Would a radeon 6950 be overkill?

[Sharpey1984]

Hi
At the moment i hv a radeon 5770 512mb card which i am wanting to upgrade, was thking of a 6950 1gb but it is abit more than i really wanted to spend, considering that my monitor has a max res of 1400x1200 and i am happy with medium/high settings, would a 5870 or 6870 be good enough to keep me going over the next few years with a solid frame rate

Thanks for any replys

Pc specs:
phenom II x4 965 processor
8gb ddr3 ram
radeon hd 5770 512mb
Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G motherboard
windows 7 64 bit

 

[Embra]

Yes, do you plan to upgrade your monitor anytime soon? ....also, what is your PSU?

 

[jyjjy]

Yes, it would be overkill. Well past the point of overkill IMO. For a still large but more reasonable amount of overkill at a much better price I recommend this;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102932

 

[Embra]

Yes, it would be overkill. Well past the point of overkill IMO. For a still large but more reasonable amount of overkill at a much better price I recommend this;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102932

Excellent recommendation!

 

[Sharpey1984]

Was playing on a 15" laptop monitor before this so i am happy with my monitor at the moment, my psu is only a OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W PSU so guessing i will need to buy a new one with the graphics card, thanks 4 the link, would a 5850 be a big jump fromt he card i hv now?

 

[Sharpey1984]

Witcher 2 and bf3 are two games i am wanting to play

 

[jyjjy]

Your PSU should handle the HD5850 just fine. It is approximately 50% faster than your HD5770.

 

[Sharpey1984]

Ok thankyou, think i will follow both yr advice, altho one last question, my psu only has one 6 pin connector, is that enough for the 5850? Cheers

 

[HostileDonut]

No, one 6 pin is not enough. You can get the same (or about the same, few FPS loss) with the newer hd6850. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419 I own the Sapphire version, but that costs more, so this would be a great choice. I love my hd6850, so, since your res. is close to mine, I think you will too.

 

[Sharpey1984]

Thanks hostiledonut but think i am gonna go with the 5850, i am from the uk and have just found this card is it the same as the one jyjjy linked nd do u reckon its a good deal for the money? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-SP

 

[Embra]

Your PSU is good and the card should come with adapters.

 

[HostileDonut]

I wouldn't use the adapters. I have heard that they can harm your card. I would use the good clean power from your PSU instead of adapters.

 

[jyjjy]

I wouldn't use the adapters. I have heard that they can harm your card. I would use the good clean power from your PSU instead of adapters.

I don't know where you have heard that but it simply isn't true. The manufacturers include them with the cards and wouldn't do so if they were dangerous. Attempting to use one on a junk PSU that can't handle the card... that is another story but the OPs PSU is a good brand and should easily power that card.

 

[jyjjy]

Thanks hostiledonut but think i am gonna go with the 5850, i am from the uk and have just found this card is it the same as the one jyjjy linked nd do u reckon its a good deal for the money? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-SP

It can be found cheaper elsewhere;
http://www.b4udirect.com/Graphics%20Card/Sapphire%20Technology/b4u35139334?ai=40

 

[HostileDonut]

I don't know where you have heard that but it simply isn't true. The manufacturers include them with the cards and wouldn't do so if they were dangerous. Attempting to use one on a junk PSU that can't handle the card... that is another story but the OPs PSU is a good brand and should easily power that card.

Oh, okay. I just thought I had heard that somewhere. Didn't want him to break his new card. The hd6580 is better IMO.

 

[jyjjy]

The HD6850 is actually around 10% slower than the HD5850 on average. It is also more expensive.

 

[HostileDonut]

The HD6850 is actually around 10% slower than the HD5850 on average. It is also more expensive.

That is true, but it is newer tech, scales better, has better DX11 support, (hd5xxx series DX11 sucked) tessellation, and there are more to pick from. There are more pros if you looked closer. If I had to pick which card I wanted to spend my money on, I would get a hd6850. Guess what, I did. Actually, you were the one who helped me pick it out. Wasn't that a lovely thread? :lol: I think 4 pages if I am correct?

 

[jyjjy]

HD5850s were not this cheap at that point or I would have recommended one then. While what you say about the HD6850 is true, the HD6000 series does have improved crossfire scaling and DX11 performance, this only serves to help the HD6850 catch up to the HD5850 in those specific areas while still being beaten in the majority of situations. Here are some numbers from the Unigine Heaven benchmark which is specifically designed to test tessellation/DX11 performance;

As you can see the HD5850 still manages to squeak out a win.
If they were the same price I might consider the HD6850 but even then I'm not sure. It would probably depend on the specific models.

 

[HostileDonut]

HD5850s were not this cheap at that point or I would have recommended one then. While what you say about the HD6850 is true, the HD6000 series does have improved crossfire scaling and DX11 performance, this only serves to help the HD6850 catch up to the HD5850 in those specific areas while still being beaten in the majority of situations. Here are some numbers from the Unigine Heaven benchmark which is specifically designed to test tessellation/DX11 performance;
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/HD_6790/images/heaven_1920_1200.gif
As you can see the HD5850 still manages to squeak out a win.
If they were the same price I might consider the HD6850 but even then I'm not sure. It would probably depend on the specific models.

I do see your points, but I still disagree. The difference is normally only a few FPS anyway. I really don't care about a few FPS if I am getting new tech. They also consume less power saving money. You have valid arguments, but I do disagree. If it were a hd5850 by Gigabyte, ASUS, or a nicer SAPPHIRE version, it would be nicer, but that version is not OCed, and does not look like the HSF is very good. The heat also exhausts into the case. The hd6850 is just better in my opinion. Sorry. In the end, it is the OP's choice. He he wants raw power, get a hd5850, if he wants new tech at the cost of a few FPS, get a hd6850.

