One of my 5850's died what do now.....(thoughts)

[Rakivic]

As stated one of my 5850's died and I have the choice of 1) getting another 5850 to replace the dead one. 2) getting 2X 6850's and selling the working 5850. 3) any other options that you guys come up with I am asking because looking at some of the rives has the 5850 above the 6850 and some has the 6850 out in front and it has me all confused.


Budget: $300-350 total (that would be 1X or 2X cards) CDN before rebates.

PSU: Corsair Professional Series HX750W
CPU: Phenom II 965
MB: Asus Crosshair IV Formula
RAM 8G G-skill.

Game types: eve online/Crysis 2.

 

[davcon]

As far as i understand the 6850 is much better at tessallation.
So given the opportunity you'd be better off upgrading to the 6xxx series.

 

[beltzy]

Is your 5850 still under warranty? They haven't been released longer than most warranties, but you never know.

Moving from a 5850 setup to a 6850 setup isn't going to be worth it. Depending on the game, resolution, and settings these two crossfire setups trade wins. There are some things that make the 6850 attractive (power consumption and only requiring 1 6-pin pci-e connector per card) but if you already have 1 5850 stick with it. Otherwise you'll spend that extra money for no significant performance game (and potentially a performance loss).

There are some smokin good deals on 5850s- some as low as 130ish after rebates (in the US). Check out 6850 crossfire reviews, too- they should include direct comparisons to 5850 crossfire setups. The time investment is worth it to better understand how they stack up. Cheers!

 

[Rakivic]

I was thinking also of just running one card for a while and getting 2X 6950's as I can get them for 240ish which is not that much more then the 6870's. What do lot think on that.

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, either just get another HD5850 or sell/ebay the one you still have and grab a single HD6950 for now.

 

[jyjjy]

As far as i understand the 6850 is much better at tessallation.
So given the opportunity you'd be better off upgrading to the 6xxx series.

The HD6850 is a slower card than the HD5850. Tessellation and crossfire scaling are improved in the new series but even for both of those it is basically just enough for the HD6850 to catch up with the HD5850. Here is some benchmarks for the tessellation heavy Unigine Heaven benchmark:

The HD5850 still manages to squeak out a small win over the HD6850.

 

[wolfram23]

I'd probably take the opportunity to sell the 5850 for maybe $100 and get a 6950 2gb, and ASAP get a 2nd one... then go Eyefinity.

But maybe that's just me.

Actually, on the other hand, in a year we should see some big improvements due to a die shrink so maybe this isn't the best time to buy.

 

[Rakivic]

I'd probably take the opportunity to sell the 5850 for maybe $100 and get a 6950 2gb, and ASAP get a 2nd one... then go Eyefinity.

But maybe that's just me.

Actually, on the other hand, in a year we should see some big improvements due to a die shrink so maybe this isn't the best time to buy.

I would do that but I need them for 3D rendering one way or another I will have to make the call.....probably just going to get 2X 6950's.

 

[Rakivic]

Best answer selected by rakivic.