5850 vs 4870 x2

[bensonj7]

ok, so I've had some issues with graphics cards since building up my system... now i'm trying to make a good choice and would like to hear folks opinions

what I want:

apr 300$ budget, give or take
not to buy another card for a couple of years
play games such as Dragons Age, Oblivion, Diablo III (if it ever comes) Bioshock II
1920 x 1200 on a 23" widescreen

What I have

Phenom II B50 x4 @3.5
4g of 1600 memory
GA-MA790XT-UD4P
600 watt psu
decent case/cooling...

graphics card I have ended up having to use is a 4670 and plays oblivion @ 1280 fairly well, but.....

initially intended on using a single 4850, but many issues with getting one to work, and the reality of it being enuf card has lead me to just biting the bullet and trying to get what should deliver best bang for the buck.

I can get a HIS 5850 iceQ Turbo with COD4 and Dirt2 (don't have either now, and would probably play em if I had em) for apr 300 on a preorder or can newegg a couple of 4870's fo about the same

Biggest concerns are psu to crossfire and the "grey screen" issues of the HD 5xxx cards.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Ben

 

[pilotkira]

i just got the 5850 black edition about a month ago, works great and i've had no troubles with it. i would recommend the 5850 at that price range, however you mention you're concerned about your psu to crossfire. I usually stick with single cards for the no hassle, and you should be fine psu wise to crossfire if you really want to.

 

[bensonj7]

lol, straightforward answer

My head is telling me the same thing but I have a hd5770 now in my wifes computer because she just emails and farmvilles with it and in my system it grey screens within minutes of gaming...

 

[jonpaul37]

I would go for the 5850, it will perform slightly less than 2 x 4870's but it will also draw much less power and will handle ALL of the games mentioned @ that resolution. I upgraded my 4850 to a 5870, night and day, i will never look back. Only had the "Grey Screen" issue once when i had it overclocked to 900/1300 and benched 3D Mark Vantage.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The HD 4870x2 is the more powerful card but it has some serious drawbacks. It uses WAY more power, runs WAY hotter and is much louder as a result of cooling itself. Now, if you live in Scandinavia, maybe the extra heat is a good thing...lol I'd recommend the HD 5850 because it has DX11 and is an incredible value for a high-end card, in fact, it's the best out there right now, period.

 

[Avro Arrow]

lol, straightforward answer

My head is telling me the same thing but I have a hd5770 now in my wifes computer because she just emails and farmvilles with it and in my system it grey screens within minutes of gaming...

Send that card back. It's defective. The HD 5770 is almost as powerful as an HD 4870 like I have. I can play Crysis with 4xAA at gamer settings at 1920x1080 resolution at 35-37fps. There's something wrong with that card.

 

[jonpaul37]

Folks, there is also a patch for 5xxx cards grey screen issue as well! look it up on the AMD website! come on! you're better than that! hehe, but really, look into the patch before going through the hassle of RMA-ing the 5770

 

[bensonj7]

The HD 4870x2 is the more powerful card but it has some serious drawbacks. It uses WAY more power, runs WAY hotter and is much louder as a result of cooling itself. Now, if you live in Scandinavia, maybe the extra heat is a good thing...lol I'd recommend the HD 5850 because it has DX11 and is an incredible value for a high-end card, in fact, it's the best out there right now, period.

hadn't thought about the noise issue of crossfire, good point.

the 5770 lasted about 2 hours in my system before I decided to pull it. It looked promising at first, got some 17.5k 3dmark runs in and started playing oblivion and then I started getting the grey screens, even tried underclocking it and just said f#$ it. This will be my 3rd RMA of a card - 2 4850 and then this and at 11$ a pop to ship back it is getting frustrating.

 

[bensonj7]

Folks, there is also a patch for 5xxx cards grey screen issue as well! look it up on the AMD website! come on! you're better than that! hehe, but really, look into the patch before going through the hassle of RMA-ing the 5770

I'd love to give it a try if you have a link to this patch!

 

[Avro Arrow]

hadn't thought about the noise issue of crossfire, good point.

the 5770 lasted about 2 hours in my system before I decided to pull it. It looked promising at first, got some 17.5k 3dmark runs in and started playing oblivion and then I started getting the grey screens, even tried underclocking it and just said f#$ it. This will be my 3rd RMA of a card - 2 4850 and then this and at 11$ a pop to ship back it is getting frustrating.

Yeah, RMA is a hassle. That's why I got XFX. The double-lifetime warranty at least guarantees that I will ALWAYS have a Radeon HD 4870 or something like it because if it dies a year from now and I send it in for RMA they might have to upgrade it to a 5770 or 5830...

 

[jonpaul37]

Try this, what i would do is do a complete removal of any drivers you have currently, first use the CCC removal feature, then use driver sweeper in safe mode after you use the CCC removal, then install the newest drivers from AMD, then install the patch.

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Grey-screen-and-vertical-line-corruptions.aspx

 

[bensonj7]

After installing the card I had tried up to the latest cat driver - 10.2. the hot fix was issued pre 10.2 so I would of thought it would be included in the latest driver.

My procedure for installing card, updating driver:

Initially load Standard VGA driver for video
Run Cat software UNINSTALL
Safe boot system, run driver sweeper, for ALL ati and NV drivers that might be on system
R&R card
boot system and let Win7 find/install software
run install disk from card
install latest Cat drivers
Test with Furmark
Bench with 3dMark06
start using system

If any problems during any stage Ill use device manager to uninstall the current driver and install the standard VGA driver. Then I will repeat the Safe Mode boot/driver sweepeer run after Uninstalling drivers with Catalyst. I will then reboot and just run the latest version of Cat - in this case 10.2

With the 5770 I had tried cat drivers from 9.9 thru 10.2

Before RMA of this card I figured I'd give it a few days and see if Cat 10.3 will do any good.

 

[Avro Arrow]

After installing the card I had tried up to the latest cat driver - 10.2. the hot fix was issued pre 10.2 so I would of thought it would be included in the latest driver.

My procedure for installing card, updating driver:

Initially load Standard VGA driver for video
Run Cat software UNINSTALL
Safe boot system, run driver sweeper, for ALL ati and NV drivers that might be on system
R&R card
boot system and let Win7 find/install software
run install disk from card
install latest Cat drivers
Test with Furmark
Bench with 3dMark06
start using system

If any problems during any stage Ill use device manager to uninstall the current driver and install the standard VGA driver. Then I will repeat the Safe Mode boot/driver sweepeer run after Uninstalling drivers with Catalyst. I will then reboot and just run the latest version of Cat - in this case 10.2

With the 5770 I had tried cat drivers from 9.9 thru 10.2

Before RMA of this card I figured I'd give it a few days and see if Cat 10.3 will do any good.

Good idea, the LAST thing you want is to send it back and they send it back to you saying it works!

 

[Avro Arrow]

wow lol what a waste of a gaming GPU. You should sell it lol

Yeah I agree. All she needs for that is an IGP, and not even a good one!

 

[hardwaretechy]

boot system and let Win7 find/install software
run install disk from card
install latest Cat drivers

Ok...not sure what you mean by run install disk from card but if this is running the install from the CD that came with the card then that is a no-no. After uninstalling the driver using ATI's driver manager, and then doing the driver cleaner sweep, reboot. Then straight up install the new catalyst driver & CCC if needed. With 10.2 you shouldn't have the gray screen issue.

To the original question, 5850 is what i'd go with for all the advantages. Considering that sites like Newegg don't even sell the 4870x2 anymore, i don't know where you'd even find one much less one for cheaper than the 5850.