 

[badoosh]

I have just upgraded to a MSI HD 6950 and it dominates everything I throw at it definitly worth the $280. I also upgraded from two XFX 5770's in CrossfireX big difference in FPS when running ARMA 2 (fun game). I went from running everything on High at 25fps to running everything on very high at 85fps! So in my opinion the 6950 is not too much overkill but with 2GB of GDDR5 ram its overkill nothing even uses that much video ram unless its like autocad but if playing games it will dominate.

The only thing overkill with the 6950 is the 2GB of ram but with that much ram and a good core/mem clock you shouldn't have to upgrade to a new card for some years to come.

Intel Core i7 950 stock 3.0ghz OC'd 3.8Ghz also idle at 22c/load35c

12GB DDR3 Triple Channel Crucial Ballistix Sport @ 1600Mhz

OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD

Two Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD's

EVGA X58 SLI LE Motherboard

Corsair H50 Liquid Cooler with two 120mm fans in Push-Pull

Coolermaster HAF 932 case

 

[jyjjy]

I do see your points, but I still disagree. The difference is normally only a few FPS anyway. I really don't care about a few FPS if I am getting new tech. They also consume less power saving money. You have valid arguments, but I do disagree. If it were a hd5850 by Gigabyte, ASUS, or a nicer SAPPHIRE version, it would be nicer, but that version is not OCed, and does not look like the HSF is very good. The heat also exhausts into the case. The hd6850 is just better in my opinion. Sorry. In the end, it is the OP's choice. He he wants raw power, get a hd5850, if he wants new tech at the cost of a few FPS, get a hd6850.

The cooler on that card is actually very effective and quiet supposedly from all the reviews I've seen. Overclockersclub.com also managed to get their model up to 1ghz on the core which is an OC an HD6850 isn't going to match. The power usage difference is also extremely small. Smaller than the performance difference actually. The HD6850 is a nice card but it can't match the value of an HD5850 priced that low IMO. The only real advantage of the HD6850 over the HD5850 as far as I'm aware is HDMI 1.4a support which is mainly about 3D bluray support if you have an appropriate drive and monitor/HDTV.

 

[jyjjy]

I have just upgraded to a MSI HD 6950 and it dominates everything I throw at it definitly worth the $280. I also upgraded from two XFX 5770's in CrossfireX big difference in FPS when running ARMA 2 (fun game). I went from running everything on High at 25fps to running everything on very high at 85fps! So in my opinion the 6950 is not too much overkill but with 2GB of GDDR5 ram its overkill nothing even uses that much video ram unless its like autocad but if playing games it will dominate.

The only thing overkill with the 6950 is the 2GB of ram but with that much ram and a good core/mem clock you shouldn't have to upgrade to a new card for some years to come.

Intel Core i7 950 stock 3.0ghz OC'd 3.8Ghz also idle at 22c/load35c

12GB DDR3 Triple Channel Crucial Ballistix Sport @ 1600Mhz

OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD

Two Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD's

EVGA X58 SLI LE Motherboard

Corsair H50 Liquid Cooler with two 120mm fans in Push-Pull

Coolermaster HAF 932 case

For high resolutions the HD6950 is a great card but it's simply a waste of money at lower ones.

 

[HostileDonut]

I have just upgraded to a MSI HD 6950 and it dominates everything I throw at it definitly worth the $280. I also upgraded from two XFX 5770's in CrossfireX big difference in FPS when running ARMA 2 (fun game). I went from running everything on High at 25fps to running everything on very high at 85fps! So in my opinion the 6950 is not too much overkill but with 2GB of GDDR5 ram its overkill nothing even uses that much video ram unless its like autocad but if playing games it will dominate.

The only thing overkill with the 6950 is the 2GB of ram but with that much ram and a good core/mem clock you shouldn't have to upgrade to a new card for some years to come.

Intel Core i7 950 stock 3.0ghz OC'd 3.8Ghz also idle at 22c/load35c

12GB DDR3 Triple Channel Crucial Ballistix Sport @ 1600Mhz

OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD

Two Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD's

EVGA X58 SLI LE Motherboard

Corsair H50 Liquid Cooler with two 120mm fans in Push-Pull

Coolermaster HAF 932 case

Your hd5770s were probably maxing there vRAM. 2 hd5770s = a hd5870, 1 hd5870 = 1 hd6950. A = B, B= C, so A = C. Two hd5770s is almost as good as one hd5870 or one hd6950.

 

[HostileDonut]

The cooler on that card is actually very effective and quiet supposedly from all the reviews I've seen. Overclockersclub.com also managed to get their model up to 1ghz on the core which is an OC an HD6850 isn't going to match. The power usage difference is also extremely small. Smaller than the performance difference actually. The HD6850 is a nice card but it can't match the value of an HD5850 priced that low IMO. The only real advantage of the HD6850 over the HD5850 as far as I'm aware is HDMI 1.4a support which is mainly about 3D bluray support if you have an appropriate drive and monitor/HDTV.

I have heard of hd6850s getting to 1ghz. I mean, if he wants to spend his money on that card, go ahead. I would take the hd6850 though. In newer games that use tessellation, and use all of DX11, the hd6850 will out-perform a hd5850. Also, you can OC a hd6850 to hd5870 levels.

 

[megamanx00]

I would think a single 5770 would be enough at that resolution, but then you're probably limited by the 512MB of RAM because you didn't spend the extra bucks for a 1GB version. Well, since your board only has 16x/4x I can't recommend getting another 5770 for crossfire. I say get a 5850 assuming your PSU is capable enough.