Which Video card?

[lolper]

Looking to spend around 300 on a video card that i can either crossfire or sli any suggestions?

 

[treefrog07]

Tom's has a recent review of various price/performance recommendations here.

 

[lolper]

anything other than the Radeon 5850 ?

 

[Manicslayer]

Um... 2x 5770's or 5850 is pretty much the best you can do at $300.

2x 5770's will offer better frame rates, but the 5850 could be turned into a monster CFX down the road.

I personally have 5770's because the 5850's were unavailable at the time and I wanted the performance today.

You could get a GTX 275 but supplies are dwindling and I'd only get it if you have a SLI Mobo.

 

[lolper]

you recommned the ATI over the new geforce 470 & 480's?

 

[lolper]

also which is a good 5850 to get a vision tech?

 

[mindless728]

you recommned the ATI over the new geforce 470 & 480's?

between the GTX470 and 5850, its almost just done to what you want (though the GTX470 is $350)

though between the 5870 and GTX480, i would get the 5870 since the extra 10% isn't worth $100 (5870 - $400, GTX480 - $500)

for $300, i would get the 5850 just to be able to crossfire down the road instead of having to buy a new $300/$400 card after a few years

 

[lolper]

hmmm so 5850 would be a better idea so i can crossfire it in a couple of years

 

[lolper]

which company of 5850 do you recommend

 

[flyinfinni]

Right now, I see no reason to recommend a 470 over a 5850. Performance is almost equal, 5850 is cheaper, cooler, uses less power, and can run 3 displays on its own. 2x5770 is a good deal as well, (especially since you can get one for $135 after MIR on Newegg right now or $145 and skip the rebate for the second one) but you'll have to replace them rather than just add another card later.
Really, company comes down to personal preference. I like XFX for the double lifetime warranty, but sapphire is well known for having good non-reference cooling and designs. Asus is also good with their non-reference designs. I wouldn't get Diamond or visiontek, or possibly even powercolor, unless they are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than the others (which they aren't right now). There are other brands too, but those are the ones that come to mind right now.

 

[treefrog07]

which company of 5850 do you recommend

XFX offers a lifetime warranty if you register the card on-line. Sapphire has been around a long time, and has a good reputation - I have 5 of their cards in use - never any problems, but I have no 5XXX series yet. If you read through the forums, you'll find there were some driver issues with the 5XXX series, but it looks like ATI has fixed them now.

 

[lolper]

so either XFX or sapphire?

 

[flyinfinni]

They are both good.

 

[lolper]

im lost here?

 

[flyinfinni]

Yes- look for either Sapphire or XFX. If they are significantly more expensive, then get something like Asus, MSI, etc- whichever is the best price.

 

[lolper]

do you recommend the 5750?

 

[rolli59]

Not compared with HD5850 but 5750 is still a good card up to 1680x1050 resolution.

 

[flyinfinni]

the 5750 is less than half of what you were looking for in your budget. its a good card still, but its about half the performance on the 5850. I've got 2 of them and I get about the performance of a single 5850. If you are looking at a 5750, you might as well bump up to a 5770 as they are so close in price now, and a nice step up in performance. You can get a 5770 on newegg right now for $135 after MIR with a promo code.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Both the 5850 and the 470 are evenly matched with similar price / performance values....tabulating only DX11 performance at high settings, it turned out on release day that the 470 ekked out a 5-4 win in the price / performance category. Then Saphire dropped there price $15 for a few days and tables turned....now the cheapest "name" brand on newegg is $309 which makes the 470 the leader again with a 5-3 lead and 1 tie among the 9 games tested. The 470 does win 8/9 benchies (DX11 high settings @ 1920 x 1200) though the wins are for the most part by a % close to the relative price increases. It also beat the 5870 in 5/9.

Keep in mind that the 470 consumes more power and produces more heat. In a full tower w/ adequately sized PSU, no problem....small tower and light PSU, could be an issue. You also have to weigh that ATi gives you eyefinity but currently has a problem w/ 2D GFX (supposed to be fixed w/ 10.4 drivers), nVidia gives you PhysX, 3D Vision, CUDA and GPGPU abilities.

All in all, it will come down to your particular needs and your particular situation as to which one to buy. However keep in mind that the 5850 is now selling $20 over MSRP and we are comparing it with the 470 at MSRP.....once these are on the shelves, nothing's to sop vendors from charging a premium which I expect will happen in the first days / weeks of availability. OTOH have seen the 480 on preorder at its MSRP so who knows.

 

[flyinfinni]

the 5870 and 5850 were at MSRP for a short time before they sold out, and then the prices started skyrocketing. I imagine that GTX 470 and 480 will jump in price upon release when they'll be sold out on pre-orders or something along those lines.

 

[ckoons1]

you have pm

 

[lolper]

no i dont?

 

[lolper]

Ok i have finally decided to go with the 5850 but have one more questions. Which version should i get ? 1) XFX regular 2)XFX black edition 3) sapphire regular
4) sapphire toxic? or anyother if you know of something better

 

[lolper]

anyone?

 

[treefrog07]

Obviously check the current prices first, but I would go with the sapphire regular. The reason is you are getting one card that you may crossfire later. If you get sapphire toxic now you will pay more and it will likely not be available when you crossfire - the regular is more lkely to be available from sapphire or another mfr. later.