Help me pick an upgrade?

[anherox]

Anyone interested in recommending an upgrade for my gaming rig? I'm thinking of upgrading my video card, but I'm not sure what to get. I've got a $100 gift card for tiger direct so I want to make sure I spend it wisely. Also, I'd rather not spend more than another $100 but if it's worth the extra I may reconsider. Here's what I'm running:

CPU- Intel Q6600 @3.2GHz
Graphics- Radeon HD 4870 1gb
HDD- Western Digital Caviar Black 500Gb
Motherboard- Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
RAM- 4GB Mushkin DDR2 800
OS- Windows Vista 64bit
PSU- 650w Cooler Master

Thanks!

 

[Niklas_13]

@ what rez do you game at ?

 

[anherox]

1920x1200 24" monitor.

 

[Niklas_13]

Well IMO a HD 5850 @ 200 would be the way i would go. You could also look into the new HD 6850s that fall behide the HD 5850 in FPS or a GTX 460 1 GB SE.

HD 5850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150477

GTX460 SE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130591

 

[anherox]

Thanks for the suggestion. Would it be wise to crossfire another 4870 or would one of the cards you listed be better? How big of an upgrade am I talking with either of those options?
And what if I were to spend the extra money and go with a GTX 470 or HD 6870? Worth it or no?

Sorry for all the questions lol. I don't upgrade very often so I'm just trying to make sure I get something good. Thanks again

 

[coldsleep]

Tom's Best Graphics Cards for the Money suggests that you shouldn't upgrade to a new card unless you go up 3+ steps. Adding a 4870 would be a more budget-conscious upgrade, if Tigerdirect has any in stock.

Here's a link to charts from a recent GTX 580 review, which should give you some idea of the relative performance: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4008/nvidias-geforce-gtx-580/6 . For $100ish, I don't think you have a better upgrade option than a 4870. For $200, I agree with niklas_13 that either a 460 or a 5850/6850 is a viable upgrade, though I think it might be disappointing for the money you're spending. Tom's has them ranked as a tie, so if you choose to go that route, just get whichever you get a better deal on, unless you plan to stay with ATI for potential future CrossFire.

 

[anherox]

I'm putting a lot of thought into buying a 5850. Are there any new cards coming out soon that I should know about? I hate to buy now and something better come out in a month, or the prices drop considerably on the current offerings.

 

[Niklas_13]

There is a HD 6850 and 6870 out but the HD 5850 and 5870 are faster buy a bit. I belive ATI did this to fill the pricw gap between the GTX 460 and the GTX 470

As far as prices go its a crap shoot to say what they will do.

 

[anherox]

Yeah I was reading up on those. From what I saw the 5850>6850 and they are roughly the same price so the 5850 seems like the way to go (correct me if i'm wrong).

I may just hold off a little longer and save up some more money and then weigh my options. Maybe by then some new cards will be hitting the market. In the event that I do buy in the next couple of days, what sub $300 card would be the BEST upgrade from my 4870 in terms of price/performance/features?

 

[Niklas_13]

HD 5870 HD 6970 GTX 470

 

[anherox]

thanks a lot

 

[aznshinobi]

Oh if nobody touched on this..... The 5850 is best as a single card solution, specifically the Asus DirectCU 5850. Since it has voltage tweaking and a non-ref hsf. It OC's like a beast (I know because my 5850 can volt. tweak but it's not a directcu) you can OC it the max MSI Afterburner allows you, which is I think 1000/1300. At that point it's better than a single 5870 at 260, but after MIR it's only 240. So that'll be the best single solution.

But if you plan to CF in the future, the best option is the 6850, it's a great scaler and a pretty good OCer like its predecessor.

But like niklas said the best 300$ would be the 5870, the yet to be released 6970 and 470. The 6970 I don't think will be at the 300$ though, more like 400$, I think the 6950 would be at 300$

 

[Niklas_13]

I am stating to like that Sapphire 5970 for 499.99 with a 30 MIR 469.99 ( hell maybe i can sell my Sapphire HD 5850 for 200 and buy that makes me want to go look at some benckmarks

 

[coldsleep]

I am stating to like that Sapphire 5970 for 499.99 with a 30 MIR 469.99 ( hell maybe i can sell my Sapphire HD 5850 for 200 and buy that makes me want to go look at some benckmarks

At that price range, I think 6850 or 6870 CF setups tend to outperform a 5970 either on value or raw performance.

From a GTX 580 review, but it's got the data:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4008/nvidias-geforce-gtx-580/6
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4008/nvidias-geforce-gtx-580/7
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4008/nvidias-geforce-gtx-580/8
etc.

Admittedly, you're limiting future expansion, but the same can be said of buying the top-of-the-line, low production, last-gen 5970.

 

[Niklas_13]

Looking @ the chart seems If i just xfired my HD 5850 i would be on par with a HD 5970 ( I should of picked one up on black friday )