5770 vs 6850

[rawling]

I'm looking to upgrade my ~4yr old system in order to play Portal 2 and, looking forward, Deus Ex 3 and Guild Wars 2.

Based on March's Best-Graphics-Cards-For-The-money guide, I'm trying to decide between getting a HD5770 (£90) and a HD6850 (£130).

I was preparing to stump up for the more expensive card, but I took a look at the charts and apparently there's not much as much performance difference between them as I thought.

Is the 6850 really that much better than the 5770, or would that £40 be better spent elsewhere?

(Other info? Rez is 1440x900, maybe 1920x1080 after this upgrade. CPU is an Athlon X2 4200+, which I'm also upgrading, possibly to an X4 640ish. I have a 550W HEC PSU which I hope I won't need to upgrade.)

 

[shrkbay]

6850 is around 20% better than 5770, you don't need to upgrade your PSU, but probably they will be held back by your CPU *bottlenecked* 5770 is imo better choice as it's cheaper and will run fine every game on 1440x900, but no 1920x1080 *6850 will*

 

[rawling]

but probably they will be held back by your CPU *bottlenecked*

You mean they'll be bottlenecked by something around an X4 640? Or bottlenecked by my current CPU?

 

[dwarf10]

I think he meant your current CPU!

 

[dwarf10]

You will be fine with quad core!

 

[shrkbay]

quad will be fine, i meant current one

 

[rawling]

That's a relief, had me worried for a minute

 

[tjcoops]

I can't recommend the Athlon II X4's enough, I've got the 635 and for such a cheap CPU it overclocks like a beastling, I run it at 3.35ghz and it's just as stable as stock.

I also have the HD 5770, on my older 1440x900 monitor it ran most things at a good frame rate, but now at 1920x1080 it's starting to show some weaknesses, so I'm upgrading to 6850 CF. But at your Res, the 5770 is a great card, however the 6xxx's are better at CF as they scale better, but if that's not in your interest I'd recommend the 5770.

 

[shrkbay]

^why can't you recommend Athlon II x4?

 

[tjcoops]

haha, no I said I can't recommend it enough, as in I REALLY REALLY do. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

As your graphics card, you should also consider the 5830 from here http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-xfx-hd-5830-pci-e-21-(x16)-4500mhz-gddr5-gpu-840mhz-1120-cores-dp-2xdl-dvi-i-hdmi

 

[rawling]

As your graphics card, you should also consider the 5830 from here http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-xfx-hd-5830-pci-e-21-(x16)-4500mhz-gddr5-gpu-840mhz-1120-cores-dp-2xdl-dvi-i-hdmi

Hm, I'd not seen that one, I'll take a look. Could you give me a quick rundown of the difference between that and the 5770?

(Also what does CF mean? )

 

[shrkbay]

CF = crossfire = running up to 4 GPUs in one system, 5830 isn't great card, it's about 10% stronger than 5770, but worse than 6850, it also consumes a lot of power

 

[rawling]

Ah, Crossfire, of course. That's not really in scope for me at the moment - my mobo doesn't support it, for a start

 

[yummerzzz]

Ive been looking at the same thing, and I found this :

A Sapphire Extreme HD 5850 for £98 : http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/9583388/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5850-xtreme-1-g.html

Or a Stock HD 6850 for £111 : http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/9074812/art/pixmania/radeon-hd-6850-1-gb-gddr5.html

 

[shrkbay]

^no sh*t, 5850 is better in performance and for that price it's a steal *at least in EU*

 

[rawling]

Wow, that's weird. Some 5850s are ~£200, there are 5870s for £150 and then there's that one for ~£100. What gives? :s

 

[tjcoops]

That's a great find, might rethink my 6850 crossfire plans now

 

[rawling]

Unfortunately, I don't have a second 6-pin for that card, and I need two DVI outputs. But great find for the rest of you

 

[yummerzzz]

Wow, that's weird. Some 5850s are ~£200, there are 5870s for £150 and then there's that one for ~£100. What gives? :s

Mostly because of different brands of the GPU, though some websites overprice certain components, while others remain cheap.

I.e. GPU's, CPU's or Cases.

 

[rawling]

Cheers for the help, guys, just ordered my 5770

 

[yummerzzz]

HD 5770?
For £8 more you could've got so much more performance.

Really a waste of money IMO.
Especially when you could of got a HD 5830 for £80......

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/9563916/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5830-xtreme-1-g.html

EDIT EDIT: Removed the messed up link ;P

 

[rawling]

I'm a bit gutted about the 5830, but I can't meet the power (connector) requirements without a PSU upgrade, and (in the case of that £79 one, but not one I found for £83) I needed two DVI outs.

The £55 card is a 5570, not a 5770, and actually costs £65?

Order's done now, stop trying to make me sad lol

 

[yummerzzz]

Oh, stupid mistake on my side.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

@ yummerzzz - a 5830 is a crap card full stop, that is a waste of money. since you clearly dont know what your saying, my suggestion is for a gtx460 768mb which outperforms the 5830 and uses much less power for the same price. a 6850 or 5850 are the best options at the moment. HEC power supplies are generally not horrible, but arent the best. If it has at least 30A on the 12vrail or combined 12v rails then you should be able to run a 6850 or 5850 and use a 4pin molex adaptor for the extra pcie conector. if the 12v amperage is lower than that then the 5770 will have to do.

 

[yummerzzz]

@ yummerzzz - a 5830 is a crap card full stop, that is a waste of money. since you clearly dont know what your saying, my suggestion is for a gtx460 768mb which outperforms the 5830 and uses much less power for the same price. a 6850 or 5850 are the best options at the moment. HEC power supplies are generally not horrible, but arent the best. If it has at least 30A on the 12vrail or combined 12v rails then you should be able to run a 6850 or 5850 and use a 4pin molex adaptor for the extra pcie conector. if the 12v amperage is lower than that then the 5770 will have to do.

You obviously don't know what you are talking about as he clearly said he had already ordered the card, I suggested the HD 5850 and HD 6850 first, but he carried on to choose the HD 5770. I was only posting what he missed out on, please actually read the whole topic before posting.