Crossfire XFX Radeon 5850 black editio or go with a single Radeon 5970

[bizzmeister]

That is the question, what would you do and why ?


The 5850black edition is an overclocked radeon 5850.

 

[-Fran-]

If you have a very good PSU, go for 2 regular 5850's with a decent HSF and OC them by yourself. That will give you a better gang for the buck than going with a factory OCed 5850 or a 5970.

Sapphire's Toxic 5850 has a very good HSF, but XFX's warranty is very good.

My 2 pesos

Cheers!

 

[flyinfinni]

Skip the factory OCed version and get the regular XFX 5850 crossfire. They'll run you ~$310 each, so $620 total, you can OC them just as easily as XFX can and they cost $30 less per card. Also, the 5970 is like $700 right now, when you can find one, so its cheaper to get 2x5850s, especially if your mobo and everything already supports an xfire setup. Overall, if you are going for bang for buck, the 5850s is a better choice. On the other hand, if you have the cash lying around, then get the 5970 and have the option of getting a second one for xfire later so more upgradable.

 

[bizzmeister]

If you have a very good PSU, go for 2 regular 5850's with a decent HSF and OC them by yourself. That will give you a better gang for the buck than going with a factory OCed 5850 or a 5970.

Sapphire's Toxic 5850 has a very good HSF, but XFX's warranty is very good.

My 2 pesos

Cheers!

Skip the factory OCed version and get the regular XFX 5850 crossfire. They'll run you ~$310 each, so $620 total, you can OC them just as easily as XFX can and they cost $30 less per card. Also, the 5970 is like $700 right now, when you can find one, so its cheaper to get 2x5850s, especially if your mobo and everything already supports an xfire setup. Overall, if you are going for bang for buck, the 5850s is a better choice. On the other hand, if you have the cash lying around, then get the 5970 and have the option of getting a second one for xfire later so more upgradable.

Both of you make very good points but I already have the XFX Radeon 5850 Black Edition. It's installed and thats what Im running on right now. So its either cross-fire these things or pick up the 5970. I guess I just need to see some more reviews of 5850's cross-fired.



And heres a review I want you guys to check out of the Radeon 5850 Black edition I have, tell me what you think. It compares the regular and this one.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhiGcZxvjY4&feature=fvst



BTW the XFX 5850 Black Editions are $340 shipped from Newegg & Tigerdirect. I got mine for $340 shipped from Newegg.

 

[Rustyy117]

Hmm... well he says its only $20 more than the standard edition, but then again it would only take 15 seconds in CCC to overclock a standard 5850 to XXX clocks, its not like its overclocked alot (40mhz Core and 500mhz mem)

My standard Gigabyte 5850 does 925/1200 on stock volts, so I really don't think the XFX XXX edition is all that special. Personally I'd just get another 5850 (any 5850) and overclock it.
If you want some serious clocks the maybe consider putting them under water.

 

[bizzmeister]

Well I'll tell ya right now. I dont know *** about overclocking, im nervous when it comes down to it. I can read all the writes there are but theres always something that worries me. Im sure i'll screw something up.


I also want to get my standard i7 920 to 3.4ghz or 3.8ghz. Still havent done that ....

 

[Rustyy117]

There's to main thing that cause damage when overclocking

1) overheating

2) overvolting

Its pretty easy to make sure you don't damage anything, Just monitor your temps and make sure there not to high, and don't go crazy with the voltage : )

 

[-Fran-]

IMO, you only need to OC when your rig is not pumping enough FPS's (or whatever metric you wanna use) from either front (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc). Two 5850's won't need to be OC'ed unless you game over 1900x1200 with every possible effect and filter on with max'ed details.

Why expose your warranties when you don't need to?

Cheers!

 

[Rustyy117]

IMO, you only need to OC when your rig is not pumping enough FPS's (or whatever metric you wanna use) from either front (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc). Two 5850's won't need to be OC'ed unless you game over 1900x1200 with every possible effect and filter on with max'ed details.

Why expose your warranties when you don't need to?

Cheers!

Its fun!

 

[flyinfinni]

In the case you already have one XFX 5850 black edition, I know the perfect solution-
Give me your 5850 black edition and buy a 5970! :-D Just kidding ;-) since you already have one, I would just get another 5850 (any other 5850) and just OC it to the blackedition clocks (you WILL NOT damage it going to those clocks and any stock 5850 will go that high easily). If you are not comfortable with that, then just pick up a second xfx black and call it a good day

 

[coozie7]

If you already have one and the price difference is as small as has been said the question resolves itself: Get a second BE card and CF it!
BTW, Do n't the later drivers allow for cards of different speeds to run asynchronously?
Do you really need all that horespower? Dual HD5850s' could run Crysis Warhead on a wall sized monitor at >30FPS

 

[OvrClkr]

Get a second 5850 and forget about the 5970, just like everyone here has suggested.

On a side note, has anyone asked the OP what res he plays at?

 

[flyinfinni]

Coozie7- you can run asynchronous Xfire, but it won't be as smooth and won't work as well. Its generally very worth spending a bit of extra money to get identically matched cards (or identically clocked cards- don't need to be same manufacturer)

 

[coozie7]

^ Good to know, cheers, mate.

 

[bizzmeister]

Get a second 5850 and forget about the 5970, just like everyone here has suggested.

On a side note, has anyone asked the OP what res he plays at?

I play all my games, Crysis/Crysis Warhead/Bad Company 2/ CS Source / Team Fortress 2 / Shattered Horizon / and soon Metro 2033 @ 1920x1080 on my 25" HP 2509m 1080p monitor.


I almost feel like returning the 5850 Black edition and getting the 5970 and just calling it a day. I want to do this because I built a monster of a PC and realize that the 5850 isn't top of the line and with all the money I already spent I feel like I should just shell out the extra $300 and do it right.

I dont know, maybe im just retarded or something.

 

[flyinfinni]

lol- its not really necessary, but I totally understand. I would just double up the 5850s and then start saving the money to go eyefinity and make it worth it to have that extra GFX Firepower.

 

[-Fran-]

Whatever makes you happy, bizzmeister.

Happy buying!

Cheers!

 

[OvrClkr]

I play all my games, Crysis/Crysis Warhead/Bad Company 2/ CS Source / Team Fortress 2 / Shattered Horizon / and soon Metro 2033 @ 1920x1080 on my 25" HP 2509m 1080p monitor.


I almost feel like returning the 5850 Black edition and getting the 5970 and just calling it a day. I want to do this because I built a monster of a PC and realize that the 5850 isn't top of the line and with all the money I already spent I feel like I should just shell out the extra $300 and do it right.

I dont know, maybe im just retarded or something.

Crysis will bog down any GPU so hopefully you are not upgrading the GPU just for that game. A second 5850 should be more than enough at that res, it all comes down to the xAA in certain games.

Dual 5850's should be 5-10% slower than a single 5970. And also much more powerfull than a GTX 295 in most games.

Take a look :

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5850-review-crossfire/15

 

[ryman546]

i have the xfx black edition. go with the sapphire toxic

 

[bizzmeister]

i have the xfx black edition. go with the sapphire toxic

Wait what ? Do you have the XFX 5850 Black edition ? And Sapphire toxic what ? 5970 ?

 

[andy5174]

Both configurations will make you extremely happy and last very long. Get whichever is cheaper.