz
Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H
4GB 1600MHz Corsair RAM
300GB hard drive.
700W OCZ Stealth XStream PSU.

I'd have to disagree with you with the 5850 maxing everything. No doubt it is a good card though. Everything on dx9 is fine, but as soon as dx11 enters the ring, no chance. LP2 is the case I'm thinking of. It's not a great game, just using it for the sake of an example.

smit101 · 24 Aug 2011 at 20:56

forget the gpu upgrade and get one of these, If you're on a strictish budget.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-067-IY&tool=3

Or one of these if you've got a bit more cash to play with.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-043-BQ&tool=3

Or if you're really flush one of these.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-036-DE&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

Seriously mate, you're monitor is the most important part of your setup, you've already got a good graphics card that's capable of running games at native res on all of the above monitors. As above though, we need to know the rest of your spec. If you really want the 480 then it would be a great card for gaming at native res on the above monitors, a good bit quicker that the 5850.

Adster3000 · 24 Aug 2011 at 21:21

smit101 said:
forget the gpu upgrade and get one of these, If you're on a strictish budget.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-067-IY&tool=3

Or one of these if you've got a bit more cash to play with.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-043-BQ&tool=3

Or if you're really flush one of these.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-036-DE&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

Seriously mate, you're monitor is the most important part of your setup, you've already got a good graphics card that's capable of running games at native res on all of the above monitors. As above though, we need to know the rest of your spec. If you really want the 480 then it would be a great card for gaming at native res on the above monitors, a good bit quicker that the 5850.

Appreciate the effort, but I'm really not interested in a new monitor just yet. It will happen soon though, I imagine.

The 480 is solely for bracing myself for the 2 aforementioned games.

kmufc77 · 24 Aug 2011 at 21:28

Adster3000 said:
Appreciate the effort, but I'm really not interested in a new monitor just yet. It will happen soon though, I imagine.

The 480 is solely for bracing myself for the 2 aforementioned games.

As already mentioned a few times in this thread,a 5850 is more than capable at your res!

A 480 @1280x1024 will be a waste of money.,the 480 is really needed for resolutions of 1920 by 1080.

Your 5850 will be fine at your res for the 2 future games.

smit101 · 24 Aug 2011 at 21:31

kmufc77 said:
As already mentioned a few times in this thread,a 5850 is more than capable at your res!

A 480 @1280x1024 will be a waste of money.

Your 5850 will be fine at your res for the 2 future games.

If Adster tries running a gtx 480 at 1280 x 1024 it'll probably climb out of his PC, jump onto the desk and scream WTF!

Adster3000 · 24 Aug 2011 at 21:32

kmufc77 said:
As already mentioned a few times in this thread,a 5850 is more than capable at your res!

A 480 @1280x1024 will be a waste of money.

Your 5850 will be fine at your res for the 2 future games.

Sorry, I'm just not convinced that I'll be able to max them with the 5850. I'm even under the impression that the 480 won't even do it for Skyrim. Hopefully BF3 though..

smit101 said:
If Adster tries running a gtx 480 at 1280 x 1024 it'll probably climb out of his PC, jump onto the desk and scream WTF!

Aha.

smit101 · 24 Aug 2011 at 21:43

Hey, sorry to be pedantic Adster, Just joking mate. If you intend on a monitor upgrade in the near future then it wouldn't hurt to have the gtx 480 ready and waiting. If you get a decent price for the 5850 then the upgrade won't be costly, are you considering one of the refurbed 480's oc'uk are currently selling?

Adster3000 · 24 Aug 2011 at 21:50

smit101 said:
Hey, sorry to be pedantic Adster, Just joking mate. If you intend on a monitor upgrade in the near future then it wouldn't hurt to have the gtx 480 ready and waiting. If you get a decent price for the 5850 then the upgrade won't be costly, are you considering one of the refurbed 480's oc'uk are currently selling?

Yeah. I was planning on grabbing the refurb. Planning on trying to get about £90 for my 5850. I have someone who's interested, he just can't get the money together soon unless there's some miracle someone will buy his 360 from him.

daveash · 24 Aug 2011 at 21:53

A 480 is overkill for that res. However, at least you'll know BF3 and Skyrim should be pretty much flawless on that monitor. As others have said though, a new display will do you a world of good.

fowler002 · 24 Aug 2011 at 22:11

I have a msi 5850 twin frozr and was able to play crysis 2 fine at 19200x1200, obviously I didn't have the settings maxed out but they weren't all set at low(can't remember what they were set at as its been awhile since I last played it.

even played crysis @1920 x1200 but on a 2900pro 1gb which is quite a bit less powerful than the 5850.

Adster3000 · 24 Aug 2011 at 22:19

fowler002 said:
I have a msi 5850 twin frozr and was able to play crysis 2 fine at 19200x1200, obviously I didn't have the settings maxed out but they weren't all set at low(can't remember what they were set at as its been awhile since I last played it.

even played crysis @1920 x1200 but on a 2900pro 1gb which is quite a bit less powerful than the 5850.

I'm pretty fussy. I like to max settings while maintaining 60fps. This to me is essential for BF3.

No idea how well Crysis will do though. Wonder how far I could get with Metro, too.

coupe69 · 24 Aug 2011 at 22:27

Why are you so opposed to spending the money on a better monitor? A bigger monitor with a higher resolution would be an infinitely better upgrade than wasting money on a graphics card you clearly don't need at your current res :confused:

easyrider · 24 Aug 2011 at 22:37

Playing current FPS games in 4.3 apect ratio

Adster3000 · 24 Aug 2011 at 22:53

coupe69 said:
Why are you so opposed to spending the money on a better monitor? A bigger monitor with a higher resolution would be an infinitely better upgrade than wasting money on a graphics card you clearly don't need at your current res

A monitor will come. GPU first. I don't want to spend £100 just to lower my FPS. It would feel like a downgrade.

Is it hard to grasp wanting to max out some games that I know I won't be able to max with my current GPU? I'm surprised by the fact that no one here shares my opinion on liking to play games with maximum quality over a slightly better display.

I can't afford both.

easyrider · 24 Aug 2011 at 22:55

The point is you wont see much of an improvement making a 480 push such a low res