4870 to a 5850. worth it?

[jamesgoss]

Hi all,

I was just considering a cpu/mobo upgrade to an i5 750,but then I bought myself a tasty 24 inch screen and the 5850s are very tempting!

To keep it brief, would a 5850 be a worthwhile upgrade from my 4870?

Any and all thoughts welcome!

 

[jamesgoss]

I think so - a 4890 to 5850 is a worthwhile upgrade, so defiantely so with a 4870.

Though having said that, if you are currently maxing out the games you play, stick with the 4870 until you no longer can - then get whatever looks to be the best option then (maybe Fermi, or the 6000 series or the 5000 refresh or whatever).

Well, I play Dawn of War II occasionally, but Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2 are on the horizon...I want to play more PC games as opposed to purely xbox360 like I have been of late (MW2 has stolen all my spare time!). So it seems to run everything fine, though I'm getting slowdown on Mass Effect 1, I don't know how demanding the game is graphically, I always assumed it wasn't exactly Crysis...

As above, it's worth it. You can always add another for xfire later too.

I'd be getting the Gigabyte UD2 - would the x8 Xfire lanes cripple performance?

I have a 24" screen and went from a 4870 to 5850 via a gtx260 216 in the middle.

Each one was a big improvement.

Everything (except crysis of course) runs at great framerates with lots of aa and 16af.

Couldn't be happier.

It's funny you say that, I thought the 260(216) and the 4870 1GB were equivalent cards?

I'm gradually being persuaded...

 

[jamesgoss]

The temptation is too much!! Maybe get the cpu/RAM/mobo to sort me out until the 5830 is released...

 

[jamesgoss]

A overclocked 5850 at 1000/1300 which they will all do on the stock cooler with a voltage tweak beats a stock 5870 so is about on par with a gtx295.

So for a rough guide as to how much an improvement your upgrade would be especially if you overclock the 5850, compare the 4870 to a gtx295 at 1920 x 1200.

Or to compare stock to stock look here:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3650

Depending on the game a 5850 is 20 to 40% faster than a 4870 at 1920 x 1200

Of course you get dx11 as well plus the 5xxx series shine at 8xaa.

EDIt: In fact the 4870 1gb matches the gtx260 in those reviews. I guess ATI drivers has closed the gap as my gtx260 was definitely so much more faster than my 4870 but my 4870 was the 512mb version so may make a difference.

That's a very interesting article there, thanks for putting it up. It shows that the 5850 is almost 20fps faster than the 4870 1GB at 1900x1200, that's insane. The thing is I know my 4870 is a good card, but I like new things and silky smooth gaming. And I don't think I'm alone!

 

[jamesgoss]

Nope, at most you'll lose a couple of frames.

You'll find this article very interesting.

You were right,that's a very interesting article,thanks. It was quite disingenuous for custom pc to keep saying 8 lanes cripples the cards.

 

[jamesgoss]

It would be interesting to see how many more fps I would get just from switching to an i5 750 and overclocking it compared to my c2d.perhaps a noticeable increase?anyone had experience with that?