Which 5850?

http://www.pccomponentes.com/ASUS_RADEON_HD_5850_1GB_GD...

This one will allow you to raise the voltages, allowing for a bigger overclock than other cards. Any factory-overclock can easily be achieved by yourself.

If I was in heavy gaming, I'd get a 5850 and the one I'd pick, is XFX, the reference version. Model # is HD-585A-ZNFC. *Lifetime warranty and you can adjust the voltage easily.

No matter which ATI card I'd consider, it will probably be XFX. Now, I have to decide between 4850, 4770 and 5770.... :-/

P.S. The Asus one might be okay but I don't know about that card others are recommending... but, I think the warranty is shorter and it's a custom card.

The lifetime warranty is very overrated imo. Most cards have a 3 years warranty anyway and that is more than sufficient for the lifespan of most cards. For example the 8800GTS 320mb came out a little over 3 years ago at a price of $300. These days that card is extremely poor and no one who would consider buying a $300 at any time would still be using it.
This guy isn't in the US anyway so he wont even get the lifetime warranty.

^that would be my choice as well.

But doesnt the cooling seem worse than the rest? (Im a noob so i can be wrong ^^)

Good point. Sorry about that...

Although, it might increase the value of the card if the buyer ever had to sell it. North Americans might value the card a bit higher for the warranty.

But, yeah, I understand where you're coming from.

Do you like Sapphire cards? The HD 5850 Sapphire cards are often cheaper than others and more available, locally. At least, for me. I still would like a reference card since I prefer the hot air going out the case rather than having to ensure overly good cooling in the case. Although, I am sure I can, I just like the concept of sending the air out the case...

I probably won't be able to afford a 5850 so maybe that question is moot but Sapphire does have 5770 cards, too.

The reference cards are actually the better choice for the HD5850 as they all allow for voltage modification for a higher overclock. On non-reference version you need to research to see if the card allows for such.
Sapphire in general is a good brand but their non-reference HD5850s don't allow for volt modding. The fan designs that push the air out of the case are good if your case is relatively small and/or has limited airflow but the more open designs can actually cool the card better if your case already has good air flow.
The HD5770s in general don't allow to change the voltage but there are a few that have it specially built in(ASUS CuCore, MSI Hawk.) It's not that big of a deal on the HD5770 though because the stock clocks are much higher than the HD5850(850mhz vs 725mhz).

Thanks for that info. I was only considering reference cards anyway. I just asked about Sapphire cards because I don't know about their Quality/QC as I've never had one of their cards.

My case is an Antec 300 so I have to consider the length of card and air flow. You can get good case fan flow in those? I haven't switched my current build over yet. I need to buy at least one or two 12cm fans still.

The PSU is a Corsair HX520W and cpu Q6600 so a HD5850 was as high end as I'd go and I don't want the video card bottlenecked.

Aw, sorry OP for diverting the thread a bit but the replies may be interesting to you.  

Np, they are interesting. But can some1 answer the thing about the cooling ? arent 2 fans better than 1? Thnx in advance.

I think there will be some 'experts' on the fans here but I can try to suggest an answer until they reply?  

I am guessing it depends on a few factors:
1) generally, two fans will be louder than one
2) it can be argued that one fan is enough but that also depends on other factors, design/quality, size and where it's situated (also flow direction etc.)

I tried to find as many reviews as possible on these cards and I decided that the 'customized' cards with the customized fan setup was good but only saved a few degrees (relatively speaking). If you want the option of voltage adjustment, some of the custom cards can't do it as easily. The Asus card might be an exception? Also, the reference cards will be easy to use with various software because the software might be geared more towards reference cards since it's more convenient (applies to more cards).

However, if you want to overclock or assure that the card is cooler than the typical card, the customized cards might be preferable. I think you might want to consider one fan to keep it quieter unless you intend to overclock it to the max. and you aren't sure the case fan flow is going to keep the inside of the case cool enough.

This is all, FWIW so others may have a different take...  

Two fans can be better than one in that you'll also have a fan directly on the memory as well as the core. One fan can be more than enough however. In general I would say it is the quality and design of the heatsink that tends to be more important actually.
For the HD5770 I really wouldn't worry about the fan/heatsink too much. It's quite low power and thus doesn't give off that much heat and you probably wont be overvolting it either so that wont raise temps.
Ideally for the HD5850 I would recommend the ASUS DirectCu version of the card. It is a customized card that allows for overvolting, comes with software to help you do so and has a warranty that allows for such. It has a nice fan/heatsink that is supposedly very quiet and effective. Here is a review;
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1273/1/
I don't know about it's availability or pricing where you are though. If you can't find it or it is too expensive then just go for the reference card(like the one shadow linked.) The reference cooler is actually supposed to be pretty decent and they all allow for voltage modifications which should allow you to get 1ghz or close to it on the core.
Corsair is a good brand and a 520w by them should easily handle an HD5850, even fully overclocked. As for bottlenecking at stock the Q6600 might hold it back a little, especially in the more intensive games that aren't fully multi-threaded, but that processor also OCs easily and well and if you do so it is still a more than capable processor.

Dunno why but suddenly, the web where im buying only has 2 models of the 5850: HIS and SAPPHIRE ( http://www.pccomponentes.com/buscar.php?p=5850&f=527 )

Is there no other site you can order from?

Already ordered the sapphire. Thanks for the help every1.

Ah well, still a good card. It doesn't support voltage changes but you should still be able to get it up to 850-900 mhz anyway which is a nice boost.
Call of Pripyat actually is a good game imo if you haven't actually played it.

No i havent played it, but ive heard its good. A little question (which maybe comes a bit late xD) What does changing the voltage exactly improve? For example, what changes from 850-900 mhz to less mhz?

I'm talking about overclocking the processor on the video card. At stock the card runs at 725mhz. Without changing the voltage you can usually increase its speed to the range I said above, 850-900mhz. What raising the voltage does is allow the processor to run stably at even higher speeds, often up to around 1000-1050mhz which is a very impressive 40%+ increase.
Those numbers(other than the stock speed) are all estimates. How high a individual card can go tends to vary and wont be known until you try it.

http://www.buy.com/prod/xfx-hd-585x-zafc-radeon-hd-5850...


go for this.. easy choice

If you didn't read. he wanted on with a game. Not one lacking.

ppfffrrr