5850 Crossfire

[Brumboy]

I've found a website that is selling the SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme graphic card for £98 brand new. So I'm thinking about buying two and putting them in crossfire for £196.

However I was wondering if my PSU would be suitable enough for this, my computer requires 240W of power right now without a graphics card.

My PSU is a BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply.

Here are some specs:

Max. combined power 12V (W) 420

Continuous power (W) 530

Peak power 500 ms (W) 580

If that's not enough for 5850 crossfire then my only other option is a 6950 for £200.

Or I could buy a PSU like the OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W Power Supply for £60, but that will cost me £260 for a PSU and two 5850's which is really too much for me and for that price I could buy a 570.

 

[ard-tullaich]

Need more power

 

[Brumboy]

Need more power

How much more?

 

[arc@css]

A reliable brand like a Corsair 650w would be fine. You might go up to around the 700 mark, but anymore would be unnecessary.

 

[Brumboy]

Right so my PSU right now isn't good enough for 5850 crossfire?

That means I'll either have to sell my GTX 460 for £90, then buy a 6950 2GB for £200, so that will cost me £110 in total.

Or sell my GTX 460 for around £90 and my PSU for £25. Then buy a 700W PSU for £80 and two 5850's for £98 each. Which will cost me in total £161.

So it's basically a £51 (30%) difference in price for roughly 30% more FPS, is that worth it?

5850 Crossfire vs 6970 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/303?vs=292

What do you guys recommend? I basically need a GPU setup to last me 2-3 years and play the upcoming games at maximum detail.

 

[arc@css]

One card will more than likely provide a smoother experience, better minimum and average frame rates.

What is the performance of your 460 like?

 

[Brumboy]

One card will more than likely provide a smoother experience, better minimums and average frame rates.

What is the performance of your 460 like?

To be honest it's flawless at the moment, I play games like:

Crysis 1
Crysis 2
Battlfield Bad Company 2
Portal 2
Shogun 2
Batman Arkham Asylum

All at the highest settings with smooth frame rates with AA. I just saw these 5850's for £98 so it's got me thinking about upgrading. But I'm not sure if my GTX 460 will play games at the highest settings in a years time and by then it'll be worth like £50 probably.

The other option I have is to sell the GTX 460 and buy a single 5850 for now, then buy another in the future once I start to struggle? That might be a better idea since either card will be good for a few months at least.

 

[arc@css]

No offence, but I'm surprised how much punch that card has. I didn't think that a 768mb 460 would perform that well. Well, assuming that a year from now you will have funds available which I expect you will, I'd therefore be inclined to leave it for now, as it seems to meet your requirements for the time being.

If you do upgrade then my first choice would always be a single card, not that I'm against adding extra gpu's. I had a 4870X2 up until recently, and that was a very good card. If it makes sense for you to go for two cards because it is good bang for buck, then fair enough. Two 5850's are no slouch and are almost equivalent to a 5970, which up until a few weeks ago or so was the fastest card available. Check out the 5850 threads going around at the moment.

 

[Brumboy]

No offence, but I'm surprised how much punch that card has. I didn't think that a 768mb 460 would perform that well. Well, assuming that a year from now you will have funds available which I expect you will, I'd therefore be inclined to leave as it seems to meet your requirements.

If you do upgrade then my first choice would always be a single card, not that I'm against adding extra gpu's. I had a 4870X2 up until recently, and that was a very good card. If it makes sense for you to go for two cards because it is for example better performance with regard to maximum frame rates then fair enough. Two 5850's are no slouch and are almost equivalent to a 5970, which up until a few weeks ago or so was the fastest card available. Check out the 5850 threads going around at the moment.

Yeah, it's a good card but I think my i5 2500k also helps with the performance of games.

I guess I'll stick with my GTX 460 for now until I start to struggle with games, mainly Battlefield 3! Or if I can find a buyer then I'll sell it and buy a single 5850.

Even in the future I think it'll come down to a 6950 or 5850 Crossfire most likely. But that PSU dilemma will cost me an extra £70+!

Cheers for the help mate.

 

[arc@css]

No worries, happy fraggin'.