New build, new graphics

[Invertigo]

Right, I'm selling my current rig to a friend and getting something a bit different for myself. Current plan is an i5 with the MSI GD-65 mobo.

Graphics is the area I really can't put my finger on. I'm looking at spending a maximum of £300 on gpu.

Originally I was looking at 470SLI, but figured that would add a fair bit of extra cost, what with needing a beefier psu too. So I've been looking at 1gb 460 SLI and 6850 xfire. Now, I wasn't a big fan of xfire last gen, but the 6xxx scaling blows me away. An average performance increase above 90% is unreal compared to the 5xxx series.

Anyone got an opinion on this? I'm open to suggestions

 

[opethdisciple]

At that price you want to wait for AMD's new 6970 to come out first.

 

[Invertigo]

Possible, but as it stands 6850 xfire beats any single card by a good margin. It's ahead of a 5970 in nearly every test I've seen too. My current thinking is this:

HIS ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE CODMW2 PC-Game £147.99
(£125.95) £295.98
(£251.90)
Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £139.99
(£119.14) £139.99
(£119.14)
MSI P55-GD65 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard with Free USB 3.0 PCI Controller Card £99.99
(£85.10) £99.99
(£85.10)
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9) £70.49
(£59.99) £70.49
(£59.99)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply £69.99
(£59.57) £69.99
(£59.57)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £62.99
(£53.61) £62.99
(£53.61)
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B CPU Cooler (Socket 775/1156/1366) £46.86
(£39.88) £46.86
(£39.88)
Akasa AK-FN059 120mm Ultra Quiet Viper Cool Fan - 3/4 Pin £14.99
(£12.76) £29.98
(£25.52)
Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.91
(£10.99) £12.91
(£10.99)
Sub Total : £705.70
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £125.34
Total : £841.54

 

[Freddie1980]

The scaling is very impressive but that's to be expected from mid range cards. The 6850 are impressive band good value I doubt you would be upset with them but I would hold. Back and see what the 6970 brings to the table.

 

[Invertigo]

Probably will do, I most likely wont be buying until mid December, and the Cayman cards are supposedly launching on the 13th, yes?