5850 any recommendations???

[Salt-City_Slasher]

I have come to a decision for now and I am getting the 5850. I want to be able to max the crap out of it and bump up the voltage to peak it as high as I can.
So I was wondering if anyone has or had a 5850 or knows of them, and can recommend one of the company's that is good for OCing all around, CS and Warr. are not a big issue the standard 2-3 year ones are sufficient. I have read some good things and bad things but the most recommended brands were Power Color, HIS and Asus.
The asus I guess was said to be one with a great ocing tool, and good for OCing. Currently I like the Sapphire, XFX and maybe the HIS.
Anyway thats what I plan on getting so any opinions thoughts and hate mail all are welcome, lol

 

[brennon7]

I own two 5850s and they are both Diamond. They overclock well but there is really no need to. They only come with 2 year war. I think xfx has lifetime. I bought them because they were in stock.

 

[EXT64]

I think Asus cards already come with a voltage tweak program. Some others may as well. My Sapphire is nice, however I have not tried any serious OCes.

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

Which Sapphire did you get is it the Toxic??

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

Yeah I am not super picky and they all are pretty much the same reference card with there own sticker package and cooling system. So I got to pick the one that has the best cooling and stickers!lol
I really liked the toxic because its blue and would match my entire computer perfectly.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

In my opinion HIS is the best brand (I would choose this: HIS H585FN1GD HD 5850
iCooler V 1GB GDDR5) .
Sapphire is a very good choice too (toxic or vapor-x).
For nVidia, EVGA.

 

[EXT64]

Mine is just the reference, so nothing special. However even its cooling is decent.

 

[jay2tall]

Really there are only a few that have non reference coolers. Sapphire has a nice one so maybe that is a good choice. Other than that there is no real difference in the actual cards. If you are looking at the Sapphire Toxic, because of the price I would just get a 5870 for a few bucks more. I would recommend using the MSI Afterburner software as it has everything you need to OC the card. It is the utility of choice for the 5000 cards. If you REALLY want to OC you will want to get an aftermarket cooler, but then again you may as well just pay the little extra for the 5870, that is what I did.

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

The 5870 are nice and all I just don't really have room for it. I have been looking at all my options and I was going to get the AMD 965 and then I looked at the INtel 930 and was more impressed. Same I planned on getting nvidia but then there all a joke well right now, but I was reading into the new GTX 470 and 480, and this is what I read: GTX470 > 5850 and GTX480 > 5890, but then again they are just rumors, and even if they are true, the price could still be a deal breaker.
But I am still in the research phase checking out eveything.
I think the 5850 is great, but we won't know what is available till around next weekend, and by the end of april. So I am going to stick with the 5850 for now, but unless something can wow me, for around the same price.
I do like the sapphire's for sure, the toxic is really close to the cheapest 5870, but to get the same thing but 5870 it would cost over 100 dollars more.
Also the MSI seems to be a good overall package, and the HIS have good reputation.

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

Well I do like the new leak, it looks like the GTX 470 is going to be about the price of an average 5850. I think it has really stiff competition!! With a 320 bit and GDDR5 I think that it might beat Radeon!?!?

 

[EXT64]

Yep, hopefully they will have a competitive card (and I think they will). The bigger question in my mind is whether they will produce competitive quantities and if so how soon?

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

Yes, good question, I think that there is a high % of people that buy whats in stock not necessarily what they planned on, I hear all the time about people just buying what was in stock at the time. Right now the only card that is impossible to get is the 5970, so if they can ship out enough to go around I think we are going to have a lot of happy gamers. I don't think that ATI is going to have any supply issues which might give them a lead, but nvidia has been taking all this time to build thousands of them, they even pushed it again to april 7 or something, so hopefully they have made plenty. This is even good for an ATI Freak viewpoint, cause there is finally competition and now they either put there prices back to were they were, or even lower to keep up the stiff competition, it was a nice ride I bet just charging what ever they wanted and it didn't matte cause there wasn't any alternative.

 

[EXT64]

Well, it is surprising just how many cards they would have to make to keep the supplies from vanishing. ATI said they had quite a good amount (I don't remember the number) and we all remember how that supply situation worked out.

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

I have been researching which is a better route, AMD or Intel, cause I have to choose one of the 2 depending on what Card I get, cause I am going to need a sweet mobo to run my pc, that will accomidate which video card I choose.
So I was tring to figure out what would be a better route, I had a plan with AMD cause I had everything figured out, all I had to do was change mobo depending on if I want SLI of CFX so MSI GD70 or 60.
Since Intel is an option, I would get the i7 930, so I have been tring to figure out which MoBo would best suite me, and which one would be good if I go with CFX or SLI.
Since I am waiting a while to buy everything I probably wont have supplie issues

 

[EXT64]

Well, Intel boards can do CFX or SLI, so that is convenient. I'd suggest looking at Asus and Gigabyte.

