Im in need of a gpu. help with choice

[hookedonlp]

Situation:
i dont remember registering my xfx 4890 or not 1 year ago. the fan has been off and on and would overheat even if the fan is on. decided to open up the card to clean the heat sink and reapply paste. but then the card stopped working all together soon after. so i can send it in for rma and hope they dont say i have tempered with it so im out of luck and on top of that, hope i registered the card 1 year ago. but i think the better choice is to buy another one and register the card and do not open it this time. hahahah

but now comes to the choices of gpu i have encountered:

5850:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150499&cm_re=xfx_5850-_-14-150-499-_-Product
170 dollars
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150477&cm_re=xfx_5850-_-14-150-477-_-Product
180 dollars

the difference i see in the two are the core clock and the memory clock. one says double lifetime warranty but the other doesnt. i always thought that xfx all comes with double lifetime? they both are so similar...which of those two should i get if i were to get the 5850?

5770:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161338&cm_re=5770-_-14-161-338-_-Product
only 100 dollars

i was even thinking of crossfiring 2 5770 since it would only cost about 20 dollars more than 1 5850 at this point.

6850:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908
155 dollars

i have heard that the 6850 is actually a bit weaker than the 5850 but it is cheaper.

I am running a I5 cpu setup. will eventually oc it to poss 3.6-3.8 on air cooling. 8 gig ddr3 ram.
I want to be able to run multiple games at once including sc2 on ultra and maybe later higher intensive games. I play a mmo which allows me to run multiple clients at once. which i would like to run 4 and play sc2 at same time.
I would like to play on at least 1280x1024 but if i can with my computer specs to play on 1680x1050.

oh yea....im using a 600 watt ocz 80 plus psu. would my psu be of any problems with the choices above?
so overall the choices are 5770, crossfire 5770, 5850, 6850 so far. which do i need or which do u recommend?
if you find a better deal nvidia for my need. im open to anything.

thanks for your time!!!

 

[tigrc]

If you have a choice of a card with a double lifetime warranty and a card with no warranty, definitely go with the double lifetime warranty. You could go with a GTX 460 1GB or the HD 6850. From the cards you listed, the 6850 is definitely the best option. You won't have any PSU problems with a SLi/CF setup of those cards.

 

[Maziar]

For your resolution(1680x1050),5770 suffices,but since 6850 is notably faster and is only $55 more,then go for it.It's worth the extra cash IMO

 

[hookedonlp]

tigrc: def with the double life time warranty. but i always thought that all xfx came with double lifetime. isnt that what they are known for too? icic so u vote for 6850

maziar: thanks for ur input, another vote for 6850.

 

[tigrc]

Yes, it is strange. Maybe it's not a very good model of the card, if it's own manufacturer does not offer a double lifetime warrant

 

[swifty_morgan]

As far as I know XFX has a dbl lifetime warranty on all their cards. Just register within 30 days. I think I read reviews around the net that put the 6850 behind the 5850 in benchmarks. Only thing it might have going for it is less energy consumption and a little less heat. I have a 5850 and neither is a problem. Cross firing two 5770 might look close in numbers but not in actual performance. Both cards have different architecture. Gaming at 1680x1050 requires more than a gig of memory sometimes. I played @ that res for 3 x years. You should rethink especially if you enable AA, etc.

 

[mrjericho1991]

no way,wait,i am sure nvidia is cooking something big.

 

[jyjjy]

I would go for the HD6850. The HD5850 is slightly faster but the HD6850 is cheaper, has better power efficiency, much better crossfire scaling and more current A/V features.

 

[hookedonlp]

swifty:
u r currently using a single 5850? i wont be able to play at 1680x1050 with a single 6850 with aa?

mrjericho:
cant b too sure about that. it took them 6 months to come back after the big 5 series come out.

jyjjy:
thanks for the input.....another vote for 6850

as of now....looks like ill b getting a 6850? my friend also told me to mite as well get the 6850.

 

[jyjjy]

At your resolution the HD6850 should handle the vast majority of current games with every setting maxed out including AA. For comparison with your old HD4890 the HD6850 is 20-25% faster.

 

[mrjericho1991]

i see a gtx 460,its better than 6850.

 

[jyjjy]

i see a gtx 460,its better than 6850.

The HD6850 is actually faster than the GTX 460 1gb. At reference speeds at least.

 

[mrjericho1991]

no its not youre wrong,
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/37499-hd-6870-hd-6850-vs-gtx-460-1gb-overclocking-study-7.html

 

[jyjjy]

You do understand that is one game right?

 

[hookedonlp]

new card came into play
gtx 460
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512
120 dollars

so now there are:
5770 for 100
5850 for 170
6850 for 155
460 for 120

OMG and here i thought i was going to get the 6850 but here comes the 460 with a rebate of their own......

 

[jyjjy]

While that card has good cooling and the price is nice keep in mind that it is the 768mb version of the GTX 460. It has less memory, a smaller bus width and few less ROPs compared to the 1gb card which brings the performance down a notch. You can check out the chart I posted above for the performance of the HD6850 vs GTX 460 1gb vs GTS 460 768mb.

 

[hookedonlp]

yea a bit slower so in ur opinion 35 dollar more is worth it for getting the 6850 on top of the 460 for 120?

 

[jyjjy]

It is up to you but considering your resolution is 1680x1050 the 768mb card should do quite well and if you overclock it then it should have no problems. Usually a gtx 460 will be able to OC around 30% which is impressive.

 

[nforce4max]

no way,wait,i am sure nvidia is cooking something big.

GTX 560 with full 384 shader and 64 texture units some time late next month around the 20th. $200-250 usd segment.

 

[hookedonlp]

i dont need something big.... just something 120-180 range is good enough for me
i think it has come down to the 460 or the 6850......cant decide

 

[Maziar]

You can' really go wrong with either both are great cards.
As jyjjy mentioned,if you went with GTX 460,you can go with the cheaper 768MB version,it's fine for your resolution.

 

[hookedonlp]

thanks guys....i think imma get the 6850 tomorrow. unless something pops up in the next 24 hours

 

[hookedonlp]

Best answer selected by hookedonlp.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar