5850 replacement..

[Karateyid]

Looking to upgrade my existing monitor and Asus EAH 5850 DCU Top gfx card in the next few months...

I'm set on the Benq XL2420T unless something else comes out soon... So just looking for a bit of advice on the GFX card front as gaming will be at 1080p. Probably looking to have the card about 2yrs and I pretty much exclusively play Eve online and BF3 at the moment.. Would be nice to play BF3 maxed out... currently play at the High preset and the 5850 does well..

Not set a budget as I can save extra cash over the next couple of months to pay for something that will last a bit long GFX card wise..

What would you suggest ?

 

[ALXAndy]

All comes down to your budget.

£200ish? GTX 480 or 7850.

£300ish? 7870 or 7950.

The best bargain at the high end now is the 7950. Not only that, but it's the logical replacement for your 5850.

 

[Marine-RX179]

New gen cards are very overpriced at the moment, and there's nothing that's actually "good value" for you to upgrade from your current 5850. If you budget is only up to around £200, then there's nothing really worth the upgrade (except may be the GTX480). You'd probably best wait for GTX580 to price drop to £250 in order to be able to justify the spend for the upgrade.

 

[Karateyid]

tbh I dont mind waiting an extra month or 2 and adding a £100 or £200 pounds to the card kitty if it will last for a couple of years..

Does the amount of VRAM needed increase much if im gaming at 1080p or is that only with higher resolutions ??

 

[ALXAndy]

tbh I dont mind waiting an extra month or 2 and adding a £100 or £200 pounds to the card kitty if it will last for a couple of years..

Does the amount of VRAM needed increase much if im gaming at 1080p or is that only with higher resolutions ??

Though many have deemed it not completely accurate (and I agree as it tends to fluctuate) what we do know is that BF3 can and will easily use up to and over 1.5gb.

2gb right now is the safety zone, with 1.5gb precariously standing on a precipice.

One game could easily render 1.5gb cards incapable of running max detail with aliasing.

TBH? the 3gb 7950 has it all. It overclocks like a demon to produce similar results to the 7970 and 680, and has 3gb vram.

It really is the diamond in the rough now. And, IMO when you look at the next step up it's actually a damn good price too. Just over £300.

New gen cards are very overpriced at the moment, and there's nothing that's actually "good value" for you to upgrade from your current 5850. If you budget is only up to around £200, then there's nothing really worth the upgrade (except may be the GTX480). You'd probably best wait for GTX580 to price drop to £250 in order to be able to justify the spend for the upgrade.

So you don't think just over £300 is worth it for a card as fast and feature rich as the 7950?

I think it's a great card at that price. 5870 was that much on launch, every one loved it. £400+ = bad £300ish = not so bad.

 

[Marine-RX179]

So you don't think just over £300 is worth it for a card as fast and feature rich as the 7950?

I think it's a great card at that price. 5870 was that much on launch, every one loved it. £400+ = bad £300ish = not so bad.

The only reason I didn't suggest the 7950 is because the OP is talking about BF3 specifically. The 7950 is slower than GTX580 once 4xMSAA is applied on that game. Also, most mmos generally favour Nvidia cards more than AMD.

 

[Martini1991]

A second 5850 at 100 quid.

 

[Karateyid]

Yeah had thought about that but then I'd need to def upgrade the psu also..and I've heard about lots of fun n games with xfire drivers

Think vram could become an issue in the next year. So I'd rather pay the additional Monies and get a newer card with more VRAM and more grunt

 

[HeX]

7870 ~£255 (if you look around), or a 7950. Either would be a sizeable upgrade.

I really wouldn't touch a 480.

 

[Karateyid]

Had looked at the 7950 and they do look nice cards... Are there any that stand out or are they fairly uniform in their abilities/overclocking ??