 

[Pailin]

Well, I would recommend an Asus 5850 which is what I just got

Here in the UK it is the cheapest and most available atm
(except the Powercolor Dirt2 edition taking the game into account)

so far:

I have mine running stable at 875 (or 913 new experiment still working up ^^) / 4800 in FarCry @ 1.2v (could run with 1.185 or less maybe - just wanted to game stably without bothering to find sweet spot for a bit) so far - not tried above 1.2 as will still run nice and quiet with 37% fan speed @ 81c (using auto fan setting so guess it is a happy temp for it) in FarCry2 1920x1080 4xAA all Ultra High with avg 55fps on my Q6600 @ 3GHz
I can overvolt from the standard 1.087v all the way up to 1.5v with Asus SmartDoctor
But... most take about 1.35 as max as so much heat starts to get generated and after that much v not much extra OC headroom is achieved unless on LN for the benchmark fanatics

I am tempted to try MSI Afterburner and see if it is more stable than SmartDoctor which is generally good, but sometimes forgets its clock settings on restart. or once or twice in unusual circumstances (after a crash) forgets to alter the fan speed - gets locked at a set speed and needs resetting but this is Very unusual.
Am generally happy with SmartDoctor.

With Fermi - it is meant to have heat issues and the final release versions have lower clocks than NVidia's early predictions that were given.
So although the pricing is good I doubt Fermi will OC very well, especially with the 480 version.

Whereas a 5850 it is common to achieve a 725 --> 900MHz OC of 24% or more.

One other thing:

Having felt how much heat my 5850 throws out the back when running a game OC'd I'd hesitate going for a custom cooling solution that dumps all that heat inside my case....
unless you have some Really good case airflow that would stop that heat interfering with your CPU cooler
Is really like a mini hand drier and almost as hot LOL

Good luck on your card when you get hold of it ~_^

 

[ryman546]

the vapor x card is just as much as a 5870. at the point get the 5870. I got the XFX 5850 be and overclocked it to 1000/1250. 1.174 volts.

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

Well from the OC stand point the Asus's cards are said to be the best overclockers. I am not sure how much the newer version is gona cost but my case is all air, and there is going to a couple of fans "4-5" focused just on the cards, but even then that heat will rise and go out the top. But on asus's site they say that the newer one stays 13% cooler or something, and can run 110% higher, I even watched a video and the guy clocked it higher than a 5870.
I don't plan on any Ferm'i or what ever they are calling it, it sounds like a gay french porn directors name. lol. But obviously wee won't know til we see some real benchmarks. But I would put all my computer money(1,000) that the ATI 5870 is better than the 480, and the 5850 is better than the 470.

 

[scubba85]

Ive got an XFX 5850. It is simply amazing. Life time warranty and it overclocks like a beast.

Using MSI Afterburner, im currently running

1.237 Volt - stock 1.087
Core 945 - stock 725
Memory 1260 - stock 1000

Runs stable and cool, doesnt get above 50-60% fan speed and maxes at 71C in furmark, 60-65 in most games.

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

Yes! The 5850 are definitely the way to go, I m hoping they drop in price here in the next month, cause I plan on getting atleast one, but if they can lower the prices I will end up having a 2nd one in no time!!
Yeah that XFX warr. is something, I just wanted to get the 5850 and pick the one that OC's the best and isn't a nightmare to work with, like nothing to sketchy.

Hey what case is everyone running, I am going back and fourth, I have decided on the CM 692 ADV. but I was wondering if anyone knows of anything better. I have been looking at the BX-500 and it looks really sweet also! I will never settle with one!!

 

[Pailin]

My Rig is running in an Antec P182

case fans running at 900rpm
875/4800 1.2v 81c (5850 fan auto on 36%)
Q6600 @ 3GHz

while running long gaming session of FarCry2 @ 1920x1080 Max Details 4xAA with 55fps avg

btw - the 5850 can fit in this case "just" with the HDD's in place opposite without the 6 pin power cables putting much pressure them at all

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

R U talking about the CM 692 case??
I have been looking and the CM 692 is widely accepted as a gaming case for even enthusiasts. I think people see that price tag and don't give it more than one look. What makes it so cheap is they didn't install all the fans for you, if they did, it would cost over 200 easily.
Yeah the the 5850 is a perfect video card, if only they would of put the 6 pins on the side it would of been perfect, even so, I have look at tons of benchmarks, and the 5850 at stock usally scores about 2,000 less on everything for the most part. And when it comes to FPS at stock the lowest I ever saw was -10 below the 5870, with a little OCing you can make that up and come with-in and even pass it.

 

[EXT64]

If you have the space, I actually kind of prefer the rear plugs. In my PC they go right to the "wire storage" compartment and are hardly visible.

 

[Salt-City_Slasher]

I was just checking out the HAF X, and it is one mean case, it has the coolest psu cover that is genius. It def. looks like its going to fill the shoes of its older versions.
The Cm 962 was right next to it on its podium, as a new case built for the new stuff that is coming out this year. I hear its release is june, which makes me think of how many cases are going to come out by the time I order, hopefully tons so I can the newest case for all the newest parts! I would like to see a CM 690-3 advanced.
I was checkn out hte HAF 932 and I would get if it weren't for the X.