5850, where would you go from here?

Spook187 · 27 Mar 2012 at 19:41

My 5870 is still pumping along,maybe reaching the vram limit on a couple of games but that is all.all these threads people upgrading from a 7970 to a 680 is just silly and you know it is the ones who have done that. :confused:

Bleek · 27 Mar 2012 at 19:54

HeX said:
Fair do's, though personally even £16 is good value for a top end 3rd party cooler

I've got the TFIII in now and it is utterly silent. I'm really really fussy about GPU noise and I honestly wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it.

28C idle, 59C load at stock. Can't hear the card at all.

Well when you put it like that!

As they say, silence is golden.

sammo62 · 27 Mar 2012 at 20:11

Spook187 said:
My 5870 is still pumping along,maybe reaching the vram limit on a couple of games but that is all.all these threads people upgrading from a 7970 to a 680 is just silly and you know it is the ones who have done that.

Same, I'm sticking with my 5870 for another series at least as no games really trouble it yet at 1080p.

Bleek · 27 Mar 2012 at 20:39

Not sure I'd upgrade from a 5870 either.

the_director · 27 Mar 2012 at 21:31

Still fine with a Q6600 and two 5850s Extreme in Crossfire (picked up for £99 each as well). Still give amazing performance per pound and cannot get anywhere near that sort of performance for the money.

When I finally upgrade the rest of my system I can overclock them - currently the Q6600 is a bottleneck so no point moving them above stock.

psychodil · 27 Mar 2012 at 21:57

Ive been looking for some 2gb 5850/5870's to crossfire, not seen amy at a decent price yet though. Still very good cards.

Bleek · 27 Mar 2012 at 22:10

psychodil said:
Ive been looking for some 2gb 5850/5870's to crossfire, not seen amy at a decent price yet though. Still very good cards.

The 5850 seems to sell around the £80 mark 2nd hand. That represents pretty good value!

Bleek · 28 Mar 2012 at 09:27

What are people's opinions on the Sapphire cooler against the MSI - both are dual fan, but are both silent?

HeX · 28 Mar 2012 at 09:52

Don't think anyone has the Sapphire card yet, they've not been in stock yet.

The MSI cooler is very very quiet though. I can't see the Sapphire being much different tbh, both heatpiped twin fan coolers.

I went MSI as a) they are in stock b) I prefer them over Sapphire personally c) I've had TF cards before and I know the coolers are good.

EDIT - Just noticed MSI's have gone up in price and out of stock, in which case i'd get the Sapphire for £195, I honestly can't see it being that different, and save yourself £15.

Marine-RX179 · 28 Mar 2012 at 10:11

Considering 2 gen has passed already, you would expect to be able to upgrade to a card of GTX580 or 7950 performance at around £200 mark, but the cruel reality is that their prices are still horrendously at around £300 mark...

Bleek · 28 Mar 2012 at 10:44

HeX said:
Don't think anyone has the Sapphire card yet, they've not been in stock yet.

The MSI cooler is very very quiet though. I can't see the Sapphire being much different tbh, both heatpiped twin fan coolers.

I went MSI as a) they are in stock b) I prefer them over Sapphire personally c) I've had TF cards before and I know the coolers are good.

EDIT - Just noticed MSI's have gone up in price and out of stock, in which case i'd get the Sapphire for £195, I honestly can't see it being that different, and save yourself £15.

I was just going to say the stock is the other way around now!

Sod it, might as well go for it.

HeX · 28 Mar 2012 at 10:49

Just seen that the Sapphire is on TWO as well, £189.98, bargain

Bleek · 29 Mar 2012 at 16:40

Well I ordered it via DPD Next Day and it doesn't appear that DPD is actually next day as my order is still sat at their hub! :rolleyes:

liamcrane · 29 Mar 2012 at 16:54

^^Bleak i waited all day for mine, recieved an email saying it would be delivered by dpd between 15.50-16.50 checked my email again at 16.45 and they said "delivary was attempted but know one was home" i went mad at em! no card through the door or nothing! Ended up having to go to the depot to pick it up, apperantly the driver knocked on the wrong door! dpd are normally good but they have a few cow boy drivers by the looks of it who just wanna get home early

Modjo · 29 Mar 2012 at 23:09

Just bought a new 5850 Toxic 1GB for £90 brand new. Was looking at the 6850 from the shop here for same money but as told to go for the 5850. Have now o/c'd it to 890/1200 and its running fine (35 deg idle/55 load). Gonna buy 2nd one soon for CF!! Couldnt be happier.

opethdisciple · 29 Mar 2012 at 23:13

sammo62 said:
Same, I'm sticking with my 5870 for another series at least as no games really trouble it yet at 1080p.

Don't know about that guys. My 5870 is struggling in Batman AC.

Funnily however it seems to run better in DX11 than DX9

Bleek · 30 Mar 2012 at 09:33

Modjo said:
Just bought a new 5850 Toxic 1GB for £90 brand new. Was looking at the 6850 from the shop here for same money but as told to go for the 5850. Have now o/c'd it to 890/1200 and its running fine (35 deg idle/55 load). Gonna buy 2nd one soon for CF!! Couldnt be happier.

Blimey that's cheap, I've got my 5850 in the MM for £80!

On a side note, what driver should I be running with my new 7850?

HeX · 30 Mar 2012 at 09:40

I'm using the 12.4 betas on my 7850, can't fault them

Bleek · 30 Mar 2012 at 11:27

Ta, I'll give them a whirl when it arrives today.

Bleek · 30 Mar 2012 at 15:27

I can't install both monitors because the connectors are too close, the DVI converter obscures the main DVI connection. The 5850 had them stacked on top of each other so no fowling was possible.

I'll now have to get some kind of additional extender or cable.

Oh and the drivers says Vista or 7, no XP mentioned? Yes I'm still on XP because it's never let me down and just works!