SHOULD I UPGRADE MY 4850?

joshinda · 27 May 2010 at 13:34

Hi there,

My current system spec is as follows:

q6600 @ 3.6ghz
2gb ocz reaper 1066mhz
asus p5q pro
4850 512mb
corsair hx620w
windows 7 64 bit

I'm looking to upgrade the 4850, since I'm getting a new monitor at 1920x1200 and gaming will be tough for the card at this resolution.

1. Should I crossfire the 4850?

2. Should I sell it and get a 5850?

3. Should I sell it and get 5770 crossfire (same price as 5850)?

4. Or anything else?

Also, is the 2gb ram bottlenecking anything?

Thanks a lot, help is much appreciated

paulc25 · 27 May 2010 at 13:45

number 2

Vekiq · 27 May 2010 at 13:50

joshinda said:
Hi there,

My current system spec is as follows:

q6600 @ 3.6ghz
2gb ocz reaper 1066mhz
asus p5q pro
4850 512mb
corsair hx620w
windows 7 64 bit

I'm looking to upgrade the 4850, since I'm getting a new monitor at 1920x1200 and gaming will be tough for the card at this resolution.

1. Should I crossfire the 4850?

2. Should I sell it and get a 5850?

3. Should I sell it and get 5770 crossfire (same price as 5850)?

4. Or anything else?

Also, is the 2gb ram bottlenecking anything?

Thanks a lot, help is much appreciated

Get 5850, with xfire setup you can run into issues, although more and more games are supporting it fully nowadays.

I would get more ram, especially with 64 bit OS you have, and DDR2 can be had really cheap these days.

joshinda · 27 May 2010 at 13:55

Vekiq said:
Get 5850, with xfire setup you can run into issues, although more and more games are supporting it fully nowadays.

I would get more ram, especially with 64 bit OS you have, and DDR2 can be had really cheap these days.

Ok thanks so I'll get the 5850.

I've looked around for ddr2 ram and it seems really expensive - around £25 per 1gb. Where can I get it cheap?

AMG · 27 May 2010 at 13:55

2. i would say try and avoid multi card setups if you can

get yourselfs some of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-039-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817 they are under rated due to who makes them

I know its a 4Gb set but hay

OrphanBoy · 27 May 2010 at 13:58

I'd go for the twin 4850s. Low outlay, and the results will be good! You'll get 50-100% (but more like 50%) better frame rates for a £50-60 second hand or 100% better framerates for £200.

Crossfire of older cards is very good value.

Boozebeard · 27 May 2010 at 14:01

Vekiq said:
DDR2 can be had really cheap these days.

This is 100% false.

AMG · 27 May 2010 at 14:03

Boozebeard said:
This is 100% false.

very false looking at 90+ most of the time unless your lucky, like the onces i pointed out

joshinda · 27 May 2010 at 14:05

OrphanBoy said:
I'd go for the twin 4850s. Low outlay, and the results will be good! You'll get 50-100% (but more like 50%) better frame rates for a £50-60 second hand or 100% better framerates for £200.

Crossfire of older cards is very good value.

But won't that affect performance for future games with a lot of detail and AA/AF?

Also, is it certain that only 2gb ram will bottleneck me? I'd rather not have to buy more since it's expensive, but if it's necessary I will.

AMG · 27 May 2010 at 14:07

no it should inprove unless the games just hate crossfire, it won't do much good for your electric bill ethoir

Boozebeard · 27 May 2010 at 14:07

At the end of the day another 4850 is only £50, if you end up deciding you need to upgrade it in another 6 months then it's not really much of a loss. Will probably be a new series of cards out by then anyway.

Vekiq · 27 May 2010 at 14:11

Boozebeard said:
This is 100% false.

Wow, it has been a good while since i looked into DDR2 prices.
Last time i checked you could have good ram for peanuts.

I take my its cheap statement back

joshinda · 27 May 2010 at 14:12

The thing is I'm still only 16 and I don't have enough money to buy lots of components. I want to be able to do one or two upgrades that I can keep for a couple of years or so.

joshinda · 27 May 2010 at 14:29

Ok, I've been doing some quick research and how does this sound:

Sell the 4850 and get a 5770, and when I have enough money get another 5770 for crossfire. Apparently 5770 crossfire > 5870

AMG · 27 May 2010 at 14:31

I think thats only if its overclocked

joshinda · 27 May 2010 at 14:35

But is the idea alright?

rolypolyman · 27 May 2010 at 14:47

Get the 5830 on special at £164 and then another one later for crossfire.

opethdisciple · 27 May 2010 at 15:01

Personally although getting another 4850 and crossfiring them, will give you good performance, for a small price......

I would rather sell the 4850 and get a 5850.

The 5850, is a powerfull card, plus your getting dx11 and support for tomorrows technologies (latest shader model etc etc)

I'v promised my self never to bother again with multi card set ups.

Your save your self a lot of issues by just going down the single card root.

Saying that tho, supposedly the 5770's crossfire rivals the 5870 for performance, but is the same price as a 5850.......

Seems the 5770's crossfire perform on par with a 5850 / 5870 depending on the game.....

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/1

I still say go with the 5850, and you remove any issues associated with crossfire.....

Choice is yours.

opethdisciple · 27 May 2010 at 15:06

You benefit from a single 5850 becuase it has 1gb of Ram, where as the two 5770's only have 512mb each. (Which doesnt add up to 1gb)

rolypolyman · 27 May 2010 at 15:28

opethdisciple said:
You benefit from a single 5850 becuase it has 1gb of Ram, where as the two 5770's only have 512mb each. (Which doesnt add up to 1gb)

Well buy 2 X 1Gb 5770 then surely!