5850 review (for those considering one)

Just installed and test drove my new Sapphire HD5850.

I have used nvidia in every system until now, I had a bad experience with a BFG GTX285 OC, which was flashed with the wrong bios. they were on sale at best buy for $249, which is why I impulsively got it cant find a 285 for less than $320 anywhere else. It was factory overclocked beyond the specs on the box, which caused problems, I didnt feel like manually having to tweak it to get it to function properly and dealing with Multiple future rma's, so the 5850 was recommended to me.

purchased the Sapphire HD 5850 from tigerdirect for $269 (new egg only had one 5850 for $289 at the time I ordered)

So far its great ran it in fallout 3, modern warfare, empire total war, OFP: DR, and ARMA II. 3dmark 06 score a hair above 18100. (which is better than the 17300 score w/GTX 285 when I was testing it). was able to max all of them out and run smoothly, I havent popped up riva tuner to record actual frames, but I didnt see anything noticeable (although with modern warfare I was able to max that out on my 8800GT without any noticeable frame drop). FO3 would stutter on my 9800GTX, no longer...all smooth sailing. Image quality on everything is great, so far having a good time with it.

As for my first serious foray into the world of ATI cards I must admit I am impressed. At this price point, you cant really beat this card.

Thanks for the info tsd16 !

i7 920.

I used a 5870 in a build recently and so I got to tinker with it. I noticed that it did run hot, but the ambient temperature wasn't effected as much as I thought it would, maybe a bit less than a 4890.

Thanks for the info.