Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > [Solved] 5850 or 4850 x2

[Solved] 5850 or 4850 x2

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - [Solved] 5850 or 4850 x2

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply

Best answer from Techno-boy.

Word :    Username :           
 
jjfish64   10-05-2009 at 04:39:32 PM

I am getting a new GPU pretty soon and I can't decide between these two. THey both look pretty sweet. So what do YOU think, 5850 or 4850 x2?

Add a reply
Best answer from Techno-boy

jjfish64 wrote :

thanks to both of you! I'll get the 5850! maybe I'll get the 5850 x2 in like a year though ;)

 

I think there is still something you had missed about crossfiring 2 video cards. Since you stated that maybe you would buy a Radeon HD 5850 X2 in a year then I would assume that you might be crossfiring them so I would like to say that it is better not to crossfire Radeon HD 5850 X2 with Radeon HD 5850 because you risk to bottleneck Radeon HD 5850 X2 performance down to a single Radeon HD 5850. It is always better to crossfire 2 same video card models with same speed in case if you are planning to crossfire them in the future. So either you crossfire 2 Radeon HD 5850 or get a Radeon HD 5850 X2 in the future or get a Radeon HD 5870 without crossfire at all or you can also simply get a Radeon HD 5870 X2 (due in late October) which would cost lesser than 3x HD 5850 GPUs. :o

 

If you wanted to crossfire or you wanted faster speed than a single Radeon HD 5850 then I would recommend you not to wait for HD 5850 X2 since that might take too long and it is better for you to crossfire 2 Radeon HD 5850 or get a Radeon HD 5870 (faster than HD 5850 and closer performance to Radeon HD 5850 X2) without crossfire right away or just get a Radeon HD 5870 X2 instead of 3 HD 5850 GPUs because don't expect that crossfiring HD 5850 X2 with HD 5850 is going to give you the speed of 3 GPUs. Otherwise, you would end up paying a lot for HD 5850 X2 and not being able to get a lot of benefit from it if you crossfire it with your HD 5850 and you would still essentially have the speed of 2 HD 5850 GPUs instead of 3. :ouch:

 

However, if Radeon HD 5850 X2 is coming in late October together with Radeon HD 5870 X2 then you can wait but if it is coming in a year then that would take too long. Anyway, at the end, it is up to you to decide...

 

So keep that in mind and Good Luck! :)

Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
Bronze Graphics badge JofaMang   10-05-2009 at 04:55:03 PM

5850, without a doubt. It will use less power, cost only marginally more, and will outperform the 4850x2. Also single card solutions are always more efficient than dual GPUs, simply because it always has its full potential available, where as dual GPUs require driver support and take a hit in Xfire scaling.

------------------------------ http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/822692.png
PhIIx3 710 @3.55ghz/1.5v w/ Scythe Samurai Zz HSF-24/49c ~ 4gb OCZ Gold XTC 5-6-6-18 @1092mhz ~ Sapphire 4870 512MB (795/1025)
 Reply to JofaMang
uncfan_2563   10-05-2009 at 05:02:08 PM

5850 for 2 reasons...

-DirectX11
-It's a single GPU

plus ya kno...its new and shiny :D

Reply to uncfan_2563
jjfish64   10-05-2009 at 05:18:45 PM

thanks to both of you! I'll get the 5850! maybe I'll get the 5850 x2 in like a year though ;)

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to jjfish64
Techno-boy   10-05-2009 at 07:14:08 PM
Best answer

jjfish64 wrote :

thanks to both of you! I'll get the 5850! maybe I'll get the 5850 x2 in like a year though ;)

 

I think there is still something you had missed about crossfiring 2 video cards. Since you stated that maybe you would buy a Radeon HD 5850 X2 in a year then I would assume that you might be crossfiring them so I would like to say that it is better not to crossfire Radeon HD 5850 X2 with Radeon HD 5850 because you risk to bottleneck Radeon HD 5850 X2 performance down to a single Radeon HD 5850. It is always better to crossfire 2 same video card models with same speed in case if you are planning to crossfire them in the future. So either you crossfire 2 Radeon HD 5850 or get a Radeon HD 5850 X2 in the future or get a Radeon HD 5870 without crossfire at all or you can also simply get a Radeon HD 5870 X2 (due in late October) which would cost lesser than 3x HD 5850 GPUs. :o

 

If you wanted to crossfire or you wanted faster speed than a single Radeon HD 5850 then I would recommend you not to wait for HD 5850 X2 since that might take too long and it is better for you to crossfire 2 Radeon HD 5850 or get a Radeon HD 5870 (faster than HD 5850 and closer performance to Radeon HD 5850 X2) without crossfire right away or just get a Radeon HD 5870 X2 instead of 3 HD 5850 GPUs because don't expect that crossfiring HD 5850 X2 with HD 5850 is going to give you the speed of 3 GPUs. Otherwise, you would end up paying a lot for HD 5850 X2 and not being able to get a lot of benefit from it if you crossfire it with your HD 5850 and you would still essentially have the speed of 2 HD 5850 GPUs instead of 3. :ouch:

 

However, if Radeon HD 5850 X2 is coming in late October together with Radeon HD 5870 X2 then you can wait but if it is coming in a year then that would take too long. Anyway, at the end, it is up to you to decide...

 

So keep that in mind and Good Luck! :)


Message edited by Techno-boy on 10-05-2009 at 07:33:14 PM
Reply to Techno-boy
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > [Solved] 5850 or 4850 x2
Go to:

There are 1127 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.190 seconds
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them