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5850 Replacement?

KraniX

KraniX

KraniX

Soldato
Joined
23 Mar 2004
Posts
3,904
Location
Yorkshire
Hi guys,

I was lucky enough to pick up a Sapphire 1GB 5850 which was re-released last year, was only cheap and has been a cracking card which seems to outperform the 6850's in most reviews I've seen.

I'm wondering if there are any good, affordable (i.e. cheap) alternatives for an upgrade? The only possible option I can see is the 560Ti which could potentially give me a boost but seems a bit overpriced at £170+

Doesn't seem to be much in the AMD range that really gives much improvement, don't really want to spend more than £140-£150 as just doesn't seem worth it right now.

Any ideas?

Cheers.
 
Your best bet is another 5850 for crossfire, if your motherboard will let you do it, or a 2nd hand GTX 480 / 6950 from the members market.

1gb 560 Ti's can be found for £150 new.

I just changed to one and it's a decent boost over a stock 5850, but only really when the 560 Ti is overclocked.

if you weren't going to overclock the 560 Ti I wouldn't bother switching, unless the games you played favoured it ( Dirt 2/3, HAWK, Crysis2, etc... )
 
Same boat here to. But I have a 2GB 5850 Toxic unlocked with Sapphire bios. Basically it is quicker than a stocked 5870. I cannot find one of these cards under £200.00
 
Yeah think I'll just keep waiting until something substantial comes along.

Did look for another 5850 but were too expensive, even second hand.

The 560 won't really give me enough extra to warrant £150 quid, Skyrim and TOR all running in high so best upgrade is probably an SSD instead. :)
 
7800 series will be slower than 6970-6950 and probably cost more. If your psu can handle another card cheaper to xfire. Or wait for 6000 series to come down in price and get a 2gig card.
 
There's one in the MM for £85 now.... I've seen ones on the bay range between £78 and £110...

Getting another and booting into xfire is the way to go!
 
Not sold on Xfire or SLI personally, I used to SLI back in the days of Voodoo 2 and was great but all I hear these days is people moaning about poor drivers, games not being supported and micro stutter issues.

I'd rather just have a single card and as has been said it seems like a matter of waiting for the newer cards to drop in price as the competition heats up with new releases over the next few months.
 
went from same card to a 6950 that unlocked to 6970 its about twice as quick in bf3 at 1080 using same settings.

on high would get 35 ish
6970 60 constant .

crossfired will yield about same as a 6970/580
 
I reckon the 7950/7970 will see a modest price drop when Kepler is released, but don't expect miracles. I'm running a 5850 CF setup right now and I'm quite happy with it, but I'm going to have a look at the 78xx cards that should be out within a month or so.
 
SeeKified said:
I reckon the 7950/7970 will see a modest price drop when Kepler is released, but don't expect miracles. I'm running a 5850 CF setup right now and I'm quite happy with it, but I'm going to have a look at the 78xx cards that should be out within a month or so.
Click to expand...

Im basiaclly after something that's 30% faster than CF 5850s at 1080P. If the 78xx series cut it then I'll be getting one. I was gonna get a 7950 but their way overpriced imo.
 
If OP 560ti is overpriced for OP's budget then CF5850 is indeed the most cost effective way to upgrade. The problem is that it wont be a future proof upgrade as 1gb VRAM may come to bite rather soon...
 
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